In 1898, the highest officer in the American navy was the rear admiral. The other officers in their order, ranking downward, were commodores, captains, commanders, lieutenant commanders, lieutenants, lieutenants junior grade, and ensigns. All these are known as officers of the line.
At the close of the year there were seven rear admirals, ten commodores, forty-one captains, and eighty-five commanders.
The rank of rear admiral is equal to that of major general in the army. A commodore is equal to a brigadier general; a captain in the navy ranks with a colonel in the army; a commander ranks with a lieutenant colonel; and a lieutenant in the navy is equal to a captain in the army.
The law provides that when an officer reaches the age of sixty-two years he must be retired from active service. One who has been disabled in the service, or who has served honorably for forty years and requests release, may also be retired. Officers on the retired list receive three-fourths as much pay as when on active duty at sea.
Rear Admiral Dewey will be retired on the 26th of December, 1899. In 1898 there were thirty-three rear admirals on the retired lists.
The officers while at sea receive more pay than when on shore duty. The salary of an ensign at sea is $1200 a year; that of a rear admiral is $6,000. The salaries of the other officers range between these two extremes.
Previous to 1898 the number of enlisted men in the navy was limited to ten thousand. These men are received for a period of three years; and any one after serving continuously for twenty years may be assigned to duty in the navy yards, or on board receiving ships, or to other duties not requiring them to go far from home. All who have served thirty years are entitled to admittance in the Naval Home. The wages of enlisted men vary from $16 to $70 a month, according to the kind of work they perform.
The law provides that seven hundred and fifty boys may be enlisted as apprentices in the navy. These are received only with the consent of their parents or guardians, and are required to serve until they are twenty-one years old.
Besides the regular navy of the United States there is a naval militia organized in eighteen states. This militia is under the general direction of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy; and its duty in time of war is to man the vessels designed for coast and harbor defense.
At the beginning of the year 1898 there were more than four thousand men and officers in the naval militia. During the war with Spain, most of these were mustered into the naval service and did duty on the war vessels or in the signal service along the coast.