There are in Austria several kinds of naval schools, as follows: One each for sailor boys, for marines, for quartermasters, for naval pupils of the first class, for naval pupils of the second class, a theoretical school for naval cadets, and a superior establishment for naval officers.
1. The school for sailor boys is intended to train, as petty officers for the navy, young men from the Slave and German provinces, admitted between 12 and 14 years of age into the naval service. The instruction lasts until the pupil has attained the age for the conscription; he is then entered as a sailor and becomes a petty officer as soon as he gets sufficiently used to the sea. The highest post he can attain is that of upper boatswain (Hochbootsmann.)
2. The schools for marines (Zeugscorps) receive men drawn from different corps of the army. They are trained as petty officers, and a part receive the uniform. Those who are fit to become officers receive their promotion when they leave their corps to enter the school.
3. The school for naval cadets of the first class is kept on board a war vessel selected for the purpose. The object is to prepare for the naval service youths of 16 or 18 years of age, who, on entering the school have already received a complete civil technical education. The teaching here consists, therefore, chiefly of practical seamanship, and also of the application of previously acquired scientific knowledge to navigation and nautical astronomy. The course occupies a year; on leaving, the pupil is received as a naval cadet. After passing two or three years at sea these cadets enter the theoretical school for naval cadets.
4. The school for naval cadets of the second class is intended solely to prepare them to become officers. In this school, beside the pupils placed there at the cost of the State, there are others maintained by endowments, and also others who pay for their instruction. The sons of officers and State functionaries are entitled to enter this school at the public expense, and any Austrian subject who has the necessary qualifications is admitted on payment. Foreigners are also admissible as paying pupils, provided they can obtain authorization from their own government to enter the Austrian service. To be admitted, candidates must be between 12 and 14 years of age, of sound health without bodily defect, and able to pass a previous examination. The instruction is given in accordance with a determined plan, on board a vessel prepared expressly to receive the pupils. After three years’ instruction the pupils leave the school as naval cadets and are sent to sea. At the end of two or three years’ active service the cadets are admitted to the theoretical school. This school receives from 40 to 50 pupils. The chaplain on board is charged with the religious instruction; the other teaching is given by professors from the hydrographic schools. The naval officers of the school-ship give the instruction in practical seamanship.
5. The theoretical school for naval cadets is on shore, and its course occupies a year, after which the pupil undergoes the examination prescribed for his commission as an officer. On leaving this theoretical school the pupils are still naval cadets, but become officers when appointed to a ship.
6. The superior school for naval officers is intended for the further improvement in mathematical and hydrographic studies, of such young men as have shown decided talent and taste for those sciences.
[III. GERMAN EMPIRE.]
The jurisdiction of the German Empire, by treaty concluded at Versailles, and ratified by the Diet of North Germany Dec. 10, 1870, embraces among other national interests, the Army and Navy, and the protection of German navigation.