[U.S. MILITARY AND COMMERCIAL MARINE SCHOOLS.]
By the Constitution of 1789, Congress is empowered “to regulate commerce, to provide and maintain a navy, and make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces.” The initiatory steps for establishing and regulating a navy were taken by the Continental Congress in November and December, 1775. The management of naval affairs was first assigned to a Marine Committee of Congress, appointed Dec. 11, 1775, which in 1779 (June 9), was converted into Commissioners, and before the close of that year, into a Board of Admiralty, which consisted of five members, two of whom were members of Congress, with a secretary, who was appointed by Congress. In 1781 (Feb. 7), a Secretary of Marine was created to execute all the duties and powers of the Board of Admiralty. In the condition of the public treasury, and “in the dilatory and parsimonious action of the several States in forwarding funds for the construction of ships, docks, and naval arsenals, and for the support of the naval service,” Congress voted in August, 1783, “that it was not advisable to purchase ships for the present.”
The necessities of a disordered commerce, and of a sufficient naval force to protect the navigation of the country, and repel the first approach of a hostile army from abroad, were among the motives for establishing a more efficient federal government. But until the danger of war with England became imminent, a large party in the country, in and out of Congress, opposed the necessary appropriations for putting the Navy of the United States on a respectable footing.
In constituting the executive departments of the national government under the Constitution, the administration of the navy and naval affairs were committed to the War Department, where it remained till 1798, when (April 30) an Act was passed “to establish an executive department to be denominated the Department of the Navy.”
The Act of March 27, 1794, by which the construction and manning of four ships of 44 guns each, and two of 36 were ordered, was called for by the depredations on our commerce, and particularly in the Mediterranean Sea. In this Act the appointment of eight midshipmen, to rank with the warrant and petty officers, was authorized, and the Navy Register bears the names of only eight officers holding that rank prior to 1800. In 1801 the naval force of the United States consisted of 13 ships, viz.: 4 of 44 guns each (United States, President, Constitution, and Philadelphia); 4 of 36 guns each (Chesapeake, Constellation, Congress, and New York); 5 of 32 guns each (Benton, Essex, Adams, and John Adams); and by an Act of that year all others were ordered to be sold, and the completion of any more in the yards, was suspended. But the insults to our flag and destruction of our commerce by the Barbary powers, and the privateers of England and France, aroused such a feeling in the country that Congress ordered a squadron to be fitted out for the Mediterranean in 1803, which proved to be the school in which the seamanship of the Navy was trained, and the gallantry of its officers signally displayed. In the legislation of this period originated the “gun-boat” policy as an auxiliary means of harbor defense. In 1805 the first vessel of this class was added to the Mediterranean squadron, and in 1806 the President announced that 50 more could be relied on for the naval service. Gun-boats, properly constructed and armed, are now part of the system of harbor defense in all countries.
By an Act of Congress approved April 21, 1806, the whole number of able seamen, ordinary seamen and boys, for the United States Navy was not to exceed 925. March 3, 1807, the President was authorized to employ 500 additionals, increasing the authorized number to 1,425. January 31, 1809, the President was authorized to employ 3,600 able seamen, ordinary seamen and boys, in addition to the number of petty officers, seamen, etc., previously authorized, which increased the number of enlisted men allowed to 5,125.
In 1810 an appropriation was made to test the value of torpedo or submarine explosives, as engines of war, and in 1842 to test the submarine battery ignited by a submerged electric wire, devised by Samuel Colt. The introduction, of these “engines of war” into the defense of Southern harbors, in 1861-65, demonstrated their efficiency and inaugurated a new system of not only harbor defense, but of attack.
March 30, 1812, the President was further authorized to increase the seamen, etc., and as far as necessary to equip the frigates Chesapeake, Constellation, and Adams, any law to the contrary notwithstanding. In this Act provision was made for the appointment of a schoolmaster to each ship having a complement of 12 midshipmen.
March 3, 1813, he was authorized to have built six sloops-of-war, and to have them manned and equipped, and to employ the number of seamen which were necessary for such vessels as were authorized by law to be put in commission.