If you haven’t recently visited the U.S. Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Maryland, it’s an acquaintance well worth renewing, now that this naval-history enthusiast’s must-see destination has undergone an extensive, multimillion-dollar renovation. The museum, located on the Academy grounds in Preble Hall, was closed for nearly two years (2007–9) while the staff and contracted design and production firms worked to reorganize and interpret the vast material at their disposal.
To appreciate the new Naval Academy Museum experience, one must recall the previous arrangement of artifacts, art, and historical panels, with display tables and cases arranged in no particular thematic order. Although some interesting objects were on exhibit—such as the saddle given to Admiral William F. Halsey Jr. for use on Emperor Hirohito’s horse, dozens of medals and swords worn by famous naval officers of the distant and more recent past, and beautiful examples of Navy art—it was difficult to say one had actually learned anything as a result of a visit.
The renovated presentation of exhibit materials represents an immense step forward in terms of coherence and improved interpretation. The exhibits cover 7,644 square feet divided among 17 major topics, as well as a temporary exhibit space (currently dedicated to “The Civil War, 1861”). As visitors approach the exhibits, the eye is caught by a huge brown flag, under glass, with the words “Dont Give up the Ship” sewn into the fabric. This is the battle flag that Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry ordered made in honor of his late friend, Captain James Lawrence, who was fatally wounded during the battle between HMS Shannon and the U.S. frigate Chesapeake in 1813. This banner sends a thematic message to Naval Academy midshipmen, graduates, and visitors that resonates throughout the exhibit.
‘To Instill . . . Knowledge of History and Heritage’
In the center of the exhibit-hall foyer is a large screen that states the mission of the Naval Academy Museum:
To collect, preserve, and exhibit the artifacts and art that are the physical heritage of the United States Navy and the Naval Academy in order: to instill in Midshipmen a knowledge of the history and heritage of the U.S. Navy and the Naval Academy, to supplement the instruction in all departments of the U.S. Naval Academy; to demonstrate to the public the contributions of Naval Academy graduates, the military services and the Nation, and, to motivate in young people the desire to become part of the Brigade of Midshipmen and to begin a career of service to their Nation.
The scope of the exhibits runs from the American Revolution to the Space Age. The principal focus is on the graduates of the Naval Academy and how they have performed their duty through times of both war and peace, explored remote areas of the globe, and advanced our scientific knowledge. Several electronic exhibits display interactive scenarios throughout the first deck, illustrating the tactics used in many of America’s major naval battles. The center of the gallery is dedicated to the history of the Academy and shows how it has changed since it was founded in 1845, both as an academic institution and as a military post.
Visitors have the choice of walking through the exhibits from present to past, going directly to the Naval Academy exhibit, or moving chronologically from 1775 to the present. If one begins with the early history of the Navy, its origins are explained in text panels and enlivened by portraits such as those of John Adams and John Paul Jones, as well as some excellent ship models of the Bonhomme Richard, the Continental Navy frigate Hancock, a gundalow similar to the Philadelphia from the Battle of Valcour Island, and the Fair American, a privateer brig of 1778. Also on view: a flintlock swivel gun and the swords of Continental Navy Captain Charles Alexander.
A text panel describes what is often referred to as “George Washington’s Navy”—fishing schooners from Salem and Beverly, Massachusetts, that were refitted as warships to interdict vessels that were supplying the British in Boston. The wall and alcove exhibits move visitors swiftly from the actions of Adams, who advocated the creation of the Continental Navy in 1775 during the deliberations of the Second Continental Congress, to the establishment of the War Department under the Constitution in 1789, and the creation of the Navy Department in 1798 under the first secretary of the Navy, Benjamin Stoddert. Within a few yards, one passes from the exhibit on the Quasi-War with France through the War of 1812 displays, adorned with portraits of Thomas Truxtun, whose Constellation captured the French frigate L’Insurgent in 1799; Edward Preble, who commanded the Mediterranean Squadron (and for whom the Academy building housing the museum is named); Stephen Decatur Jr., a hero of the Barbary Wars who later commanded the frigate United States in her victory over HMS Macedonian; Oliver Hazard Perry, victor of the Battle of Lake Erie; and Thomas Macdonough, whose squadron won the Battle of Lake Champlain in 1814.
From these spaces, the displays move into the themes of naval expansion and exploration that characterized the period from 1815 to 1860. Here, panels and maps explain the building of several frigates, sloops-of-war, and ships-of-the-line and show where they protected U.S. interests on foreign stations—the Mediterranean, the West Indies, the eastern Pacific, Brazil, West Africa, and the East Indies. In support of the expanding economic interests of the United States, during this era the Navy sponsored exploring expeditions in search of new resources and markets, as well as lands to claim. At other times, its warships conducted “gunboat diplomacy” to punish tribes or governments that had attacked American merchant seamen or whalers or destroyed the property of American citizens. Another display portrays Matthew Calbraith Perry, the commodore whose diplomacy opened formerly isolated Japan and who campaigned for reform in naval schools and advances in naval technology.
One of the most interesting exhibits is that of Lieutenant Charles Wilkes’ South Seas Exploring Expedition (1838–42), which involved more than half a dozen vessels, lasted more than four years, covered 85,000 miles in the South Pacific, circumnavigated the Antarctic continent, and explored along the northern Pacific coast of North America. Wilkes returned with a trove of artifacts, relics, plants, botanical drawings, and geographical information that became the core of the Smithsonian Institution’s collections. Of great strategic value were the charts that Wilkes and his officers drafted, based on their extensive coastal surveys and soundings of island groups in the South Pacific; some of those charts were still in use during the amphibious campaigns of World War II.
From ‘School of the Ship’ to School on the Severn
The amount of exhibit space dedicated to the growth of the Naval Academy exceeds that devoted to some of the naval campaigns of the early 19th century. The Academy displays depict how, in the early days, naval cadets or midshipmen were expected to “learn the ropes” entirely on board ship. Yet events transpired to bring the Naval Academy into existence.
The creation of a naval lyceum at the New York (Brooklyn) Navy Yard reflected a desire for more formal education for naval officers, as did the establishment at the Philadelphia Naval Asylum, a hospital built for sailors in 1833, of a school where aspiring midshipmen could study the mathematics required for celestial navigation, gunnery, and coastal survey. There they met William Chauvenet, a young Yale University graduate whose teaching inspired generations of naval officers. He recommended the expansion of their curriculum from six months to two years of study. In 1842 an incident on board the Navy brig Somers ended in the hanging of Midshipman Philip Spencer and two others on suspicion of mutiny during a training cruise. (Spencer’s sword is on display at the museum.) The scandal that erupted tarnished the old method of training midshipmen on board ship and led to the establishment of a more formal curricular system. Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft, undeterred by Congress’ refusal to authorize the construction of a naval academy, obtained the use of old Fort Severn, an obsolete Army post in Annapolis, and in 1845 converted it into the school for midshipmen that the Navy needed. The Academy’s first museum, located in the Naval School Lyceum, came into existence in that era.
The exhibits pertaining to life at the Naval Academy include a portrait of Captain Franklin Buchanan, the first superintendent; the sword of Captain Richard Aulick, the Academy’s first graduate; a panel dedicated to the first seven faculty members; and a model of the Academy as it was in 1850. When the Civil War broke out, the Navy Department sent the midshipmen and faculty on board the Constitution to Newport, Rhode Island, a temporary “away period” captured in photographs of the building used by the Naval Academy while at Newport.
Images of teams and individual athletes illustrate the appearance of organized sports at the Academy, from fencing (1865) to crew (1869) to baseball (1873) to football (1894). Also remembered are famous Academy faculty, such as 1907 Nobel Prize–winner Albert A. Michelson, whose work in physics specialized in measuring the speed of light.
In the wake of the Spanish-American War, Secretary of the Navy John D. Long ordered the total redesign and rebuilding of the Academy, which was accomplished from 1899 to 1907, as illustrated in drawings and photographs. The images of the enormous Bancroft Hall dormitory under construction are particularly striking.
The Academy exhibit features, at its center, a case containing the mess jacket of Midshipman J. Paul Reason, the first African-American Academy graduate to achieve four-star rank, along with a photo of him as naval aide to President Jimmy Carter. The role of female midshipmen at the Academy dates from their admission in 1976 and is illustrated by the display of a female officer’s service dress-white uniform. Of that class, the text panel notes, 81 women entered, 55 graduated in 1981, and after 20 years, 17 remained in the service. By 2006 there were more than 200 women in the entering class. As their numbers here have grown, so too has the Academy overall. Through the years, the Academy’s campus of 10 acres increased to 338, and the original student body of 50 midshipmen has expanded to a brigade size of more than 4,000.
Their Finest Hours
Major naval campaigns and battles through the end of World War II are reflected in superb models, paintings, maps, and artifacts, but the most sophisticated exhibits are also accompanied by electronic kiosks and interactive touch-screen computer displays that heighten interest and will engage younger visitors. These include John Paul Jones’ 1778–79 cruise around the British Isles, the War of 1812 battles on Lakes Erie and Champlain, Charles Wilkes’ exploring expedition, the Civil War’s riverine battles, the Confederate Navy’s raiders, the Spanish-American War battles of Manila Bay and Santiago, the World War II Battle of the Atlantic, and the Normandy invasion.
The major episodes of the Pacific war are interpreted in exhibits on the Pearl Harbor attack, the U.S. submarine offensive, the Halsey-Doolittle Raid, and the battles of Coral Sea, Midway, the Solomon Islands, the Philippine Sea, and Leyte Gulf, to name only the most important.
By comparison, the Navy’s participation in World War I gets more modest treatment, but on display are a portrait and the medals of the first chief of Naval Operations, Admiral William Benson; the medals of Admiral Hugh Rodman, the commander of the battleship division that operated with the Sixth Squadron of the British Grand Fleet; and a touch-screen display and portrait of Marine Corps Major General John A. Lejeune, who commanded the 2nd Division in France.
Sections on the Cold War and the Navy in space complete the exhibits. The Navy’s crucial work during the 1950 Inchon landing and in the air war over North Korea receive the attention they deserve, as does the Navy’s participation in the Vietnam War. From the Tonkin Gulf action, shore bombardment, the bombing of North Vietnam, and Swift boats and PBRs (river patrol boats) in South Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, to the Marines, the SEAL teams, and Navy POWs, the Vietnam naval war is covered, albeit briefly.
The “Technological Battle” exhibit features the work of Admirals Hyman Rickover and William Raborn in the development of nuclear submarines, the Albacore hull, the Polaris program, and fleet ballistic-missile submarines, as part of the hostile standoff with the Soviet Union. Close by, the “To the Brink of Nuclear War” exhibit documents the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, especially the ships and aircraft that participated in the naval quarantine of Cuban ports, eventually leading to the withdrawal of Soviet missiles from Cuba.
The Navy’s investment in space flight is shown through exhibits about Academy graduates who participated in these programs (Mercury, Gemini, Apollo) during the 1960s and ’70s. Academy astronauts included Alan Shepard Jr., Walter Schirra, Thomas Stafford, James A. Lovell, Donn Eisele, and William Anders, to name only a few of those alumni who dedicated their later careers to space flight.
A poignant story tells of the two Academy astronauts who lost their lives in space disasters: Captain Michael Smith, who died in the 1986 Challenger explosion, and Commander William McCool, the pilot of the Columbia, which disintegrated on returning to Earth’s atmosphere in 2003. As time passes, more individuals and programs will be added, although the future of manned space flight is somewhat uncertain at present as NASA considers new projects and redesigns its space vehicles.
A Story Still in the Making
Since reopening in 2009, the Naval Academy Museum is better than ever. Nonetheless, here are some suggestions for the future: As museum professionals know, successful exhibits require a wealth of artifacts, art, and images. Typically, these are usually lacking for more recent periods, but post–Cold War naval operations beg for coverage here, as one thinks of the Desert Shield and Desert Storm operations in the Middle East, the Balkan Wars of the 1990s, and the war on terrorism. Also, for increased creature comfort, it would be thoughtful if management would place more benches throughout the exhibits for visitors with physical challenges.
Aside from those matters, all who move through the renovated exhibits in Preble Hall will be impressed with the profusion of topics and displays that admirably cover and interpret the history of the Naval Academy and the U.S. Navy. Academy alumni classes, individual alumni, private corporations, the U.S. Naval Institute, and the Naval Academy Foundation have made significant gifts to enable this revitalized exhibit to come into being. For these generous acts, we should all be grateful.
Naval-Art Treasure Trove: Inside the Beverley R. Robinson Collection
By Robert Doane
How did the U.S. Naval Academy Museum come to possess thousands of prints depicting the naval history of Europe and the Americas from 1514 to 1945? It is thanks to Beverley R. Robinson, an attorney from New York who developed a passion for naval artwork while traveling through Europe.
In 1933 he met Admiral Thomas Hart, superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy, and learned of plans to build a new museum for the Academy. Robinson decided to loan his prints to the museum and left them as a gift on his death in 1951. In 1973 an endowment was established for the perpetual care of the collection and to provide for new acquisitions. Today, the original gift of 1,044 prints has grown to more than 6,000 pieces of artwork.
Robinson primarily collected scenes of ships and naval battles from the Age of Sail and the Age of Steam. Most of the prints are contemporary to the subjects they portray, the oldest being a map of the New World produced in 1550. Prints were immensely popular in the 18th and 19th centuries because they were more affordable for the general public than oil paintings. In an era when newspapers were the predominant form of mass communication, naval prints allowed even the illiterate to learn about the important battles of their time. The potential for big profits meant that printmakers sometimes stretched the truth or ignored it altogether if the facts were not dramatic enough to sell a lot of copies.
A famous example of this was the invasion scare that swept through Great Britain in 1798. Convinced that a French army was on its way to invade the southern coast of England, the British public, snatched up prints purporting to show a monster craft under construction in Brest that was intended to carry French soldiers across the English Channel. The “French Raft” was entirely fictitious, but that did not stop the printmaker from claiming that it was “accurately drawn from plans presented to the French Directory.”
As new prints are added, the scope of the Beverley R. Robinson Collection has expanded to include textiles, recruiting posters, ceramics, and newspapers. Some of the most entertaining images come from newspapers published during the golden age of political cartoons. “The Blockade on the ‘Connecticut Plan’” ridicules the federal government’s efforts to strengthen the U.S. Navy at the start of the Civil War. Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles received harsh criticism for appointing his brother-in-law, George D. Morgan, to purchase ships from private owners for federal service. Morgan was accused of taking unusually large commissions for ships that were sometimes barely seaworthy. The artist references the allegations against Morgan and accuses Welles of placing too many restrictions on the Navy’s operations, rendering the blockade of Confederate ports ineffective.
Because Beverley Robinson’s original collection was dominated by images of European navies, recent acquisitions have focused on increasing the number of American subjects represented in the collection. “Burning of the U.S. Ship of the Line Pennsylvania, 140 Guns” is a Currier & Ives lithograph depicting the final moments of the largest sailing ship ever made for the U.S. Navy. The most recent addition to the collection is a map of Boston showing the Battle of Bunker Hill. The engraving was made by a printmaker named John Norman and was the first map of the battle to be made in Boston. It reveals such details as the layout of the city’s streets during the Revolution, the British encampment on Boston Common, the landing in Charlestown, and the naval bombardment that took place during the 1775 battle.
As new items are added, the scope of the collection continues to expand. Acquisitions from the last three decades include images of the New Steel Navy from the late 1800s, lithographs made during the Spanish-American War, and recruiting posters from World Wars I and II. Today more than ever before, the Beverley R. Robinson Collection offers researchers and visitors a chance to see nearly 500 years of naval history as represented in visual culture.
The U.S. Naval Academy Museum is located in Preble Hall on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, 35 miles east of Washington, D.C., via U.S. Route 50 (Exit 24).
Visitors must show a valid photo ID (driver’s license, passport, etc.) at the Academy gate.
Admission is free, and the handicapped-accessible museum is open Monday through Saturday from 0900 to 1700, Sunday from 1100 to 1700.
The Naval Academy Museum also is home to the famed Rogers Ship Model Collection (see “Museum Report,” Naval History, April 2009, p. 72), so plan on seeing that as well when visiting.
For more information, call (410)293-2108 or visit www.usna.edu/Museum/visitor.htm.