Today all the great naval services are forced to develop and train their own personnel for no longer can the merchant service of any country be depended upon to supply as of old either quarter-deck or the forecastle. This fact has long been recognized with regard to commissioned officers and die latter day development of naval progress in ships and guns requires that before the best topman of the old school can be considered an efficient man-of-war seaman he must be thoroughly trained in the handling of guns and gun mechanism and other mechanical devices to be found aboard the modern warship.
The training of men for the naval service is within the power and the province of naval officers outside of the navy there is no discussion as to the best details of training the country leaves such matters entirely to the naval officers and will provide the means that are said to be necessary. At present there are as many different methods of preliminary training as there are training-ships these methods approach each other in similarity in some respects and differ in others this paper is submitted in the belief that all methods used are not equally good and that naval officers should determine which is the best and that no other should be used.
There are three different periods of training, that at the barracks that on board training-ships and that on board ships in regular naval service it is the intention to discuss here the training-ship and how it may best accomplish its peculiar purpose.
The object of all training is skill and efficiency. In providing for the defense of the country, great designers and great builders have produced powerful war vessels these have been supplied with all manner of necessary equipment and appliances and each, when complete, represents in its class the latest product of naval science. These are turned over to the navy and of the navy the country demands that these vessels be as well handled and as well fought, as they have been well built thus it is the imperative duty of every person in the naval service to render himself efficient in the duties that devolve upon him. The history of our navy awakens the pride of every American, for it is glorious the honor and defense of the country are today entrusted to the navy thus the strongest incentives of past and of present must awaken in each member of the naval service an earnest desire that he may, by devotion to his duty, render himself efficient for such services as may be demanded of him. The ambition of every service is that each ship, whether acting singly or in squadron, may at all times be ready for any duty that may be required of it, whether in battle, or on peaceful mission. As provided by the country our ships are as near mechanical perfection as great ability and great means can build them. If historically, good men with poor ships are better than poor men with good ships, it should unanswerably follow that good men with good ships are invulnerable. The country provides the good ships and proper training provides the good men and thus proper training is imperatively demanded.
To be efficient it is essential that the members of a naval service should have pride, affection, and ambition in it. These qualities lacking means that duties will be but partly learned and poorly performed and the power of the ship for offense and for defense but partially developed. The commissioned and the enlisted personnel of the ship are complements of each other, each has its important duties, each must have had thorough training, each depends upon the other inefficiency on the part of one would lessen or destroy the efficiency of the ship. For the preliminary education of officers a great school exists where the young officer is so trained as to be properly started upon his naval career this school is of well-recognized excellence and there is neither expectation nor desire of change in its general characteristics. For the early training of the enlisted man a training service has been instituted if this is not all that could be desired it is because the navy has not authoritatively stated the exact nature, in all details, of what it should be.
Although but a few months are spent on board the training-ship, yet here the apprentice receives his first sea training and it is of particular importance that he be started right.
The character of what the training service should be, has been and is a subject of much discussion and at present there are different opinions regarding it. It is admitted that there are many excellent features to it and that it has produced in many instances excellent results but a feeling of doubt exists in the minds of many officers as to whether the training service is permanent in its present form and some believe that as it exists to-day it could be improved upon.
If there is any doubt as to the ability of the system in use at present on board training-ships to produce the best possible results, an imperative necessity demands that this doubt be settled this matter is of tremendous importance, for the country demands the best the best is within reach and nothing else should be considered.
The purposes of the training service are not only to develop the character of the young apprentice, to bring him into intimate knowledge of winds and seas to begin his naval training but also there should be naturally developed in each apprentice a liking for the navy and for the sea, so that a satisfactory percentage of graduates would remain in the naval service in after life the graduated apprentice in any of the industrial trades naturally expects to follow his trade throughout his life if his apprenticeship has been marked by thoroughness he will always be in demand; the same conditions should apply to the naval apprentice, the government has spent much upon his training and it should be regarded as a matter of course that he should remain in the naval service as a life vocation and his training should have been so thorough that to be an ex-apprentice should of itself be a guarantee of those qualities most desired in our seaman. If a fair percentage of ex-apprentices do not follow the naval service as a life's calling, the training service has partly failed in its purpose, this subject demands earnest study.
In the remarks that follow all of those who are being trained for the naval service are referred to as apprentices, whether they be in rate apprentices or landsmen.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE TRAINING SERVICE
The present training service is composed of the training stations at Newport, San Francisco and Port Royal, of 12 ships and of the officers and men on duty at these stations and attached to these ships. These stations and ships are separate units, all having a common chief in the Bureau of Navigation but each pursuing its mission by methods more or less different from the others.
There are at a time perhaps 1500 apprentices at the different stations and 2500 apprentices on board training-ships. The total displacement of training-ships in commission is 43,000 tons and of all ships in commission except receiving-ships is 238,000 tons, or 18 per cent of the tonnage of all ships in commission is in the training service. Of 960 officers of all grades and corps at sea, 193, or 20 per cent, are serving on board training-ships, as is, also about 15 per cent of the entire enlisted force of the navy these figures show that the importance to the navy of the training-ship is well recognized by those in high authority the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation and his assistant chief have many other duties besides those pertaining to the training service, though it would seem that the particular features of this service so different from service in squadron, should be directed by officers detailed for this special duty. It is submitted that there should be established an Office of Naval Training, which should bear to the training service the same relation that the Commander in Chief and his staff bear to the squadron.
Preferably the Chief of the Office of Naval Training should be the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation. To this Office of Naval Training should be submitted all questions and matters pertaining to the training service such an office would become a repository Of knowledge and of inestimable value.
One of the first duties of the Office of Naval Training would be to determine the type of ship which would accomplish the best results in a six months training cruise; another duty of pressing importance would be to determine the best methods of drills and instruction for such a cruise.
We have today as training-ships with identical purposes which are the first trainings at sea of apprentices a great battleship, a number of converted freight steamers, several ships with sails and also steam power and several with sails only. One would naturally think that with such a peculiar mission as has the training-ship, with so much to accomplish in so short a time, the training-ship should be of a particular type. The use of such dissimilar ships as training-ships may be ascribed partly to expediency, having these ships available and there being a great need of training-ships and also because the navy has never definitely stated just what type of ship was best suited for the purposes of the training service. It is so necessary that certain definite things should be indelibly stamped upon the character of the apprentice during his first cruise, that all training cruises should be similar with regard to methods of drill and instruction. The Indiana and the Alliance differ so widely in all respects that it must follow that the effects produced are different and not of equal excellence.
The mission of the training-ship is to bring the apprentice for the first time in working contact with the sea, to drill him in ways of usefulness, to teach him sea customs and navy discipline. The type of ship and method of drills and instruction should naturally develop his character in desirable respects, should lay the broad foundations on which future usefulness is to be built. Are all types of ships equally suited for training-ships?
The same kind of reasoning that points to one particular type of ship as best for training also emphasizes the fact that there should be one uniform system of drills and instruction in use in all training-ships. The training cruise lasts but six months, therefore it is necessary that the most efficient use should be made of the time, there are twelve training-ships, and twelve different methods of drills and instruction, these methods approach each other in some respects and differ in others, at present, when a captain takes command of a training-ship, he makes out his routine of drills and instruction, which he sends to the Navy Department for approval, the method in use by his predecessor is not always approved by the succeeding captain, and the method used in each training-ship is not permanent in character, on board some training-ships a specialty is made of seamanship on board others a specialty is made of gunnery the hours of instruction vary with the ship and also does the number of apprentices taught by each officer on the training cruises of the Annapolis each officer had 19 apprentices to instruct, of the Dixie, each officer, assisted by a warrant officer, has 112 apprentices and of the Essex each has 35 apprentices to drill and instruct. The hours for drill and instruction vary according to the ship; thus on board the Essex the periods are from 9.30 to 10.30 A.M., 10.45 to 11.30 A.M. and 1.30 to 2.15 P.M. while on board the Dixie they are from 9.30 to II A.M. and from 1.30 to 3.00 P.M. Summing up the training service of today it may be said to be composed of all sorts and types of ships, each differing more or less from its fellow in its interior organization each ship differs from the others with respect to methods and times of drills and instruction, with the number of apprentices to be taught and trained by each officer and with regard to the appliances on board to assist in the training. It would be difficult to conceive of a service composed of units, which, having the same mission, vary more in character and methods of training than do our training-ships. The Office of Naval Training would determine the best type and best method the training-ships then built would be from the same model and the same uniform method of drills and instruction would be carried on in all and such orders and changes as would seem from time to time to be advisable would take place at the same time in all the ships.
THE PURPOSE OF THE TRAINING-SHIP
The training of the apprentice is divided into three stages: the first occurs at the training station and lasts from six to nine months, the second is the training cruise, which lasts for six months and the third stage is on board ships in regular service and lasts until the apprentice reaches the age of twenty one years or when he is discharged. It is not the purpose here to discuss at length either the first or the last stage of the training of apprentices. The excellence of the results of the preliminary barrack training is immediately manifested when the apprentice is received aboard the training-ship. He has received much drill at various duties he will, without hesitation, go aloft and lay out upon a yard, he will fall into his part of the ship according to his billet with certainty and will immediately set about to perform his prescribed duties with but little confusion, he slings his hammock and cares for his bag is of some use in making and furling sail and in general ship duties he has upon the deck, it commands the ship, it paints the picture, it delivers the oration, it writes the book, it is the finest quality of gifts and of life!"
An examination of the routine of drills and instruction of some of our training-ships would convince one that their purpose, particularly, was to impart information to the apprentices and that the development of character was an incidental rather than a chief end. In one of our present training-ships the routine requires that in seamanship each apprentice be instructed in the following subjects:
Parts of boats and kinds of boats, exercising boats under sails and under oars, fleet tactics of boats, tacking, wearing and reefing boats under sail, light-houses, buoys, running lights, fog signals, rules of the road, hand lead and line, deep sea lead and line, Thompson's patent sounding machine, the chip and patent logs, ground and current logs, the construction of the compass, boxing the compass, the helm, the thermometer, barometer, chronometer, names of all parts of the ship and ship fittings, names and uses of head booms, foremast, mainmast and mizzen mast, kinds and parts of blocks, the standing rigging of head booms, foremast, mainmast and mizzen mast, names, use, how fitted and how set up, fitting light standing rigging, rigging derricks, running rigging of all parts of ship, the handling of tackles and purchases, all of the sails of the ship and their gear, bending, and furling and reefing topsails, kinds and parts of anchors and cables and handling them, ground tackle, the study of tides, the steam windlass, bends and hitches, knots, splices, seizing’s, whipping, pointing, mousing, sennett, worm parcel and serve, strapping blocks, the different kinds of rope and of small stuff, splicing wire rope.
The above is an excellent course in practical seamanship but it may be questioned whether the apprentice who stands watch on and off, who has many ship duties and who must devote much time to other branches of instruction, can really make thorough progress throughout such a course in six months, it is probable that he would retain but a smattering, for he could learn only a little thoroughly. To take a class of 112 young men through such a course would mean that it would be impossible for each of the 112 to receive much personal instruction and each period of instruction would practically amount to a lecture, where but a few could have any individual work to do. It is individual work that will accomplish most in teaching the apprentices they are not suited either by character or desire to gain much knowledge through lectures. It would be far better if slower progress were made but thoroughness insisted upon on the part of each apprentice in each step. As a practical illustration of the working of the above course there was time for the officer to instruct each apprentice in heaving the lead but once during the training cruise. Sincere efforts were made on the part of all officers to have the instruction as thorough as possible and if the attainments were not as thorough as could be desired, the instructor had to content himself with the knowledge that all had been done for the apprentice that was possible in the time allowed.
At the same time that the apprentice is being drilled in seamanship, it is required that he be instructed in gunnery in each of the following subjects:
The manufacture of the 4-inch, the 6 pdr and the 1 pdr. Rapid fire guns, the description of guns and metal used in construction, the nomenclature of guns, mounts, implements and equipment’s instruction of stations at guns, of sights and sighting allowances for wind, speed of ship and roll of ship; exercise at stations and change of stations, the study of the different breech mechanisms, firing attachments, instruction at overhauling, care and preservation of battery, the different kinds of ammunition, with the distinguishing marks, the mechanism of all fuses and primers in use in the naval service, the preparations of the same for use, accidents incident to the use of the battery and the methods of repairing the same, directions for mounting, dismounting, cleaning and keeping in order the guns of the main and secondary battery, the same for the Colt Automatic Gun, firing pins, recoil cylinders and liquids used, description of magazines, the methods by which they are lighted, flooded, drained and ventilated, the estimation of distances, the practice of sighting and of getting ranges, the nomenclature of small arms taking apart and assembling the service rifle and pistol, the school of the squad and of the company; artillery and battalion drill, dress parade, the battalion in light and heavy marching order and equipped for landing, formation for street riots, bayonet and sword exercise, cuts, parries, attacks, returns, compound attacks, signals, army, navy, and Very's Codes, night, sound and fog signals; general signals; international, geographical, telegraphic, helm, speed, compass, distant and weather signals.
The excellence of this course of instruction in seamanship and gunnery is not questioned nor could any part of it be considered as unnecessary to the knowledge of the man-of-war's man but what it is desired to emphasize is that thoroughness is one of the qualities most desirable to be developed in the apprentice's character and while, even with this ambitious course, a satisfactory degree of thoroughness might almost be accomplished during a six months' training cruise where the officer had twenty apprentices to instruct, it would be impossible where the officer had one hundred and twelve. What the apprentice needs is individual instruction and individual work he learns easily by doing but with great difficulty by hearing. The apprentice is young and has had but little previous mental cultivation, he should be taught in ways adapted to his limitations.
Though sails have passed, yet seamanship, which may said to be the knowledge in detail, of the efficient care add handling of all classes of ships in all circumstances, is now as necessary to the man-of-war's man as it ever was the manly, courageous, handy and active seamen are still necessary to the efficient ship the training cruise presents exceptional opportunities for learning details of seamanship, which will be more rarely met with by the apprentice later in ships in squadron, not but what they there exist but because for much of the time he will be specially detailed for other duties and also because he will not receive the individual instruction that he gets aboard the training-ship. After leaving the training-ship he will have constant work with the battery of the ship to which he is attached. It thus seems that the chief feature of the training-ship cruise should be seamanship, not that gunnery be cut out of the training cruise, but that under some circumstances the time hitherto given to some of the minor gunnery drills be devoted to seamanship. Some years ago, while in command of the training-ship Essex, Captain Dinkins recommended to the Navy Department "that infantry, artillery, pistols, broadswords and gymnastics be omitted at sea, as they may be better taught in port and the time given to sails, spars, marlinspike seamanship, lead, log, and compass."
There is so much that is not uniform in our present methods of training apprentices that it may be possible to learn something from the methods in vogue in training apprentices for the industrial trades, one is here strongly impressed by the fact that absolute thoroughness is required in each step before the apprentice is allowed to pass to the next task, it is surely as necessary that the naval apprentice should be as well trained in the various steps in his apprenticeship, as is the industrial apprentice, yet imagine the kind of tradesmen that would be produced should the foreman go around to the different machines and required tasks with 112 not over intelligent young apprentices and to be so rushed by the great number of different machines or tasks to be explained that but few of the 112 apprentices have opportunity to do much individual work and this rush to different tasks to continue for six months! What useful knowledge or skill would these apprentices have acquired? And yet there are times on board training ships when the conditions approach this imaginary state of affairs in shops on shore.
In what has preceded an attempt has been made to emphasize the importance of thoroughness in naval training, the seaman can have no more desirable quality than that of thoroughness in all that he does, where the character of the apprentice is admirably developed, much information at the same time will have been acquired, for the development of character and acquirement of information are always coincident. If the instruction of apprentices is not thorough in effect, time has been wasted and there is danger of undesirable characteristics being developed, to the apprentice who has been thoroughly trained there comes a self respect that always exists with a knowledge of usefulness, the captain to whom they are sent from the training service would receive apprentices who had been thoroughly trained in a few subjects, with great satisfaction they would be of immediate usefulness and fitted for further advancement in knowledge of their calling. The person thorough in his calling aspires to no other, the apprentice should be so thoroughly trained in his, that he looks forward to a life's work in the navy with satisfaction and content.
Admiral Luce and other distinguished officers have, at different times, with force and clearness, stated the type of ship best suited for training purposes and their expressions are as true today as when uttered, for though ships may change yet the character necessary to the men who fight them must remain the same, thus again it is accentuated that "Education should, first of all, mean development in character." If this be made the chief purpose of the training cruise, if the type of the ship and method of drills and instruction be selected with this chief end in view, in addition to the desirable development in character, the apprentice will acquire much useful information.
The modern warship is so essentially different from its predecessor that doubt is sometimes expressed as to whether the training received by the old time sailor-man, good as was its purpose, is the best for the battleship seaman of today whose duties are so dissimilar. The propeller has replaced the sails, the valve has replaced gear, the steering engine the wheel and in many ways steam and electricity now do what muscle formerly did besides skill in their calling, the men who in former days fought our sailing ships were famous for courage, daring, self-reliance, resourcefulness and activity, no one would maintain that these qualities are less needed by the crews of modern warships in battle than they were by the crews of the old frigates nor would one say that the daring that inspired the followers of Decatur, Somers or Cushing is less to be desired now than when that daring brought glory to our country. Although a different kind of skill is required, the same qualities of manhood are demanded of our enlisted man, whether he be tending gear at the mainmast, or operating an electric hoist in a 12-inch gun turret. It is well to remember that however great be the skill acquired by the modern man-of-war's man in his various duties, in battle this skill will desert him if he has not the grand qualities of manhood to back it up, it therefore will not do to take it for granted that in the acquirement of information he will also, incidentally, have his character developed as desired. During his training cruise the character of the apprentice is in a most impressionable state and it is desirable that the most striking effect be made upon it, this effect should not be overpowering, but should rather awaken the interest of the apprentice, the use of a great battleship to teach the apprentice might, in some respects, be likened to an attempt to teach the beginner in the study of any science by the use of the greatest works of the deepest, most abstruse authority on the subject.
It seems to be a question to-day as to whether the Indiana or the Alliance is best suited for training-ship purposes, however true it is that the sailing-ship has gone out of date, however unnecessary sailing ship skill may be to the modern man-of-war's man, it is certain that the most desirable qualities of the seaman of today be he officer or enlisted man, have unfailingly been developed by the sailing-ship. It may not be amiss to remember that the admirals and the captains, with their officers and crews, who, within recent date so completely destroyed Spain's naval power, received their early training in sailing-ships, the thoroughness of the work done is evidence of the efficiency of this training. While viewing at Cavite the wrecks of what had been Montojo's squadron, Captain Burke, famous in the British navy as an ordnance expert said: "Had I commanded this squadron and had these ships been manned by British crews, there might be a different history of this battle." The inference is that proper training is necessary to naval success.
Much advice on this subject has been given by those well entitled to confidence. Admiral Luce said in 1890: "The school of the topman was literally the school of danger, it prepared the man-of-war's man as no other school could, for his duties at the gun. The gun captain, above all, must be possessed of those very qualities which were the product of the severe training of topmen physical courage, self-possession, endurance."
Captain Chadwick has said: "We want first and above all the manly, courageous, handy and active man our training squadron should be one of sail only."
"No boy, no man, can be in the habit of furling a topgallant sail on a breezy day or of reefing sails in a gale without acquiring certain qualities of the highest order such as those mentioned." Lieutenant-Commander Harlow has said:
"It is my sincere belief that square yard and sail training is the corner stone and cap stone of the seaman and officer as much today as in the times of John Paul Jones to withhold a single chance from the naval apprentice handicaps his value as a helmsman or a gunner, deprives him of that development which will carry him with firm set nerves right up to and through the dreadful crisis of the ram or the torpedo."
"Away with your sails, if you please, strip your masts of their yards but after you have done so, produce me a man to compare fertility of resource, in keen judgment, in fearlessness, in dash, in courage, in leadership, in all that makes a manly man, with the one who has been trained at the weather earring or in smothering mad billows of a thrashing sail! You can't do it." It was the admirable character, not skill that urged the Gloucester amongst enemies of overwhelming power, it was character and skill that made her so formidable. The sentiment that prompted Paul Jones, when he was apparently defeated, to cry out "I have not yet begun to fight" has won more than one battle, such sentiments have characterized the history of the navy, and must be perpetuated.
The sailing-ship is better suited than the steamship to develop in the apprentice a liking for his calling. Each of the apprentice crew of the former shares the responsibility of handling her, usefulness awakens interest. In the steamship there is a feeling of reliance upon the propeller, rather than upon self. Great personal exertion for the care and safety of the steamship is required of comparatively few and bad weather is a signal for all but these few to get under cover.
THE SIZE OF THE TRAINING-SHIP
The particular purpose of the training-ship should determine its size. Admiral Luce has said:
"Formerly the best and most thorough school of training for the young seaman was on board the merchant sailing-ship engaged in foreign trade, this was due to the smaller crew of a merchant ship as compared to a sloop of war and as a consequence, the greater and more constant demand for personal exertion."
The force of this statement must appeal to every one interested in this subject. The lesson to be drawn is that the crews of training-ships should be small, no matter how great the ship there can be but one wheel, one stem, one stern, with comparatively small crews, each apprentice will have more individual work to do, will receive more individual instruction and should be more thoroughly trained. Of the 450 apprentices on board the Prairie it will not be possible for each to have much experience in a six months' cruise, at the weather wheel, it is upon the weather helmsman that responsibility rests and it is he who really learns. The lee helmsman seldom uses his mind; he knows that the responsibility for proper steering does not rest upon him, and that his advice is not wanted. In her training cruises the Annapolis carried 76 apprentices; it is probable that each of these received more thorough instruction and training than each of the 450 apprentices of the Dixie received during her training cruises. This would not be due in the slightest degree to lack of zeal and sincere effort on the part of the Dixie's officers but simply because of the fact that the Annapolis would naturally be the better instrument for the purpose. At the Naval Academy the instructor teaches but eight or nine cadets in the section room at a time, and at drills each cadet receives much individual direction, thus thoroughness is insured, it is only in training-ships and colleges that an instructor, who in this case is a lecturer, has anything like 112 students to lecture to. The importance of thoroughness in training should be accentuated at the very beginning of the apprentice's education, the apprentice who has not, because of any reason, been thoroughly instructed during his training cruise, may never have this quality of thoroughness developed and the ex-apprentice who is not thorough is not encouraged to remain in the naval service. It is but an unsatisfactory per cent of the graduates of the training service who follow the navy as a calling, as a rule those who do are efficient and desirable and are therefore encouraged to remain and naturally they have a genuine liking for the service every officer has known many instances of poor, inefficient ex-apprentice of whom nothing could be made who were therefore not desirable and naturally were not encouraged to remain in the service, such men as these invariably lack thoroughness, they did not acquire it at the beginning of their training, nor did they ever pick it up afterwards. It is probable that had the early training of some of these men been more thorough they would have acquired habits of character that would have made them desirable and that they would have naturally remained in the navy.
It is submitted that much better results in drills and instruction would be accomplished by an officer detailed to teach 20 apprentices than by one, assisted by a warrant officer, detailed to teach 112 apprentices, a sailing-ship carrying four divisions of apprentices, with 20 apprentices to a division, would be better suited for training than would a steamship carrying four divisions, each of 112 apprentices, such a sailing-ship should preferably be brig rigged and of about 500 tons displacement, with no steam power whatever, it would be staunch and properly handled, safe in any kind of weather, this ship would require one officer to command, one officer combining the duties of executive and navigator, four watch and division officers, an assistant paymaster, and an assistant surgeon. The crew should be composed of 1 chief boatswain's mate, 3 boatswain's mates, 4 quartermasters, 8 captains of parts of ship, 4 coxswain’s, 4 seamen and 4 masters at arms, with such men in gunnery ratings and below deck ratings as might be necessary, and 80 apprentices. With this crew there would be in a watch 8 men and 40 apprentices, besides the quartermaster, boatswain's mate, and master at arms, which would be ample for handling the ship. In each part of the ship in a watch there would be two men and ten apprentices and thus there would be many opportunities for much individual work and instruction. The apprentice would soon feel that he was of decided use and importance in the working of the ship, his interest would be kindled, his ambition stimulated, a love for the sea and for the navy would naturally be inspired, the training would be thorough, the whole tendency of the cruise would be to develop in each apprentice qualities of manliness, courage, handiness, and activity.
And the effect of such training upon the young officer detailed for duty in such ships! Imagination glows in thinking of the benefits he would receive, the qualities of quickness of perception, judgment, self-reliance, resource, that would naturally come to him in such a service, such as our older officers have always had such as naturally come quicker and easier to those who must depend upon their own judgment without the help of the propeller. Experienced officers have said that the officer of the deck of the modern warship is always much benefited if he has had sailing-ship experience.
For the present needs of the training service twenty-five brigs as described in constant commission would be sufficient the battery of this brig has not been discussed, naturally it would be a number of small caliber rapid fire guns.
The expense of a training fleet of 25 brigs, such as described, would be much less that the cost of the ships at present used for training, the number of officers required would be about the same as are now detailed for training-ships, but the officers would be younger and of less rank, with 25 brigs for training-ships, many men employed both in seaman and fire room branches would be available for the general service and also some marines, there would be no coal expenditure, except for the galley, no wear and tear of machinery necessitating costly repairs. Summing up, it may be said that if the training fleet were composed of sailing-ships of small size better results would be obtained than are at present, at a much reduced cost to the government.
THE PRESCRIBED ROUTINE OF DRILLS AND INSTRUCTIONS
So many different routines have been used in training-ships that it would not be difficult for the Office of Naval Training to create one which would produce good results, it would be natural that the commanding officer of each training-ship should be directed to comment on the prescribed routine, to point out any defects or weakness that he might notice in it and to make recommendations with regard to it, the captains of ships to which the apprentices are sent from the training-ships would also be required to make recommendations regarding the value of this early training, with suggestions pertaining to it and the Office of Naval Training would from time to time make such changes in the routine required to be followed in the training-ships, as would seem advisable in this way at all times the first sea training of apprentices would be exactly what the navy as a whole believed to be the best and what it wanted.
It is the custom for the chaplains attached to the training-ships to give occasional lectures to the apprentices, these lectures as a rule are upon subjects connected with the places that are visited. In place of these lectures and with the particular purpose of developing the character of apprentices in desirable respects, there should be furnished to each training-ship lithograph copies of the paintings of our famous sea fights, a course of twelve lectures, one given every two weeks, could be made interesting and effective. One lecture should deal with one battle and during the lecture the illustrations of the fight that is being described should be displayed, the apprentices would be told of brave deeds and glorious victories, their imaginations would be most powerfully appealed to, the intent of this course of lectures and its actual effect upon the apprentices should be to instill in them the feeling that they are the direct successors of those heroes who followed Paul Jones, Decatur, Hull, Winslow and others to victory. Let every apprentice know something of his country's naval history and be made to feel that all of the training he receives is to fit him to be a worthy successor of those who have brought so much credit to our naval service.