In the death of Rear Admiral Goodrich, the American Navy lost an officer widely known for his distinguished professional attainments. The Naval Institute has lost one of its charter members.
It appears appropriate, therefore, that the pages of the Proceedings should render tribute to the honor of one who was an ex-president of the Institute, and who for over half a century labored for its success. Further, the Admiral was the prize essayist of 1898, the winning essay being entitled "Esprit de Corps—A Tract for the Times," a paper that has been not without great influence in moulding the character and morale of the commissioned personnel in our rapidly expanding Navy since that date. He was ever in the van in the struggle for the advancement of naval education.
His character may be best exemplified by a quotation from the essay referred to above:
…esprit de corps is the moral foundation of the edifice of naval efficiency, as well as the inspiration of individual success. Where esprit de corps is present the ship is harmonious and well-disciplined; where it is absent, discord and inefficiency prevail. Sound organization demands the concurrent efforts of all toward a common end, the good of the service; in other words the recognition and guidance of esprit de corps. The seaman’s art is valueless and his education is incomplete without it. There is no part of an officer’s obligations and duties more vitally essential than the cultivation of this cardinal principle. By precept and example it should be especially drilled into the minds of those just embarking upon a naval career, until it becomes a second nature, entering into and controlling each act. Only to those who carefully take its lessons to heart is the full fruition of a naval life possible. It is the A B C of the profession, the primer of our art…This much, at least, is certain, no relief to the body of officers and no gentle improvement of the service as a whole can be obtained so long as individual interests are fostered at the expense of the Navy at large and so long as esprit de corps is regarded as of antiquarian or transcendental interest rather than recognized and proclaimed as a living and compelling force, the only bond by which to unite all the members of the naval profession, whatever be their rank or corps, in a homogenous body of faithful, loyal, and patriotic servants.