i86 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



'Engineer's War-Engine/* simply an engine devised for destructive 

 rather than productive purposes in contest with others of its kind, and 

 demanding maximum possible offensive and defensive power. The 

 naval officer, whether he will or no, must therefore be an engineer, 

 actually, if not nominally, and whether on deck at the guns or below 

 at the source of power. The design, the construction and the operation 

 of this now complicated and powerful and enormously costly machine 

 are alike tasks in engineering, and whether the mind which produces 

 its part of the work is that of the mechanical and electrical engi- 

 neer, the naval architect or the ordnance deck-officer. This fact 

 became officially recognized when the famous 'Personnel Bill' was 

 enacted, at the suggestion of a board on which x4.dmiral Evans and the 

 then Assistant Secretary of the Navy Eoosevelt were strongly in- 

 fluential in supporting the view held by Melville. This radical change 

 was effected and we are still awaiting the outcome. 



The education of engineers at the U. S. Naval Academy, commenced 

 nearly forty years ago, is now become an essential feature of the 

 course for all its pupils. The 'fighting officers' of the navy have 

 now all necessarily become engineers, and the future of that service will 

 largely depend upon whether our ships are manned and officered by 

 amateurs or by experts of knowledge, experience, courage and judg- 

 ment. At present, the number of officers in the latter class is far too 

 small; but this defect should remedy itself promptly. The new 

 Naval Academy is the most complete and perfect institution of its 

 class, perhaps of any class in the educational world, which has ever 

 been seen or conceived; we are sending there for technical and general 

 training as fine a body of young men as can anywhere be found, and 

 the future history of our steam navy is likely to do no discredit to its 

 past, either in the days of Paul Jones or in those of Farragut. 



The successor of Admiral Melville is Rear-Admiral Charles ^Y. 

 Rae, a graduate of the Eensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an alumnus 

 of the Naval Academy, where he graduated with the first class in 

 engineering organized at that institution.! An officer of great ability 

 and of high distinction, he is well fitted to continue a progress based 

 upon modern science as well as upon advanced professional practise, 

 and which was so admirably illustrated during Melville's period of 

 service. The naval service has come to be perhaps the most impressive 

 and extensive field of application of science of modern times. 



* JJ. A. Revietc, December, 1897, ' The Engineer and his War-Engine.' 

 tTliis class of sixteen young men, coming from the colleges and technical 

 schools of the country, was organized during the period of service of the 

 writer at the Naval Academy and was one in which every naval officer felt 

 peculiar interest. Its members justified every hope and expectation of the 

 promoters of this new departure and showed admirably the value of a scientific 

 training for their work. 



