20 
Land & Water 
May 2, 19 1 8 
of a score or more striving for that honour from his Congres- 
sional district, which contains, roughly, a population of from 
two to three hundred thousand. 
As nearly as tlie comparison can be made, the four years' 
course at the Annapolis Naval Academy covers about the 
same ground that the British cadet covers in his two years 
at Osborne, the same period (since the war somewhat reduced) 
so that he is competent ultimately to perform the duties of any 
officer on any ship of the Navy, but actually to require him 
to serve several years in each of such various capacities as 
engineer, navigator, gunnery, or torpedo ofiicer. 
This system gives the officer who has been through the 
mill an incomparable experience by the time he attains 
his captaincy, but the number of good men (who might 
at Usbome, the same period (since the war somewhat reduced) his captamcy, but the number 01 good me 
at Dartmouth, and his first year as a midshipman. Since have made most excellent specialists) who "fell b'y the 
the average age of entrance to Osborne is about thirteen wayside" because they were not able to stand the pace 
and a half, and to Annapohs about sixteen, it is'difficult to '""■ ""-f'f"<"" f"-- "^^ -rr^ot o ranorp nf Hiifif.« matpc nnn rir.i,K+ 
compare the entrance requirements or the courses. As the 
British cadet has about two and a half years the start of the 
.American in the matter of age, it follows that the latter 
— to reach an equality of training, if not of rank, at twenty — 
must cover in four years the same ground which the former 
does in six and a half. This, I should say, he comes pretty 
near to accomplishing. 
The fact that the American Navy was less than half of the 
for quahfying for so grea.t a range of duties makes one doubt 
if it is practicable for any nation situated otherwise than 
was the United States up to its entry into the present war — 
that is, with a huge population and a modest navy. With 
the development of the modern man-of-war, the increasing 
mastery of technical detail which such duties as those of 
torpedo or gunnery officer entail would seem to make it 
inevitable that such officers should not be required to divert 
their attention or energies to anything else. This fact we 
nj ii.- * i j._ a^^i.^^ K,.^u .'« i-u„ J. ;__• 
ic icu-i inai ine .'vmencan iNavy was less tJian Halt ol the tneir attention or energies to anyining eise. inis ract we 
size of the British, while the population from which officers may confidently expect to see reflected both in the training 
could^be dra\vn was more than twice that of the British of the cadet at Annapolis and in American naval practice 
before very long — 
perhaps even during 
the war. 
The fact that — as 
was only natural — the 
United States Navy, 
when it was formed 
during the Revolu- 
tionary War, was 
modelled on the only 
other Navy of which 
the colonials had ex- 
perience — the British 
— is responsible for 
many^. similarities in 
the forms and 
practices of. the re- 
spective services to- 
day. The gold sleeve 
or shoulder stripes 
indicating the rank of 
officers are practically 
identical, save only 
that the Americans 
replace the British 
executive "curl" with 
a star. The American 
Marine even retains 
the silver half-globe 
Isles, made it possible 
for Annapolis to insist 
on a mental and phy- 
sical standard in its 
entrants calculated to 
make them equal to 
the very stiff years of 
work ahead of them. 
The system of naming 
as "alternative" the 
boy who passed 
"Number 2" in the 
competitive entrance 
examination also made 
it possible to weed out 
and replace in the 
first year any cadet 
who began to lag 
behind his class. 
Not only was the 
"book " and class 
room work at Anna- 
polis a good deal stiffer 
than in the corres- 
ponding years at 
Osborne and Dart- 
mouth, but the year 
was a longer one in 
point of work. At 
Osborne the cadet spent three terms of three months 
each, with the other three months of the year divided into his 
Easter, Summer, and Christmas holidays. At Annapolis 
there was something like nine months of work at the 
academy proper, with the summer months spent in cruising 
on a training ship. 
At the end of four years — or at about the age of twenty — 
the American cadet, on passing the examinations, received 
the rank of ensign— corr^ponding to the British sub-lieu- 
tenant — and began his sea career as an officer. The British 
midshipman usually managed to;, qualify for his first stripe 
at a somewhat earlier age than' his American cousin, and 
this start tended to increase rather than decrease as he 
climbed the ladder of promotion. Speaking very roughly, 
the British lieutenant appears to average two or three years 
younger than his American "opposite," the lieutenant- 
commander three or four, the commander three to five, 
and the captain five to seven. 
Of the training of the cadets in the British and American 
naval institutions, only the briefest comparison is possible 
here. On the physical side there is very little difference, 
both giving the greatest encouragement to outdoor exercise 
and bodily development. Each pays equal attention to 
aquatics— rowing, swimming, and sailing— and American 
U.S.N. Destroyer Crossing the Atlantic 
which is so characteristic a feature of the badge of the Royal 
Marine of the British Navy. In manning guns, and even whole 
turrets, with Royal Marines, it would appear that the British 
Navy has progressed rather farther than has the American 
from the time when this "anachronistic amphibian," as some 
one has called him, was carried principally to swarm over 
the rail with a cutlass when the old ships of the line closed 
in a death grapple. In general multifarity of duties, however, 
there is little to choose between this always useful "soldier- 
and-sailor-too " of either service. 
The comparatively short term of service in the American 
Navy was responsible for the fact that the Yankee man-o'- 
wars-man was a good deal less of a "jolly Jack Tar" in 
appearance than his British cousin, a difference which has 
been accentuated since America entered the war by the 
necessity of an even further "dilution" of landsmen. The 
practice of allowing the American sailor to wear a sweater 
and toboggan cap, except on "dress" occasions, has also 
tended to make him smack less of the sea than the flowing- 
collared sailorman who will be performing similar 
duties on a Bntish ship. Since the fighting of the modern 
warship is about 90 per cent, "mechanical" and 10 per cent. 
■ "fh ^'v' ,''°'^^'^f' ^^^ la<:k of the "Yo-heave-ho" touch 
football gives the Annapoiis°cadet-the™s^''e v^'o^ourmTni; Sn the^'ntrTry'lLXd^the ^Ir^lTZt'lf '^"'r""'. 
training as it does those of Osborne and Dartmouth come to sea mav indicate that h7h.f . n.u "^^^ ^"'^ 
Baseball and cricket are more or less the same. in mas^.rin.^h^ "^f'w;'?! ^l^.^_'P^"* ^" ^.^^ .^ore time 
BasebaJ! and cricket are more or less the same. 
On the technical side there was also a good deal of simi- 
larity in the training, though it seems probable that the 
"specialisation,'- which is the principal differentiation between 
• „ „. . ., " . , . . "^ ""^ opcui ail tiic more ume 
in mastenng the intncacies of machinery and electricity and 
the other things which enter so much into the efficiency of 
the present-day fighting-ship. 
To quote my American naval friend again, both navies 
the British and American naval officer (who is given an have man7th7ngs tSare dllrJt k?^'"' ^°'^ '''■^''' 
"aU-round" preparation), is being given Vore and more execuSve^systeT SaSn^^^^^^^^^ 
attention in the British schools as the necessity of turning pride in itsowXnssTheJf...^f\^I^ ^^^^ t "'''"'"^ 
out officers rapidly has increased during the w^. The fact Lvy the otS^r can p?ofit bv bu^ ^ie^tS^?'^^^^'' '^'^ 
that It IS the Bntish rather than the^American officer who bearing in mind that eve^hin^ new <■>,?« I t^^^^'l '' 
is trained as a "specialist" presents a curious anomaly, for to offer it has been twJH^nH^ ^ the British Navy has 
generally speaking, the United States is, of all the nations penence whUe ^U the new thinr U \l t^ T^ ^^"^ T 
m the worid, the one where specialisation is carried to the British Navy have oiUy bel ou^^to Lt . *°. f^' ^^^ 
greatest length. Yet the fact remains that it has always now that American ships are^havfn,? .*™f ^^'*'- ■ ^"^ 
been the American practice not only to train the naval cadet that is beingXred rapSy ^ P'^*'*"'^^ experience. 
