Naval Customs Traditions and Usage
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
r:-. 1 naval customs traditions and usage LIEUTENANT COMMANDER LELAND P. LOVETTE U. S. NAVY ty,'t.kutiri. St*' '. $2.0Q Postpaid UNITED STATES NAVAL INSTITUTE ANNAPOLISj MARYLAND iiblisliecl in 1816 and Avho by their bravery the applause of their lispiece of The Naval PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION The major portion of the contents of this book was presented in a series of lectures to a group of student officers at the Post graduate School, Annapolis, Maryland. The lectures comprised the directives of a specific course in customs, traditions, social usage,and regulations pertaining to honors and ceremonies. At tention was directed to actual mistakes in honors and cere monies that have been made in the past, and general discus sions were centered on those debatable, perplexing situations where only precedent and good judgment may guide. Sufficient rearrangement was made of the lectures in order that the follow ing pages might answer some of the questions asked by those interested in the Navy. The ample purpose that served to inaugurate the course needs no justification. Itappeared most desirable that the course should not only cover the existing regulations and usage, but go a step further and examine the origin of our well established cus toms and language of the sea. A brief excursion was made also in the field of tradition—the binding force of the Service. And so, in conformance with the conception of the course desired, the following mission was formulated: To leam existing regulations of ceremonies, salutes, and honors, and by student research and lecture presentation to lay emphasis upon outstanding customs, traditions, nautical phraseology, usage, and courtesies of the Navy in order to develop in students a finer recog nition of their worth and effectiveness. The mission was approached from several directions, each more or less independent. Not only was it hoped that by this method the subject would be encompassed, but also that by an examination of each direction the student officer would be stimulated to further thought along the line pursued. For example, it was considered that the well-rounded officer should not only know and observe "sea manners" and the customs of the Service, but also be thoroughly familiar with the best social PREFACE vm usage o£ his time. The matter of precedence among our ovra as well as foreign officials was touched upon. It was an aim in the social customs phase of the coui-se to impress &e nrcessity of knowing at any time-what to do, when to do it, an ow. There was another phase that could not be neglected. That was. inquiry into the salutary e£Eect on dsprit de corps o£ dig nified ceremony, and the value of the correct observance of well established naval conventions. As the Japanese phr^e it, land and sea forces must observe the etiquette of discipline. The Commander-in-Chief and the lowest soldier have their func tions one toward the other. ^ The fact that our finer customs, ceremomes, and court«ies comprise asplendid heriuge; that upon their practical applira- tion and observance depend so much that is vital to the Navy, all in all. made every phase of the work one of absorbing interest. And such studies, if they taught nothing else, taught (if the past is areliable guide) that ittakes something more than an educa tion, auniform, and acommission to effect alove for the Servic^ In this connection, due to the recent minority recommendation of one of the Board of Visitors of the Naval Academy as to the advisability of a more advanced curriculum, with older and more highly educated admissions, the New York Times of 19 July, 1933. said in an editorial. "Besides could comradeship, loyalty to the Service, and emulation which now make the corp^ so homogeneous and efficient, be inculcated in so short atime? I do not believe that it can. u ^ I found after the initial research that the mission embraced astudy of formidable proportions. For, it was soon apparent that the research ran in divers channels, that the authorities were many, and that some matters I wanted to invetipte were shrouded in the mists of hearsay and tradition. Also, slight differences of opinion in the Service were found in the realm of the non scripta of our o^vn usage. For ^ while in uniform to take off one s cap to ladies? Are you on aship or "in" aship? Do you hoist aflag or break a of aflag officer? So, should readers discover omissions which they »The Japanese Rescript to the Army and Navy. January 4. 1882. PREFACE ix regard as serious, an opinion orinterpretation in which they do not concur, please consider the compilation as an outline of facts, definitions, regulations, and traditions, as well as an at tempt toset forth the best accepted usage that could be gained from the information known and obtainable. Some areas had to be navigated partly by "dead reckoning." Accordingly, the study makes no pretension to completeness; but it may adum brate in a restricted compass thegeneral nature of a broad sub ject. I have done my best to make the book one of convenientref erence by collating under theappendixes a part ofthe useful in formation that at one time or another the officer will have oc casion to use. Thenautical phraseology and terms are included in a separate chapter. Most of the definitions of our every-day sea language are well known, but their origins and derivations may prove of interest. It would have been a useless repetition to quote naval regulations relating to honors and ceremonies; nevertheless there has been included in the third chapter a useful table covering the salient features of all honors and cere monies. This table was compiled inthe Fleet, and slight changes were made tobring it to date. The bibliography may be useful to those who care to go further into the study of sea life, cus toms, and usage. I desire to express my sincere thanks to Captain F. H. Sadler, U.S.N., who as Head of the Postgraduate School was mainly instrumental in launching thecourse onthe advice andwith the approval of Rear Admiral F. B. Upham, U.S.N., then Chief of Bureau of Navigation. Captain Sadler not only sponsored the craft at launching, but also helped get the course under way by encouragement and friendly counsel. To Commander T. E. Van Metre, Executive Officer of the Postgraduate School, my thanks for his assistance and interest in the course. I thank the Librarian and Assistant Librarians of the Naval Academy Library; they gave me all possible aid. I must acknowledge my debt to the student officers of the Postgraduate School classes ^933 ^934* Their keen interest in the course was at all times apparent, and to that source I ascribe much of the in- X PREFACE centive that I felt to extend the research and to trace some of the regulations to and from their inception. It is a subject that, so far as I could leam, had never been in vestigated by an officer of our active list. There is much to be uncovered, and I hope at a later date to add to this collection of naval customs and usage. The source material of nautical terms and customs is usually found in biographies of officers, old naval histories, narratives and logs of voyages, and in par ticular die accounts of civilian passengers and guests aboard men-of-war. The man of the sea takes much of the customs of life afloat for granted; the landsman is ofttimes inquisitive as to the origin of customs, and describes sea life as it impresses him on first view. For example, one of the most interesting descrip tions of honors and ceremonies to be found in our naval his tory is a description of Farragut's triumphal cruise to Europe after the Civil War. The book was written by a university grad uate who went as private secretary to the Admiral. Aside from the assistance at the Postgraduate School, I thank Admiral Albert Gleaves, U.S.N. (Retired), for his seasoned ad vice and criticism. My sincere thanks to Commander H. H. Frost, U.S.N., for the inspiration derived and quotations used from his excellent work We Build a Navy. To go further afield, I am greatly indebted to Admiral Sir Vemon Haggard, K.C.B. (Retired), for his kindness in sending me most valuable material from England. Rear Admiral Gerald Hall, R.N., Commander W. N. T. Beckett, M.V.O., D.S.C., R.N., and Lieutenant Com mander R. G. Lowry, R.N., gave me courteous permission to use excerpts and pertinent matter from their respective books on similar subjects. I am grateful to these officers from over the sea. I thank Professor Allan Westcott, of the Department of English and History, U. S. Naval Academy, for general editing. Although I have long been of the opinion that the Naval War of 1812 was our "golden age," it was particularly after reading We Build a Navy, by Commander H. H. Frost, that I received the incentive to treat that phase of our history as an ideal one for a lecture. My chapter is short and fragmentary, but it may serve as a source of inspiration in its enumeration of the out- PREFACE xi Standing battles andthemakers ofnaval tradition ofthatperiod. It was necessary to go to British source material for much that is of value and interest to those of our Service, for it was with a common speech and stock that our Navy was founded.