Page 65 - NS-2 Textbook

58 MARITIME HISTORY

healthy social activities. By 1869 the academy's engineer- men on station ships before they were transferred to
ing curriculum and physics department had achieved a training vessels to be taught gtmnery and seamanship.
high academic reputation, which continues to this day. In This ,vas the forenuuler of the Navy's lllodern training
the early 1870s the department attracted a brilliant systelll for enlisted nlen.
young immigrant from Germany named Albert Michel- In 1884 after a brilliant career in sea billets (job as-
son} tvho, after graduating and serving as an instructor at signments aboard ships), including the Naval Academy
the academy, went on to head the department of physics training squadron, Luce convinced the secretary of the
at the University of Chicago. He became the first Atnel'i- navy to establish the Naval War College in Newport,
can recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1907 for Rhode Island. Luce had argued that naval warfare of the
discovering the speed of light. fuhue would require senior officers well schooled in the
In 1873 the U.s. Naval Instihlte was established on broad principles of grand strategy, modern fleet tactics,
the grounds of the Naval Academy. Composed of officers naval history and policy, and internationallmv. The col-
and civilian instructors at the academy interested in re- lege was the first institution of its kind in the world.
fornl, the instihlte/s purpose was to advance professional Among the excellent officers selected by Luce for the first
and scientific knowledge about the U.s. Navy, other Naval War College staff was Captain Alfred Thayer
world navies, and the Inaritime industry. It soon became Mahan, professor of naval history, who would soon
a major forum for ideas to improve the fleet. In 1875 it l1lake history hunself.
began publishing a journal called the U.s. Naval Institute Today's naval training programs for both officers
Proceedings. The Proceedings was a leader in criticizing the and enlisted personnel stem directly from Commodore
condition of the fleet, pointing out both the commercial Luce's efforts. He also started fleet exercises as a means
benefits and naval requirements of a sh'ong American of battle practice, and until his death in 1917 at the age of
maritime force. This professional journal is still the fore- ninety, he fought tirelessly for improvements in ships
most naval and maritime publication of its type in the and glm design. His work contributed immensely to im-
world. Evenhtally the Naval Institute also became an im- proving the morale of the service following its post-Civil
portant publisher of books on naval matters. War decline.
Also in 1875, Luce" now a conunodore/ was instru-
mental in starting a system of training naval enlisted
MAHAN AND SEA POWER
In 1886 Commodore Luce was ordered to sea duty again,
and Captain Alfred 111ayer Mahan was appointed to re-
lieve him as president of the Naval War College. As
Mahan shldied naval history in preparation for assum-
ing his duties, he became convinced that the importance
of sea control in human history had never been fully ap-
preciated 01' properly communicated. From this time on
he became one of the foremost proponents of sea power
as a means to achieve ,,,,arId power status. In 1890 he
published his findings in The Il1flllellce of Sea Power lIpOI1
History, 1660-1783, which became world famous as the
foremost text on sea power and naval strategy. He pub-
lished two more studies in 1892 and 1897.
Mahan argued that it was command of the sea that
had enabled Britain to create its empire, reap the profits
of maritime commerce, and defeat the land powers that
tried to challenge it on the trade routes of the world. He
believed that a seafaring nation could, if led by an en-
lightened and dynamic govermnent, use the sea to be-
come a world power. For the United States, or any other
nation desiring to become a ·world power, the lesson ,vas
clear: national stu'vival depended on control of the sea.
The cOlmtry needed to build a fleet of ships that could
defeat any enemy fleet at sea and break up any blockade
Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan had a profound influence on
naval strategy and tactics worldwide for the first quarter of the that might be deployed against it. To support this fleet,
overseas bases were needed an)"vhere sea comnllmica-
twentieth century after publication of his book The Influence of Sea
Power upon History, 1660-1783 in 1890. tions might be threatened. Atld, for security purposes,