By CPL Jon B. Silvis (OH)*
With the close of the Civil War and "Reconstruction," the United States Government realized a need to bolster the regular U.S. Navy in time of war. Some form of a federal naval reserve force was needed.
This challenge was taken up by a combination of former and active naval officers, Annapolis instructors, naval historians and the U.S. Naval Institute as well as concerned citizens. Federal legislation was introduced on 17 February 1887 by former Confederate General and now Senator Washington C. Whitthorne (D.Tenn.). He introduced bill S.3320 "To create a naval reserve of auxiliary cruisers, officers and men from the mercantile marine of the United States."
This bill failed congressional approval due to budgetary constraints, as did two more bills introduced by Senator Whitthorne. His final bill (H.R. 10,622 "To provide for the enrollment of a naval militia and the organization of naval forces") also failed. However, it did catch the attention of John Codman Soley of Massachusetts, a former naval officer and a member of the famous Soley family of maritime heritage (including James Russell Soley, Naval Academy Professor). As a naval attache' in Paris, Lt. Soley had observed the European system of conscription and reserve forces.
Lt. Soley realized it was impossible to secure federal legislation and funding to create a naval reserve, but it might be possible to create a state naval force under state control, which would follow the American tradition of relationship to the Department of the Navy, as the land (Army) militia had to the Department of the Army. Such forces would be better than nothing. Lt. Soley had discovered under state law, that the Governor of Massachusetts was the "Captain General, Commander in Chief and Admiral of the Land and Sea forces of the state."
With the assistance of the Massachusetts Yacht Club, a bill was introduced in state legislature and on 17 May 1888, an act establishing "A Naval Battalion to be attached to the volunteer militia" was passed. The state naval militia movement was born. Within a decade 16 states would establish naval militias, providing a trained pool of seafarers in coastal states.
The first Federal legislation was the "Naval Appropriations act" of 2 March 1891 which authorized "$25,000,00 for arms and equipment for the naval militias, as the Secretary of the Navy would deem necessary per regulation." This was based an a per capita distribution.
As the United States approached a new century, the potential of state naval militias as a reserve force was being realized. The states of Massachusetts and New York had gained permission to drill aboard active ships of the fleet. Their work so impressed the Secretary of the Navy, that in August 1894, Congress authorized the loan of old naval vessels to state naval militias for training purposes.
The success of naval militia units were not without their drawbacks. Including, but not limited to:
1.) FUNDING: Membership in state naval militias had increased, but federal funding to individual states had not.
2.) EQUIPMENT: Naval militias received only OLD vessels and often unserviceable equipment, essentially the U.S. Navy's castoffs.
3.) CONTROL: Questions of Federal vs State responsibility soon surfaced.
War with Spain
By the mid 1890's war with Spain was looming on the horizon. Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt, and his aide Lt. Gibbons USN, embarked on an inspection tour and review of militia units from New York, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio. Secretary Roosevelt was said to be in full sympathy with the naval militias.
On 25 April 1898 war with Spain was declared, panic broke out all along the Atlantic Coast from the threat of invasion by Spain. The U.S. Navy was seriously undermanned, no federal naval reserve was in place and no formal mechanism was in place to bring state naval militias into the U.S. Navy. Congress, realizing they were making the same mistakes that had been made during the Civil War regarding call up (that they had been warned about) passed emergency legislation on 26 May 1898, creating the U.S. Auxiliary Naval Force, to be composed of volunteers, and with the Governors' approval members and entire units from state naval militias. The Cruiser, U.S.S. Yosemite was manned almost entirely by a crew of 300 by the Michigan Naval Brigade. Its Commander, Truman H. Newburry, would became the Secretary of the Navy in 1905.
Although the officers and men of the naval militias performed admirably during the war, the system still needed improvement and it was an apparent distinction between state forces and a future federal naval reserve was needed. Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt called for the establishment of a naval reserve that "becomes part of the Navy itself" and that "in no way conflict with or take the place of the present system of naval militia." They were to exist side by side. The reserve providing direct combat support, the militias providing a "second line of defense."
The intervening peacetime years between 1898 and WWI, would see increased reliance upon state naval militias by the regular U.S. Navy. Legislation was introduced to create a U.S. Naval Reserve, but it would continue to fail due to funding disparities. In 1911 the "Office of Naval Militia" was established in the personnel division of the Secretary of the Navy's office, to monitor the state naval militias.
The U.S. Navy increased naval militia readiness by hosting annual summer cruises for militiamen aboard battleships and cruisers, increased training in fleet tactics, equipment and performance standards. The increased use of naval militia as a "reserve" finally prompted congressional action, and on 16 February 1914, "The Naval Militia Act," "To promote the efficiency of the naval militia and for other purposes," was passed to become effective 3 years after passage. Some time later on 12 April 1914, General Order #93 established the "Division of Naval Militia Affairs," in accordance with the naval militia act, was signed by Josephus Daniels. These events led to an immediate growth and efficiency impact on the state naval militias.
However, world events were soon to overtake a lack of congressional action for establishing a U.S. Naval Reserve.
World War I
With war raging in Europe and increased pressure for the United States to enter the conflict, Congress was once again confronted with the problem of manning a large navy. So much so, that on 29 August 1916, it passed the "Naval Reserve Force Act." Realizing the mobilization mistakes of the Civil War and Spanish American War history, and the fact that the naval militias were already functioning as a naval reserve, and that the newly created naval reserve force had yet to enroll its first member (in effect an empty program), the naval reserve force act had also created a second organization to be known as the National Naval Volunteers. Naval militiamen could join this group and then from the National Naval Volunteers, transfer into the federal naval reserve, thus eliminating any problem of federal control over state troops.
Upon the successful conclusion of the war in Europe, and a federally organized and funded U.S. Naval Reserve in place, Congress in 1918 repealed all laws regarding naval militias and the President was authorized to transfer all personnel to the naval reserve. Control of the naval militia had come full circle, being remanded to the states, where interest in them would decline, many becoming dormant, merely existing in state codes and statutes where they would remain until needed. Many states would reactivate naval militias during the second World War, using them as armory administrators, instructors and auxiliary coastal troops.
*CPL Jon B. Silvis (OH), is a Life Member of the U.S. Naval Institute, a member of the Naval Order of the United States and a member of the U.S. Navy League. He is willing to assist other states to organize or reactivate their naval militias. For more information, contact CPL Jon B. Silvis at 19731 Laurel Ave., Rocky River, Ohio 44116. Article references are available upon request from the SGAUS National Office.