ears the navy of
the United States had not measured its strength with any foe.
Meanwhile however it had made great advance in the education and
training of its officers and in the general tone of the service.
Under the secretaryship of George Bancroft, the eminent historian,
(in the cabinet of Mr. Polk,) an academy had been established at
Annapolis for the scientific training of naval officers. By this
enlightened policy, inaugurated if not originally conceived by Mr.
Bancroft, naval officers had for the first time been placed on an
equal footing with the officers of the army who had long enjoyed
the advantages of the well-organized and efficient school at West
Point. The academy had borne fruit, and at the outbreak of the
war, the navy was filled with young officers carefully trained in
the duties of their profession, intelligent in affairs, and with
an _esprit de corps_ not surpassed in the service of any other
country. Their efficiency was supplemented by that of volunteer
officers in large numbers who came from the American merchant
marine, and who in all the duties of seamanship, in courage,
capacity, and patriotism, were the peers of any men who ever trod
a deck.

Congress now realized that a re-organization of the naval service
was necessary, that the stimulus of promotion should be more
liberally used, the pride of rank more generously indulged. An
Act was therefore passed on the 16th of July greatly enlarging the
scope of the naval organization and advancing the rank of its
officers. Farragut had won his magnificent triumph at New Orleans
while holding the rank of captain,--the highest then known to our
service,--and Worden had achieved his great fame at Hampton Roads
with the commission of a lieutenant. David D. Porter, with no
higher rank, had been exercising commands which in any European
government would have been assigned to an admiral. Perhaps no navy
in the world had at that time abler officers than ours, while the
rank and emolument, except for the lowest grades, was shamefully
inadequate. The old navy had only the ranks of passed-midshipman,
lieutenant, commander, and captain. The new law gave nine grades,
--midshipman, ensign, master, lieutenant, lieutenant-commander,
commander, captain, commodore, and rear-admiral. The effect of
the increased rank was undoubtedly stimulating to the service and
valuable to the government. Two higher grades of vice-admiral and
admiral were subsequently ad