Office of the Commandant/Records of Annual Summer Practice Cruises: Press Copies of Letters Sent and Orders Issued on Summer Practice Cruises, 1883-1892: Finding Aid

History of the Annual Summer Practice Cruises

The first annual midshipman training cruise took place in 1851 aboard the steamer John Hancock and sloop-of-war Preble. The Navy Department assigned the Preble to the Naval Academy as its first training ship. Other vessels that served the academy as practice ships at various times were the U.S.S. Constitution and U.S.S. Constellation. There was no summer practice cruise in 1861 with the outbreak of the Civil War and the academy’s move to its temporary home in Newport, Rhode Island, nor was there a summer cruise in 1898 during the Spanish-American War. In 1909, the midshipmen made their last summer cruise under sail aboard the Civil War veteran U.S.S. Hartford (screw sloop-of-war). After 1909, midshipmen largely performed summer training cruises aboard modern battleships in small dedicated training squadrons. This practice continued, interrupted by World War II (which restricted summer cruises to Chesapeake Bay) until 1958, when the academy instituted the modern practice of distributing midshipmen among active ships of the fleet.

Description of Contents

This entry contains press copies of letters sent and orders issued on summer practice cruises. The volumes include letters addressed to the secretary of the navy and heads of Navy Department bureaus, postmasters, officers on board cruise ships and other navy vessels, and private individuals. The letters relate to a number of subjects including equipment and repairs, arrivals in port, course of the cruise, and detail and discharge of the crew. Some letters are dated May and early June before the start of the cruises, which usually lasted from June to August. The orders copied into the volumes of this series were issued during the cruise and were addressed primarily to the naval cadets.

Volume 65 contains only letters sent and orders for the cruises of 1883-1887. Volume 327 contains letters sent and orders relating to other subjects, September 1890-June 1891, issued by the commandant after the cruise. The volume contains separate indexes for the two groups of letters sent and orders. Similarly, volume 328 contains letters sent and orders issued on the 1891 cruise and letters sent and orders issued by the commandant after return to the academy, September 1891-June 1892. There are no records for the period October 1887-April 1890.

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically.

Access and Use

Access

Access is unrestricted.

Copyright and Permission

Generally, materials produced by Federal agencies are in the public domain and may be reproduced without permission. Any non-government publications held herein may still be subject to copyright. For further information, consult the Head, Special Collections & Archives.

Other Finding Aid(s)

National Archives Catalog entry available electronically at: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/3129092.

Acquisition and Appraisal

Custodial History

RG 405 Records of the United States Naval Academy is the property of the National Archives and Records Administration. The materials are housed at the United States Naval Academy, William W. Jeffries Memorial Archives, an affiliated archive, as per a Memorandum of Agreement between the National Archives and Records Administration and the United States Naval Academy.

Related Materials

Location of Related Materials

Other correspondence, orders, notices, and memoranda, reports, journals and other records related to the academy’s annual summer cruises between 1859 and 1940 may be found in entry 161: “Press Copies of Letters Sent on Summer Practice Cruises, 1894-1902” (NAID: 3129098); entry 162: “Letters Sent, Orders, Memoranda, and Notices Relating to Preparation for and Training of Midshipmen on Summer Practice Cruises, 1907–1909” (NAID: 3129160); entry 163: “Register of Letters Sent by the Squadron Commander, 1910” (NAID: 3129161); entry 164: “Register of Letters Received by the Squadron Commander, 1910” (NAID: 3144191); entry 165: “General Correspondence of the Summer Practice Cruise, 1910” (NAID: 3144193); entry 166: “General Correspondence of the Summer Practice Cruise, 1911” (NAID: 3144194); entry 167: “General Correspondence of the Summer Practice Cruise, 1914” (NAID: 3144196); entry 168: “Register of Communications Received and Forwarded by the Commander of the Practice Squadron, 1914” (NAID: 3144198); entry 169: “General Correspondence of the Summer Practice Cruise, 1914-1915” (NAID: 3144212); entry 170: “General Correspondence of the Summer Practice Cruise, 1916” (NAID: 3144354); entry 171: “Correspondence of the Commander of the Midshipmen's Practice Squadron, 1927–1928” (NAID: 3144356); entry 172: “Press Copies of Orders Issued on Summer Practice Cruises, 1892–1902” (NAID: 3144358); entry 173: “Reports Submitted by the U.S. Ships Massachusetts, Indiana, and Iowa to the Commanding Officer of the Summer Practice Squadron, 1910” (NAID: 3144480); entry 174: “Class Reports for Summer Practice Cruises Aboard the U.S. Ships Florida and Nevada, 1904” (NAID: 3144483); entry 175: “Class Reports for Summer Practice Cruises, 1904–1916” (NAID: 3144494); entry 176: “Logbook of a Summer Practice Cruise Aboard the Practice Ship U.S.S. Plymouth, 1859” (NAID: 3144720); entry 177: “Logbook of a Summer Practice Cruise on the U.S.S. Plymouth, 1860” (NAID: 3164782); entry 178: “Journal of Operations and Movements of Ships on the Midshipmen's Summer Practice Cruise, 1916” (NAID: 3164793); entry 179: “Signal Drill Record Book, 1910” (NAID: 3164796); and entry 180: “Materials and Publications Used in Lectures on Naval Customs and Traditions During Summer Practice Cruises, 1940” (NAID: 3164801).

Materials Cataloged Separately

No materials have been removed from this collection and cataloged separately.

Processing and Other Information

Preferred Citation

Office of the Commandant/Records of Annual Summer Practice Cruises: Press Copies of Letters Sent and Orders Issued on Summer Practice Cruises, 1883–1892, RG 405.3.2 Entry 160

Special Collections & Archives Department

Nimitz Library

United States Naval Academy

Selected Bibliography

The following sources were consulted during preparation of the historical note:

Sweetman, Jack. The U.S. Naval Academy: An Illustrated History. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute Press, 1979.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Samuel Limneos in April 2023. Finding aid written by Samuel Limneos in May 2023. Historical Sketch and Scope and Content Note adapted in part from Inventory of Records Group 405 by Geraldine N. Phillips and Aloha South, 1975.

Subject Headings

Name and Subject Terms

• Constellation (Frigate)
• Naval education -- United States.
• United States Naval Academy
• United States Naval Academy -- History – 19th century
• United States Naval Academy -- Midshipmen -- Cruises
• United States Naval Academy. Commandant of Midshipmen

Genre Terms

• Correspondence
• Orders (military records)