NAVY, DEPARTMENT OF THE

NAVY, DEPARTMENT OF THE. The unsatisfactory administration of naval affairs by the War Department led Congress to create the Department of the Navy in April 1798, following the recommendation of President John Adams. Benjamin Stoddert of Georgetown, in the District of Columbia, was appointed the first secretary and directed operations during the undeclared naval war with France (1798–1800). The WAR OF 1812 demonstrated the need for adequate and responsible professional assistants for the secretary, and in 1815 the Board of Navy Commissioners, consisting of three senior officers, was created to meet that need. The first appointees were commodores John Rodgers, Isaac Hull, and David Porter—but by the rulings of the secretary, the functions of the board were restricted to naval technology, naval operations being excluded from its purview. In 1842 an organization of technical bureaus was instituted, and it continued to be a main feature of the organization.

The first bureaus to be created were those of Navy Yards and Docks; Construction, Equipment, and Repairs; Provisions and Clothing; Ordnance and Hydrography; and Medicine and Surgery. The duties of the bureaus were performed under the authority of the secretary of the Department of the Navy, and their orders had full force and effect as emanating from him. In 1862 the five bureaus were supplanted by eight: two new bureaus were created, those of Navigation and of Steam Engineering, and the responsibilities of the Bureau of Construction, Equipment, and Repairs were divided between two bureaus, those of Construction and Repairs, and of Equipment and Recruiting. The Bureau of Equipment was abolished in 1910, and in 1921 the Bureau of Aeronautics was established. The Office of the Judge Advocate General, independent of any bureau, was created in 1865.

The defect of inadequate professional direction of strategy and the general operations of the fleet was manifest in all the nation's early wars. In the CIVIL WAR it was minimized by the advice of Gustavus V. Fox, a former naval officer who was appointed temporary assistant secretary. The office was created permanently in 1890 but is usually occupied by civilian appointees with jurisdiction over industrial functions. During the war with Spain in 1898, a temporary board of officers advised the secretary on strategy but had no responsibility or authority respecting fleet operations. In 1900 the secretary appointed a general board of high-ranking officers, which remained in existence as an advisory body without executive functions. But by 1909 the scope and extent of the Navy Department had grown too much to permit coordination of the bureaus by the office of the secretary, and in that year Secretary George von Lengerke Meyer appointed four naval officer-aides to assist him—one each for the functions of operations, personnel, matériel, and inspections. This functional organization seemed sound and worked well and was continued in principle.

Secretary Josephus Daniels abolished the position of aide for personnel in 1913, but the duties were continued by the Bureau of Navigation. Similarly, the function of inspection was delegated to the Board of Inspection. Matters related to matériel passed largely to the jurisdiction of the assistant secretary. The creation by law in 1915 of a chief of naval operations served to rectify many previous administrative defects and to lead to further coordination within the department, the chief having authority commensurate with his great responsibilities as the principal adviser of the secretary and the person under the secretary having charge of the operations of the fleet. The Office of Operations absorbed many of the lesser boards and offices outside the normal province of the bureaus. During WORLD WAR I the new organization worked extremely well.

WORLD WAR II necessitated minor changes in organization that carried into 1947, when the National Security Act was passed. This act created the Department of Defense, within which the secretary of the navy lost cabinet status in 1949. The year 1949 also proved contentious for relations between the navy and the Truman administration, particularly when some high-ranking naval officers resisted Truman's changes in naval force structure—an event sometimes called the "revolt of the admirals."

The Kennedy administration also battled with navy leadership over perceived inefficiency, and by the mid-1970s navy officials were struggling with the consequences of reduced military spending and reduced administrative attention to naval forces. Organizational changes also marked the 1970s. By 1974 refinements in organization had resulted in a structure consisting of the secretary of the navy, an undersecretary, and four assistant secretaries for manpower and reserve affairs, installations and logistics, financial management, and research and development. The military arm included the chief of naval operations, a vice-chief, and six deputy chiefs for surface, submarine, and air warfare, logistics, plans and policy, manpower, and reserve, supported by a complex system of bureaus and commands.

During the mid-1980s, the Navy underwent a resurgence under the leadership of Secretary of the Navy John Lehman. Lehman pushed successfully for an expansion of the Navy's fleet and a greater defense buildup.

By 2000 the Department of the Navy consisted of two uniformed services, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps. Within the department there were 383,000 service men and women on active duty and 90,000 reserve sailors; 172,000 active duty and 40,000 reserve marines; and 184,000 civilians. The deparment encompassed 315 warships, 4,100 aircraft, and an annual budget of over $100 billion.

NAVY, DEPARTMENT OF THE

BIBLIOGRAPHY