Whether our Navy is drifting toward or from finer perceptions, both mental and spiritual, is too profound a subject to be taken up. Yet, it is a commonplace remark that retired Naval officers and other old salts invariably feel that today's Sailor and our Navy are sailing swiftly on a rhumbline to perdition.But whether today's Sailors and our Navy is really any nearer to that frightful end than any previous one, is a question that we are actually scarcely qualified to answer. To be sure, military courtesy seems to have grown lax, and many of our cherished traditions and customs have been altered beyond recognition or vanished completely.
But do these things merely seem so to us because today's Sailors do not pay party calls nowadays and the young woman of fashion is informal? It is difficult to suggest that Sailors today is so very different from what it has been in other periods of our great Navy's history, especially as “the capriciousness of beauty,” the “heartlessness” and “carelessness” of youth, are charges of a too suspiciously bromidic flavor to carry conviction.
From the U.K. Naval Digest circa 1913
From the U.K. Naval Digest circa 1913
5 comments:
"From the U.K. Naval Digest"
Mike, thank God you noted the source here. I wouldn't want any more posts from that bastion of courage Mr. "Anonymous" screaming about your arrogance and to STFU.
I am glad this was written in 1913 and not in 2010.
The test of whether our Navy is on "the rhumb line to perdition" will come when we engage in a war-at-sea against a worthy maritime adversary, something we haven't done in 3 score and 5. The only things that will matter then is how sailors handle themselves in combat, and how well the tech-gizmo weapons systems perform in a fight to the death.
General Quarters,
You are right on, Sir, and even though in my time the main concern was manning the guns to fight the enemy. And we practiced at every opportunity for most of the time I spent in the Navy. Evolution of weapons systems took me to those High Tech Weapons systems as well. And events that have come upon the Navy and its Sailors such as the USS Stark, and the USS Cole are prime examples of what should never happen but did happen to high tech Navy ships.
To detract from the mission of the United States Navy the powers that be (decided that racial sensitivity training) for all hands was the most important aspect of fighting wars. As has happened before there will be a mandatory training course to teach respect for females and for homosexuals, I do hope that all these individuals will be able to man (is that incorrect) the weapons systems that were designed to kill and destroy anything and everything for which they are targeted.
Very Respectfully,
Navyman834
Is this a true picture of Navymen at that time? Other than the Sailors not looking corn fed like today, what do you think might tell you the general era of this photograph?
Navyman834
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