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Show S:: k ; ' rk(f wfwJ H4;-w hr gcpgzfiy t .1 ti p gSpEHOR the first time in the - i, SUI t j llWAl history of the United I -J E. i v I ! SSI: States navy we have I tA & Pll four flag officers of the 1 I 'i1, 1 R J J TVS3 ; ijOT full rank of admiral 1 "4 i ( H r'3i,:i'" -J U JjfeU and the dignity of . t3. f pVV "Tf ?f1o that branch of the 1 V lM'KV , J ' ' national defense will 1 V K I ; " f4m rise accordingly in the eyes of for- I lJ! ' J ' i signers. In the past history of the 1 ' iMn i t ffi navy the grade of admiral has p .-v if'' Bgured but three times in living rep- I JL, ? -1 resentatives and each time but a sin- Ji V f ' H ' gle officer has enjoyed the rank. First f sS - f j f ' (ffT there was Farragut, then Porter, and .fajV) (yCsi .''I " bSdJ after a lapse of more than seven years J LW IP'??- 7j . i fYZQZ " I following the hitters death George v s5DfV&Z? f'ty FZ&ViVf&j fol.:?,?, Dewey won the hnnnr ! .. . SKS 7 r-ifeiTgH 6R the first time in the n fljpOOj history of the United ' M kSf I 'ates navy we have four flag officers of the i full rank of admiral U Uxffi&it 1J and the dignity of ?r Sjojj that branch of the national defense will rise accordingly in the eyes of foreigners. for-eigners. In the past history of the navy the grade of admiral has figured but three times in living representatives rep-resentatives and each time but a single sin-gle officer has enjoyed the rank. First there was Farragut, then Porter, and after a lapse of more than seven years following the latter's death George Dewey won the honor. But while David Glasgow Farragut was the first man in the United States navy to win by virtue of congress the legal title of admiral, the rank as. a brevet and by right of appropriation was ninety-one years old in the annals an-nals of the service. This may be news to the public generally, but nevertheless neverthe-less it is a matter of indisputable record. rec-ord. In foreign service some centuries back .it was the custom to call the ranking officer of the fleet admiral Therefore when the American navy was established there was reason why our senior officer should assume the designation accorded his position in other countries. Our first president was of this opinion. On the 22d of "December, 1775, the Continental congress con-gress commissioned Esek Hopkins, an old and experienced seaman, commander com-mander in chief of the navy, and Gen George Washington officially addressed ad-dressed him as "Admiral Hopkins." ' Admiral Hopkins put to sea from Philadelphia in 1776. He had a squadron squad-ron of seven vessels and his flagship, the Alfred, carried his flag, which was a square of yellow silk bearing in its center a pine tree, a rattlesnake in the act of striking and the motto "Don't Tread on Me." John Paul Jones, then a lieutenant aboard the Alfred, sent that flag aloft with his own hands. ' When commanding squadrons our ranking captains were called by courtesy cour-tesy commodore. These men performed per-formed the functions of our later rear admirals. At the main truck of their ships these brevet commodores displayed dis-played a blue triangular flag not rightly the commodore's swallowtail or broad pennant of European navies with a single big white star encircled encir-cled by a ring of twelve smaller stars. These stars signified the thirteen original orig-inal states. . This was the peiinant which John Paul Jones flew on the Ron Homme Richard when he fought the Serapis September 23, 1779. It was not until 1S57 that the title flag officer was legally warranted in .the American service, congress then directing that captains in command of squadrons should be styled flag officers. And the late Rear Admiral George Henry Preble, TJ. S. N, in his well known hook pays: "Officers fo appointed, for want of regulation on the subject, continued to wear the broad pennant of a commodore or hoisted the square flag of an admiral, ns they deemed proper." However, the fleeting honor of this title and th risrlit to disn'av the flap h"t fm porarily was even then as much of an annoyance as; it was in 1S12. . We all know of the glorious work of David Porter during the war .of 1812 in the Essex.; He created, a fleet out of his squadron of prizes and; his subordinates sub-ordinates gladly called him commo-" dore and. recognized his well earned right to a broad pennant. Yet, to use the .language of the time, Mr. Thompson, Thomp-son, the secretary of the navy, issued an order which "unshipped his stars and degraded his' title" when Porter came ashore. There was nothing' lasting last-ing in the brevet of commodore, and the flag became a memory rather than a lasting emblem, of gallant service that had justified it when afloat and aface with the perils of war,. There was a lack of harmony :ln the practice of carrying these symbols, of flag rank, and this led Isaac Toucey, when secretary of the navy, to prescribe pre-scribe in 1858: "It is hereby ordered that in lieu of the broad pennant now worn by 'flag officers' in command of squadrons they shall wear a plain blue flag of dimensions proportionate to the different classes of vessels prescribed for the jack.-.' . -..Flag officers whose date of commission as captain is over: twenty, years shall wear it at the fore;'-all fore;'-all others' at the mizzeri.-' ; The. incorrectness of;hoisting a. rear admiral's' flag at the main instead of at the.mizzen, where the long estab-' listved, .usage-;pf other naval powers had placed it,: soon became apparent, and at the . instance of Richard H. Dana, then iti Congress,:-the position of 'the flag was -made agreeable ' to general .custom without regard to the rear, adiniral's" seniority. As a result Farragut . lowered his flag from the main. and. . raised it at the ' mizzen. where a rear admiral's flag should fly. Outwardly this, .seemed like a reduction reduc-tion in his dignlty.j In 1S66 a distinctive flag apart from its position -oh file ship was ordered for him and then for the first time appeared the four white stars in the center forming a diamond. At (he same time the vice-admiral acquired three stars, the rear admiral two and the commodore's broad pennant was entitled to one, the erstwhile central big star of days gone by when that grade displayed a whole constellation Admiral Farragut first hoisted ' -nis four starred flag on the frigate Franklin Frank-lin in June of 1SC7, and at the same time a salule of seventeen guns was fired. . All went well in this somewhat touchy irjatte-r until ISM, and then trouble arose over a departmental order. or-der. At that time the I'nibn Jack dls- played at. the mainmast truck, was declared the' official emblem of the secretary of the navy. Having thus taken the "union out of the ensign, apparently in a spirit of sentimental economy, It was further ordered that: the remaining stripes or field of Old .Glory should do duty as a symbol ol flag rank. Accordingly,- the admiral's, flag be-camera be-camera rectilinear affair of thirteen horizontal stripes,- alternate red and white, to be worn at the main. The vice-admiral was to carry the same flag flown at the' fore, while the rear admiral was to have this badge carried car-ried at the mizzen. Farragut' was bit terly opposed to the change and, in fact, never consented to it. ; When David Dixon- Porter upon the death of Farragut became admiral of the navy he inherited 'the striped flag which his predecessor had repudiated and for six years it was displayed upon- various . occasions, but ttit symbol was not permanently estab Iished, because In 1876 there was a change. For various reasons-, afnong thern, past usage' and service and fot the. .convenience of distinguishing the order qf seniority ' of. officers of the same, grade, the, secretary of the navy restored the blue .problem of. flag- rank ' Portef:died 'ea'rly:in-1891,- and for a trifle more than eight years the American Ameri-can navy was 'without an officer of tho rank of fulladmiral. It was revived in- March of 1899 as a. reward for George Dewey's services in the memorable memo-rable battle, of-Manila Bayj and as his old master in the,jart of ,war, Farra gut, loved the blue -flag.wi.th. its four stars, so this token ef -pre-eminent rank in the naval servite was chosen by Dewey. " ' ' . Agreeably to the last, naval appropriation ap-propriation bill,. Secretary' Daniels designated as .the three .fleet commanders com-manders who will share with Admiral Dewey the right to fly-the admiral's pennant Frank Friday Fletcher, commanding' com-manding' the Atlantic fleet; Thomas H. Howard, commanding the Pacific fleet, and Walter C. Cowles, commanding command-ing the Asiatic fleet. Should any one of them be afloat in the presence of Admiral Dewey, then the newly made admiral would carry a red flag with four stars, Admiral Ad-miral Dewey retaining his flag of blue. Should hy any chance the Atlantic and Pacific fleets be assembled on eilherof our coasts and Admiral Dewey review them the latter would show his blue flag and his juniors the red and Ihe white flat with four stars, seniority determining the color. |
