Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1893-07-13
LIEUTENANT OF THE LINE.
Some characteristics of the Men that He
come Commanders and AdmiraIs.

Some characteristics of the Men that He
come Commanders and Adnairals-
When the civilian thinks of the United
States navy the vision that arises be-
fore his minds eye is the lieutenant;
this because the genuine lieutenant is
line officer. and because there are
more Eeutenants than there are line
officers of all the higher grades COM
bined. To the civilian the line officer
is the only sure enough military sailor.
and all others are mere civilians with
make-believe titles. The lieutenunt is
the type of the American line officer.
He has been cadet midshipman: he
may become rear-admiral He has
been long enough in the service to have
acquired it's characteristic tastes and
habits. He is long enough out of civil
life to have forgotten many OF the
things that interest mere shore folk.
He is deep-sea sailor. with love for
blue water, and the flush or bronze of
dozen tropic climes upon his cheek.
There are three hundred and twen-
ty-five lieutenants on the active lists
of Uncle Sans navy. seventy-five be-
ing of the junior grade. or one step
above the ensign. The slang term in
the navy for a senior lieutenant is
''bull'' lieutenant. The bull lieuten-
ant has been from nine to thirty years
out of the naval academy, and he NAV
reasonably hope to be a captain, if
ever in from twenty to twenty-five
years All things considered. the three
hundred and twenty-five 1ieutenants
include the flower of the navy. They
have whatever education and discipline
come of passing successfully. through
the naval academy and weathering
many a cruise. They are neither boys
nor dotards, and certainly, if one were
to search the navy for the best
equipped men physically, one would
find them among the lieutenants.
When the civilian first finds himself
a guest at the wardroom table he is
struck with the fine physique, military
bearing, courtesy, and aplomb of the
lieutenants. They are broad-should-
cred, full-chested, good-looking men,
between thirty and forty-five years of
age. The executive officer, who sits at
the head of the wardroom table and
represents the majesty of the captain,
is as often as not a lieutenant. So is
the navigator. Many of the men who
teach the cadets at Annapolis are of
this grade. The specialists of the navy
are in large part ieutenants. Half
the scientific work done by the navy
falls upon the lieutenants. So does
half the exploring. A lieutenant fig
ures in every dangerous quest as
man of responsibility. if not of author
ity. Naval ieutenants are in all parts
of the country doing all sorts of special
duty. One is with the .intercontinental
railway commission, one commands a
naval station in the far northwest one
is studying electric lights at Norfolk,
others are inspecting ordnance, com
manding survey vessels, and testing
Steel.1
The naval lieutenant is. perhaps, of
all men in the navy, the strongest par
tisan of line against staff. From his
place in the ward-room he has peculiar
opportunities for seeing the inequality
of the shares of work falling upon the
two arms of the service. He is, above
all other officers, man with griev
ance. He knows, perhaps, that he
must be retired grizzled veteran be-
fore he shall have attained the rank of
commander. He has married, possibly
as ensign, ten or fifteen years before,
and has wife and family living in
some little city OF village upon share
of the husbands modest pay. His old
est boy, a STRIPPING already above his
ia S,er's shoulder, visits the ship in
home ports now and then, an object of
well-bred curiosity and of some genu-
inc interest to the other inmates of the
wardroom. There is touch of the pa
thetic in the fact, however, that the
boy might pass through the naval
academy, obtain his comm ission as en-
sign, and stand watch on the same deck
with his father, separated from him,
indeed, by grade and rank, but his
equal in authority. +,
The civilian, seeing the lieutenant
aboard ship in that simple and beauti-
full undress uniform. which suits so we'll
a stalwart masculine figure, finds it /.
difficult to believe that the man before |
him is quite ready to recognize the I
mere landsman as an equal. The |
civilian is not likely to discover the con-
trary as long as he is a guest of the /
since courtesy is the rule +
there, and every visitor is made to feel I
himself welcome. Lieutenants are made
Of much the same stuff as civilians. |
There are some thousands of persons in
this country who grow up to believe
properly separated from the
rest of their fellow citizens by birth or
some other distinction, and some of
these, entering the navy, come in time
to be lieutenants. In doing this they
usually do not lose the prejudices of
their early bringing up. There are
other thousands who are snobbish
enough to envy any sort of distinction
IL others, whether of birth, rank or
title, and some of these enter the navy.
When such men reach the rank of
lieutenant they are prone to make
civilians intentionally conscious of
The fact that lieutenant
nay in time become an admiral,
and the companion of presidents, or
even of kings. But in spite of the es-
;ential1y aristocratic structure of the
navy, SO broadly popular is now its
basis, that the democracy of the coun-
ny makes itself felt even in the wand
.oom- There are snobs who feel that
he military man is far above the mere
civilian, and occasionally the landsman
Who comes aboard ship as the guest of
junior is made to feel the existence. of
his sentiment, a Goldfish rudeness that
.xcites shame and Indignation at the
vard-room table. Perhaps every lieu
enant has shade of regret in pres
,nee Of the fact that while his rank
md uniform would obtain for him in