The record-union., 1899-06-02
THE ADMIRAL.
NO NAVY REGULATIONS CON-
CERNING HIS DUTIES.
No Naval Oflcer Outside Of Eng
land Will Rank Dewey-May
Devise His Own Uniform.

The rank Of Admiral in our navy IS
too exalted to have any duties pre-
ecribed for it. Therefore the navy reg
ulations are silent on the subject IN
TACT, they recognize the altitude OF the
position by merely specifying the hon
ors to be paid to it and nothing else.
When Admiral Dewey arrives on board
his flagship or leaves it officially the
marine guard is paraded and presents
arms, the band in attendance plays a
march, the Captain of the ship ana
other officers also at hand salute, the
drums sound -four ruffies," the bugles
the same number of "fourishes, ana
the guns thunder seventeen times
Please note the ruffles, the fiourishes and
the drums, which are distinctive, Tor
all the rest of the function is bestowed
on other flag officers, irrespective OF
grade. A Vice Admiral receives three
ru1f1es and fourishes and fifteen guns,
a Rear Admiral two ruffles and flour
1shes and thirteen guns, While mere
Commodore gets but one ruff1e ana
flourish and eleven guns. The only
Americans who get more guns than the
Admiral are the President Cor an ex-
President, who is honored with the
national salute, which is twenty-one
guns. and the Vice President or Unit
ed States ambassador, who receives
nineteen. Ex-Vice Presidents don't
count
When the President is saluted his own
distinctive flag is hoisted at the main
mast head. For the Vice President or
an ambassador or Minister the national
ensign is hoisted to the fore. But for a
naval officer his particular flag is sent
aloft, at the proper place; and flags
and places differ. Thus, for Commo-
dore swallowtail blue fiag-the broad
pennant"-bearing a single star rises to
the mainmast head; for Rear Admiral
square blue flag with two stars goes
up at the mizzen; for Vice Admiral
similar flag with three stars appears
at the fore, and when the Manila fleet
saluted the new Admiral the other day
the guns all spoke in chorus when a
blue banner with four stars on it broke
out at the main.
NO PRESCRIBED UNIFORM.
The Admiral has no pr escribed uni
form. The Navy Department at last
accounts was connecting one for him
and raking UP precedents But in the
end he will fix it to suit himself, just as
Farragut did, though probably not with
such artistically disastrous results, for
Dewey is a man of great taste and dis
cernment in matters of personal APP
parel.
I never could understand why Ad-
miral Farragut did not bestow on him
self a uniform coat with gold sleeves
and few blue stripes on them, and
thus be done with it. He had on each
sleeve two very broad bands of gold
lace and slightly narrower one be-
tween them, the combination reaching
about to the elbow, and still above that
huge gold-embroidered star with a
steam frigate worked IN silver in the
middle of it. 1t was quite imposing, if
not slightly tropical in its splendor. Adj
1niral Porter cut it down on his undress
uniform to one broad band and three
much narrower ones above it, but kept
the star. For full dress he wore three
embroidered bands of oak leaves, and
these, 1t is believed, Admiral Dewey will
adopt, inasmuch as the Rear Admiral S
uniform already has a single oak-leaf
band
The general tendency throughout the
world is to make the uniforms of naval
officers as much alike in the different
naves as possible. This avoids con-
fusion, especially in matters of cere-
mony. The sleeve marks of our navy
closely resemble those of corresponding
grades in the English navy, the differ
ence being that our stripes are sur
mounted by a small gold-embroidered
star, while the uppermost English
stripe has curl or loop in it, like the
lions tail when twisted as an irrever-
ent midshipman once remarked
Dewey's ordinary sleeve ornament will
doubtless be closely correspondent te
that of the British Admirals-that is, a
broad band of gold lace about two
inches wide, with three half-inch bands
above it.
The shoulder straps and epaulettes
of an Admiral are similar to those of a
General-that is, they have four silver
stars on them, but with an anchor
under each of the outer stars Of the
row. In other respects the uniform vii
probably not materially differ from thai
Of the Rear Admirals
A reader Of The Inds pendsn mt" has re-
Gently honored me with the query
whether Admiral Dewey would lower
his flag to anybody" To which / re-
ply no, because Admirals do not lower
their flags at all, as long as they are
in command afloat. They change tbs
color of their flags sometimes, AMI i
we had more than one Admiral till:
might happen even to the possessors O.
that exalted rank. In such case, i
two Admirals should meet, the flag a.
the masthead Of the flagship Of tht
Junior one would become red-and i
three of them should assemble the jun.
ior of all would hoist a white flag witt
blue stars, while the next in seniority
would fly the red flag and the seaiol
would retain his blue flag undisturbed
These changes in color to indicate sen
iority are Renaissance of the old nov
obsolete English custom of making
three grades for each Admiral-whethel
rear. vice or full Admiral-terned re
spectively Admiral of the white "Ad
miral of the red'' and Admiral Of tn.
blue" Admirals who never get SEE
command during their career ar
sometimes jocularly termed Admiral
of the yellow" The personnel bill re
Gently enacted is making US lot o
them out of the staff officers who hav,