page_title: Midshipman
section_title: United States Navy from 1845
hierarchical_section_title: Midshipman / History / Cadet officers / United States Navy from 1845
context_page_description: A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada, Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Kenya.
  In the 17th century, a midshipman was a rating for an experienced seaman, and the word derives from the area aboard a ship, amidships, either where the original rating worked on the ship, or where he was berthed. Beginning in the 18th century, a commissioned officer candidate was rated as a midshipman, and the seaman rating began to slowly die out. By the Napoleonic era, a midshipman was an apprentice officer who had previously served at least three years as a volunteer, officer's servant or able seaman, and was roughly equivalent to a present-day petty officer in rank and responsibilities. After serving at least three years as a midshipman or master's mate, he was eligible to take the examination for lieutenant. Promotion to lieutenant was not automatic, and many midshipmen took positions as master's mates for an increase in pay and responsibility aboard ship.
context_section_description: Congress formally authorized the establishment of the United States Military Academy in 1802, but it took almost 50 years to approve a similar school for naval officers.  One major reason for the delay was that Navy leaders preferred the apprenticeship system, citing famous officers such as Nelson and the captains of the War of 1812 who did not attend a formal naval school. However, after the Somers Affair, officers realized that the system for training officers had to change to be more efficient.
  George Bancroft, appointed Secretary of the Navy in 1845, decided to work outside of congressional approval and create a new academy for officers.  He formed a council led by Commodore Perry to create a new system for training officers, and turned the old Fort Severn at Annapolis into a new institution which would be designated as the United States Naval Academy in 1851.  Midshipmen studied at the Academy for four years and trained aboard ships each summer.  Midshipman began to mean "passed midshipman" at this time, and a student at the Naval Academy was a cadet midshipman.  The rank of ensign was created in 1862, and passed midshipmen were promoted to ensign when vacancies occurred.
  In 1865, the Department of Steam Enginery was created and cadet engineers were admitted to the Academy for the first time.  In 1874, Congress changed the curriculum to include four years of classroom training and two years of sea duty aboard a regular vessel prior to examinations as warranted midshipmen.  In 1882, Congress eliminated the distinction in training between engineer and naval cadets, and designated the student officers as naval cadets; the name reverted to midshipmen in 1902. By an act of Congress passed in 1903, two appointments as midshipmen were allowed for each senator, representative, and delegate in Congress, two for the District of Columbia, and five each year at large. In 1912, Congress authorized commissioning midshipmen as ensigns on graduation day, and ended the previously required two years of post-graduation sea service as warrant officers.
  In 1930, the Naval Academy received accreditation as an approved technological institution. In 1933, a new law enabled the Naval, Military, and Coast Guard Academies to award bachelor of science degrees, and the class of 1933 was the first to receive this degree and have it written in the diploma. In 1937, the superintendent of the Naval Academy was granted the authority to award bachelor of science degrees to all living graduates.
caption: Midshipman Theodorus B. M. Mason of the United States Navy (c. 1868)[51]
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