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Merchant Marine Academy By Arthur M. Tode, Member, Board of Visitors, New York State Merchant Marine Academy the sea in a vigorous fashion has been demonstrated so poignantly the past three years, that no longer does room for doubt remain as to the future of our maritime trade. Among the subjects brought forth for dis- cussion at the Fourth National Mer- chant Marine conference at Washing- ton in January, none aroused a deep- er interest, was more widely dis- cussed or received more _ publicity than the training of merchant ma- rine officers. More than 1700 ques- tionnaires which had been mailed and returned were carefully tabulated by the committee, details of which have already been published. The results of these tabulations clearly in- dicated the trend for a national mer- chant marine academy or its equiv- alent; an institution whose facilities would be available to American youths from all the several states. Tite America is again turning to So much has already been written of the work of the four state training ships, the Newport, the NANTUCKET, the ANNAPOLIS, and the CALIFORNIA State that repetition is not required here. The state of New York was the first to have its governor request the loan of a vessel for training purposes from the navy department under the law of 1874. The U.S.S. Sr. Marys was at that time loaned and became the New York Nautical school. The empire state has now acquired from the navy department a modern ves- sel for the training of merchant ma- rine officers and on April 6 its legis- lature passed an act amending the education law in relation to admis- sion to the New York State Merchant Marine academy. Under date of March 25, 1931, Goy- ernor Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote to the secretary of the navy, regarding better training facilities for the young men enrolled in the academy, request- ing that the U.S.S. Procyon with complete equipment be loaned to the state of New York for use as the training ship of the academy to re- place the Newrort. The secretary of the navy under date of April 3 ad- vised Governor Roosevelt that the de- partment would be able to comply with the request and further, that when recommissioned, the name would be changed to the U.S.S. Em- PIRE STATE. The acquisition of the Emprre Sratr for the training of merchant marine officers will be widely acclaimed. The consensus of opinion in maritime cir- cles has been for a training ship which would combine cargo and pas- senger carrying characteristics. The new vessel will fulfill the requirement and for the first time in the history of training merchant marine. offices, cadets will be trained on a modern ship with all modern equipment. Cadets from states other than New York state who enter the academy will be required to pay approximate- ly $750 per annum for tuition and board, plus $90 per annum for uni- forms, textbooks and minor equip- ment. The course at the academy is two years and the cadets successfully completing the course are graduated and licensed as third mate or third assistant engineer, and obtain imme- U.S. 5. Procyon, New Training Ship, N. Y. Merchant Marine Academy-Renamed Empire State MARINE REVIEW—May, 1931 diate employment. The educational qualifications for admission to the academy require the candidate to have completed three years of high school work, and a large percentage of those at present enrolled are high school graduates. Great credit for the securing of the new vessel is given to the superin- tendent of the academy, Capt. J. H. Tomb, U.S. N. (retired), and to Gov- ernor Franklin R. Roosevelt. Not only did Governor Roosevelt and Capt. Tomb persuade the. New York State Education department, which has jurisdiction over the Merchant Ma- rine academy, but also gained the sup- port of the New York State chamber of commerce and the state legislature in this movement, which not only re- sults in a modern ship, but also per- mits all American boys for the first time in history the opportunity for obtaining merchant marine training at the New York State Merchant Ma- rine academy. The U.S.S. Newport will leave the Brooklyn navy yard for her last cruise about May 14 and head for the Puget Sound navy-yard at. Seattle, via the Panama canal. Some time in July she will be decommissioned and the cadets and crew transferred to the U.S.S. Procyon which will then be named the Empire State. This ves- sel was decommissioned at the Puget Sound navy yard on March 31, and is in splendid shape in every way. Until last month she was flagship of Rear Admiral William D. MacDougall, com- mander of the base force and a few years ago was commanded by Rear Admiral W. W. Phelps, commandent of the third naval district and the Brooklyn navy yard. The new training ship of the Mer- chant Marine academy is 401 feet long, 54 feet beam, 24% feet norma’ draft, and has a normal displacement of 11,450 tons. She is engined with Curtiss type, General Electric geared turbines of 2500 horsepower, which give the vessel a speed of 11% knots. She is boilered by three Babcock & Wilcox oil burning boilers and lighted by two 50 kilowatt 120 volts tur- bogenerators. Her complement as a naval ship was 27 officers and 191 men. There is already a lengthy list of applications to be acted upon for the next examinations for entrance to the New York State Merchant Marine acad- emy, which will be held in Sep- tember. It is expected to ac- commodate 200 cadets on board the Emprre Strate. Full infor- mation regarding the qualifica- tions for admittance to the academy can be obtained by addressing the Secretary, New York States Merchant Marine academy, Room 874 Centre Street, New York. 37