STEAM-ENGINEERING.

FIRST SEMESTER: 3 lessons.

Laws of steam; working of engines in general; different propellers; different types of boilers and their details; causes and prevention of foaming; management of the boiler, the last in connection with practice in the fire-room.

SECOND SEMESTER: 3 lessons.

Management of an engine; starting, stopping, backing; object and different methods of expansion; expansion apparatus; reversing gear; methods of distribution of steam, in connection with practical exercises in the engine-room; different ways of reversing.

THIRD SEMESTER: 3 lessons.

Principles and working of different condensers; use and disposition of detail parts, as cylinder valves, cylinder cocks, valve-chest cocks, condenser valves, oiling apparatus, waste cock, hand-reversing gear, manometer, counter, and indicator; calculation of horse-power and of tension; indicator diagram.

FOURTH SEMESTER: 3 lessons.

Management of the engine in action; preservation of the engine and boiler; putting in, hoisting, coupling, and uncoupling screw; distilling apparatus; different kinds of fuel, their inspection, and the indications of their quality; care of coal in bunkers; use and arrangement of all the pumps on board; nomenclature of the engine and boiler and their parts in English and German.

SHIP-BUILDING.

FIRST SEMESTER: 1 lesson.

Ship's frame, timbers, planking, diagonal bracing, &c., in wooden and iron ships.

SECOND SEMESTER: 1 lesson.

Frames employed in the construction of iron ships, armored ships, composite ships. and iron ships sheathed in wood.

THIRD SEMESTER: 1 lesson.

Construction of masts, tops, spars, rudders, capstans, and boats.

FOURTH SEMESTER: 1 lesson.

Survey of ships; means of preservation of material employed in the construction of ships; small repairs performed on board ship; stowage, and its effect on the stiffness, stability, and motions of the ship under steam and under sail; general review.

OFFICIAL DUTIES.

FIRST SEMESTER: 2 lessons.

Organization of the Army and Navy on a peace and war footing; details of Naval organization as contained in orders, regulations, and instructions.

SECOND SEMESTER: 2 lessons.

Official and other relations of officers; garrison-duty; routine of office-work, and preparation of official reports and dispatches; duties of first lieutenant, navigator, officers of the watch, and inspection officers.

THIRD SEMESTER: 2 lessons.

Discipline, punishments, military courts; legal status of military persons; disputes of officers; courts of honor (Ehrengerichte).

FOURTH SEMESTER: 2 lessons.

Details of administration, especially in relation to the care of stores and materials, and the duties of boards of inspection and survey, and auditing boards.

ENGLISH AND FRENCH.

One lesson a week in each language during the course, including exercise in writing from dictation, writing letters, conversation, oral and written translation from German into the foreign languages and vice versa.

Elective subjects are international law, hygiene, &c.

The course of practical instruction is as follows:

Navigation.-Practical instruction in navigation consists of daily observations, calculations, and nautical surveying. Midshipmen keep a navigation book, in which are entered all their observations of the sun, moon, stars, &c. These books are regularly examined and corrected by the navigating officer. When opportunity offers, an excursion of several days is made, to survey part of a bay or harbor, the midshipmen being in charge of the navigating officer and one or two others detailed to assist him. At least one such excursion is made during each cruise, and during its continuance all other instruction is suspended.

This exer

It is held

Seamanship.-Practical instruction in seamanship is given partly by the officer of the deck to the midshipmen of the watch, and partly in separate exercises. During the latter the midshipmen are stationed as mizzen-topmen, and, in case of a large number, a few are stationed in the gangways. The exercise consists in sending up and down light masts and yards, loosing, furling, reefing, and shifting sail. cise may also be carried out in connection with maneuvers. at such times as the captain may direct, and more or less frequently, according to the proficiency of the midshipmen. The test of proficiency is that they shall be able to perform the exercises with as great speed and precision as the crew. Practice in boat-sailing takes place whenever opportunity offers. Towards the latter part of the cruise, each midshipman takes the deck in turn, and works the ship, under the supervision of the officer of the watch, but giving the orders himself.

Gunnery. Midshipmen are frequently exercised at the guns, with broadside and pivot carriages, and with howitzers. The exercise includes firing-practice. Their stations at the guns are changed from time to time, and they are exercised sometimes by themselves, and sometimes with the crew. The preparation of pyrotechnic materials is included in the instruction. Finally, the captain is expressly ordered to lose no opportunity of sending the midshipmen in charge of the gunnery officer on board foreign ships of war, to examine their ordnance.

Steam-engineering.-For practical instruction in steam-engineering, including the management both of fires and engines, midshipmen are

divided into small parties. Instruction in the fire-room lasts two hours at a time, and is in charge of the leading fireman of the watch. The instruction is kept up until every member of the class shows complete understanding of and proficiency in the work. In the engine-room, midshipmen are in the charge of the engineer. Here they learn to work the engine and to manage the reversing-gear in maneuvering the ship. They become familiar with the uses of different valves, gauges, cocks, levers, and other detail parts of the engine. In addition to this, they have watches in the engine-room, as already described, a duty which they perform in turn. The greatest attention is paid to this branch of instruction, and every effort is made to familiarize the midshipmen with the practical use of the machinery of the ship. Parties are sent in charge of officers to examine the engines of foreign men-of-war; and at suitable times midshipmen are placed by themselves for several successive hours in charge of the engine or of the fire-room.

Infantry and other drills.-Instruction in fencing includes both broad and small sword. In infantry tactics and the use of small arms, instruction is given by forming landing parties, at which the midshipmen are detailed as non-commissioned officers. They have also the manual drill on shipboard, and frequent target-practice with rifles and revolvers. In the latter a high standard is required.

On the return of the practice-ship, the commanding officer sends to the Admiralty a full report of the proficiency of the midshipmen, and a provisional rank-list. The midshipmen receive certificates of service, drawn up by the captain with the assistance of the officers, containing a statement of their character, fitness for the service, and general scientific attainments. The reports and certificates state particularly whether the midshipman is out of debt and whether he is considered worthy of admission to the service as an officer. The midshipmen who receive a favorable certificate are ordered to Kiel to pass the first officers' examination.

CHAPTER XXVI.

FIRST OFFICERS' EXAMINATION.-ELECTION AT KIEL.

The first officers' examination (Erste See-Offizier-Prüfung) is preliminary to promotion to the grade of sub-lieutenant, and covers, in general, the ground gone over in the course on board the midshipmen's practiceship. The subjects are classified as follows:

FIRST CLASS: COEFFICIENT, 3.

1. Navigation.*-Eight papers are given, of which five are practical and three descriptive. The examination lasts, in the aggregate, eight hours. It calls for thorough ability to do a day's work and increased facility in dealing with the subjects required in the midshipmen's examination, and it covers the programme of the course in the school-ship. 2. Seamanship and naval tactics.*-Time allowed, six hours.

SECOND CLASS: COEFFICIENT, 2.

3. Gunnery.-Six papers, two of which are on torpedoes. Six hours are allowed for the whole.

4. Steam-engineering.-Three papers of one hour each; one on the erection and arrangement of engines; one on their working, and one on their manipulation.

5. Official duties.-Three hours.

THIRD CLASS: COEFFICIENT, 1.

6. Ship-building.--Three papers of one hour each; one on construction; one on the dynamics of ship-building, and one on materials of construction.

7. French and English.

The oral examinations are similar to the earlier ones, but more advanced in character. At the close of the examination the usual reports, recommendations, &c., are sent in by the board. Only one re-examination may be granted in case of failure, and this only for special reasons.

Midshipmen who pass the examination are thereupon subjected to a still further test of a remarkable character, which it is believed is peculiar to the German service. An election is held at Kiel, the naval sta

*Standard of 55 per cent. required.

tion of the Baltic, to determine the fitness of each midshipman for the grade of sub-lieutenant. In this election all the officers attached to the station have a vote.

Upon the request of the captain of the school-ship, the Commander-inChief of the station is required to summon all the officers on duty, at an appointed time, to hold the election. The names of the midshipmen are then submitted, in the order of their seniority, for election to the grade of sub-lieutenant without commission. In case of a difference of opinion as to the merits of a candidate, the following rules are observed:

1. If the majority of votes is against the candidate his career in the Navy is finished, and the next candidate is proposed without further formalities.

2. If a minority of votes, or only a few individual votes, are cast against the candidate, the officers so voting are required to give the reasons for their opinion in writing; and this vote of the minority, with the indorsements of the Commander-in-Chief of the station and the Minister of Marine, is to be appended to the general report or petition (Gesuchsliste) addressed to the Emperor. In this report all those who have been favorably passed upon in the election are proposed for acting sub-lieutenants; and they become full sub-lieutenants as vacancies occur.