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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.

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CHAPTER XXVII.

NAVAL SCHOOL.-OFFICERS' DIVISION.

OFFICERS' PROFESSIONAL EXAMINATION.

The acting sub-lieutenants (Unter-Lieutenants zur See ohne Patent) are ordered by the Admiralty to attend the officers' course at the Naval School. Midshipmen who have passed their first officers' examination, and are awaiting promotion, are ordered there at the same time. The course of instruction begins about the 1st of October and closes at the end of August in the following year. It completes the theoretical education of officers and prepares them for the professional examination (See-Offizier-Berufs Prüfung), held annually at Kiel in September by the board of examiners. The first half of the session is devoted rather to purely scientific study, and the last half to professional branches. The dates of the beginning and end of the course are fixed by the Admiralty, and may be varied according to circumstances.

The organization of the Naval School for both the officers' and cadets' divisions has been already described. The course of the former includes the following subjects:

I.-NAVIGATION.

Exact knowledge of the construction and skill in the adjustment and use of instruments; the correction of errors, knowledge of the theory, and increased readiness in determining the time of culmination and the real and apparent rising and setting of fixed stars, &c., and in calculating longitude by chronometer with the necessary observations for error and rate; preparation of tables for the correction of the chronometer; readiness in observing and in calculating local time by the different methods; arrangement and calculation of complete observations of longitude by lunar distances from the sun, stars, and planets, with or without measured altitudes; calculation of latitude according to the methods previously given, and also by observation of simultaneous altitudes of two fixed stars; certainty in determining the variation and deviation of the compass and the causes of the latter, both on land or at sea; methods of coast surveying; execution of a survey by the use of the plane table, and preparation of charts and sketches; knowledge of sailing directions in their dependence upon prevailing winds and currents; acquaintance with the marked features and depth of water of German harbors, with the shoals, lighthouses, and beacons of the Baltic, the Sound, the Great Belt, Cattegat, and the North Sea, as well as those near the usual routes to the English Channel.

II.-LAND TACTICS.

Employment of different kinds of troops in fighting; the tactical formations and evolutions of an infantry battalion, especially the company column and skirmishing; general principles of scout and picket service, on the march and in camp; influence of the contour of land upon modes of fighting; tactics of the Naval Brigade (gelandete Schiffsmannschaft); and employment of boat and field guns in landing parties.

III.-GUNNERY.

Extended review of the subject of gunpowder and ammunition, in general; guns, carriages and equipments, small arms, and the care and use of ordnance, especially of rifled guns; general study of foreign ordnance; thorough knowledge of the working of ordnance, and the attendant circumstances, as, the form of the trajectory of solid shot, and of scattering projectiles, with or without reference to the resistance of the atmosphere, and rotation; preparation and use of range tables, and graphic representation of the path of projectiles; firing at long range; effect of shot, &c.; effect of firing on the gun itself; recoil and its prevention; different kinds of firing, according to the gun, projectile, charge, form of trajectory, direction, and object aimed at; employment of different methods in sea and coast fighting; condition and effectiveness of foreign naval and coast artillery; firing with small arms.

IV.—SHIP-BUILDING AND NAVAL ARCHITECTURE.

Technical knowledge of the properties of materials used in ship-building, their care and preservation; principal systems of ship-building, their advantages and disadvantages; structural parts of a ship, and details of construction of wooden and iron ships; calculation of displacement; ship-draughting; application of statical and dynamical laws to determine the lines of a ship, and the distribution of weights, stowage, &c.; effect of the form and distribution of weights, on the character of the ship as a gun-carrying machine, while stationary or in motion; rolling moments and pitching moments; preparation of sail-draught, with necessary calculations; action of sails; effect of stowage on the efficient working of the ship; relation between the ship and engine; docking ship, and inspection of hull, especially in iron ships.

V. STEAM-ENGINEERING.

Physical laws relating to steam; temperature, elasticity, density, condensation, and expansion; principles of construction and working of different kinds of engines and boilers; different systems of propulsion; safety apparatus, and boiler equipment in general, with governing principles; determination of the saturation; expansion apparatus; apparatus for the distribution of steam; principles and working of different condensers; the arrangement and action of detail parts of the engine; different kinds of fuel and their advantages, their condition, and their economical use and preservation; thorough knowledge of the methods of calculating the performances of the engine, under different circumstances of speed and consumption of coal; nominal, indicated, and effective horse-power; use of the indicator diagram as a basis of calculation; preservation of engine and boiler; explosions; different forms of distilling apparatus; all the pumps used in the German Navy.

VI.-FORTIFICATION.

1. Field fortification.-Nomenclature, erection and disposition of redoubts and fieldworks, and methods of attack and defense.

2. Permanent fortification.—Main conditions for the erection of permanent fortifications, and a brief survey of the construction of existing forts; outlines of the attack and defense of fortresses.

3. Coast fortification.-Necessary conditions for shore-batteries, in reference to choice of site, details of construction, and armament; laying harbor obstructions; use of submarine torpedoes; attack and defense of coast-batteries.

VII.-DRAWING.

Preparation of a sketch of coast-line, a survey, and some line-drawings from subjects in ordnance, ship-building, and engineering.

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