The Mutiny at Sea that Inspired the Founding of the United States Naval Academy on October 10th 1845

Veterans Breakfast Club ^ | Unknown | Todd DePastino

[Jacquerie]

On October 10, 1845, the United States Naval Academy opened its doors at an old abandoned Army post, Fort Severn, in Annapolis, Maryland. There were 56 midshipman students and seven professors. Its mission to train and educate future naval officers by giving them a modern scientific training in the art of naval warfare and instilling discipline, leadership skills, and a strong sense of duty.

We take the US Naval Academy for granted today, but in the 1840s, the idea of a land-based school to train sea-based military officers seemed absurd to most Americans.

Apprentice Navy officers—“midshipmen” in Navy-speak–received on-the-job training at sea while serving under senior officers on a ship.

This OTJ training system had worked for generations, and the US Congress saw no reason to abandon it, despite progressive calls for a more modern and formal classroom education.

A scandalous mutiny in 1842 prompted many in Washington, it seems, to have second thoughts about formalizing Navy education.

The dramatic events occurred on the brig USS Somers, one of those school ships designated as a training vessel for would-be officers. Commanded by Captain Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, the ship carried a mix of seasoned enlisted sailors, 13 officers, and inexperienced midshipmen.

Among the midshipmen was a bad seed, Philip Spencer, the son of the Secretary of War, John C. Spencer. Spencer had a reputation for fiendish intelligence and an obsession with pirates. Kicked out of two colleges, Spencer had joined the Navy, where he earned a reputation for heavy drinking and twice assaulted a senior officer aboard USS North Carolina. Reassigned to USS John Adams, he got into a drunken brawl with a Royal Navy officer in Rio de Janeiro. He resigned his commission to avoid a court-martial, yet, it was not accepted due to his father’s position.

[Dr. Franklin]

Among the midshipmen was a bad seed, Philip Spencer, the son of the Secretary of War, John C. Spencer

At least he had the decency to resign, unlike navy royalty John McCain.

[marktwain]

A bit of history we never hear of.

Great story.

[No name given]

Yep.

[No name given]

Indeed.

[The_Media_never_lie]

Thanks for posting this.

[dljordan]

” navy royalty John McCain.”

‘Hotstart Johnny’

[Dr. Franklin]

Hotstart Johnny’

The first able bodied man to leave the Forrestal after the fire for his own safety.

[Jacquerie]

Hey McCain-Deranged idiot, McCain could have stayed with his grounded Airwing off the Forrestal, but instead he joined VA-163, an aggressive A-4 Squadron that lost a third of its pilots over North Vietnam in 1967.

[paterfamilias]

JAG Season 6 Episode 23 - “Mutiny” dramatized the Somers Affair.

[AnAmericanMother]

Sidelight: Spencer when at Union College (he got expelled) was a founder of the Chi Psi fraternity.

The fraternity memorializes him in song:

And here's to Philip Spencer,
Who when about to die,
And sinking down beneath the waves,
Loud shouted out, "Chi Psi!"

Bad actor all the way around.

[Dr. Franklin]

Hey McCain-Deranged idiot, McCain could have stayed with his grounded Airwing off the Forrestal, but instead he joined VA-163, an aggressive A-4 Squadron that lost a third of its pilots over North Vietnam in 1967.

When McCain ran against G.W. Bush, I was inclined to believe that the attacks against him were unfair smears. The more I read, the more I realized McCain was an entitled POS:
"Here are the facts as we know them: According to [USAF] Colonel Ted Guy, John McCain’s commander as a POW, McCain collaborated with the enemy. McCain is accused of giving information that led to the downing of 60 US aircraft McCain is accused of training North Vietnamese air defense personnel McCain is accused of making over 30 propaganda broadcasts against the US, broadcasts he moved to have classified when he was elected to the Senate"
The real John McCain. "33 POWs faced execution for treason after Vietnam until Nixon pardoned all POWs. McCain was #1 on the list"

John McCain: North Vietnamese Radio - Propaganda Broadcast - 1969

Taking him at his word from that broadcast, McCain's injuries came from his ejection from his plane. That would be explained by him always being undisciplined and not bailing out of his aircraft properly. He probably traded intelligence for medical attention. He wasn't tortured because he cooperated with his captors. His CO in the POW camp wanted him prosecuted. Being an Air Force guy, he didn't much care about who McCain's father and grandfather were, which is as it should have been. Nixon pardoned McCain.

[Leaning Right]

Unfortunately for him, Philip Spencer was born way too early. In Biden’s military, he would have been appointed Secretary of the Navy.

Or maybe not, given that Spencer was a white male. Undersecretary of the Navy, maybe?

[Jacquerie]

<>The first able bodied man to leave the Forrestal after the fire for his own safety.<>

You are an effin’ liar.

[Dr. Franklin]

You are an effin’ liar.

Calling people names doesn't change the facts, and facts are stubborn things:

"McCain’s actions after the fire show a determination to exit the ship as quickly as possible. When New York Times reporter Apple finished gathering his notes on the fire, McCain boarded a helicopter with him and flew to Saigon. Given that fires still burned on the ship and some of his fellow airmen were gravely wounded and dying, McCain’s assertion that he left the carrier for “some welcome R&R” in Saigon has a surreal air. Apple, now dead, said nothing in his news reports about inviting McCain to leave the ship, although he did report talking to him in Saigon later that day. McCain does not mention receiving permission to leave the still-burning ship. Merv Rowland, a commander and chief engineering officer of the Forrestal at the time of the fire, told me that he had not known that McCain left the ship within 30 hours of the fire and that he found this “extraordinary.” Rowland added that only the severely wounded were allowed to leave the ship and that no one, as far as he knew, would have been given permission to fly to Saigon for R&R. McCain’s quick flight off the Forrestal meant that he missed the memorial service for his dead comrades held the following day in the South China Sea.
Not long after McCain left, the Forrestal set off without him on its somber voyage to Subic Bay in the Philippines, where it would undergo initial repairs. He rejoined the ship a week later when it was docked at Subic Bay. There he gave an official statement and asked for a transfer to the aircraft carrier Oriskany."
Investigating John McCain’s Tragedy at Sea

[em2vn]

I am a plank holder of the last ship (USS Somers DDG34) to bear that name. The annual ship’s reunion was held last week in OKC.

[Twotone]

Ha ha! The Deep State CAN be subverted!

I’m sorry my sweetie is no longer alive. As a submariner, he would’ve enjoyed this bit of history.

[SunkenCiv]