PART VIII. MILITARY SYSTEM AND SCHOOLS IN GREAT BRITAIN. (continued 6)

3 Screw Corvettes, 860 50 4,703

7 First class Gunboats, 1,610 30 4,311

3 Second class Gunboats, 270 9 999

16 Paddle Steamers, 2,381 51 9,442

10 Sailing Ves’ls, viz.: 2 Frigates, . . 35 3,032

2 Corvettes, . . 30 1,416

4 Brigs, . . 40 1,176

2 Transp’ts, . . 4 283

The navy is officered and manned by 2 vice-admirals, 4 rear-admirals, 24 captains of steamers and frigates, 14 captains of corvettes, 106 lieutenants, 343 ensigns and cadets, and 3,803 sailors, besides 875 officers and men in the marine corps. On the war footing the sailors number 3,743, and the marines 1,410. The men are recruited by conscription from the seafaring population, although the voluntary enlistments in the province of Dalmatia renders its enforcement unnecessary.

The total commerce of Austria, comprising imports and exports, exceeded $400,000,000. The commercial marine includes 7,830 vessels, of 324,415 tonnage, and 27,979 seamen. The Austrian Lloyd, a trading society established in Trieste in 1833, owns a fleet of 70 steamers, of 12,500 horse-power.

To provide officials, well instructed and trained in the administration of each department of the public service, military and civil—war by land and sea—both for military and commercial purposes, the government establishes schools, with studies and practical exercises adapted to each branch.

SCHOOLS FOR THE MILITARY AND COMMERCIAL MARINE.

1. Military Marine.

There are in Austria several kinds of naval schools, as follows: One each for sailor boys, for marines, for quartermasters, for naval pupils of the first class, for naval pupils of the second class, a theoretical school for naval cadets, and a superior establishment for naval officers.

1. The school for sailor boys is intended to train, as petty officers for the navy, young men from the Slave and German provinces, admitted between 12 and 14 years of age into the naval service. The instruction lasts until the pupil has attained the age for the conscription; he is then entered as a sailor and becomes a petty officer as soon as he gets sufficiently used to the sea. The highest post he can attain is that of upper boatswain (Hochbootsmann.)

2. The schools for marines (Zeugscorps) receive men drawn from different corps of the army. They are trained as petty officers, and a part receive the uniform. Those who are fit to become officers receive their promotion when they leave their corps to enter the school.

3. The school for naval cadets of the first class is kept on board a war vessel selected for the purpose. The object is to prepare for the naval service youths of 16 or 18 years of age, who, on entering the school have already received a complete civil technical education. The teaching here consists, therefore, chiefly of practical seamanship, and also of the application of previously acquired scientific knowledge to navigation and nautical astronomy. The course occupies a year; on leaving, the pupil is received as a naval cadet. After passing two or three years at sea these cadets enter the theoretical school for naval cadets.

4. The school for naval cadets of the second class is intended solely to prepare them to become officers. In this school, beside the pupils placed there at the cost of the State, there are others maintained by endowments, and also others who pay for their instruction. The sons of officers and State functionaries are entitled to enter this school at the public expense, and any Austrian subject who has the necessary qualifications is admitted on payment. Foreigners are also admissible as paying pupils, provided they can obtain authorization from their own government to enter the Austrian service. To be admitted, candidates must be between 12 and 14 years of age, of sound health without bodily defect, and able to pass a previous examination. The instruction is given in accordance with a determined plan, on board a vessel prepared expressly to receive the pupils. After three years’ instruction the pupils leave the school as naval cadets and are sent to sea. At the end of two or three years’ active service the cadets are admitted to the theoretical school. This school receives from 40 to 50 pupils. The chaplain on board is charged with the religious instruction; the other teaching is given by professors from the hydrographic schools. The naval officers of the school-ship give the instruction in practical seamanship.

5. The theoretical school for naval cadets is on shore, and its course occupies a year, after which the pupil undergoes the examination prescribed for his commission as an officer. On leaving this theoretical school the pupils are still naval cadets, but become officers when appointed to a ship.

6. The superior school for naval officers is intended for the further improvement in mathematical and hydrographic studies, of such young men as have shown decided talent and taste for those sciences.

III. GERMAN EMPIRE.

The jurisdiction of the German Empire, by treaty concluded at Versailles, and ratified by the Diet of North Germany Dec. 10, 1870, embraces among other national interests, the Army and Navy, and the protection of German navigation.

The war-fleet of the Empire, which embraces all that had been constructed by Prussia since 1848, consisted in June, 1870, of 38 steamers and 7 sailing vessels, with 42,415 tonnage, and 480 guns.

Horse- power. Guns. Tonnage.

5 Iron-clads, 3,700 62 15,846

9 Steam Frigates and Corvettes, 3,200 200 14,210

8 Steam First class Gunboats, 640 24 5,858

14 Steam Second “ “ 840 28 5,858

1 Steam Yacht, 160 2 445

2 Paddle-Steamer Corvettes, 600 13 1,750

3 Frigates (sailing vessels), . . 114 3,736

4 Brigs, “ . . 46 1,927

The German navy was officered and manned by 1 admiral, 1 vice-admiral, 1 rear-admiral, 27 captains and 217 lieutenants, and 3,283 seamen and boys, besides 2,760 in the marine corps. The sailors of the fleet and the marine corps are recruited by conscription, from the seafaring population, which numbers 80,000.

The provision for naval expenditure in 1870, was for—

Ministry of Marine, 81,250 thalers.

Administration officers, 65,557 “

Pay of seamen and marines, 1,086,990 “

Repairs of ships, 890,000 “

Marine hospitals, 71,820 “

War material, 1,221,317 “

Miscellaneous, 179,796 “

Total ordinary expenses, 3,596,730 “

Extraordinary expenditure, 4,403,460 “

Grand total, 8,000,190 “

The artificial harbor and dry-docks at Wilhelmshaven, in the Bay of Jade, on the North Sea, which was opened by the King of Prussia in June, 1869, have cost over $10,000,000.

The system of professional training for officers of the Imperial Navy is not yet matured. The Naval School at Kiel is still recognized. Aspirants enter as naval cadets after passing an examination equivalent to the requirements of a gymnasial maturity certificate, which in general education is superior to the requirements of graduation of either our Naval or Military Academy. Before entering on their professional studies, the cadet is first sent on a cruise to test his aptitude for sea-service. He then studies eight months at school and one year at sea, to pass as midshipman; and one year more at school, and three years at sea, to become sub-lieutenant.

MARINE ACADEMY AT KIEL.

The German Marine Academy established in 1872, at Kiel, is designed not for the education of cadets, but for the professional training and improvement of officers already in the naval service of the empire—and is of the same character as the Staff School of Berlin for officers of the army. Those only will be received as pupils, whose conduct and talents seem to qualify them for superior scientific attainments, and, hereafter, for the filling of the most important posts. These officer-pupils will be required to give proofs of their diligence and progress by the production, from time to time, of theses and dissertations on scientific subjects given to them by the professors. At the same time, all naval officers will be permitted to attend the courses of instruction when their professional duties do not call them away.

The course of study is to occupy two terms, each of twelve months’ duration, with a vacation of three months for practical exercises.

The subjects for the first term are:—Mathematics, natural philosophy, chemistry, the theory of naval war in all its branches, military tactics in as far as disembarkations are concerned, coast surveying, the theory of the formation of coasts, coastal defenses, field fortification, the constitution of military courts, the principles of international, military, and naval law, the system of administration, sanitary science, especially with reference to life aboard ship and in different climates, the elements of logic, ethics, &c.

The following subjects will be included in the second term:—Nautical astronomy, geodesy, theory of maps and charts, the history of war, with especial reference to naval war, artillery, ship-building, the construction of steam-engines (with practical exercises), the position and construction of naval ports, physical geography, the elements of geology, marine botany and zoölogy, and the general history of modern literature and civilization, &c.