As an addendum to Harold's very interesting post – so great was the feeling
against a professional officer corps in the early 19th century that the US
Naval Academy had to be set up under the table.  West Point was founded in
1802, but between 1800 and 1845 Congress rejected twenty proposals to
establish a naval academy. It was alleged that professionals would start
wars because they "must have fighting to do" and that sailors "would look
with contempt upon [the] trifling or effeminate leaders" an academy would
turn out. At the time, naval officers were very often incompetent political
appointees who embroiled the service in controversy and scandal. It was a
historian who stepped in. George Bancroft, appointed navy secretary by
President Polk, directed a council of officers to set up a training program
in 1845, without Congressional authorization or funding. Bancroft got the
War Department to give him Fort Severn in Annapolis. In 1851 the academy was
finally established officially. Bancroft is memorialized with a magnificent
building there. I draw this information from the fine book "The U.S. Navy:
An Illustrated History," by the late Nathan Miller. I had the pleasure of
working on the book as a young photo editor, a task that drew me into naval
history and gave me a lasting admiration for that service. Recently, on a
visit to Philadelphia, I was able to visit a WWII submarine and the
venerable cruiser Olympia--Admiral Dewey's flagship at the Battle of Manila
Bay ("You may fire when you are ready, Gridley."), docked at Penn's Landing
adjacent to my hotel. It was, to say the least, a deeply moving experience
to see a tablet by the water listing the many United States submarines of
WWII still "on patrol" with all hands.

Henry Wiencek
Charlottesville