under their command. The Secretary of the Navy may, in his discretion, detail a line officer to act as the aid or executive of the commanding officer of a vessel of war or naval station, who is, when not impracticable, next in rank to the commanding officer, and who, while executing the orders of the commanding officer on board the vessel or at the station, takes precedence over all officers attached to the vessel or station, the orders of such aid or executive being regarded as proceeding from the commanding officer, he having no independent authority because of his detail. Staff officers senior to this detailed officer have the right to communicate directly with the commanding officer.

The chiefs of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Provisions and Clothing, Steam Engineering, and Construction and Repair, have the relative rank of commodore while holding such position, and have respectively the title of surgeon-general, paymaster-general, engineer-in-chief, and chief constructor. When they retire by reason of age or length of service, they have the relative rank of commodore.

Officers of the medical corps on the active list of the Navy have relative rank as follows:-

Medical directors, the relative rank
of captain.

Medical inspectors, of commander.
Surgeons, of lieutenant-commander

or lieutenant.
Passed assistant surgeons, of lieu-
tenant or junior lieutenant.
Assistant surgeons, of junior lieu.
tenant or ensign.

Officers of the pay corps on the active list have the following relative rank :

Pay directors rank as captain.
Pay inspectors, as commander.
Paymasters, as lieutenant-comman-
der or lieutenant.

Passed assistant paymasters, as

Assistant paymasters, as junior lieutenant or ensign.

Officers of the engineer corps on the active list have relative rank thus :

Of the chief engineers, 10 rank as captains, 15 as commanders, and 45 as lieutenant-commanders or lieutenants.

Passed assistant engineers, as lieutenants or junior lieutenants. Assistant engineers, as junior-lieutenants or ensigns.

Of the naval constructors, 2 have the relative rank of captain, 3 of commander, and all others that of lieutenant-commander or lieutenant. Assistant naval constructors have the relative rank of lieutenant or junior lieutenant.

Civil engineers have such relative rank as the President fixes.

Chaplains rank thus: 4 as captain, 7 as commander, and not more than 7 as lieutenant-commander or lieutenant.

Professors of mathematics rank thus: 3 as captain, 4 as commander, and 5 as lieutenant-commander or lieutenant.

The grades established in the six preceding sections for the staff corps of the Navy are filled by appointment from the highest members of each corps according to seniority. Officers of the medical, pay, and engineer corps, chaplains, professors of mathematics, and constructors, who have served faithfully for forty-five years, have, when retired, the relative rank of commodore; and such officers of these several corps who are retired at sixty-two years of age before having served forty-five years, have also that relative rank. Staff officers who are retired for causes incident to the service before the age of sixty-two years, have the same rank on the retired list as pertained to their position on the

active list. Graduates of the Naval Academy take rank according to their proficiency, as shown by their order of merit at the date of graduation. Engineer officers graduated at the Naval Academy take precedence with all other officers with whom they have relative rank, according to actual length of service in the Navy. Officers of the staff corps take precedence in their several corps, and in their several grades, and with officers of the line with whom they have relative rank, according to their length of service in the Navy. In estimating such length of service, precedence is taken by staff officers in their several grades, and with those line officers with whom they hold relative rank who have been in the naval service six years longer than they have been ; and officers who have been advanced or lost numbers on the Navy Register are considered as having gained or lost length of service accordingly, but this does not give to any officer of the staff corps precedence of, or a higher relative rank than that of, another staff officer in the same grade and corps, whose commission antedates that of such officer. No staff officer has any additional right to quarters because of his relative rank or precedence, and the relative rank of medical, pay, and engineer corps officers confers no authority to exercise military command. In processions on shore, or courts-martial, summary courts, courts of inquiry, boards of survey, and all other boards, line and staff officers take precedence according to rank. Ensigns are steerage officers, unless assigned to duty as watch and division officers.

The

President may, if he deems it conducive to the interests of the service, give assimilated rank to boatswains, gunners, carpenters, and sailmakers, thus: after five years' service to rank with ensigns, and after ten years' service to rank with junior lieuten

ants. The officers of the revenue cutter service, when serving in accordance with law as a part of the Navy, have relative rank thus: captains, with and next after lieutenants commanding in the Navy; first lieutenants, with and next after lieutenants in the Navy; second lieutenants, with and next after junior lieutenants in the Navy; third lieutenants, with and next after ensigns in the Navy.

No officer is promoted to a higher grade on the active list of the Navy until he has been examined by a board of naval surgeons, and pronounced physically qualified to perform all his duties at sea; but any officer otherwise regularly entitled to promotion whom such board reports disqualified by wounds received in the line of his duty, but not incapacitated for other duties in the grade, may be promoted. No line officer below the grade of commodore, and no officer not of the line, is promoted to a higher grade on the active list until his mental, moral, and professional fitness to perform all the duties at sea have been established to the satisfaction of a board of examining officers appointed by the President and in time of peace, commodores have likewise to pass this board, which consists of not less than three officers senior in rank to the officer to be examined. The statement on oath of such officer if made, and the testimony of the witnesses (who are sworn), and his examination, are recorded. The whole record and finding, &c., are presented to the President for his approval or disapproval of the finding. Any officer of the Navy may, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, be advanced not exceeding thirty numbers in rank for eminent and conspicuous conduct in battle or extraordinary heroism. Any line officer, whether of volunteers or of the regular Navy, may be advanced one

grade, if, upon recommendation of the President by name, he receives the thanks of Congress for highly distinguished conduct in conflict with the enemy, or for extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession, and the rank of officers is not changed, except in accordance with the provisions of existing laws, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. A vote of thanks by Congress to any officer of the Navy is held to affect such officer only; and whenever, as an incident thereof, an officer who would otherwise be retired is retained on the active list, such retention does not interfere with the regular promotion of others who would otherwise be entitled by law to promotion; and the death, &c., of such promoted officer who has received a vote of thanks, does not create a vacancy to be filled, unless the number of officers left in the grade is less than the number authorised by law.

No patented article connected with marine engines is purchased or used in connection with any steam-vessel of war, until it has been submitted to a competent board of naval engineers, and recommended by such board in writing for purchase and use. No more than $3000 is expended in any navy-yard in repairing the hull and spars of any vessel, until an examining board, composed of one captain or commander in the Navy, designated by the Secretary of the Navy, the naval constructor of the navy-yard where the vessel is ordered for repairs, and two master workmen of said yard, designated by the Bureau of Construction and Repair, or one master workman and an engineer of the Navy, according to the nature of the repairs to be made, have reported to the Navy Department as to the necessity and expediency, and the probable cost, of such repairs. Not more than $1000

is expended in repairs on the sails and rigging of any vessel until the necessity and expediency of such repairs, and the estimated cost, have been ascertained and reported to the Navy Department by an examining board, composed of one naval officer designated by the Secretary of the Navy, and the master rigger and the master sailmaker of the yard where such vessel may be ordered. The President may direct the sale of any armed vessel when unfit to be repaired, and the Secretary of the Navy can sell at public sale such vessels and materials of the United States Navy he deems cannot be advantageously used, repaired, or fitted out, making a full report to Congress of such sales at the opening of each session. The President may select the commandants of the several navy yards from officers not below the grade of commander. The master mechanics, master carpenters, master joiners, master blacksmiths, master boilermakers, master sailmakers, master plumbers, master painters, master caulkers, master masons, master boatbuilders, master sparmakers, master blockmakers, master labourers, and the superintendents of rope-walks, are men skilled in their several duties, and appointed from civil life, and are not appointed from the officers of the Navy. Salaries are not to be paid to any employees, except those who are designated in the estimates. All other persons receive a per diem compensation. No officer or employee of the Government (according to law) shall require or request any working man in any navy - yard to contribute or pay any money for political purposes, nor shall any

working man be removed or discharged for political opinion. And officers or employees offending in this respect shall be dismissed from the United States service. All flags,