Naval Maneuvers: 1901

I’m thinking this photo was taken in 1894-1896. Big balloon sleeves on women's clothing started to appear around 1894 and by 1897 were gone. Also the hats they’re wearing are more typical of the mid 1890s. The LOC gives the date range of the U.S. Naval Academy photos as between 1890 and 1901.

[This particular image is listed in Detroit Publishing's 1901 catalog. - Dave]

The Academy's superintendent from 1900 to 1902 was Commander Richard Wainwright. He and his wife Evelyn had one daughter, Louisa. She was chosen to christen the submarine USS Shark (SS-8) in 1901. The Boston Globe reported on October 29, 1902 that Miss Wainwright wed Lt. Walter Stevens Turpin (in the drawing room of "the superintendent's new residence"). He was the son of a former Maryland state senator. Do not look for him in this photo; he graduated from the academy in 1894, and was stationed at the Crescent Shipyards in Elizabethport NJ in 1901 and the USS Indiana in 1902.

Ernest King, CNO during WWII, was Class of '01. Any chance he's in the picture?

Misses #1 and 2 overwhelm Miss #3 who is mostly hidden to the right. I bet she complained of not being given enough "face time" in the photo.

Was parting one's hair in the middle mandatory in those days? The one guy in the picture whose part is slightly off-center is wearing his hair in the manner that matches most photos of President Roosevelt at the time.

Is that the Asian-looking midshipman is Hiroaki Tamura, graduated 1900. Last of some 15 Japanese cadets who attended between 1869 and 1900.

Another Japanese graduated in 1993.

Heart-broken after the disappearance of Jake during a daring rescue of Bill the Goat, the college mascot, from the crow's-nest of the USS Chesapeake, Fanny reveals to Violet a terrible family secret.

Sixteen years early, "The Admiral", while on a drunken and debauched week in New Orleans, fell madly in love with one of "les filles" at Madame Fricassee's "Maison de Mauvais Parfum". Alas, "Collette", the object of his desire, was in fact Mabel, the laudanum-addicted, wayward wife of none other than "The Admiral's" own brother - and mother of Violet. Nine months later, "Collette" gave birth to a son and promptly died of Yellow Fever. The ever-resourceful Madame Fricassee employed the services of even more resourceful Sam Huckabee, private detective, to track town "The Admiral".

A financial arrangement was reached and Oswald, the product of the brief union of "The Admiral" and "Collette", was raised by Madame Fricassee and "les filles". Eventually, "The Admiral" agreed to have him enrolled at the Academy, as long as Oswald was never told of his actual parentage.

Fanny had come across "The Admiral's" stash of letters from Madame Fricassee and reveals all to Violet.

Violet, in turn, has her own secret ...

Feigning indifference to one another Oswald and Violet have secretly eloped and Violet is with child.

The trio of theatrical looking lads on the extreme left seem posed to begin singing a rousing rendition of a show-stopping musical number, perhaps something like "Anchors Aweigh" or some other toe-tapping, patriotic naval song. Can't you just see them stepping off the porch and doing their drill down the sidewalk?

For "Academy" Season 1, Episode 2. Written by Mudhooks, produced by Dave, directed by Shorpy.

I think there is a possibility that the young man staring across the porch and the girl, are brother and sister. They seem to favor.

Edvado, that is exactly what I was thinking. Miss Elvira Gulch.

Following the trials and loves of The Class of '05 - Purvis, son of a Congressman, ambitious and dim and in love with Fanny, the Superintendent's daughter; Jake, the brilliant but diffident cadet unaware of Fanny's longing looks but well aware that her father, "The Admiral" is prepared to stop at nothing to have him drummed out of the Academy; Violet, Fanny's beautiful "City" cousin, whose dazzling smile turns the heads of most of the men on campus; Manolo, the first Filipino cadet in the history of the Academy whose dark, exotic looks have attracted the eye of Walter, Fanny's older brother, whose aspirations lie not in the Navy but on Broadway - Manolo, alas, has already fallen for Bert, the Academy's football star ...

I'm wondering about the melatonin-advantaged (Asian? Hispanic?) fellow in the middle of the picture. I wonder what sort of career he could have had in the Navy.

Or perhaps he was an exchange student from Japan? This was about the time they were working hard to create a "modern" Navy.

[He's probably Filipino, his countrymen numbering among the "newly acquired peoples" granted admission to U.S. military academies in 1901 following the defeat of Spain in the Spanish American War. - Dave]

Would love to see that gas chandelier in the foyer ablaze at night with a circle of fishtail flames flickering through the globes.

to get his attention, so they are mutually smitten.

Midshipman Smitten obviously has a thing for the cute young lady directly in front of him, and she is holding his cap!

One of the young men is holding something that I can't even guess what it is.

[Perhaps one of the dainty folding fans favored by sailors of the era. - Dave]

Midshipman Smitten.

Obviously, the young man in the closeup below is smitten with the girl with the puffy hat in front of him. She, in turn is eyeing one of the likely lads to her right.

I don't see love in his eyes. He's probably thinking "Why on earth does she keep a dead pigeon on her head?"

Every one of these young people has the look and body language of supreme confidence. Ok, except for Mr. Daydreamer behind the hat lady. He's somehow fascinated and mesmerized by the millinery I suppose.

... in a land over the rainbow, the sister of the young lady with the hat died in a tragic accident when a house fell out of the sky and struck her. The Munchkins were thrilled!

And a very explicit look.
"How can I tell her that I love her?"