Annapolis

It was during the year 1845 that George Bancroft, Secretary of the Navy under President Polk, decided that there must be a school for training naval officers. So he went to the War Department and got it to sign over to the Navy the land on which had stood Fort Severn, at Annapolis, Md., and there on Oct. 10 of that year the U. S. Naval School was opened with Commander Franklin Buchanan as Superintendent. Five years later the school was reorganized and rechristened "The U. S. Naval Academy." There, where it first took root, the Academy has flour- ished ever since, save during the Civil War when it was temporarily transplanted to Newport, R. I.

Last week, Secretary of the Navy Wilbur announced the appointment of the 27th Superintendent of the Academy, Rear Admiral Louis McCoy Nul- ton, who is to succeed Rear Admiral Henry B. Wilson, the present superintendent, who retires on Feb. 25.

The appointment to the Academy is generally reckoned a very good one and is well liked by naval officers. It is generally good for two or three years in pleasant surroundings and, although the post carries no extra pay, the Navy Department pays the expense of entertaining official visitors.

Rear Admiral Wilson, the retiring commandant, is a man of unusual charm. Under his superintendence the midshipmen at the academy have been allowed considerable more liberty than during previous regimes. Under previous Superintendents, midshipmen, except first class men, were not allowed to go into "town" or to smoke. Admiral Wilson has also allowed more holiday recesses. One of his contributions as Superin- tendent has been a great improvement in the grounds of the Academy.

Rear Admiral Nulton, a man of 55, a good disciplinarian, with a record of service in many branches of the Navy, is to step into Wilson's place. The new Superintendent was born in Winchester, Va., Was graduated from the Naval Academy in 1889. At three periods since then he has been assigned to duty at the Academy, The last time, 1915-18, when Admiral Eberle (then Captain) was Superintendent, he served as Commandant of Midshipmen.