Ex Scientia Tridens

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Forum Host
Joined
Aug 25, 2012
We have many threads about the WestPoint and the Civil War but why so few on the Naval Academy? It is reported that 24% of the students resigned to join the Confederate Navy. The first Superintendent became the only Confederate full admiral can you name him?

Name the Naval Academy Commandant who resigned and joined the Confederate Navy. Hint his brother and the Commandant's son were both Confederate generals. One more hint, the Commandant's son was also one of the ex Confederate generals who were generals during the Spanish American War.

I made this way too easy.
 
Extra credit. What does Ex Scientia Tridens mean. Looking it up is cheating. OK it was years ago that I was force to take Latin in junior high and I had to look it up but you navy guys should know.
 
We so often hear of how much the graduates of West Point aided both sides during the Civil War by providing most of the senior leadership of both sides. Much of the same could be said for the US Naval Academy. The US Naval Academy provided both sides well-trained professional naval officers.

The naval advancements seen during the Civil War did not occur simply because many ships were built, you need a reserve of capable young officers ready to move up to higher command.
 
The upper-level management of the US Navy hadn't attended Annapolis, though. The first Annapolis graduates were still midshipmen and lieutenants at the outbreak of the war-- a consequence of the seniority-based promotion system and small size of the antebellum Navy. (The senior captain, Charles Stewart, had been one of the fighting commanders of the USS Constitution in the War of 1812...)
 
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