United States. Department of the Navy

Letter from Eugene Hale to Truman Handy Newberry

Senator Hale asks Acting Secretary of the Navy Newberry if there is any truth to reports that some ships are being extensively repaired in preparation for a mission to the Pacific Ocean, since existing appropriations cannot support such expenses. Hale is opposed to sending the fleet to the Pacific as a matter of policy, but specifically opposes such a move on the ground of the law against spending more than has been appropriated.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-07-27

Creator(s)

Hale, Eugene, 1836-1918

Letter from Lyman Abbott to Theodore Roosevelt

Lyman Abbott worries that his comments were misunderstood, and he did not mean to offend anyone. Abbott explains additional funding is required for the United States Military Academy and the United States Naval Academy chaplains, in order to occasionally have outside preachers. He states that outside preachers are common practice for other college congregations.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-06-21

Creator(s)

Abbott, Lyman, 1835-1922

Letter from Eugene Hale to Theodore Roosevelt

Senator Hale thanks President Roosevelt for consulting him about the Navy, is greatly satisfied with how Roosevelt has influenced events in Cuba, and is concerned with the Japanese in Hawaii but has few doubts that Secretary of the Navy Metcalf will be able to pacify the Japanese government and avoid war. Hale has studied the issue and is against building “monster ships,” but the General Board is divided on this question. Hale has summarized their recommendations about battleships for 10 years, but the recommendations seem to change every year and so has less confidence in them than Roosevelt does. Hale is glad to discuss this or any other matter further.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-31

Creator(s)

Hale, Eugene, 1836-1918

Telegram from Henry Cabot Lodge to Theodore Roosevelt

Senator Lodge requests that if Rear Admiral Robley D. Evans retires, his successor be Admiral C. H. Davis, who Lodge refers to as “Harry.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-11-01

Creator(s)

Lodge, Henry Cabot, 1850-1924

Telegram from Henry Cabot Lodge to William Loeb

Senator Lodge requests that his telegram about Real Admiral C. H. Davis be delivered to President Roosevelt as soon as possible. (Lodge had asked that if Rear Admiral Robley D. Evans were to ask to be relieved from the North Atlantic Fleet, Davis be appointed.) In a handwritten note, William Loeb records, “[Assistant Secretary of the Navy] Newberry says no intimation from Evans that he even contemplates asking to be returned. Have so advised H.C.L.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-11-01

Creator(s)

Lodge, Henry Cabot, 1850-1924

Telegram from Henry Cabot Lodge to William Loeb

Senator Lodge telegrams William Loeb, President Roosevelt’s secretary, saying that if he is sure no action will be taken at the Navy Department before Sunday then he should hold this telegram until Roosevelt returns.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-11-02

Creator(s)

Lodge, Henry Cabot, 1850-1924

Letter from Truman Handy Newberry to William Loeb

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Newberry asks William Loeb to file the attached with the confidential comparison of the United States and Japanese navies that Roosevelt sent on October 27. The attachment includes more definite information about various Japanese ships than the memorandum to Roosevelt of October 30 and provides a list of the number and types of ships in the Japanese Navy.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-11-02

Creator(s)

Newberry, Truman Handy, 1864-1945

Letter from Presley Marion Rixey to Theodore Roosevelt

Presley Marion Rixey, Surgeon General of the U.S. Navy, is glad to hear that President Roosevelt is in such good health as to consider dismissing Dr. Pryor from the Sylph, the presidential yacht. Rixey enjoyed his visit to Oyster Bay and was proud of the “magnificent showing of our Navy.” Rixey is also pleased with the progress they have made to better equip and prepare the Navy for any emergency.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-14

Creator(s)

Rixey, Presley Marion, 1852-1928

Letter from Henry Cabot Lodge to Theodore Roosevelt

Senator Lodge is glad to hear of Judge Horace H. Lurton’s opinions; Lodge is most concerned at present with the difference between nationalists and separatists. Lodge would like to see a judge on the bench who holds the views of Alexander Hamilton and John Marshall not Thomas Jefferson and John C. Calhoun. He would someday like to see Attorney General Moody in the Supreme Court. Lodge closes with a discussion of his anxiety regarding the campaign in Maine.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-10

Creator(s)

Lodge, Henry Cabot, 1850-1924

Letter from Charles J. Bonaparte to William Loeb

Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte updates William Loeb on Admiral Eustace Barron Rogers’s acceptance to be appointed Paymaster General. He also includes the requested memorandum from Admiral H. T. B. Harris and discusses the findings of the recent Court of Enquiry. Bonaparte also asks for advice regarding the cases of the three naval academy candidates turned down for deafness and that of J. Raynor Wells’s.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-08

Creator(s)

Bonaparte, Charles J. (Charles Joseph), 1851-1921

Letter from Frederick Roy Martin to Charles J. Bonaparte

Editor of the Providence Journal, Frederick Roy Martin, responds to Charles J. Bonaparte’s criticism of the editorial entitled, “A Lamentable Naval Episode.” Martin notes that if Bonaparte’s “criticism of this editorial had been based upon fact” the paper would no doubt apologize to President Roosevelt. He advises Bonaparte to read the editorial in full.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-03

Creator(s)

Martin, Frederick Roy, 1871-

Letter from Charles J. Bonaparte to Frederick H. Howland

Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte criticizes Providence Journal editor Frederick H. Howland for his editorial saying Bonaparte was lenient on Paymaster George M. Lukesh. Bonaparte also rebuts the editorial’s accusation that President Roosevelt was complicit in this alleged leniency. Bonaparte says he and Roosevelt believed that Lukesh should not have been allowed to remain in the Navy, but says ultimately the court martial gave the toughest sentence they legally could.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-07

Creator(s)

Bonaparte, Charles J. (Charles Joseph), 1851-1921

Memorandum from Frederick H. Lemly

Paymaster Lemly notifies his commanding officer that an order for meat had to be returned because it was tainted. More meat was ordered following the previous shipment’s return.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-07-30

Creator(s)

Lemly, Frederick H. (Frederick Henry), 1880-1967

Letter from Presley Marion Rixey to Theodore Roosevelt

Surgeon General of the Navy, Presley Marion Rixey, writes to President Roosevelt while he is in transit to Honolulu with Governor Carter. The ship is half full because of the recent earthquake and fire in San Francisco, but Rixey is confident that the city will soon recover. Rixey also informs Roosevelt that he has studied the naval station at Yerba Buena and will be making a full report on needed sanitary reforms shortly.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-05-29

Creator(s)

Rixey, Presley Marion, 1852-1928

Letter from Truman Handy Newberry to Theodore Roosevelt

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Newberry reports to President Roosevelt regarding the findings of the Joint Board on Ammo Supply in a Time of War and its reports to Congress regarding the financial estimates for the upcoming year’s reserve supply of ammunition.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-02-12

Creator(s)

Newberry, Truman Handy, 1864-1945

Letter from Herbert H. D. Peirce to William Loeb

Third Assistant Secretary of State Peirce advises William Loeb that although there were no American war vessels in Shanghai during the riot, the State Department has just received a recommendation that a cruiser be stationed there until matters in the area quiet down.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-02-24

Creator(s)

Peirce, Herbert H. D. (Herbert Henry Davis), 1849-1916

Letter from Charles J. Bonaparte to Theodore Roosevelt

Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte denies the charge that he is going to participate in the Philadelphia campaign, noting that he will rather devote his energies to the campaign in Massachusetts. He will attend to President Roosevelt’s suggestions regarding revisions to naval regulations as soon as he can discuss the matter with Admiral Converse. He will also request reports on the repairs of various vessels, as requested by Roosevelt. He addresses a concern to Roosevelt about the transition from Charles Hial Darling to Truman Handy Newberry as Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Both parties seem anxious to proceed, but the gentleman whom Darling is replacing in Vermont has not announced a definite date for his departure from his post. Bonaparte looks forward to accepting Roosevelt’s invitation to Oyster Bay, on his return from the Berkshires.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-08-30

Creator(s)

Bonaparte, Charles J. (Charles Joseph), 1851-1921

Letter from Philippe Bunau-Varilla to Theodore Roosevelt

Philippe Bunau-Varilla introduces Jules Hedeman. Bunau-Varilla also lets President Roosevelt know that France is looking forward to a rapprochement with the United States through the press and that France is sending Navy ships to help in the John Paul Jones celebrations.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-07-25

Creator(s)

Bunau-Varilla, Philippe, 1859-1940

Telegram from William H. Taft to Luke E. Wright

Secretary of War Taft instructs Governor-General Wright to inform the Russian Navy Admiral, Zinoviĭ Petrovich Rozhestvenskiĭ, that President Roosevelt will not allow battle-damaged ships to be repaired in the port of Manila unless they are interned there until the end of the conflict. It is United States policy to restrict the actions of belligerent parties in neutral ports. Taft further instructs Wright to turn over the orders to Admiral Charles Jackson Train after he delivers the message.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-06-05

Creator(s)

Taft, William H. (William Howard), 1857-1930

Punishment for hazing at the Naval Academy

As an addendum to Senate Bill 3899, Senator Perkins submits two letters from Secretary of the Navy Charles J. Bonaparte to Senator Eugene Hale. Bonaparte’s letters discuss amendments to the pending legislation, as well as the necessity of passing the legislation granting the Secretary of the Navy the authority to dismiss midshipmen at any time if he deems it in the best interest of the Navy. Such actions will allow the Secretary of the Navy to better address problems like hazing, which otherwise require a longer process of court-martial.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-01-30

Creator(s)

Perkins, George C. (George Clement), 1839-1923