Seven Service Schools of Bainbridge

By Paul Flemming Originally Printed in the Sea Classics Magazine

The names used to identify camps and roads on military bases are a compendium of the history of the military service on which they are located. The selection of those names is a significant part of the total historic fabric of the base. Knowledge of any name might have a superficial recognition to the average person though not necessarily the name's historical significance. We will deal only with the camp names at USNTC Bainbridge. How and when the selection of names for the seven camps was made can only be partially answered. Some camp names may be recognized by Navy history buffs. Others may be totally unknown to them. On a military base, 'the various special use areas were designated as camps. Camps were used to identify specific geographic areas of a base. At Bainbridge, if recruits were asked how many regimental areas there were, the customary response would be four. It is possible that the recruits might have known the name of the camp in which their regiment was located but not the camp names for the other three regiments. In total, there were seven camps at Bainbridge when the Tome area (the pre-existing school which came to house the Naval Academy Preparatory School), the Administrative Command, and the School Command barracks area are included. Bainbridge began with the acquisition of a defunct former boys' boarding school. Both the Army and Navy wanted the school for training purposes. The school was composed of all the elements necessary for a camp regiment. The final decision that the Navy would occupy the site was made by President Franklin Roosevelt who also chose the names for the two sister bases - Sampson and Farragut. The next phase of development was the placement and naming of the several camps. In general, camps on military bases are laid out in a linear fashion as occurred at Sampson and Farragut. Because the existing school was located on the curve of a bluff above the Susquehanna River, such. an arrangement was not possible. This was further complicated by the hilly topography. The camps were therefore laid out in an atypical arrangement.

The first camp was given the name Camp Rogers for Adm. John A Rogers (1848-1933). In his Naval career, he served under Adm. Dewey when the disturbances occurred in Venezuela. Later, he served in WWI in command of units at various New England colleges where officers were being trained. His most long-lasting impact on the Navy is the influence he had on the use of wireless radio. The choice of his name is understandable. He was a resident of nearby Harve de Grace.

The camp name for what was to become the location of the second regiment was Camp Perry for R. Adm. Thomas Perry (1844 1918). His Naval career included his being aboard the supply ship USS Pensacola during the Spanish American War He later served aboard the battleship USS Iowa where he commanded a fleet at Panama during their revolution and protected the Canal Zone from foreign interference. In 1904, he was commandant of both the Eighth Naval district and the Pensacola Navy Yard. He also had a local connection. He had a home located where the base water tower eventually stood. Later, he built a house across the road from the area that became the main gate. He lived there until 1918 when he died. He and Adm. Rogers were also good friends.

Camp Reuben James (1776-1838) was the name given to the area housing the third regiment. Reuben James is the only non-officer for which a camp was named. He, in particular, could well be held up to recruits as someone to be emulated. During an 1803 battle with the Barbary pirates, he put himself between an assailant and Commodore Decatur. James received the blow intended for Decatur; saving Decatur's life. In following years, he received severe wounds which forced him from active duty. The wounds eventually led to his death in 1838 at the age of 62.

The fourth camp, home to the fourth regiment, was named for Commodore Joshua Barney (1759-1818). Barney may be unfamiliar to many. His exploits during the American Revolution are a lengthy story in themselves. Prior to the outbreak of the war, he had been a privateer. He entered the Navy as a captain and initially commanded a Chesapeake Bay flotilla. He was taken prisoner several times and several times exchanged. He authored the plan to defend the Chesapeake which proved successful. His selection is relevant for two reasons. He was not only an exemplary Naval officer at sea but during the War of 1812, he commanded 500 sailors and marines ashore at Bladensburg, Maryland, in an attempt to defend Washington from the advancing British.

A 1943 map of the base identifies only the camp names for the areas that were used for the first four regiments. Two additionally named camp areas existed. The fifth camp was for the School Command barracks, the Ship's Service building and dining hall. None of those buildings are shown on this early map. They are shown on later maps.

The School Command Camp was designated the fifth regiment. Operational Command Files located at the Washington, DC, Navy Yard indicate that the camp was named for Royal Adm. J. Russell Y. Blakely 11825-1942) after he died March 28, 1942. Unlike the four recruit training camps/regiments, there was no drill hall or drill field, though there was a dining hall. The high point of Adm. Blakely's Naval career occurred with his being awarded the Navy Cross for his successful escorting of troops and reason for Adm. Blakely's selection is obscure. A reasonable guess would be that he may have been the first admiral who died during WWII. The destroyer escort USS JR. Y Blakely (DE-140), launched 7 March 1943, was named in his memory.

The sixth camp was the Administrative Command area named Camp Semmes. These buildings included the Base Administration and staff barracks plus areas such as the brig. Also included were the Outgoing Group barracks along with the Receiving Unit which were located at the opposite end of the base from the core Administrative buildings. Of the three sister bases Bainbridge, Farragut, and Sampson - this is the only example of camps not being grouped in a contiguous fashion. The naming of the camp has a unique twist. In the base newspaper Mainsheet, the camp name given was Semmes for Commodore Raphael Semmes. The problem was that Raphael Semmes was an officer in the Confederate Navy most notably remembered as the commander of the CSS Alabama which was eventually sunk by the USS Kearsage off Cherbourg, France. The error was later corrected in the Mainsheet with the identification changed to Commodore Alexander Semmes (1825-1885), who was described as a Union Naval officer during the Civil War. Admiral Alexander Semmes was very active during the war including command of the new screw propeller gunboat USS Tahoma. He was able to make seven Confederate captures off the west coast of Florida. He also commanded the USS Lehig]: which participated in the bombardment of Fort Pringle and in operations at Charleston. Other assignments included president of the Board of Inspection and Survey in 1880 and, at the time of his death, he was ill command of the Washington Navy Yard.

The seventh camp consisted of the several massive granite buildings with a sumptuous Italianate garden referred to as "The Tome Institute." The Tome was built as a private school for boys. Jacob Tome came to Port Deposit in 1833. His business ventures included a lumber business, steam boats, railroads, the Conowingo Bridge Company, the Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal Company, participation in development of Ridley Park near Chester, Pennsylvania, and being a founder of the Cecil Bank in 1850. The defunct school located 200-ft above Port Deposit provided the impetus for President Franklin Roosevelt ordering the property to be purchased for the new base. The existing school was, in effect, a ready-made camp. As the anchor to Bainbridge, the area was eventually used for the officers' club in Monroe Hall and to house the Naval Academy Preparatory School (NAPS). With four massive dormitories, classrooms in Memorial Hall, dining facilities in Van Buren House, known as ''The Inn," and an athletic field, there were all the elements to qualify it for use as a regimental area. The Cruise graduating class book of 1962 shows, for example, that the class was composed of three companies of Sailors and Marines averaging 100 students each. Each company was then subdivided into four sections. Number wise the class structure paralleled that of a recruit battalion at the company.

One special use area that appears not to have been given a name was the sprawling hospital complex. On maps, the area is generally referred to as the "Hospital Group." The complex had a bed capacity of 1200 which could be expanded to 1500 or 2000 more beds. There was also a Hospital Corps School for 500 students. Though nominally under the overall command of the base commander, the hospital functioned essentially as an independent command. Insight to the building of the camps can, in part, be tracked by examining sequential maps of the base. These maps were produced each year to document changes in electrical and water systems, new buildings, demolished structures and produced an example. The school buildings are shown on the 1943 map but are numbered in the 600 series which are the numbers assigned to Camp Semmes - the Administrative Command. They were located school buildings directly behind the Camp Semmes Administration building. The student barracks are not shown on this map. They are shown on later maps, for example the one for 1962. They are numbered in the 500 series designation for the fifth regiment. Students going to the school buildings would walk approximately two city blocks passing the south east comer of the Camp Rogers barracks area. The map also shows the proposed site for a six unit Married Officer Quarters.

Of the 55 identifiable names for the roads on maps of Bainbridge occur the names of Truxton, Decatur, Hull, MacDonough, Preble, Sims, and Parry. In the history of the Navy, these are assuredly equal to and in some cases are far more significant than those chosen to identify the camps of Bainbridge. They are names of men who could provide recruits with inspiration. This is particularly true for Commodore Parry as he is not only the Navy's first flag officer but the acknowledged Father of the US Navy. By definition, the base itself is a special-use area. Therefore, the name it was given should be considered. President Franklin Roosevelt's selection of Commodore Bainbridge (1774-1833) as the name for the facility is a curious one. As a role model for recruits, Bainbridge was a particularly odd choice. According to Toll: "Among his brother officers, Bainbridge was well liked and respected, both as a gentleman and as a talented seaman. But he was unpopular with the enlisted men. He was a ruthless disciplinarian, even by the standards of the era; he readily admitted that he regarded seamen as inveterate miscreants; unworthy of the slightest courtesy. Once approached by a man who tried to address him respectfully, Bainbridge cut him off, saying, ‘I don't allow a sailor to speak to me at all.' In a letter to Preble, he summed up his view of the men who served before the mast. 'I believe there never was so depraved a set of mortals as sailors are. Under discipline they are peaceable and serviceable - divest them of that and they constitute a perfect rabble.'" Continuing to quote from Toll: ''From his first days at sea, Bainbridge had used physical intimidation to enforce shipboard discipline. On most ships, the captain's dirty work was carried out by the boatswain and his gang of mates; Bainbridge did not hesitate to beat a troublemaker with his own fists. In 1802, Bainbridge had been assailed in print as 'a man destitute of reason and humanity' by John Rea, an ordinary seaman who had served under him in 1800 on the George Washington.

If Rea's 24-page pamphlet was to be believed, Bainbridge had injured a drunken sailor during the voyage by striking him on the head with his sword. Not only did the attack split the unlucky man's head open, fracturing his skull and sending him into violent convulsions, but the blow was dealt while the victim's hand and feet were confined in irons. Not satisfied, Bainbridge had afterward ordered the bleeding man seized up at the gangway and flogged. As the punishment was meted out, the captain had allegedly remarked: 'I have no compassion on such a dammed rascal."

A lesser-known episode in his life involved his acting as a second for Commodore Stephen Decatur in a duel with Commodore James Barron. Barron fatally shot Decatur. Bainbridge, instead of aiding the dying Decatur, immediately abandoned him and took flight for his ship at the Washington Navy Yard. The United States Naval Training Center known as Bainbridge no longer exists and those who served there are rapidly becoming fewer and fewer. Identifying all seven of the Bainbridge camps as opposed to identifying only the recruit regimental training areas gives insight to the complexity of the base structure. The comparison could be to a city of comparable size, the primary difference being that each of the four 5000-man regiments was constantly rotating recruits. In addition to the seven camps, the family housing area, though not designated a camp, was an additional self-contained area and an essential component of the base. In time, all that may remain of USNTC Bainbridge is a historical footnote that a Naval recruit training base once sat on the bluffs above a town called Port Deposit on the banks of the Susquehanna River. Knowing the camps of Bainbridge partially preserves the concept of the size and structure of the base which individual memories and pictures cannot convey.