Some extra enlistments of Negroes were contemplated, as the Navy had in process of establishment just prior to the armistice, a new service for Negro recruits.  It was to be somewhat similar to the Pioneer units of the army, partaking in some degree of the character of Marines, just as the Pioneers partake of the character of infantry, but in general respects resembling more the engineer and stevedore units.  About 600 men had been selected for this service when the project was abandoned on account of the ending of the war.

With the exception of a very limited number who have been permitted to attain the rank of petty officer, Negroes in the Navy were confined to menial occupations.  They were attached to the firing forces as coal passers, while others served as cooks assistants, mess attendants and in similar duties.  Quite a number were full rated cooks.  A few were water tenders, electricians and gunners’ mates, each of which occupations entitled them to the aforesaid rank of petty officer.  Among the petty officers some had by sheer merit attained the rank of chief petty officer, which is about equal to the rank of sergeant in the army.

The idea of separate ships for the Negro might to some degree ameliorate the sting incident to race prohibition in that arm of government service.  The query is advanced that if we can have black colonels, majors, captains and lieutenants in the army, why cannot we have black commanders, lieutenants, ensigns and such in the Navy?

Negroes have often and in divers ways displayed their intelligence and efficiency in the Navy.  Take, for instance, the case of John Jordan, a Negro of Virginia, who was chief gunner’s mate on Admiral Dewey’s flagship the “Olympia” during the Spanish-American war, and was the man who fired the first shot at the enemy at Manila Bay.  A Negro chief electrician, Salisbury Brooks, was the originator of inventions which were adopted without reservation by the Navy designers and changed the construction of modern battle ships.

One of the principal instructors on the U.S.S.  Essex, the government training ship at Norfolk, is Matthew Anderson, a Negro.  He has trained thousands of men, many of them now officers, in the art and duties of seamanship.  Scores of Negroes; men of the type of these in the Navy, would furnish the nucleus for officers and crews of separate Negro ships.

In a recent issue of “Our Navy” a magazine devoted entirely to naval affairs, especially as regards the enlisted man, a writer reflects the opinion of these men in the following article: 

“Whether you like the black man or not, whether you believe in a square deal for him or not, you can’t point an accusing finger at his patriotism, his Americanism or his fighting ability.  It is fair to neither the white man nor the black man to have the black man compete with the white man in the Navy.  True, we have black petty officers here and there in the Navy,