ABSTRACT
The United States Navy in the period from 1880 to 1941 was hardly a representative American institution. Dedicated to the defense of a society increasingly committed to the ideals of equality, democracy, pluralism, and irreverence for tradition, the Navy was aristocratic, hierarchical, exclusive, and rigid. In effect, the many peculiar conditions and requirements of a naval career combined to create an environment so isolated from extraneous influence, of intense professionalism, and so conducive to conformity that the single most significant characteristic of any officer became his association with the United States Navy. In keeping with the tradition of obedience, great ceremonial significance was attached to the concept of command in all major navies. The relative antiquity of the officers who emerged at the end of the naval conveyer belt was an even more serious consequence of the system. In 1941, 94 percent of the thirty-one top-ranking naval commanders were still over sixty.
