Appointments and Promotions. 255.1 ....No officer whatever is to order into service or to appoint to duty any officer who is on leave of absence or furlough, or make any change in the distribution or arrangement of officers established by the Secretary of the Navy, except in cases of emergency, and then he shall report his acts to the Department without delay. 256....If an officer be promoted while in command of a vessel on foreign service, he is not, on that account, to be removed from his command until instructions be received from the Secretary of the Navy. 257....As a general rule, Ensigns, Masters, Lieutenants, or Lieutenant Commanders will not be nominated for promotion to the next higher grade until they shall have performed as such, respectively, at least two years sea service, exclusive of coast survey service. 258....Masters who have not been promoted from Ensigns, are not to be considered eligible to further advancement, except under extraordinary circumstances. 259....Hereafter no officer will be promoted to the grade of Lieutenant, until he has served one year as Master, one year as Ensign, and at least one year as Midshipman after leaving the Naval Academy. 260....Any person having served six months at sea under an acting appointment as Boatswain, Gunner, Carpenter, or Sailmaker, may be eligible to a warrant bearing the same date as his acting appointment, provided the Commanding Officers under whom he may have served shall have certified favorably as to his merits. 261.... No person will receive a warrant as Master's Mate unless he shall have served at least one year at sea under an acting appointment, and the Commanding Officers under whom he may have served shall have certified favorably as to his merits. 262....Candidates for promotion to the grade of Second Assistant Engineer, must have served at least two years at sea as Third Assistant Engineer on board of a naval steamer; favorable testimonials must have been received by the Department from the Commanding Officers and senior Engineers under whom they may have served. They must also pass, before the board appointed to examine them, a thorough examination upon the subjects prescribed for Third Assistant Engineers, and, in addition thereto, be able to explain properly the principles, peculiarities, and uses of the different kinds of valves and valve-gear Appointments and Promotions. applied to marine steam-machinery; the construction, principles, peculiarities, and uses of the various apparatus for working steam expansively; the construction of the various marine boilers commonly used, together with their attachments, uses of the same, and the reasons therefor; the causes of derangement in the operation of air and feed pumps and feed pipes, and how to prevent and remedy them; the chemistry of boiler scale, the means of preventing it, and the mode of removing it; the construction, principles, peculiarities, and uses of the different kinds of surface condensers; how to calculate the loss by "blowing off," with the sea-water in the boiler at a given concentration; the principles of, and the manner of using, the various instruments for determining the water's concentration, and the method of graduating them; the theory of using steam expansively, together with the limits and modifications imposed by practice, and the necessary calculations connected therewith; the construction and mode of applying the indicator, and the interpretation of its diagrams; the construction and principles of the various steam and vacuum gauges, and the causes of their derangement; and besides, they must have a thorough knowledge of rudimentary mechanics, be well versed in the elements of geometry, including descriptive, and be well acquainted with the practical building and repairing of steam-machinery. 263. Candidates for promotion to the grade of First Assistant Engineer, must have served at least three years at sea as Second Assistant Engineer on board of a naval steamer; favorable testimonials must have been received by the Department from the Commanding Officers and senior Engineers under whom they may have served. They must also pass, before the board appointed to examine them, a thorough examination upon the subjects prescribed for Second Assistant Engineers, and, in addition thereto, be able to explain properly the whole subject of fundamental mechanics, and the theory of the steam-engine, the use of logarithms and the solution of a simple algebraic equation. They must further satisfy the board that they possess a competent knowledge of the first six books of Euclid's Elements, of plane trigonometry, of descriptive geometry, of conic sections, and of the strength of materials, and the influence of form in connection therewith; that they are capable of furnishing a working drawing of any piece of steam Appointments and Promotions. machinery, superintending its construction, and determining its adaptation for the use intended; and that they have a general knowledge of the theory, laws, and construction of the various kinds of paddlewheels and screw propellers in use. 264....Candidates for promotion to the grade of Chief Engineer, must have served at least two years at sea as First Assistant Engineer on board of a naval steamer; favorable testimonials must have been received by the Department from the Commanding Officers and senior Engineers under whom they may have served. They must also pass, before the board appointed to examine them, a thorough examination upon the subjects prescribed for First Assistant Engineers, and in addition thereto, they must satisfy it that they are well versed in mechanical philosophy, the physical laws of steam, applied mechanics, the theory of the steam-engine, and likewise in the construction, principles, and the laws of action of various types of marine governors, paddle-wheels, and screw propellers, and in all the necessary calculations relating to these. Furthermore, they must satisfy the board that thay are thoroughly acquainted with the various kinds of paddlewheel and screw propeller engines, able to point out their respective advantages and disadvantages, to design and erect the same, and to proportion them to a given vessel, for a given speed, with a given propelling instrument; that they are thoroughly versed in the strength of materials, in the theoretical laws governing form, the limits and modifications imposed by practice, and the reasons connected therewith; that they are familiar with the different kinds of boilers, their respective advantages and disadvantages, and able to properly proportion and construct the same for supplying a given power under given conditions; and that they do understand so much of chemistry as is involved in the laws of combustion and corrosion, and the metallurgic operations connected with steam-engineering. 265....When, in the opinion of the Department, the wants of the service require a greater number of Engineers of any grade above that of Third Assistant than can be obtained by regular promotion, candidates presenting themselves for admission will have to undergo the the same examination as that prescribed for the grade to which they may aspire; and with regard to subsequent promotion, the same I ། 1 Appointments and Promotions. length of sea-service prescribed as necessary to advancement from one f grade to another will be required. But all persons so appointed to the grade of Second Assistant Engineer must be between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-eight; all to the grade of First Assistant Engineer, between twenty-five and thirty-two; and all to that of Chief Engineer, between twenty-eight and thirty-five. 266... Assistant Surgeons, after five years' service in the Navy, at least two years of which shall have been passed on board a public vessel of the United States at sea, shall be entitled to an examination for promotion. Testimonials of correct deportment and habits of industry from the Surgeons with whom they have been associated on duty must have been received by the Department, and they shall present to the board a journal of practice, or case-book, in their own handwriting. They are expected to be familiar with all the details of duty specified in the "Instructions for the Government of Medical Officers.' 267....Candidates for promotion to the grade of Paymaster must satisfy the examining board of their competency to perform the various duties of Paymaster. They must be well acquainted with all laws and regulations relating to the duties and responsibilities of the position they aspire to. They must have a good theoretical and practical knowledge of book-keeping, and the law and practice of exchange, the value of foreign coins as compared with those of the United States, and the weights and measures of foreign countries; and they must have a sufficient knowledge of the Spanish and French languages to enable them to transact the business of their departments in those languages. But the acquaintance of these languages is not to be exacted until two years after the promulgation of this regulation. They must produce satisfactory testimonials from the Bureau of Provisions and Clothing and from the Fourth Auditor's Office that their accounts have been well kept and promptly rendered, and that their returns have been properly and seasonably made. 268....Candidates for promotion to the grade of Naval Constructor must have been at least five years in the service as Assistant Naval Constructors; they must pass, before the board appointed to examine Ratings and Disratings. them, a satisfactory examination in Euclid's Elements, algebra, with its application to geometry, plane trigonometry, conic sections, descriptive geometry, mechanics, strength of materials; calculation of displacement, of stability, of centre of gravity, of centre of effort, and other matters relating to the theory of naval architecture, as well as the practice in building ships of wood and of iron. SECTION 4. Ratings and Disratings. 269....On a crew being transferred from a receiving vessel to a vessel of the Navy intended for sea-service, the officer ordered to command her is to select and have rated from such crew the different Petty Officers allowed by the Department for one of her class, except such as are eligible to appointment. 270....In the event of a vacancy occurring among the appointed Petty Officers, if a suitable person can be found among the crew of the vessel, the Commanding Officer may rate such person, and cause him to perform the duties appertaining to the vacant situation. The rating of such person will not discharge him from his enlistment, however; but in case that it should be revoked, he will return to his former rate on the ship's books. 271.... No enlisted person shall be transferred from any quarter to any vessel, navy yard, station, or hospital, with the rating of a Petty Officer. 272...No Petty Officer, or person of inferior rating, shall ever be disrated by the Commander of a vessel, unless he shall have received his rating from that Commander; and this shall be done for good and sufficient cause only, which must be stated in the log. But any Commanding Officer transferring his command shall previously reduce all persons who may have been rated by himself to the rates they held at the time of joining his ship, and his successor shall appoint them immediately to the same rates. In case, however, of the death of any Commanding Officer, his captivity, or any other circumstance which may vacate his command, all ratings established by himself shall also be vacated, subject to re-establishment by his successor, as provided for |