Pennsylvania Nautical School

Pennsylvania Nautical School existed in Pennsylvania, United States, from 1889–1947.

In an effort to meet the nation's demand for trained seamen, the United States Congress passed an Act on June 20, 1874, giving the Secretary of the Navy the authority to provide a naval vessel and instructors for a nautical school to be established at each or any of the ports of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk, and San Francisco.[1] To that end, the Pennsylvania Nautical School (PNS) was established in 1889 by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,[2] and for 58 years trained young men for careers in the maritime trades and professions. PNS cadets were taught aboard five different schoolships: USS Saratoga (1889–1907); USS Adams (1907–1914); USS Annapolis (1919–1942); USS Keystone State, ex USCGC Seneca (1942–1946); and USS Keystone State II, ex USS Selinur (1946–1947). Approximately 2,000 cadets graduated from the nautical school before it closed in 1947.[3][4][5]

USS Annapolis (PG-10). In wartime gray paint, 1898. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.
  1. ^ United States Statutes at Large: Containing the Laws and Concurrent Resolutions ... and Reorganization Plan, Amendment to the Constitution, and Proclamations, Volume 18, Part 3. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1875. p. 121.
  2. ^ Laws of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 1889. pp. 36–37.
  3. ^ Gillen, Michael (2014). Merchant Marine Survivors of World War II: Oral Histories of Cargo Carrying Under Fire. McFarland. p. 186. ISBN 1476618879.
  4. ^ Speelman, J. L. (2001). Nautical schools and the development of United States maritime professionals, 1874-1941.
  5. ^ Davis, Captain Lewis E. (Autumn 2015). "The Grounding of PNS/PMA: A Story of What Was and What Might Have Been". The Lookout. 50 (1): 30–32.