Religion has always had particular significance for those who venturedforth upon the sea. Chaplains have been assigned to ships since the origin ofthe Continental Navy. Faced with the necessity of producing a set ofgoverning rules for the Continental Navy, it was natural that Congressshould turn to the British Navy for a model. Due consideration was thusgiven to divine services and to the placing of chaplains on the new Continen-tal Navy’s larger vessels.By 1881, the majority of Navy chaplains had been drawn from the faithgroups listed in figure 2-1. With immigration rapidly changing the religiousmakeup of the United States, the time came when other churches requestedThe number of men who are known to haveserved in the United States Navy as chaplains till1881 total 159, of which 58 were not ordained. Theclassification of the ordained men by denomina-tions is as follows: Baptist, 12; Congregational, 7;Methodist, 22; Episcopal, 42; Presbyterian, 14;Unitarian, 3; and Universalist, 1. Since the total is101, the figures given show the approximate per-centage. Two denominations, the Methodist andthe Episcopal, furnished about two-thirds of allordained naval chaplains for the first eighty years ofthe Navy’s history.As was to be expected, the time came when otherchurches requested the privilege of having some oftheir clergymen commissioned as chaplains.Figure 2-1.—Ecclesiastical Composition of the U.S. NavyChaplain Corps from its inception till the year 1881.Figure 2-2.—Ecclesiastical Composition of the U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps in 1918 at the closeof World War I.2-2
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