5786. NAVY, Peace establishment.—
The law providing for a naval peace establishment
fixes the number of frigates which
shall be kept in constant service in time of
peace, and prescribes that they shall be
manned by not more than two-thirds of their
complement of seamen and ordinary seamen.
Whether a frigate may be trusted to two-thirds
only of her proper complement of men
must depend on the nature of the service on
which she is ordered. She may sometimes,
for her safety, so as to ensure her object,
require her fullest complement. * * *
Congress will perhaps consider whether the
best limitation on the Executive discretion
* * * would not be by the number of seamen
which may be employed in the whole service,
rather than the number of vessels.—
Fifth Annual Message. Washington ed. viii, 51.
Ford ed., viii, 393.
(Dec. 1805)
