Existing comment:
War War I Era
1915-1919
As successful as the state naval militias were in the Spanish-American War, the World War I truly demonstrated the need for a federal naval reserve to engage in successful modern sea combat. On March 3, 1915 Congress passed legislation to appropriate funding for such a force and established the US Naval Reserve. Initially, only recently honorably discharged enlisted Sailors were able to enroll, which severely limited the pool of recruits. Reorganized in 1916 into the US Naval Reserve Force (USNRF), the new force was able to enroll citizens without prior service, including women, and to commission officers below the rank of Lieutenant Commander. When America entered World War I in April 1917, eight thousand Sailors were members of the Naval Reserve Force; eighteen months later, more than 250,000 Reserve Sailors were on active duty, making up more than half the war-time Navy. |