ENGINEER CORPS, a branch of the service of the United States Navy; and of those of other countries. The first step toward the organization of an engineer corps in the United States Navy was taken on 2 July 1836, when C. H. Haswell (q.v.) was appointed chief engineer of the Fulton; it was not, however, until 31 Aug. 1842 that Congress passed an act providing for a regular corps, under which act chief engineers were °commissioned* and assist ants °warranted.* On 3 March 1845 Congress passed an act whereby tile power of appointing engineer officers was transferred from the Sec retary of the Navy to the President °by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.* With the growth of the Navy the corps gradu ally increased till at the time of the Civil War there were 474 regulars and 1.803 volunteers. • A course of instruction for cadet engineers was established at the Naval Academy bv act of Congress 4 July 1864. The original two-year course was changed to four years in 1874 and continued in vogue till 1882, when on 5 August Congress amalgamated the cadet engineers and midshipmen and they are now known as naval cadets. The cadets then took the usual six years' course at the Academy and upon com pletion of the third year of the course were divided into an Engineer Division and a Line Division in proportion to the vacancies that have occurred in the several corps during the preceding year. At the end of the six years'
course appointments to fill vacancies in the Line and in the Marine Corps were made from the Line Division, and to fill vacancies in the Engineer Corps from the Engineer Division. If, after making assignments as above, there should still be vacancies in one branch and sur plus graduates in the other, the vacancies in the former were filled by assignment to it of sur plus graduates from the latter. This arrange ment was in vogue until the Line and Engineer Corps were amalgamated under the act of 3 March 1899, at which time the Engineer Corps ceased to be a separate organization, the older officers now being required to perform engineer ing duties •only, whereas the younger officers must pass examinations in navigation, gunnery, seamanship, etc. A grade of warrant machinists to perform watch duties was also established be cause of the lack of commissioned officers for this work. See NAVAL ACADEMY, UNITED