Regulations for the government of the United States Navy (1865)

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ARTICLE XXI.

Stations and navy yards.

Section 1.

Commanding Officer of a Station.

802 Whenever an officer shall be appointed to the command of a station in the United States, and not at the same time to the immediate command of a particular navy yard, the geographical limits of his command will be defined by the Secretary of the Navy.

803 All vessels of the United States in commission which shall arrive or be stationed within the limits of his command shall make their reports and submit all requisitions to him for examination and approval, and shall obey his orders, unless they shall be commanded by superior officers, or shall be under the orders and in the presence of his superior officer.

804 The Commanding Officer of a station will conform to all the regulations prescribed for Commanders-in-Chief of fleets or squadrons respecting the procuring and disbursement of stores and the discipline of the service, unless otherwise specially directed.

805 The Commanding Officer of a station, appointed as above, shall exercise no authority or control over the Commanding Officer of a navy yard, or other shore establishment not placed expressly under his command, or over the vessels and persons put in charge or under the authority of such officer of a yard or other establishment, unless expressly instructed so to do by the Secretary of the Navy, or in cases of great emergency, where time will not permit to refer to the Department for orders and in all such cases he will make immediate report of the facts and of the reasons which governed him to the Department.

806 The rendezvous for recruits, receiving vessels, and naval hospitals, at a place or places within the limits of the Commanding Officer of a station, will be under his command.

807 He shall cause all vessels which may be fitted for, or return from sea, at the port where he may be, which are not commanded by his superior or senior officer, to be inspected by a board, to be composed of three Line Officers, (including an inspector of ordnance where one is available,) who shall report the state of their preparation for battle, discipline, and general condition and efficiency for service, in such form as may be prescribed by the Navy Department.

808 He shall also cause an inspection to be made at the same time, by an engineer, a surgeon, and a paymaster, of the machinery, medical, and pay departments, respectively, who will report to him their condition.

809 Whenever the vessel to be inspected shall be under the orders and in the presence of a superior or senior officer, such superior or senior officer shall direct the above inspection to be made.

810 The inspecting officers shall, when vessels have just returned from sea, ascertain and report if any alterations have been made in the vessel, her armament, equipment, or arrangement during the cruise ; and if so, the extent, and by whose orders, or by what authority.

811 The senior officer in command of the station will give the necessary instructions to the purchasing agent to procure proper transportation for such men as he may be directed to send to any other place when he has no public vessel at his disposal for that purpose, and will send proper officers to take charge of them, informing the Secretary of the Navy of every draft so sent, and their number, the rate and amount of passage money, and the names of the officers under whose charge they were placed.

812 The Commanding Officer of a station is not to suffer any vessel of the Navy, commanded by an officer junior to himself, and not under the authority of one senior to himself present, to remain in port longer than shall be absolutely necessary after her Commanding Officer has received orders to depart ; but he is to send her off in the execution of her instructions the moment she shall be in a condition to proceed to sea, if the state of the weather will permit.

813 When the officer appointed or ordered to command a station is temporarily away — absent either on leave or duty — or unable to perform his duties by illness or otherwise, the Line Officer on shore duty, or on board a receiving vessel, within the limits of his command, next to him in rank or seniority, is to act in his stead.

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