The Navy has abruptly reefed one of its most popular sailing traditions–the use of sailboats to train Naval Academy midshipmen in navigation, seamanship and leadership.

This summer, the Annapolis–based school sharply reduced the opportunities for students to go to sea on one of its Navy 44 offshore sloops. Instead of sending 837 mids on summer sail–training cruises, as it did in 2007, this year it is letting only 166 do so.

COLLEEN CAVALIERIThis summer, the Annapolis-based school sharply reduced the opportunities for students to go to sea on one of its Navy 44 offshore sloops.

The shift was partly a bow to modernization–and partly to the views of the Academy's new superintendent about the role the 163–year–old institution should play in the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Vice Admiral Jeffrey Fowler, a submarine officer who took the helm of the Academy in June 2007, decided that with the U.S. now at war, mids should be spending all of their summer training cruises on gray–hulls, the standard Navy warships on which they'll be serving later as ensigns.

'A NATION AT WAR'

"We are a nation at war, and the U.S. Naval Academy is here to develop officers to serve on [warships] at sea," says Navy Capt. Stephen Evans, director of the professional development department, echoing Fowler's views. "The best way to do that is to get them on board ships at sea."

Still, for the Naval Academy, which has been a staunch guardian of America's nautical traditions since it was established in 1845, deep–sixing large portions of its sail training–and, earlier, its celestial navigation program–is a symbolically significant change. Some suggest that Revolutionary War Navy Capt. John Paul Jones, whose body lies in a crypt under the Naval Academy chapel, must be having a few difficult nights.

Midshipmen routinely undergo four weeks of training at sea each summer on regular Navy warships, such as cruisers and aircraft carriers. Part of the remainder of their summer training is done on diesel–powered YPs–small patrol boats–and on Navy 44 sailboats.

Fowler's order represented a sharp change of course. Over the past decade, Academy officials had steadily expanded the sail–training program as a good way to supplement summer training on modern warships. Fowler's predecessor, Vice Admiral Rodney P. Rempt, had championed the sail–training program as a way to give midshipmen more hands–on experience.

COLLEEN CAVALIERIProponents of sail training contend that it offers students more hands–on experience in navigation and seamanship and builds better teamwork.

CRITICS SOUND OFF

Not surprisingly, trimming the Academy's sailing program raised a ruckus, albeit temporarily, among alumni and some civilian sailing enthusiasts.

Gary Jobson, the Annapolis–based sailor and cable television sports commentator, was quoted in a story last April in the Annapolis Evening Capital, vowing to take up the fight. In a meeting with the Academy's superintendent, he encouraged him "to understand the value of sail training here." But the Academy has stuck to its guns.

Proponents of sail training contend that it offers students more intense hands–on experience in navigation and seamanship–and builds better teamwork and leadership skills–than assigning mids to a huge, 5,000–crew aircraft carrier, where they have only an apprentice's role.

Indeed, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy maintains an old–fashioned, 295–foot square–rigged barque, the Eagle, to teach cadets how to work together and acquire the leadership skills they'll need to become good officers. (Students there are called cadets, not midshipmen.)

"We're not trying to teach people how to sail–what we're teaching is seamanship and leadership," says Coast Guard Capt. Chris Sinnett, skipper of the Eagle. "A rig like this one is…complex, and it requires a lot of teamwork and hands–on basic seamanship everywhere you turn."

SHOOTING THE STARS

The cutback in the Navy sail training program is the second sentiment–steeped nautical tradition that the Naval Academy has trimmed back in recent years.