Hymn for the navy
21/03/14 05:22
Some days a particular hymn plays in my head. Yesterday the hymn was “Eternal Father, Strong to Save.” It is also known as the “Navy Hymn” in the United States, Great Britain and France. I know why the hymn came to my mind. I have been visiting a US Navy veteran daily as he travels the journey of the end stages of years of living with cancer. Here’s my problem. It isn’t a hymn that I have sung very often. Whereas I have memorized dozens of hymns, I only know one verse of that particular hymn:
Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
Perhaps no branch of military service has changed more since World War II. Of course the use of navies in battles between countries goes back millennia. The Persian Gulf where the US has a strong naval presence now, was the site of naval battles before the birth of Christ. Early naval battles were waged by the crew of one ship boarding another vessel and engaging in hand-to-hand combat for control of the ship. On occasion, fire was also used. Since the predominant building material for building ships was, until relatively recently, wood and ships carried many yards of flammable canvas sails, they were targets for primitive fire bombs. One of the biggest factors in early naval battles was speed. The design of a ship to be both fast and maneuverable meant that it could escape attack by outrunning the opponent. Conversely being fast and able to sail at all points relative to the wind meant that a ship could pursue and catch a slower opponent.
The advent of steam-powered ships transformed naval battle. Along with that development the advent of armored ships in the 19th century combined with more accurate cannon to provide for more defensible ships. Another advance was the development of submersible ships. Submarines played a critical role in the fighting of World War II.
Since that war, the United States has become the dominant naval power in the world by a huge margin. Naval battles are no longer fought ship to ship. In fact the advanced defensive systems that accompany US naval ships makes them safer from attack than many land-based locations. The advent and advance of nuclear power has transformed both submarines and aircraft carriers.
Here is what hasn’t changed over the centuries of naval warfare. The process is still very labor intensive. It takes a lot of people to run a ship of any size and most of the jobs are relatively menial labor. In the days of tall ships it took a lot of seamen to handle the sails. A relatively small number of officers commanded a large number of seamen. That is still the case today. Enlisted personnel vastly outnumber officers on virtually all naval ships.
A Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, of which the US has ten, has a compliment of 3,200 personnel just to run the ship and another 2,480 people to support the aircraft. That’s over 5,000 people to launch and retrieve about 50 airplanes for combat duty. The carrier itself is defended by other ships, both surface and submarine when it travels. The closest most personnel on a modern carrier come to combat is dropping bombs from an airplane if you don’t count the occasional flaring temper and fistfight that is quickly resolved. After all the ship carries its own police force and jail cells. It also has its own medical staff and hospital. There are a lot of mundane jobs on a ship that size. Just keeping the vending machines stocked is full-time work. There are cleaning and garbage crews, laundry crews and a lot of jobs in food service.
The vast majority of those serving in the navy are enlisted and most of them are very young. It is another naval tradition. In the days before child labor laws, children were sent to sea at very early ages to serve as cabin attendants, cooks and other labor positions. The vast majority of the US Navy is staffed by 18 to 24 year-olds.
That has long been the case. It was true in World War II. The young age of those who served is one of the reason that we have survivors of those ships who are alive 70 years later.
The Naval Veteran that I have been visiting served on a submarine that carried 60 people. Only 6 were officers. The other 90% of the crew, 54 men (and they all were men in those days) were mostly in their late teens or early twenties. Those 54 served in tight quarters without windows or access to natural light when the ship was submerged. They traveled at just over 10 miles per hours when submerged. Top speed on the surface was around 25 miles per hour. That meant that the majority of time on board was spent getting to and from the scene of battle. With only 24 torpedoes on board, a battle was quickly over for the submariners. Their primary job was hiding from the enemy.
On the other hand 54 seamen serving together for months at a time had the opportunity to form some pretty strong bonds - bonds that are still strong.
As I hummed the hymn yesterday, however, I was aware not only of the time spend on the ship, but also the family that stayed back at home. My navy friend is traveling a lonely journey right now as he is in medical isolation and only allowed a few short visits. He is aware of the journey and in charge of care decisions. His family, however, is playing a really tough waiting game. His wife of over 6 decades is at home most of the time wondering what it will mean for her to become a widow. His children are struggling with the failing of their father.
Although our hymnal only has four verses of the hymn, the Navy has many other verses for special occasions such as commissioning or decommissioning a ship. They have specialty verses for pilots, female sailors, arctic exploration and even astronauts. The verse I need to memorize, however, is the one for families:
God, who dost still the restless foam,
Protect the ones we love at home.
Provide that they should always be
By thine own grace both safe and free.
O Father, hear us when we pray
For those we love so far away.
Families continue to be critical in the lives of those who serve in ships.
Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
Perhaps no branch of military service has changed more since World War II. Of course the use of navies in battles between countries goes back millennia. The Persian Gulf where the US has a strong naval presence now, was the site of naval battles before the birth of Christ. Early naval battles were waged by the crew of one ship boarding another vessel and engaging in hand-to-hand combat for control of the ship. On occasion, fire was also used. Since the predominant building material for building ships was, until relatively recently, wood and ships carried many yards of flammable canvas sails, they were targets for primitive fire bombs. One of the biggest factors in early naval battles was speed. The design of a ship to be both fast and maneuverable meant that it could escape attack by outrunning the opponent. Conversely being fast and able to sail at all points relative to the wind meant that a ship could pursue and catch a slower opponent.
The advent of steam-powered ships transformed naval battle. Along with that development the advent of armored ships in the 19th century combined with more accurate cannon to provide for more defensible ships. Another advance was the development of submersible ships. Submarines played a critical role in the fighting of World War II.
Since that war, the United States has become the dominant naval power in the world by a huge margin. Naval battles are no longer fought ship to ship. In fact the advanced defensive systems that accompany US naval ships makes them safer from attack than many land-based locations. The advent and advance of nuclear power has transformed both submarines and aircraft carriers.
Here is what hasn’t changed over the centuries of naval warfare. The process is still very labor intensive. It takes a lot of people to run a ship of any size and most of the jobs are relatively menial labor. In the days of tall ships it took a lot of seamen to handle the sails. A relatively small number of officers commanded a large number of seamen. That is still the case today. Enlisted personnel vastly outnumber officers on virtually all naval ships.
A Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, of which the US has ten, has a compliment of 3,200 personnel just to run the ship and another 2,480 people to support the aircraft. That’s over 5,000 people to launch and retrieve about 50 airplanes for combat duty. The carrier itself is defended by other ships, both surface and submarine when it travels. The closest most personnel on a modern carrier come to combat is dropping bombs from an airplane if you don’t count the occasional flaring temper and fistfight that is quickly resolved. After all the ship carries its own police force and jail cells. It also has its own medical staff and hospital. There are a lot of mundane jobs on a ship that size. Just keeping the vending machines stocked is full-time work. There are cleaning and garbage crews, laundry crews and a lot of jobs in food service.
The vast majority of those serving in the navy are enlisted and most of them are very young. It is another naval tradition. In the days before child labor laws, children were sent to sea at very early ages to serve as cabin attendants, cooks and other labor positions. The vast majority of the US Navy is staffed by 18 to 24 year-olds.
That has long been the case. It was true in World War II. The young age of those who served is one of the reason that we have survivors of those ships who are alive 70 years later.
The Naval Veteran that I have been visiting served on a submarine that carried 60 people. Only 6 were officers. The other 90% of the crew, 54 men (and they all were men in those days) were mostly in their late teens or early twenties. Those 54 served in tight quarters without windows or access to natural light when the ship was submerged. They traveled at just over 10 miles per hours when submerged. Top speed on the surface was around 25 miles per hour. That meant that the majority of time on board was spent getting to and from the scene of battle. With only 24 torpedoes on board, a battle was quickly over for the submariners. Their primary job was hiding from the enemy.
On the other hand 54 seamen serving together for months at a time had the opportunity to form some pretty strong bonds - bonds that are still strong.
As I hummed the hymn yesterday, however, I was aware not only of the time spend on the ship, but also the family that stayed back at home. My navy friend is traveling a lonely journey right now as he is in medical isolation and only allowed a few short visits. He is aware of the journey and in charge of care decisions. His family, however, is playing a really tough waiting game. His wife of over 6 decades is at home most of the time wondering what it will mean for her to become a widow. His children are struggling with the failing of their father.
Although our hymnal only has four verses of the hymn, the Navy has many other verses for special occasions such as commissioning or decommissioning a ship. They have specialty verses for pilots, female sailors, arctic exploration and even astronauts. The verse I need to memorize, however, is the one for families:
God, who dost still the restless foam,
Protect the ones we love at home.
Provide that they should always be
By thine own grace both safe and free.
O Father, hear us when we pray
For those we love so far away.
Families continue to be critical in the lives of those who serve in ships.