Top left: A recruiting poster for the Naval Militia in 1917. Top right: Commander David Tucker, NYNM, instructing subordinates. Bottom left: Members of the New York Naval Militia fill sandbags to aid in the preparations for possible flooding. Bottom right: Ensign S.S. Pierce of the New York Naval Militia stands next to an airplane in the early 20th century.
Like members of the National Guard, the Navy and Marine Reservists who constitute most of the membership in naval militias serve in a dual federal and state capacity; they operate as a component of their state's military force, and are subject to be called up and deployed by the governor of their respective states during emergencies. However, when individual sailors and marines are federalized, they are relieved from their state obligations and placed under federal control until they are released from active service.[3]
Seamen and state marines belonging to naval militias who do not hold federal status may be enlisted or commissioned into the federal sea services at the rank they are qualified for, at the discretion of the Secretary of the Navy.[4]
In the 1880s, a United States Navy proposal to organize a national Naval Reserve Force was submitted to the United States Congress, but the proposal was defeated.[5] However, the movement to create a naval reserve force became popular at the state and local level. Following the passage of enabling legislation in several states, several of these states began establishing naval reserve forces. The first naval militia which was first organized and drilling was the Massachusetts Battalion, which first met on 28 February 1890.[6] The New York Naval Militia was organized as a Provisional Naval Battalion in 1889, and formally became the second state naval militia when it was officially mustered into state service as the First Battalion, Naval Reserve Artillery, on 23 June 1891.[5] Over the next few years, several other states, mainly in the eastern United States and in the Great Lakes region, created their own naval militias.[6]
The United States Navy began loaning older veteran ships from the American Civil War, such as USS Minnesota and USS Wabash, to state naval militias for use as armories and headquarters. On 2 March 1891, the United States Congress passed an appropriations bill which gave the Secretary of the Navy $25,000 per year to spend on the state naval militias; this money was divided among the states based on the strength levels of the naval militias.[6]
Naval militias within the United States reached their peak at the eve of World War I, when they existed across 26 states and territories.[12] In 1914, Congress passed a bill recognizing the naval militia as a reserve component of the United States Armed Forces and reorganized them into the National Naval Volunteers.[13] During World War I, naval militiamen were drafted into federal service. Many naval reservists, including a significant number of sailors from the Michigan Naval Militia, served in Naval Railway Battery crews on the Western Front.[14] The primary federal responsibility of members of the naval militias was cemented by the Naval Reserve Act of 1938.[15] In 1940, the naval militias were once again federalized to fight in World War II.[16] Following the war, many states either did not rebuild their naval militias, or deactivated them in the years that followed. By the mid-1960s, at the height of the Cold War, only the New York Naval Militia was still active.[17]
The California Naval Militia was reactivated in 1976 by the Governor of California. Unlike New York and the few other states with ship-borne active naval militia units, the California Naval Militia is a small unit of military lawyers and strategists who provide advice and legal expertise in the field of military and naval matters for the benefit of California's state defense force.
District of Columbia Naval militia remains an authorized force by Federal statute, but has been inactive for several decades with no current membership.[35]
Members of the naval militia respond to a roll-call in 1913.
Naval militiamen in the early twentieth century.
Exercises at a Naval Militia Camp in Somersville, New York.
A naval militia bugler in 1917, deploying during World War I.
Naval Militia guarding a bridge during World War I.
New York Naval Militia Major General Robert Wolf (right), is congratulated by Major General Joseph Taluto (left).
Members of the New York National Guard take the helm of a New York State Naval Militia patrol boat.
A New York Naval Militia officer works alongside a United States Border Patrol agent.
Members of the New York National Guard join members of the New York State Naval Militia, the Port Authority Police Department and the Coast Guard Reserve.
Boatswain Mate 2 Robert Quinones of the New York State Naval Militia prepares for a joint random anti-terrorism measures program patrol.
The New York State Naval Militia's Patrol Boat 400 is docked on the Hudson River prior to a random anti-terrorism measures program patrol.
^Nofi, Albert (July 2007). The Naval Militia: A Neglected Asset?(PDF). Arlington, Virginia: The Center for Naval Analysis. p. 3. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
^"Naval Militia". The Oxford Companion to American Military History. 2000. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
^Nofi, Albert (July 2007). The Naval Militia: A Neglected Asset?(PDF). Arlington, Virginia: The Center for Naval Analysis. p. 3. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
^"History". Ohio Naval Militia. 2013. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
^ abTulak, Arthur N.; Kraft, Robert W.; Silbaugh, Don (Winter 2003). "State Defense Forces and Homeland Security"(PDF). Parameters. Strategic Studies Institute. Archived from the original(PDF) on March 5, 2021. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
^Nofi, Albert (July 2007). The Naval Militia: A Neglected Asset?(PDF). Arlington, Virginia: The Center for Naval Analysis. p. 3. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
^"Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts". Massachusetts General Court Official Website. Retrieved August 13, 2015. The governor of this commonwealth for the time being, shall be the commander in chief of the army and navy, and of all the military forces of the state, by sea and land, and shall have full power by himself, or by any commander, or other officer or officers, from time to time, to train, instruct, exercise and govern the militia and navy...
^"Sec. 3. Powers and duties of governor". The Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Retrieved September 4, 2015. He is commander-in-chief of the military and naval forces and may call them out to execute the laws, suppress insurrection and repel invasion.