One of the intersting things that a person can do with so much
raw data, is to look down the chart, looking for historic events (wars, mostly). It is interesting some of the conclusion that can be drawn from looking at the increases and decreases, ratios, etc. I have chosen to analyze the data for enlisted to officer ratios. See what else you can interpret from the data!
Enlisted to Officer ratio analysis:
There are many factors that would influence the ratio of enlisted to officer in the United States Navy over the years. Quite possibly, the first few years of the Navy's existence had a disproportionate number of officers ashore, and the majority of enlisted men serving aboard ships.
The education level of the officers versus that of the enlisted, as well as the gradual increase of technical ability required, as well as the increasing education levels of enlistees over the years would all have an impact on the ratio.
One of the most interesting tidbits to be gleaned from the data is that the ratio for the Civil War is almost exactly the highly disproportionate level of the ration in 1917, when the US really gets into World War I. This 'boom' of enlistees that must be dealt with by a much smaller number of officers (fewer people apparently joined as officers for the Civil War and the Great War, where it seems that more people joined as officers for World War II). The total number of officers was brought up quickly, but questions may be raised about how well trained so many new officer recruits could be.
Perhaps one of the factors influencing the relativly large proportion of officers joining the Navy for World War II (the largest manpower increase in Navy history), has something to do with the improving lot of the American citizen. Education and culture are more available, making more people actually elligible for service as an officer. The gradually increasing proportion of officers seems to follow a trend, with the ratio of enlisted to officer at an all time low in 1997. The more modern Navy would seem to have a heightened need for trained officers over less well trained enlistees.
Calculations
Enlisted to Officer Ratio
1775 9.33 US Navy gets first ship
1776 33.33 Declaration of Independence
1785 11.47 Last year before Navy 'deactivated'
1794 11.37 Year Navy is reactivated
1806 4.79
1812 11.33 War of 1812
1844 9.44
1861 23.79 Year the American Civil War begins
1862 9.31
1865 7.56 Year the Civil War ends
1898 14.51 Spanish-American War
1916 14.24 Year before World War I
1917 23.03 World War I begins
1918 15.89 Year World War I ends
1941 8.61 Year before US enters World War II
1942 9.34 First year new recruits count as being 'in the Navy'
1945 9.28 Last year of World War II
1946 7.87 Year after World War II ends
1950 9.17 Year before Korean War begins
1951 9.78 Korean War begins
1991 7.10 Year the Soviet Union collapses
1997 5.96 Last year of available information
Personnel Strength of the
U.S. Navy: 1775 to 1997
YEAR OFFICERS NURSES ENLISTED OFFICER TOTAL
CANDIDATES
1775 60 0 560 0 620
1776 90 0 3,000 0 3,090
1777 90 0 2,500 0 2,590
1778 75 0 1,500 0 1,575
1779 75 0 1,500 0 1,575
1780 61 0 1,500 0 1,561
1781 61 0 1,000 0 1,061
1782 61 0 1,000 0 1,061
1783 61 0 1,000 0 1,061
1784 61 0 700 0 761
1785 61 0 700 0 761
1786 0 0 0 0 0
1787 0 0 0 0 0
1788 0 0 0 0 0
1789 0 0 0 0 0
1790 0 0 0 0 0
1791 0 0 0 0 0
1792 0 0 0 0 0
1793 0 0 0 0 0
1794 150 0 1,706 0 1,856
1795 150 0 1,706 0 1,856
1796 150 0 1,706 0 1,856
1797 150 0 1,706 0 1,856
1798 150 0 1,706 0 1,856
1799 200 0 2,000 0 2,200
1800 400 0 5,000 0 5,400
1801 200 0 2,500 0 2,700
1802 200 0 2,000 0 2,200
1803 200 0 1,500 0 1,700
1804 200 0 2,000 0 2,200
1805 191 0 3,000 0 3,191
1806 191 0 914 0 1,105
1807 191 0 1,954 0 2,145
1808 191 0 1,425 0 1,616
1809 450 0 4,425 0 4,875
1810 450 0 4,699 0 5,149
1811 454 0 4,910 0 5,364
1812 442 0 5,010 0 5,452
1813 525 0 5,000 0 5,525
1814 524 0 7,500 0 8,024
1815 531 0 6,242 0 6,773
1816 500 0 5,540 0 6,040
1817 494 0 5,000 0 5,494
1818 545 0 5,000 0 5,545
1819 568 0 3,500 0 4,068
1820 537 0 3,451 0 3,988
1821 484 0 3,451 0 3,935
1822 534 0 3,240 0 3,774
1823 553 0 3,500 0 4,053
1824 531 0 3,564 0 4,095
1825 505 0 3,900 0 4,405
1826 471 0 4,291 0 4,762
1827 505 0 4,291 0 4,796
1828 506 0 4,291 0 4,797
1829 555 0 4,314 0 4,869
1830 615 0 4,314 0 4,929
1831 612 0 3,691 0 4,303
1832 642 0 4,670 0 5,312
1833 664 0 4,756 0 5,420
1834 695 0 4,756 0 5,451
1835 756 0 4,801 0 5,557
1836 787 0 4,801 0 5,588
1837 801 0 7,651 0 8,452
1838 847 0 6,809 0 7,656
1839 922 0 6,754 0 7,676
1840 932 0 7,085 0 8,017
1841 940 0 7,334 0 8,274
1842 998 0 9,784 0 10,782
1843 1,055 0 9,500 0 10,555
1844 1,063 0 10,040 0 11,103
1845 1,095 0 10,034 60 11,189
1846 1,053 0 9,000 78 10,131
1847 1,126 0 10,000 67 11,193
1848 1,141 0 10,000 97 11,238
1849 1,282 0 10,000 63 11,345
1850 1,273 0 7,500 21 8,794
1851 1,246 0 7,500 46 8,792
1852 1,232 0 7,500 73 8,805
1853 1,250 0 7,500 91 8,841
1854 1,254 0 7,500 125 8,879
1855 1,236 0 7,500 151 8,887
1856 1,027 0 7,500 154 8,681
1857 1,031 0 8,500 145 9,676
1858 1,068 0 8,500 161 9,729
1859 1,117 0 8,500 267 9,884
1860 1,150 0 8,500 292 9,942
1861 1,114 0 26,500 267 27,881
1862 3,224 0 30,000 230 33,454
1863 4,209 0 34,000 498 38,707
1864 5,679 0 51,500 501 57,680
1865 6,759 0 51,082 455 58,296
1866 2,297 0 13,600 443 16,340
1867 1,801 0 11,900 380 14,081
1868 1,976 0 10,000 292 12,268
1869 1,649 0 10,393 253 12,295
1870 1,551 0 8,765 246 10,562
1871 1,702 0 8,693 215 10,610
1872 1,699 0 9,719 262 11,680
1873 1,655 0 9,719 280 11,654
1874 1,595 0 10,812 293 12,700
1875 1,571 0 8,586 322 10,479
1876 1,646 0 8,058 342 10,046
1877 1,591 0 6,106 360 8,057
1878 1,582 0 6,135 370 8,087
1879 1,695 0 7,406 352 9,453
1880 1,713 0 7,322 326 9,361
1881 1,866 0 7,974 261 10,101
1882 1,911 0 8,018 241 10,170
1883 1,819 0 7,776 247 9,842
1884 1,660 0 8,947 239 10,846
1885 1,611 0 8,203 243 10,057
1886 1,549 0 8,123 237 9,909
1887 1,542 0 8,342 229 10,113
1888 1,528 0 8,354 233 10,115
1889 1,530 0 8,147 244 9,921
1890 1,489 0 7,516 241 9,246
1891 1,510 0 7,501 236 9,247
1892 1,468 0 7,741 239 9,448
1893 1,486 0 7,801 242 9,529
1894 1,405 0 9,813 242 11,460
1895 1,412 0 10,189 245 11,846
1896 1,425 0 10,408 255 12,088
1897 1,399 0 10,327 259 11,985
1898 1,432 0 20,780 280 22,492
1899 1,588 0 14,501 265 16,354
1902 1,822 0 21,433 393 23,648
1903 1,893 0 27,245 652 29,790
1904 2,014 0 29,321 823 32,158
1905 2,079 0 30,804 881 33,764
1906 2,133 0 32,163 757 35,053
1907 2,238 0 33,027 854 36,119
1908 2,443 20 39,048 811 42,322
1909 2,593 37 44,129 774 47,533
1910 2,645 54 45,076 758 48,533
1911 2,800 86 47,612 732 51,230
1912 2,964 110 47,515 768 51,357
1913 3,143 130 48,068 861 52,202
1914 3,271 135 52,667 916 56,989
1915 3,438 155 52,561 918 57,072
1916 3,870 152 55,123 1231 60,376
1917 8,038 345 185,143 1091 194,617
1918 31,194 1,386 495,662 2,096 530,338
1919 18,333 1,024 250,833 1,954 272,144
1920 10,109 533 108,950 2,253 121,845
1921 9,509 470 120,421 2,427 132,827
1922 7,855 479 89,482 2,395 100,211
1923 7,915 495 83,185 2,499 94,094
1924 8,165 486 87,709 1,824 98,184
1925 8,430 488 84,615 1,697 95,230
1926 8,618 473 82,629 1,584 93,304
1927 8,944 496 84,034 1,442 94,916
1928 8,898 503 84,822 1,580 95,803
1929 8,946 488 85,875 1,808 97,117
1930 9,038 502 85,467 1,883 96,890
1931 9,320 529 81,536 1,922 93,307
1932 9,463 504 81,679 1,738 93,384
1933 9,481 466 79,727 1,556 91,230
1934 9,623 349 80,792 1,548 92,312
1935 9,783 332 83,343 1,595 95,053
1936 9,897 350 93,625 2,420 106,292
1937 9,975 392 100,771 2,479 113,617
1938 10,312 427 105,599 2,750 119,088
1939 11,585 438 110,872 2,307 125,202
1940 17,723 504 192,173 4,873 215,273
1941 38,601 823 332,274 1,452 383,150
1942 118,038 2,907 1,102,218 6,004 1,259,167
1943 219,279 7,022 2,034,343 120,472 2,381,116
1944 300,101 8,893 2,808,134 84,627 3,201,755
1945 323,755 11,025 3,005,534 65,211 3,405,525
1946 233,035 9,077 1,832,896 30,459 2,105,467
1947 58,689 2,263 464,501 4,166 529,619
1948 45,298 2,008 396,204 5,722 449,232
1949 46,158 1,975 397,655 5,488 451,276
1950 54,423 2,426 498,954 4,951 560,754
1951 72,157 3,333 705,997 5,962 787,449
1952 79,166 3,081 735,753 6,265 824,265
1953 78,574 2,724 721,638 6,452 809,388
1954 77,889 2,403 674,580 6,514 761,386
1955 72,444 2,165 617,296 6,599 698,504
1956 70,419 2,065 596,741 8,512 677,737
1957 71,775 2,077 604,804 6,883 685,539
1958 71,144 6,181 569,890 6,181 647,215
1959 70,221 2,045 558,750 6,236 635,207
1960 68,587 2,140 555,946 5,778 630,311
1961 71,703 2,076 582,305 6,880 660,888
1962 71,593 2,098 577,677 6,694 655,964
1963 74,033 2,084 582,866 6,657 663,556
1964 75,371 2,028 583,218 6,717 665,306
1965 77,196 1,936 584,683 6,929 668,808
1966 78,100 1,943 630,767 6,725 715,592
1967 80,683 2,238 660,795 6,387 748,045
1968 81,961 2,225 663,797 6,589 752,347
1969 85,687 2,408 666,700 6,605 758,992
1970 82,565 2,283 643,164 6,048 731,777
1971 77,442 2,202 572,338 5,843 655,623
1972 74,208 2,254 524,205 5,774 604,187
1973 71,448 2,197 502,777 5,407 579,672
1974 68,250 2,527 483,257 5,021 556,528
1975 66,036 2,668 474,596 5,093 545,725
1976 64,110 2,570 460,161 4,938 529,209
1977 63,337 2,633 459,780 4,616 527,733
1978 62,890 2,606 458,710 4,915 526,515
1979 62,161 2,542 458,431 4,863 525,455
1980 62,648 2,640 457,459 4,989 525,096
1981 64,580 2,713 466,388 5,541 536,509
1982 66,579 2,661 475,147 5,582 547,308
1983 68,764 2,744 489,495 5,361 563,620
1984 70,382 2,896 497,837 5,298 573,517
1985 71,079 2,951 503,072 5,443 579,594
1986 72,890 3,029 510,713 5,662 589,265
1987 74,064 3,078 523,071 5,608 602,743
1988 74,115 3,055 523,106 5,395 602,616
1989 74,374 2,989 526,018 5,410 605,802
1990 74,557 3,020 525,159 5,707 605,423
1991 74,001 3,108 525,130 5,425 604,556
1992 72,126 3,205 498,769 5,152 576,047
1993 70,061 3,341 469,420 4,922 544,403
1994 61,750 3,251 402,626 4,286 480,224
1995 58,778 3,319 371,670 4,159 437,926
1996 57,477 3,275 355,048 3,275 419,075
1997 56,215 3,283 335,284 4,000 398,782
Note: Figures from the
Bureau of Navy Personnel, 1997
Calculations by the writer, any errors are his