Chapter CXXVII. *to promote the Efficiency of the Navy.* Feb. 28, 1855. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, That as soon as practicable after the passage of this act, the President of the United States shall Board to report on efficiency
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Chap. CXXVII.— An Act *to promote the Efficiency of the Navy.* Feb. 28, 1855. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, That as soon as practicable after the passage of this act, the President of the United States shall Board to report on efficiency of naval officers.cause a board of naval officers to be assembled, to consist of five captains, five commanders, and five lieutenants, which board, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Navy may prescribe, shall make a careful examination into the efficiency of the officers of the grades hereinafter mentioned, and shall report to the Secretary of the Navy the names and rank of all officers of the said grades who, in the judgment of said board, shall be incapable of performing promptly and efficiently all their duty Those incompetent from their own fault to be stricken from the rolls.both ashore and afloat, and whenever said board shall believe that said incompetency has arisen from any cause implying sufficient blame on the part of the officer to justify it, they shall recommend that his name be stricken altogether from the rolls.
Vacancies occurring in said board shall be filled by the Secretary of the Navy, who shall preserve the Proviso.number and grades of its officers, as aforesaid: *Provided,* That no officers upon said board shall examine into, or report upon, the efficiency of officers of a grade above them. Sec. 2. *And be it further enacted,* That all officers who shall be found Reserved list.by the said board incapable of performing the duties of their respective offices, ranks, or grades, shall, if such finding be approved by the President, be dropped from the rolls, or placed in the order of their rank and THIRTY-THIRD CONGRESS.
Sess. II. Ch. 128, 129. 1855. 617seniority at the time, upon a list in the Navy Register, to be entitled the reserved list; and those so placed on the reserved list shall receive the leave of absence pay, or the furlough pay, to which they may be entitled when so placed, according to the report of the board and approval of the President, and shall be ineligible to further promotion, but shall be subject to the orders of the Navy Department at all times for duty; and vacancies created in the active service list by placing officers on the Promotion of those not on reserved list.reserved list, shall be filled by regular promotion in the order of rank or seniority.
And officers who may be promoted to fill the vacancies created by the reserved list shall, while unemployed, receive only the “leave of absence” or “waiting orders” pay to which they would have been entitled Pay of officers.if such promotion had not been made; but when employed at sea, or on other duty, they shall receive, in addition to such “leave of absence” or “waiting orders” pay, the difference between the “waiting orders” or “leave of absence” pay and the lowest sea-service pay of the grade to which they may be so promoted: *Provided,* That this scrutiny Provisos.and reservation of officers shall extend only to the grades of captain, commander, lieutenant, masters, and passed midshipmen: *And provided, further,* That all vacancies occurring in the grade of masters shall be Masters.filled by the promotion of the senior passed midshipmen, to be entitled masters in the line of promotion, who when promoted shall receive the pay allowed by law to masters; that the number of masters in the line of promotion shall not exceed sixty, and that nothing in this act contained shall be held or construed to authorize any increase of the aggregate Pay of officers.pay of the said grades, or of the naval service, as now allowed by law.
Sec. 3. *And be it further enacted,* That nothing in this act contained Restriction of operation of this act.shall be construed to restrict, apply to, or impair the regular promotion of officers in the service list of the navy who may be at any time entitled to promotion—consequent upon deaths, dismissals, or resignations, in the naval service,—nor in any manner to abridge or impair the right of the Secretary of the Navy to place any officers upon furlough. Sec. 4. *And be it further enacted,* That nothing in this act shall be so Number of officers not to be increased.construed as to increase the aggregate number of officers, and that all laws or clauses of laws, so far as they conflict with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed.
Approved, February 28, 1855.