Before the war, plans had been adopted and appropriations made for greatly increasing the Naval Academy. A new Seamanship and Navigation Building that cost $1,000,000 was constructed. Four million dollars was expended in enlarging Bancroft Hall, which was more than doubled to accommodate the increased number of midshipmen. In 1912 there were 768 midshipmen at Annapolis. Legislation adopted before the war increased the number to 2,120 in 1917. The enlarged facilities will accommodate 2,400. Two special courses were established at the Naval Academy in the spring of 1917, one for line officers and the other for men of the supply corps. A total of 1,622 were graduated as ensigns for line duty and 400 as supply officers. They went right into the fleet, and though they had received only a few months' drill, they carried the Annapolis spirit into the service--a spirit of valor and invincibility. The institution at Annapolis, the pride of America and the admiration of all visitors to our country, is easily the greatest naval school in the world. CHAPTER XXX THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND STRONG VAST OPERATIONS COULD HARDLY HAVE BEEN CARRIED ON WITHOUT NAVAL RESERVES AND NATIONAL NAVAL VOLUNTEERS--MANNED HUNDREDS OF VESSELS PLYING TO FRANCE--SERVED ON TRANSPORTS, DESTROYERS, SUB-CHASERS AND EVERY KIND OF CRAFT--NAVAL AVIATION COMPOSED MAINLY OF RESERVISTS--THIRTY THOUSAND MADE OFFICERS. "We are coming, Uncle Samuel, three hundred thousand strong!" That was the spirit if not the song of the reservists who besieged the recruiting stations and flocked into the Navy at the call of war. They came from every walk of life--mechanics and millionaires, farm boys and college students, clerks and merchants, yacht owners and boatmen, fishermen and firemen. There was hardly a trade, profession or calling that was not represented. Ninety-nine out of every hundred were landsmen, knowing nothing of the sea. But they took to the naval service like ducks to water, and the rapidity with which they learned, and the efficiency with which they served, amazed the old sea-dogs. Never again will men dare to ridicule the volunteer, the reservist, the man who in a national crisis lays aside civilian duty to become a soldier or sailor, to shoulder a gun or take his place in the turret. The splendid body of young men from civil life who quickly adapted themselves to military service astonished the old timers, who believed that long service was absolutely necessary to make one efficient.