In any case, when the size of the Navy was curtailed in consequence of the disarmament movement following World War I, enlistment of Negroes seems to have been discontinued by BuNav. Testimony of men who knew the Navy through those years is at variance some enlistment records have been seen which indicate direct enlistment for general service, but these may always have been departures from a general rule. There is some confusion in the evidence as to whether in this period Negroes were enlisted for general service as well as for the messman branch, or only for the latter. They served not only in the messman branch, but also held various skilled ratings as artificers. Older Navy men today recall the service of Negroes aboard the larger combatant vessels from the turn of the century through the first World War. Camp Robert Smalls, the first Negro recruit camp at the Great Lakes training station in World War II, was named for a Negro who rendered distinguished service to the Federal Navy in the Civil War. There have been Negroes in the United States Navy since the early years of the Republic, but their numbers have always been small.
Bases outside the Continental United States
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