A few were water tenders, electricians and gunners' mates, each of which occupations entitled them to the aforesaid rank of petty officer.

Among the petty officers some had by sheer merit attained the rank of chief petty officer, which is about equal to the rank of sergeant in the army.
The idea of separate ships for the Negro might to some degree ameliorate the sting incident to race prohibition in that arm of government service.

The query is advanced that if we can have black colonels, majors, captains and lieutenants in the army, why cannot we have black commanders, lieutenants, ensigns and such in the Navy?
Negroes have often and in divers ways displayed their intelligence and efficiency in the Navy.

Take, for instance, the case of John Jordan, a Negro of Virginia, who was chief gunner's mate on Admiral Dewey's flagship the "Olympia" during the Spanish-American war, and was the man who fired the first shot at the enemy at Manila Bay.

A Negro chief electrician, Salisbury Brooks, was the originator of inventions which were adopted without reservation by the Navy designers and changed the construction of modern battle ships.
One of the principal instructors on the U.S.S.Essex, the government training ship at Norfolk, is Matthew Anderson, a Negro.