The Maryland Naval Militia is the authorized but currently inactive unorganized

naval militia A naval militia is a reserve military organization administered under the authority of a state government in the United States. It is often composed of reservists of the Navy Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, and Coast Guard Reserve, retirees an ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. It served as a dual federal and state

military reserve force A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve f ...

, essentially a naval and marine equivalent of the

Maryland Army National Guard The Maryland Army National Guard (MD ARNG) is the United States Army component of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is headquartered at the old Fifth Regiment Armory at the intersection of North Howard Street, 29th Division Street, near Martin Lut ...

and the

Maryland Air National Guard The Maryland Air National Guard (MD ANG) is the aerial militia of the State of Maryland, United States of America, and a reserve component of the United States Air Force. It is, along with the Maryland Army National Guard, an element of the Maryla ...

History

The Maryland Naval Militia was first created in 1896 as the Naval Battalion of the military forces of Maryland. In 1895, was transferred from the Navy to the Maryland Naval Militia. Members of Maryland's naval militia served in the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

; some members were assigned to the Fifth District of the United States Auxiliary Naval Force, while others were deployed aboard . In 1906, served briefly with Maryland's naval militia until 1907. In 1907, was transferred to the Maryland Naval Militia where it served the next seven years. was loaned to the Maryland Naval Militia in 1909 until its return to federal service in 1914. was assigned to the naval militia from 1914 until 1918. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the members of the Maryland Naval Militia were federalized and deployed aboard .

Personnel

Naval militias are in part regulated and equipped by the federal government, and membership requirements are set according to federal standards. Under 10 U.S. Code § 7854, in order for a state naval militia to be eligible for access to "vessels, material, armament, equipment, and other facilities of the Navy and the Marine Corps available to the Navy Reserve and the Marine Corps Reserve", at least 95% of members of the naval militia must also be members of the

United States Navy Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Sele ...

or the

United States Marine Corps Reserve The Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES or MFR), also known as the United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) and the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve, is the reserve force of the United States Marine Corps. It is the largest command, by assigned pe ...

Legal status

Naval militias of U.S. states are recognized by the federal government of the United States as a component of the organized militia under 10 U.S. Code §7851. Any option for reactivating the Maryland Naval Militia can go either through action by the state government (through the office of the

Governor of Maryland The Governor of the State of Maryland is the head of government of Maryland, and is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The Governor is the highest-ranking official in the state and has a broad range of appointive powers ...

) or by legislative action.

History

Personnel

Legal status

See also

References

Further reading