Handed down over the years, a sailor's induction into the Ancient order of the Deep is a time honored rite of passage, steeped in tradition and marked by pomp and ceremony. One of the Naval traditions experienced during a sailor's life is his first time crossing the equator, when he becomes a member of the 'Royal Order of Shellbacks'.
Farragut Naval Training Station
In May of 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt named the new site in Idaho Farragut after the famous Union Admiral David G. Farragut. It was Admiral Farragut who said during the raid of Mobile Bay, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead."
Between its opening in September, 1942, and its decommissioning in June, 1946, this expanse of 4,000 acres served as temporary home to almost 300,000 naval recruits. Located about 30 miles from Sandpoint at the far end of the lake, the Farragut Naval Training Station served as boot camp for "Blue Jackets." During basic training, recruits left home for the first time, came to Farragut and learned to how march, row, swim and use firearms before heading off to the Mediterranean Sea or the South Pacific. Others received additional training as signalman's gunner's mates, the hospital corps or radiomen. WAVES (women naval officers) served as nurses at the base hospital.
Another group of soldiers -- some as young as 16 or 17 -- arrived at Farragut from Europe. Wearing shirts inscribed with "PW, " 750 German prisoners of war, many from Austria, worked side by side with American soldiers. They ran loose in camp and trimmed shrubbery or mowed lawns at the facility.
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