La formación de los aspirantes a guardiamarinas de la Armada Argentina en la fragata Sarmiento (1899-1938)

Abstract

This article aims to analyse part of the training process of the officers of the Argentine Navy during the first decades of the twentieth century, taking the case of the midshipmen candidates of the Escuela Naval Militar (Naval Military School) while they were on their training voyage aboard the training ship frigate Presidente Sarmiento. For this purpose, memoirs and navigation accounts, written by crew members of different rank and status, and some articles from magazines and bulletins of the time, were consulted. During the training voyage, the cadets and aspirants, hitherto young and inexperienced, became seamen, acquiring skills and aptitudes and overcoming a series of practices, rites and tests. By identifying and understanding the characteristics of this process, it will be possible to observe the behaviour that the Argentine Navy expected of its youngest commanders and understand some of the identity attributes that defined the naval officer.