Regulations for the government of the United States Navy (1865)

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ARTICLE XXV.

Leaves of absence and furloughs.

Section 1.

Leaves of Absence.

1081 Permission to leave the United States can only be granted by the Secretary of the Navy, and no officer is ever to leave the United States under any leave of absence unless such leave shall expressly authorize it.

1082 Within the United States leave of absence for a longer time than one week will only be granted by the Secretary of the Navy, except in cases of great emergency, which must be immediately reported to him.

1083 Commanding Officers, acting under the immediate orders of the Secretary of the Navy, may, within the United States, grant leave of absence to persons under their command for not exceeding one week, provided it can be done without delaying the equipment of the vessel to which they may belong, or producing other injury to the public service, and that no leave is granted to any officer belonging to a vessel under sailing orders.

1084 Commanders-in-Chief of squadrons, and Commanders of navy yards or stations in the United States, shall not leave the limits of their command for a longer period than one week in any successive two months without the permission of the Secretary of the Navy.

1085 Permission will not hereafter be granted by Commanding Officers of squadrons or vessels in commission to any officer or man under their command to leave his station for any causes connected with health till a board of medical survey shall have pronounced such a measure essential to early recovery, or have reported the officer or man unfitted for further duty on his station ; and Commanding Officers of squadrons abroad will not hereafter grant leaves of absence, unless authorized by the Navy Department, to officers to return to the United States, except upon the recommendation of a medical board of survey. This order is not intended to supersede the instructions of October 3, 1864, authorizing the Commanding Officer of a vessel detached from a squadron, or on separate service, to transfer sick or invalids upon the report of the medical officer of the vessel. Officers on leave, in consequence of medical survey or sick ticket, will report their state of health to the Department every fifteen days.

1086 Officers of the navy applying for a leave of absence, or an extension thereof, on the score of ill health, must forward at the same time to the Department the certificate of a surgeon in the navy, if there be one in their vicinity, or, if there be no naval surgeon, of some respectable surgeon or physician, of their inability to perform duty. Such certificates must state the nature of the disease and the probable duration thereof, as far as can be judged.

1087 Unless otherwise directed by competent authority, temporary leave to officers may be granted by their Commanding Officers ; but no such leave is to exceed twenty-four hours, unless sanctioned by the Commander-in-Chief or senior officer present.

1088 The petty officers and men belonging to vessels in the navy will be permitted to visit the shore on suitable occasions, when it can be done without injury to the public service. In foreign ports such permission will not be granted if objected to by the proper authorities thereof. The senior officer present must always be consulted before such leave in foreign ports is granted. Leaves of absence, or permission to go on liberty, will not be granted to any enlisted man by any person other than the Commanding Officer of the vessel to which he is attached ; and should the Commanding Officer be absent on service, or on temporary leave, the officer left in command shall have no power to grant leave to any enlisted man unless specially authorized by the Commanding Officer. The names of those to whom leave is to be granted must be specified in writing, and signed by the Commanding Officer previous to his absenting himself from the vessel.

1089 Leave is not to be granted to men of a crew in debt to the Government unless they deposit as security the full amount of their indebtedness, and in no case unless, in the judgment of the Commanding Officer, there is no probability of desertion. Hereafter all funds deposited by enlisted men, as security for their return from absence on leave, and forfeited by their desertion, and any bounty money or advanced pay refunded by minors or others discharged from the service, will be deposited by the Paymaster with the nearest United States Assistant Treasurer ; the advance pay to the credit of " pay of the navy," and the bounty and other money to the appropriation for naval bounties. The certificate of deposit, in the case of advanced pay, is to be transmitted to the Navy Department, and in other cases to the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting, to be sent to the Fourth Auditor of the Treasury.

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