They could operate signal stations, help handle torpedoes and mines, officer and man auxiliary cruisers, and assist in the defence of points which are not covered by the army.

There are numbers of advanced bases which do not come under the present scheme of army coast defence, and which would have to be defended, at any rate during the first weeks of war, by bodies of Naval Militia; while the knowledge they get by their incessant practice in boats on the local waters would be invaluable.
"Furthermore, the highest and best trained bodies could be used immediately on board the regular ships of war; this applies to the militia of the lakes as well as to the militia of the seacoast--and certainly no greater tribute is necessary to pay to the lake militia.
Many of these naval battalions are composed of men who would not enlist in time of peace, but who, under the spur of war, would serve in any position for the first few important months." The last sentence of the above extract is of peculiar interest, inasmuch as it proved true in every particular.

The crews of the auxiliary ships manned by the Naval Militia during the Spanish-American war of 1898 were composed of men who, in civil life, were brokers, lawyers, physicians, clerks, bookkeepers, or men of independent means.

They sacrificed their personal interests for the moment, and, in their patriotic zeal, accepted positions of the most menial capacity on board ship.
Prior to the outbreak of war they had entered into training with the utmost enthusiasm.

The Navy Department had assigned some of the older vessels to the various naval brigades, to be used as training ships, and with these as headquarters the brigades began drilling.