Missouri Naval Militia

The Missouri Naval Militia is the currently unorganized naval militia of Missouri. Along with the Missouri Army National Guard, the Missouri Air National Guard, and the Missouri Reserve Force, the Missouri Naval is recognized under Missouri law as part of the organized militia of Missouri. Like the members of the National Guard, members of the naval militia who also serve in the Navy Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve have a dual federal and state status, serving as members of the naval militia under authority of the state government until they are called into federal service, at which time they are relieved from their state obligations and placed under federal control for the duration of their federal deployment.

The Missouri Naval Militia was first created in 1902. It was first activated and deployed in 1903 to guard buildings in East St. Louis near the waterfront after a flood of the Mississippi River. In 1906, the Missouri Naval Militia received the USS Huntress, a former private yacht which had been purchased by the federal government to serve in the Spanish–American War.

By 1910, the naval militia was organized into four divisions. In 1910, the Missouri Naval Militia petitioned for, and received, the USS Amphirite from the Navy Department. The transfer of the USS Amphirite from the United States Department of the Navy to the Missouri Naval Militia doubled as the summer exercise for the naval militia; naval militiamen were responsible for crewing the vessel from New Orleans to Memphis as sailors from the Navy supervised.

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