 While his brother, now the head of the family and a rising general in the French army, sent him to a Catholic university, Jerome was a lax student, more interested in the ladies than his studies. Exasperated, Napoleon sent Jerome to join the navy in the hopes that the military would straighten him out. While he was a successful naval officer, Jerome was still not quite straightened out. In 1803, at the age of 19, Jerome was serving with the French navy in the Caribbean when he decided to visit the United States.