ANNAPOLIS, Md., Dec. 14 - In a break from negotiations over his proposal to ban abuse of detainees, Senator John McCain stood Wednesday with old comrades who know first-hand, as he does, the meaning of torture.

In the elegant chapel of the United States Naval Academy here, Mr. McCain, Republican of Arizona, offered a funeral tribute to William P. Lawrence, a retired vice admiral who, like the senator, was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for six years.

Admiral Lawrence, 75, died Dec. 2 at his home in Crownsville, Md.

Mr. McCain invited the 23 other former Vietnam P.O.W.'s attending the service to join him at the pulpit. "All of us share the bond that was formed many years ago and far away," he said as white-haired men, one leaning on a cane, stood around him. "We had the immense privilege of serving in the company of heroes."

Mr. McCain's only direct reference to the torment he and the others endured at the hands of the North Vietnamese was characteristically humorous. He said he had introduced Mr. Lawrence to Mr. Lawrence's future wife, Diane, who had spent months as Mr. McCain's physical therapist to restore the function of his shattered knee.