UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY

OVERVIEW

The United States Naval Academy is the undergraduate service academy of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, occupying a 338-acre campus — known throughout the service as "the Yard" — on the western shore of the Severn River where it meets the Chesapeake Bay in Annapolis, Maryland. Founded in 1845, the Academy commissions roughly 1,000 new ensigns and Marine Corps second lieutenants each year and is the principal source of career officers for both services.

The Brigade of Midshipmen — approximately 4,400 students organized into 30 companies — lives, studies, and trains together within the Yard. Midshipmen pursue Bachelor of Science degrees across more than 25 majors while completing a parallel curriculum in seamanship, navigation, leadership, and naval warfare. Bancroft Hall, the single dormitory that houses the entire Brigade, is the largest dormitory in the world by floor area and centers Academy life around the formation grounds at Tecumseh Court.

Beyond the Brigade, the Yard hosts the Naval Academy's faculty and staff, the U.S. Naval Academy Athletic Association, and a year-round visitor program: the Yard is open to the public through the Armel-Leftwich Visitor Center, where tens of thousands of guests each year experience the Naval Academy Chapel and the crypt of John Paul Jones beneath it.

KEY FACTS

• Service AcademyUndergraduate institution and commissioning source for the Navy and Marine Corps
• FoundedOctober 10, 1845 by Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft
• Brigade of MidshipmenRoughly 4,400 midshipmen across four classes
• Bancroft HallLargest single dormitory in the world by floor area
• RegionAnnapolis, Maryland on the Severn River at the Chesapeake Bay

HISTORY

The United States Naval Academy was established on October 10, 1845, when Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft transferred a small midshipman training program from the Philadelphia Naval Asylum to a 9-acre Army post called Fort Severn at the mouth of the Severn River in Annapolis, Maryland. Bancroft, frustrated with the irregular shipboard apprenticeship system that had produced naval officers since the founding of the Republic, sought a centralized institution that would educate midshipmen in mathematics, navigation, gunnery, steam engineering, and the liberal arts on shore before sending them to sea. The new Naval School opened with a faculty of seven and a class of 50 midshipmen.

In 1850 the institution was renamed the United States Naval Academy and reorganized into a four-year course of study, modeled in part on the West Point curriculum. The Civil War briefly interrupted the academic program: the entire institution relocated to Newport, Rhode Island in 1861, returning to Annapolis only after Union victory in 1865. The post-war decades saw rapid expansion of the campus along the Severn waterfront, including construction of the original Bancroft Hall in 1906 and the Naval Academy Chapel in 1908 — the latter housing the crypt of Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones, whose remains were repatriated from Paris in 1905.

The 20th century transformed the Academy and its mission. Aviation training was added after World War I, the curriculum was modernized to keep pace with technological change, and the Academy became one of the principal sources of officers for the rapidly expanding Cold War Navy. In 1976, the first class of female midshipmen entered the Academy under the federal expansion of service academy access; women now make up roughly a quarter of each entering class. The Yard itself was designated a National Historic Landmark district in 1963, recognizing both its architectural ensemble and its role in American naval history.

Today the United States Naval Academy continues to fulfill its founding mission: to develop midshipmen morally, mentally, and physically and to imbue them with the highest ideals of duty, honor, and loyalty in order to provide graduates dedicated to a career of naval service. Each May, the Brigade graduates and commissions roughly 1,000 ensigns and second lieutenants who join the operating forces of the Navy and Marine Corps as career officers.

MAJOR COMMANDS & TENANT UNITS

• Office of the Superintendent
• Office of the Commandant of Midshipmen
• Brigade of Midshipmen
• U.S. Naval Academy Athletic Association
• Naval Academy Preparatory School (in Newport, RI)

LOCATION & GEOGRAPHY

NOTABLE EVENTS

1. 1845
   Founded

   Established as the Naval School at Fort Severn in Annapolis by Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft.
2. 1850
   Renamed

   Renamed the United States Naval Academy and reorganized into a four-year curriculum.
3. 1976
   Women Admitted

   First class to include women admitted under Title IX expansion of service academy access.

NEARBY BASES

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

SOURCES

• Wikipedia: United States Naval Academy
• Official: U.S. Naval Academy
• Naval Academy Visitor Information