United States Naval Academy

United States Naval Academy, institution of higher education conducted by the U.S. Department of the Navy and located at Annapolis, Md., for the purpose of preparing young men and women to enter the lowest commissioned ranks of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.

The academy was founded as a Naval School on Oct. 10, 1845, by George Bancroft, historian, educator, and secretary of the Navy, to improve the then-unsatisfactory methods of instructing midshipmen. At first the course was five years, of which only the first and last were spent at the school, the intervening three years being spent on board ships on active service. The school was reorganized in 1850–51 as the U.S. Naval Academy, with a course of study of four consecutive years. A summer practice cruise replaced the omitted sea service and permitted intensive training.

During the American Civil War the academy was moved to Newport, R.I., but was brought back to Annapolis in 1865. In the following years great improvements were effected in the organization and curriculum. During the American Civil War, Spanish-American War, and World Wars I and II, the course was shortened to provide more officers for the fleets.

Under the superintendent, the academy is organized into an executive department, headed by the commandant of midshipmen, who is charged with interior discipline, drills, and all military and professional training; and an academic department, headed by the dean in charge of the faculty and academic programs.

Candidates must be U.S. citizens who are between the ages of 17 and 22 and are unmarried. Candidates are appointed upon nomination by the president, the vice president, and the senators, representatives, and territorial delegates in Congress. Also, 170 enlisted personnel each year may be appointed from the Navy and Marine Corps and 170 more from the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve by the president, as well as 65 candidates from among the children of military personnel who died in wartime. Women were admitted to the academy beginning in 1976.

Entrance examinations are designed to admit competent graduates of first-class secondary schools. The physical requirements are rigid. The core academic curriculum consists of courses in engineering, the physical sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Professional training is given in such subjects as small arms, drill, seamanship and navigation, tactics, naval engineering, naval weapons, military law, naval electricity and electronics, and leadership. Graduates are awarded the degree of bachelor of science and a commission as ensign in the Navy or as second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. The U.S. Naval postgraduate school was moved from Annapolis to Monterey, Calif., in 1951.