United States Naval Academy

The United States Naval Academy is an institution for the education of officers of the United States Navy, at Annapolis, Maryland on the banks of the Severn river.

It has grown from a 4-hectare (10-acre) Army post named Fort Severn in 1845 to a 135-hectare (338-acre) campus in the 21st century. Its principal buildings are the marine engineering building, the academic building (containing the library), the chapel, the gymnasium, the physics and chemistry building, the auditorium, the armory, the power-house, the administration building, Bancroft Hall[?] (the midshipmen's quarters), officers' mess and club, and Sampson Row, Upshur Row and Rodgers Row, the officers' quarters.

By an Act of Congress passed in 1903, two midshipmen (as the students have been called since 1902; "naval cadets" was the term formerly used) were allowed for each senator, representative, and delegate in Congress, two for the District of Columbia, and five each year at large; but since 1913 only one midshipman is appointed for each senator, representative and delegate in Congress. Candidates are nominated by their senator, representative, or delegate in Congress, and those from the District of Columbia and those appointed at large are chosen by the President. To be admitted they must be between sixteen and twenty years of age and must pass an entrance examination.

The Naval Academy's sports teams are called the Midshipmen, or Middies. They participate in the NCAA's Division I-A, as an independent in football, and in the Patriot League.

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(In 1911:) Each midshipman is paid $600 a year, beginning with the date of his admission; and he must bind himself to serve in the United States Navy for eight years (including the years spent in the academy) unless he is discharged sooner. The course of instruction is for four years -- "final graduation" comes only after six years, the additional years being spent at sea -- and is in eleven departments: discipline, seamanship, ordnance an 1 gunnery, navigation, marine engineering and naval construction, mathematics and mechanics, physics and chemistry, electrical engineering, English, modern languages, naval hygiene and physiology. Vessels for practice work of midshipmen in the first, second, and third year classes are attached to the academy during the academic year, and from early in June to September of each year the midshipmen are engaged in practice cruises.

The academy is governed by the Bureau of Navigation[?] of the United States Navy Department, and is under the immediate supervision of a superintendent appointed by the secretary of the navy, with whom are associated the Commandant of Midshipmen[?], a disciplinary officer, and the Academic Board, which is composed of the superintendent and the head of each of the eleven departments.

The institution was founded as the Naval School in 1845 by the secretary of the navy, George Bancroft, and was opened in October of that year. Originally a course of study for five years was prescribed, but only the first and last were spent at the school, the other three being passed at sea. The present name was adopted when the school was reorganized in 1850, being placed under the supervision of the chief of the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography[?], and under the immediate charge of the superintendent, and the course of study was extended to seven years; the first two and the last two to be spent at the school, the intervening three years to be passed at sea. The four years of study were made consecutive in 1851, and the practice cruises were substituted for the three consecutive years at sea. At the outbreak of the American Civil War the three upper classes were detached and were ordered to sea, and the academy was removed to Fort Adams, Newport, Rhode Island in May 1861, but it was brought back to Annapolis in the summer of 1865. The supervision of the academy was transferred from the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography to the Bureau of Navigation when that bureau was established in 1862; and, although it was placed under the direct care of the Navy Department[?] in 1867, it has been (except in 1869-1889) under the Bureau of Navigation for administrative routine and financial management. The Spanish-American War greatly emphasized its importance, and the academy was almost wholly rebuilt and much enlarged in 1899-1906.

(from an old encyclopedia -- accurate as of the very early 20th century)

The Academy's official Web site is http://www.usna.edu/.