The United States Naval Academy (also known as USNA, Annapolis, or Navy) is a four-year coeducational federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft began it in 1845. It is the second-oldest of the United States' five service academies. It educates officers mostly to join the United States Navy and Marine Corps. The  campus is on the former grounds of Fort Severn where the Severn River flows into Chesapeake Bay. It is about  east of Washington, D.C. and  southeast of Baltimore, Maryland. The entire campus is a National Historic Landmark. The campus has many historic sites, buildings, and monuments. One monument is the Herndon Monument, once a year the upper three classes add grease and challenge the freshmen to reach the tip (usually unsuccessfully).

Candidates for admission generally must both apply directly to the academy and receive a nomination, usually from a congressman. The candidates lacking in academics can potentially receive a nomination to the Naval Academy Preparatory School located in Newport, Rhode Island. Students are officers-in-training and are called "Midshipmen". The Navy pays for the Midshipmen's college expenses in exchange for the students serving in the military upon graduation. About 1,300 "plebes" enter the Academy each summer for the orientation program, this class consists of not only high school students but also enlisted Sailors and Marines. Only about 1,000 Midshipmen graduate after the four years.  Graduates are usually commissioned as Ensigns in the Navy or Second Lieutenants in the Marine Corps, and occasionally as officers in the US Air Force, US Army, and U.S. Coast Guard. The academic program grants a bachelor of science degree. Midshipmen get grades on a broad academic program, military leadership performance, and mandatory participation in competitive athletics. Midshipmen are required to adhere to the Academy's Honor Concept.

On 3 June 1949 Wesley A. Brown became the first African-American to graduate. On 8 August 1975, Congress authorized women to attend service academies. The class of 1980 was inducted with 81 women midshipmen.

Sports
Annapolis has a very broad sports program. All students must play at least one sport each semester, either at intramural (within the school) or intercollegiate (against other schools) level.

The intercollegiate sports teams are known as the Navy Midshipmen. Most of the Academy's teams play in the Patriot League. The football team plays at the top level, known as Division I FBS, in the American Athletic Conference.

References

Bibliography
 
 
 
 
 Gelfand, H. Michael. Sea Change at Annapolis: The United States Naval Academy, 1949–2000 U of North Carolina Press, 2006
 Hunter, Mark C. A Society of Gentlemen: Midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy, 1845–1861. Naval Institute Press, 2010. 264 pp.
 Karsten, Peter. The Naval Aristocracy: The Golden Age of Annapolis and the Emergence of Modern American Navalism. Free Press, 1972. 462 pp.
 Leeman, William P. The Long Road to Annapolis: The Founding of the Naval Academy and the Emerging American Republic (University of North Carolina Press; 2010) 292 pages
 Ross MacKenzie. Brief Points: An Almanac for Parents and Friends of U.S. Naval Academy Midshipmen (2004)
Scharf, J. Thomas. History of the Confederate States Navy: From its Organization to the Surrender of its Last Vessel. New York: Rogers and Sherwood, 1887; repr. The Fairfax Press, 1977.
 Todorich, Charles. The Spirited Years: A History of the Antebellum Naval Academy. Naval Institute Press, 1982. 215 pp.

Other websites

Official website
Official Athletics (including club sports) website
Official Navy Midshipmen website
Regulations of the US Naval Academy 1907 

Military schools
Colleges and universities in Maryland‏
Navy
Annapolis, Maryland
1845 establishments in the United States