From 1940 to 1943, over 23,000 ensigns were graduated from the U.S. Naval Reserve Midshipmen School at Columbia University. The school used 12 Columbia buildings as well as a ship docked at 135th Street to train midshipmen, who then went directly into active duty. It was the largest school of its kind under the Navy College Training Program, V-7. A plaque commemorating the program stands outside of the Butler Library on Columbia's Morningside Heights campus.