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United States Naval School opens at Annapolis with fifty midshipmen

When
1845
Where
Fort Severn site
Episodes
1

The United States Naval School opened in Annapolis, Maryland, on 10 October 1845, during George Bancroft's tenure as Secretary of the Navy. Established on the site of Fort Severn, the institution replaced the Philadelphia Naval Asylum as the primary training ground for naval officers. The founding involved fifty midshipmen and seven professors, marking the beginning of the academy's history.

Episodes

  1. 10 October 1845 · Fort Severn siteOpening of the Naval School

    The Naval School opened in Annapolis on 10 October 1845, replacing the Philadelphia Naval Asylum. It began with fifty midshipmen and seven professors on the Fort Severn site.

Background and detail

Founding Context. The Naval School was established on 10 October 1845 by Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft. It replaced the Philadelphia Naval Asylum, which had served as the first United States Naval Academy from 1838 to 1845. The new institution was located adjacent to Annapolis, Maryland, on the site of Fort Severn, marking a shift in naval education infrastructure.

Educational Mission. The institution educates midshipmen for service in the officer corps of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. It is the second oldest of the five U.S. service academies. The founding included fifty midshipmen and seven professors, establishing the initial academic structure for training naval officers.

People involved

Sources

  1. United States Naval Academy Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-03
  2. Annapolis, Maryland Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-27

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.