On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, adopted Richard Henry Lee's resolution declaring "that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states." On Thursday, July 4,... Read more
The U.S. Naval Academy’s class of 2026 that graduated and commissioned last week became the one hundredth class to receive some form of required aviation training. This does not mean that 1926 was the beginning of Naval... Read more
Map of the Bay of Naples (Golfo di Napoli) from Naples and the Campagna Felice (London, 1815). Campania is a region of southern Italy that in ancient times extended from the Volturno River to the Sorrentine... Read more
The above photograph features a scene familiar to those who visit or attend the Naval Academy. The figurehead of the USS Delaware (1820), brought to the Naval Academy in 1866, gazes stoically across T-Court at... Read more
Ask your average passerby to name a Civil War battle or theater, and you are likely to get a response like Gettysburg, Antietam, or Fort Sumter. Restrict that same passerby to naming a naval battle or theater, and the response... Read more
Plebe Summer will soon be upon us at the U.S. Naval Academy. Plebes, derived from the Latin plebs, is the traditional name given to the incoming students through their first year at the school. The designation seems... Read more
The history of hospitals that served midshipmen is another relatively unknown, but interesting, part of Naval Academy lore. Throughout their history, the buildings outfitted as sick quarters and hospitals on the yard have... Read more
It was 142 years ago this May that Albert Abraham Michelson published the results of his first experiment to measure the velocity of light in The American Journal of Science and Arts. Born in Strelno, Prussia on December 19,... Read more
Color Ceremony with Color Girl Eleanor Thomson, 1907.
Normally, this would be Commissioning Week when a series of yearend festivities culminate in the graduation and commissioning of the Naval Academy's first class... Read more
This week marks 158 years since the Union's Civil War victory at the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip. These names might not conjure the same images as names like Gettysburg, Antietam, or Bull Run - if they conjure any... Read more
Today marks the 500th anniversary of the death of the Italian High Renaissance painter and architect Raphael. Born in Urbino in 1483, Raphael is best known for his paintings of the Madonna and for his decoration of the papal... Read more
Professor Arsene Girault
The study of foreign languages at the Naval Academy goes right back to its beginnings. In 1845, the first organization of the academy provided for six professorships including Arsene N. Girault as... Read more
A lot has been written lately about Bill the Goat and his reign at the Naval Academy, but this post will focus on the Naval Academy's other mascot. "Other mascot?" you ask. You would be forgiven for thinking that the Naval Academy had... Read more
George Washington was born on 22 February 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia. His birthday became a national holiday in 1885 during President Chester Alan Arthur's administration.
In 1968, the Uniform Monday Holiday Bill, which took... Read more
On January 19, 1840, Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, USN, commander of the United States South Seas Exploring Expedition, claimed for his country the discovery of Antarctica after sighting land from the sloop-of-war USS Vincennes, the... Read more
A recent post looked at the Navy's mascot, Bill the Goat, during the 1930-50s and how the numbering of these goats got off track during these decades. A 1934 article in the Baltimore Sun was the first in Special Collections &... Read more
The first mention of football at the academy in the December 2, 1857, Journal of the Officer of the Day.
If you have watched any of 2019's college football games you may have noticed the "150" patch on the players' uniforms... Read more
As the United States Naval Academy moved into the latter half of the twentieth century, it was becoming evident that its physical plant was rapidly becoming inadequate. The academy, as designed by Ernest Flagg at a time when the... Read more
The United States Naval Academy Band is the oldest band in the U.S.Navy. Although instrumental music at the academy can be traced back to the school's founding in October 1845, the band was officially founded on November 22,... Read more
William Chauvenet
Today is Founders’ Day at the Naval Academy - the 174th anniversary of the school’s establishment. Those wishing to learn more about the academy’s early... Read more
As the United States entered World War I in April 1917, questions swirled as to just what role the U.S. would play. With the Battle of Jutland already a year in the past and only a single division of American battleships... Read more
Football season is upon us, and Navy fans once again are treated to the familiar sight of Bill XXXVI and Bill XXXVII patrolling the sidelines. However, based on the articles and other documents in Special Collections &... Read more
On August 8, 1924, the airship USS Shenandoah (ZR-1) successfully executed its first mooring at sea to a mast affixed to the oiler USS Patoka (AO-9). The U.S. Navy's first rigid airship, Shenandoah was christened on October 10,... Read more
Pictured here are two pages from the Officer of the Day's journal from 1851. One of the duties of the Officer of the Day during this period was documenting the candidates arriving at the academy to be examined for admission. These... Read more
Despite centuries of exploration in high northern latitudes, the Arctic Ocean remained a puzzle in the late 1800s. What lay above latitude 71° north? An open polar sea? A land mass to correspond... Read more
Paging through a box of documents that would come to be known as the Mary A. Marshall Papers, you eventually, and altogether unexpectedly, come across the caricature of a woman smiling up at you while dangling an Army mule from... Read more
The Battle of Bunker Hill, the first major battle of the American Revolution, occurred on June 17, 1775. In April, colonial militia and British regulars had clashed at Lexington and Concord, bringing Great Britain and her... Read more
Today is the seventy-fifth anniversary of D-day, the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France during World War II. In commemoration, presented below is a portion of a hand-drawn map of the landing beaches at Omaha Beach - specifically... Read more
On June 3, 1769, Lieutenant James Cook (1728-1779) of the Royal Navy and astronomer Charles Green (1735-1771) of the Royal Society measured the transit of Venus from an observatory set up at the north-east end of Matavai Bay,... Read more
May 31, 2016 marked the 100th anniversary of the largest naval engagement of World War I. In the North Sea off the coast of Denmark, the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet, 250 ships... Read more
