United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy (also known as USNA, Annapolis, or simply Navy) is a four-year coeducational federal service academy adjacent to Annapolis, Maryland. Established on 10 October 1845, under Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft, it is the second oldest of the United States' five service academies, and educates officers for commissioning primarily into the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. The campus is located on the former grounds of Fort Severn at the confluence of the Severn River and Chesapeake Bay in Anne Arundel County, east of Washington, D.C. and southeast of Baltimore. The entire campus (known to insiders as "the Yard") is a National Historic Landmark and home to many historic sites, buildings, and monuments. It replaced Philadelphia Naval Asylum, in Philadelphia, that served as the first United States Naval Academy from 1838 to 1845 when the Naval Academy formed in Annapolis.
Naval Academy Preparatory School
From 1915 to the year 1968 NAPS was exclusively for Sailors and Marines who were of "Officer Caliber" but lacked the academic foundation for the rigors at The United States Naval Academy. In 1968, The first male "Direct Entries" were admitted to NAPS. Following the congressional authorization of women to attend all military service academies, women were admitted in 1976.