Annapolis, Maryland
The United States Naval Academy was founded in 1845 on the site of Fort Severn, and now occupies an area of land reclaimed from the Severn River next to the Chesapeake Bay. The Annapolis area was the home of a VLF-transmitter called NSS Annapolis, which was used by the United States Navy to communicate with its Atlantic submarine fleet. Students that attend the Naval Academy are enrolled in school for four years with a following five year commitment to serving in the Marine Corps or Navy. There is a typical average of around 4,500 students enrolled.
Naval Air Technical Training Center Ward Island
On 2 January 1942, 100 students started classes at Annapolis in what was called the Aviation Radio Materiel School (ARMS). The United States had just declared was on the Axis and Japan, and, even before the school opened, it was realized that a much larger school was needed. The Naval Air Station Corpus Christi (NASCC) for training pilots had opened the previous year. Ward Island, along a causeway two miles to the northeast, was ideally suited for a small training station that could be highly secure and draw on the NASCC for support functions.