History
The California Nautical School was established in 1929, when California State Assembly Bill No. 253 was signed into law by Governor C. C. Young. The bill authorized the creation of the school, the appointment of a Board of Governors to manage the school and the acquisition of a training vessel. The school's mission was "to give practical and theoretical instruction in navigation, seamanship, steam engines, gas engines, and electricity in order to prepare young men to serve as officers in the American Merchant Marine." By 1930, a training vessel and a school site was acquired; the original location of what would become Cal Maritime was California City (now Tiburon, California) in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Due to the Great Depression, the early days of the Academy were full of financial uncertainty. As early as 1933, some state legislators were calling for the school's abolition. In order to save money, the cadets and instructors alike lived and held classes aboard the training vessel, the T.S. California State'. Only after the passage of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 did the funding for the Academy stabilize.
In 1939 the California Nautical School adopted its present name, the California Maritime Academy. By 1940, the Academy was granting Bachelor of Science degrees and Naval Reserve commissions to its graduates; this step marked the beginning of the transition from the status of trade school to college. In 1943, the Academy moved to its present location in Vallejo, California.
In the 1970s, after surviving another round of budget cuts and calls for the Academy's abolition, Cal Maritime became a four-year institution. The 1970s also marked the time when the first minority and female cadets graduated from Cal Maritime.
In 1996 Cal Maritime became the twenty-second campus of the California State University system. The new affiliation improved the Academy's funding prospects considerably. The current training vessel is the T.S. Golden Bear, and is the third training ship to carry that name.
Read more about this topic: California Maritime Academy
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