History
The Naval Academy Preparatory School is the Navy’s fourth oldest school; only the Naval War College, the Naval Postgraduate School, and the Naval Academy are older. Informal preparatory classes began as early as 1915.
In 1918, the Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels signed a provision to have up to 100 sailors from the fleet to be eligible for entry to the Academy. Due to the difficult nature of the Naval Academy's entrance examination, then Undersecretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt also allowed for a school to be founded to prepare Sailors and Marines for entry.
The first official classes were established at Naval Station, Newport and Naval Station, San Francisco in 1920. A year later the schools were moved to Norfolk, VA and San Diego, CA. San Diego classes were disestablished and NAPS classes remained solely in Norfolk until 1942, when the new Naval Academy Preparatory School opened in Newport, RI.
In early 1943, NAPS moved to the Bainbridge Naval Training Center, a facility of several hundred acres located above the Susquehanna River, some 40 miles northeast of Baltimore, MD. NAPS returned to Newport while the Bainbridge Center was temporarily inactive during a 15-month period around1950. When Bainbridge was reactivated in 1951 because of the Korean War, the preparatory school returned to Maryland. In August 1974, NAPS returned to its permanent home in Newport.
In the 1970s, civilian applicants began to be considered for entry and women were first admitted to NAPS in 1975 following congressional authorization of women to attend all service academies.
In 1979, NAPS began preparing prospective Coast Guard Academy students. The Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT, selects students for assignment to NAPS.
In 2006, The Naval Academy Preparatory School named their newly built dormitory in honor of alumnus Colonel John Ripley. Ripley Hall is located on 197 Elliot street in Newport Rhode Island.
In 2008, The Coast Guard Academy stopped sending Cadets to NAPS.
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