| The United States Naval Academy is an institution for the undergraduate education of officers of the United States Navy, at Annapolis, Maryland on the banks of the Severn river. Students at the Naval Academy are referred to by their military rank, Midshipman and never as "cadets." Upon graduation, Naval Academy Midshipmen are commissioned as Ensigns in the United States Navy or as Second Lieutenants in the United States Marine Corps, and are expected to serve a minimum of five years after their commissioning. The Academy is often referred to simply as "Annapolis" although naval officers normally refer to it in conversation as "the Academy" or "the Boat School", while Midshipmen at the Academy often refer to the town of Annapolis as "Crab Town." U.S. sports media refer to the Academy as Navy, and this usage is officially endorsed. ROTC and Officer Candidate School graduates as well as Air Force Academy Cadets and Cadets at the Military Academy at West Point often refer to the Naval Academy as "Canoe U." There is no graduate school directly associated with the Naval Academy. Instead, the Navy operates the Naval Postgraduate School, the Naval War College and Marine Corps University separately. |
