Modern era: World War II to present
The academy and its support facilities became part of the Severn River Naval Command from 1941 to 1962.
A total of 3,319 graduates were commissioned during World War II. Dr. Chris Lambertsen held the first closed-circuit oxygen SCUBA course in the United States for the Office of Strategic Services maritime unit at the academy on 17 May 1943. In 1945, A Department of Aviation was established. That year a vice admiral, Aubrey W. Fitch, became superintendent. The naval academy celebrated its centennial. During the century of its existence, roughly 18,563 midshipmen had graduated, including the class of 1946.
The academy was accredited in 1947 by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
On January 15, 1947, James L. Holloway became the 35th superintendent of the United States Naval Academy, succeeding Vice Admiral Aubrey W. Fitch. At 48, Holloway was the youngest superintendent in fifty years, having been handpicked by Secretary of the Navy Forrestal to implement the academic changes suggested by the Holloway Board, which had recommended that the Naval Academy curriculum move away from rote recitation and continuous crams "to give a stronger emphasis to basic and general education, rendering more fundamental and less detailed instruction in strictly naval material and techniques."
An accelerated course was given to midshipmen during the war years which affected classes entering during the war and graduating later. The students studied year around. This affected the class of 1948 most of all. For the only time, a class was divided by academic standing. 1948A graduated in June 1947; the remainder, called 1948B, a year later.
From 1946 to 1961, N3N amphibious biplanes were used at the academy to introduce midshipmen to flying.
On 3 June 1949, Wesley A. Brown, the sixth African-American to enter the academy, became the first to graduate, followed several years later by Lawrence Chambers, who became the first African-American graduate to make flag rank.
The 1950 Navy fencing team won the NCAA national championship.
The Navy eight-man rowing crew won the gold medal at 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. They were also named National Intercollegiate Champions. In 1955, the tradition of greasing Herndon Monument for plebes to climb to exchange their plebe "dixie cup" covers (hats) for a midshipman's cover started.
In 1957, the moored training ship Reina Mercedes, ruined by a hurricane, was scrapped.
The 1959 fencing team won the NCAA national championship, and became the first to do so by placing first in all three weapons (foil, épée, and saber). All 3 fencers were selected for the 1960 Olympics team, as was head coach Andre Deladrier. The Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, funded by donations, was dedicated 26 September 1959.
From 1959 to 1973, land was reclaimed from the Chesapeake Bay and Severn River, removal of Isherwood, Melville, and Griffin Halls, and by moving the stadium off-campus. This allowed room for expansion of Bancroft Hall, and the addition of Mitscher, Michelson, Chauvenet, Alumni, Rickover, and Hopper Halls, and the Nimitz Library. Encroached parade grounds and athletic fields were moved riverside onto the newly filled areas.
Joe Bellino (Class of 1961) was awarded the Heisman Trophy on 22 June 1960. In 1961, the Naval Academy Foreign Affairs Conference was started. The U.S. Department of the Interior designated the campus of the U.S. Naval Academy as a National Historic Landmark on 21 August 1961.
The 1962 fencing team won the NCAA national championship.
In 1963, Roger Staubach, Class of 1965, was awarded the Heisman Trophy.
In 1963, the academy changed from a marking system based on 4.0 to a letter grade. Midshipmen began referring to the statue of Tamanend as the "god of 2.0" instead of "the god of 2.5", the former failing mark.
The academy started the Trident Scholar Program in 1963. From 3 to 16 juniors are selected for independent study during their final year.
Professor Samuel Massie became the first African-American faculty member in 1966. On 4 June 1969, the first designated engineering degrees were granted to qualified graduates of the Class of 1969. During the period 1968 to 1972, the academy moved beyond engineering to include more than 20 majors. From 1845 to 1968, midshipmen studied identical courses, with the exception of a choice of foreign language. In 1970, the "James Forrestal Lecture" was created, named for the first U.S. Secretary of Defense in 1947/1949. This has resulted in various leaders speaking to midshipmen, including U.S. Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, football coach Dick Vermeil, and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and others.
In 1972, Lieutenant Commander Georgia Clark became the first female officer instructor, and Dr. Rae Jean Goodman was appointed to the faculty as the first civilian woman. Later in 1972, a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia terminated compulsory chapel attendance, a tradition which had been in effect since 1853. In September 1973, the new expansive library facility complex was completed and named for Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Class of 1905.
On 8 August 1975, Congress authorized women to attend service academies. The Class of 1980 was inducted with 81 female midshipmen. In 1980, the academy included "Hispanic/Latino" as a racial category for demographic purposes; four women identified themselves as Hispanic in the class of 1981, and these women become the first Hispanic women to graduate from the academy: Carmel Gilliland (who had the highest class rank), Lilia Ramirez (who retired with the rank of commander), Ina Marie Gomez, and Trinora Pinto. In 1979, the traditional "June Week" was renamed "Commissioning Week" because graduation had been moved earlier to May.
In 1980, Elizabeth Anne Belzer (later Rowe) became the first woman graduate, and Janie L. Mines became the first African-American woman graduate. On 23 May 1984, Kristine Holderied became the first woman to graduate at the head of the class. In addition, the Class of 1984 included the first naturalized Korean-American graduates, all choosing commissions in the U.S. Navy. The four Korean-American ensigns were Walter Lee, Thomas Kymn, Andrew Kim, and Se-Hun Oh.
In 1982, Isherwood, Griffin, and Melville Halls were demolished.
On 30 July 1987, the Computing Sciences Accreditation Board (CSAB) granted accreditation for the Computer Science program. In 1991, Midshipman Juliane Gallina, class of 1992, became the first woman brigade commander. On 29 January 1994, the first genderless service assignment was held. All billets were opened equally to men and women with the exception of special warfare and submarine duty.
On 12 March 1995, Lieutenant Commander Wendy B. Lawrence, Class of 1981, became a mission specialist in the space shuttle Endeavour. She is the first woman USNA graduate to fly in space.
To celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis (1845–1995), the U.S. Postal Service printed a commemorative postage stamp; the First Day of Issue was 10 October 1995.
Freedom 7, America's first space capsule shot into sub-orbit in 1961, was placed on display at the visitor center as the centerpiece of the "Grads in Space" exhibit on 23 September 1998. The late Rear Admiral Alan Shepard, Class of 1945, had flown Mercury program capsule Freedom 7 116.5 miles (187.5 km) into space on 5 May 1961. His historic flight marked America's first step in the space race.
On 11 September 2001, the academy lost 14 alumni in the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and The Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia. The academy and its bounds was placed under unprecedented high security.
In August 2007, Superintendent Vice Admiral Jeffrey Fowler changed academy policy to limit liberty, required more squad interaction to emphasize that "we are a nation at war."
On 3 November 2007, the Navy football team defeated long-time rival Notre Dame for the first time in 43 years: 46–44 in triple overtime. The two teams have met every year since 1926 and continue a rivalry that became amicable when Notre Dame volunteered to open its facilities for training of naval officers in World War II. Notre Dame's enrollment fell to just 250 students during World War II however the Navy was credited with saving the university by using its campus to train 12,000 men to become officers.
In November 2007, Memorial Hall was the venue for a 50-nation Annapolis Conference on a Palestinian-Israeli peace process discussion.
In 2017, hospital functions were moved across the Severn.
In 2019 the USNA team represented the U.S. in the King's Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta. The race commemorated the centenary of the 1919 Royal Henley Peace Regatta, and included the original World War I allies Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, joined in 2019 by Germany and the Netherlands. After exciting eliminations, the USNA mixed crew won the final race beating the strong German team.
In 2024, the USNA rescinded the invitation it had given Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a scholar of authoritarianism and fascist movements, to deliver the annual Bancroft Lecture in response to pressure from right-wing politicians. Ben-Ghiat's planned lecture was strictly nonpartisan and historical in nature.
On the evening of 11 September 2025, the Academy was put in lockdown after reports of shots being fired.
