ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND: U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY

We hadn't done much exploration in Maryland other than a visit to Antietam in 2014. We have a goal to visit all the state capitals, so during our recent trip to NYC and DC, we made a trip east into Maryland to visit Annapolis.

Located about two-thirds the way up Chesapeake Bay, this capital city has a definite seaport vibe:

It's an ideal location for the United States Naval Academy, founded here in 1845. In addition to visiting state capitals, we also like to visit major universities, and so we thought we'd check out the USNA.

There was fairly heavy security for a college campus. We had to pass through a metal detector, have our bags checked, and get a name tag to be able to enter the campus. However, after that I was pleasantly surprised. The Naval Academy is really set up to be a tourist destination, complete with an excellent tour guide who leads visitors around campus. We started at the statue of the Navy's mascot, Bill the Goat. (I'm not kidding; that's his name.)

 

He's a mean-lookin' dude:

We learned that the Naval Academy is the second oldest of the five service academies (West Point was founded in 1802). It serves almost 4,600 "midshipmen," or students. Women were first admitted in 1976 and now account for about 22% of entering "plebes," or freshmen.

We moved on to Lejeune Hall, a magnificent sports complex built in 1982:

It has Olympic-sized swimming and diving pools:

The Army-Navy football rivalry is one of the biggest and longest football rivalries in the U.S., having been played almost every year since 1890. (The only years they didn't play were 1894-1898, 1909, 1917, 1918, 1928, and 1929.) The winning team gets a gold football for its display case.  As of the end of the 2016 season, Navy had won 60 games, Army had won 50, and they had tied 7 times. Navy had been on a 14 game winning streak when Army finally beat them in 2016.

The Naval Academy has had two Heisman trophy winners, Joe Bellino in 1960 and Roger Staubach in 1963:

Even I have heard of this guy:

Moving on, we took a look at the street where all the faculty live. Not a bad gig, is it?

There are a few unique pieces of art on campus, including this memorial to the Navy's submarine forces:

The faces in the water mixed in with the dolphins are a little creepy:

But the REALLY creepy statue is this one of Tecumseh, the Shawnee warrior chief. It is a bronze model of the 1930 wooden figurehead on the USS Delaware. It is tradition to paint/decorate the statue before every major event and home game. We were there during Commissioning Week and saw this:

This is what he looks like unadorned:

Photo from here

While all in good fun, the tradition seems a little disrespectful, and I'm surprised it continues to be encouraged:

Speaking of Commissioning Week, we were suddenly surrounded by a herd (flock?) of midshipmen on their way to . . . 

. . . Bancroft Hall, the largest dormitory in the world.  It houses ALL the students in its 1700 rooms and 33 acres of floor space:

Gokoku-ji Bell, a copy of a bell Commodore Matthew Perry brought back the United States in 1855 following his mission to Japan, sits in front of Bancroft Hall. In a semi-annual ceremony, it is rung once for each victory Navy has registered over Army. (Note: This is a copy because the original bell was returned to the people of Okinawa in 1987.)

The dorm rooms fill the two side wings, but guests enter Bancroft Hall under a soaring rotunda:

Memorial Hall, which opens off the rotunda, contains tributes to important alumni, including President Jimmy Carter, businessman Ross Perot:

. . . and Senator John McCain:

Perhaps the most dominant building on campus is the Naval Academy Chapel, located at the center of campus. At first I wondered if it were the state capitol building. It has that look:

This is an interesting bas relief by the front door. Is that young sailor showing a model of a submarine to Moses?

The inside decor scream "Navy," from its rich aquamarine carpets and railing and gold pipe organ (Navy colors) . . .

. . . to the luminescent stained glass window behind the altar that depicts Christ walking on water:

Even the "Come Unto Me" statue of Christ above the main door at the rear of the chapel has a sailing ship suspended overhead:

 

Now that I'm home and taking a closer look at my photos, I notice that every stained glass window that includes Christ shows him connected to water.  In each of these windows, he is standing in a boat:

"The Sea as a Place of Ministry" (Jesus preaching from a ship.)

"Power Over the Sea Through Divine Aid" (The Lord stills the storm)

"The Sea Provides for Man's Needs" (The apostles bring in a net bursting with fish
after following Jesus' counsel.)

"St. Paul's Confidence in God, at Sea" (Paul survives a shipwreck at sea.)

This window shoes Jesus standing next to the Sea of Galilee and inviting Andrew and Peter to join him as "fishers of men":

A few other windows focus on water battles. The Farragut Window, made by Tiffany Studios, shows David Farragut, the first Admiral of the U.S. Navy, in the Civil War battle of Mobile Bay where he gave the command, "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!"

A smaller window beneath the balcony shows detail from the battle:

The Sampson window, also made by Tiffany Studios, honors not the Biblical Sampson, but Rear Admiral William Thomas Sampson, known for his victory in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba in the Spanish American War

The window shows Winged Victory standing on the prow of Sampson's ship:

Even the dome in the chapel has a compass-like design in a field of stars:

Two windows that I have pictures of don't seem to have a water theme, although the blue and gold Naval Academy colors do still dominate. The first is the Mason Window, presented to the Chapel by the family of Lt. Commander Theodorus Bailey Myers Mason, the founder and first head of the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence. It depicts a Christian soldier with an unsheathed sword and was made by Tiffany Studios. 

The other non-water focused window is the Commission Invisible window. There is an American flag flying on the left of the scene and the small, hard-to-see figure of Christ in the background on the right, a reminder to future naval officers that they hold two commissions: one from their country and the other from God:

The last thing we saw at the Naval Academy was the crypt in the Naval Chapel, which holds the remains of Revolutionary Naval War hero John Paul Jones.

Jones died in Paris in 1792 at only 45 years of age. He was buried in Paris, and before long the property was sold and the cemetery forgotten. In 1905 the U.S. Ambassador to France discovered the grave after six years of tracing down leads. The remains, which had been preserved in alcohol and buried in a lead coffin on the off chance that some day the U.S. government might come to claim them, were brought to Annapolis and re-interred in a splendiferous bronze and marble sarcophagus below the Naval Chapel.

In a rather lengthy dedication speech, Teddy Roosevelt said, "Every officer in our Navy should know by heart the deeds of John Paul Jones. Every officer in our Navy should feel in each fiber of his being the eager desire to emulate the energy, the professional capacity, the indomitable determination and dauntless scorn of death which marked John Paul Jones above all his fellows."

There is amazing reverence for Commander Jones at the Naval Academy:

"John Paul Jones (1747-1792): Fearless in battle, and successful in keeping a large portion of the Royal
Navy from our shores during our revolution, Jones also urged the establishment of navy officer
schooling ashore. He gave our Navy its earliest traditions of Heroism and Victory"

The closest thing I can compare the crypt to is the tomb of Vladimir Lenin in Moscow, except this one is gaudier and has a closed casket. It is much more solemn and imposing than most Presidential tombs we have visited.

There's definitely more than a bit of hero worship going on.

JPJ was a pretty handsome guy, wasn't he? He must have been especially charismatic.

There's even a model of his warship, the Bonhomme Richard, on display. The ship was built in France and Jones named it after his friend and patron Benjamin Franklin, author of Poor Richard's Almanack. This ship defeated a superior ship in a British convoy, but sunk two days later due to its injuries from the battle:

So many great stories! The Naval Academy is not like any other campus we've ever visited. I'm looking forward to stopping by some of the other military academies on future travels.