Annapolis Naval Academy

We spent the better part of Thursday touring the Naval Academy. After arriving at the entry gate in the morning, we had to go back to Lila's place to get our passports. WA State's standard Drivers Licenses do not conform to the federal REAL ID Act so they don't qualify as federal identification. That's because WA hands them out to undocumented individuals. Before heading back to Lila's we walked around the old part of Annapolis. In one store/museum Roger had a chance to stand with the four signers of the Declaration of Independence that hailed from MD.

We also stopped at the Maryland WWII memorial - honoring all service members who hailed from MD. The Naval Academy is in the background.

The weather was great - and we had a very detailed tour guide. The entire tour took almost 2 hours!

Most impressive were the buildings - until we saw the 1000+ midshipmen filing out of classes. These are cream of the crop young people being trained to lead our “fighting machine” into battle. They are truly disciplined and are taught a broad variety of useful knowledge – not just war fighting. Everyone graduates from the Naval Academy with a BS degree in some field of engineering. Over 4,000 fit in this dorm building.

In the Protestant Chapel is beautiful - fitting in with the Beaux-Arts architectural design of much of the campus.  We heard a choir practicing their banner songs. Next week is graduation. We were glad to see where the chaplain lived - in one side of a 7 (14 total) bedroom duplex. Several large duplexes house the senior commanders.

Our final stop on the tour was the basement of the chapel. It's actually called the Crypt of John Paul Jones. His sarcophagus is very impressive, but we were also impressed seeing the hallway lined with 75 cases of new Celebration hymnals.