U.S. Naval Academy — Fun Facts I

U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY ALUMNI ASSOCIATION AND FOUNDATION U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY — FUN FACTS I QUESTIONS: 1 Who were the two Superintendents who served twice as Superintendent? 2 Who served as Superintendent the longest? 3 Who was the only Superintendent to die on the job and whose brother was the Superintendent of the Confederate States of America Naval Academy? 4 Who was the first President to attend a Naval Academy graduation? 5 Who is the United States President who slept the most nights in Annapolis, Maryland, during his lifetime? 6 Who is the U.S. President who slept the second most nights in Annapolis during his lifetime? 7 What engineering course was begun at the Naval Academy and later adopted by other universities? 8 What team sport was played at the academy beginning right after the Civil War but Navy’s first intercollegiate game in this sport was not played until 1893? 9 Commissioning Week, a week full of events leading up to graduation, was started by Vice Admiral David Dixon Porter, the sixth Superintendent, in 1866. What was it called until 1979? 10 U.S. Frigate Santee for which Santee Basin is named today served as an academy training and station ship for fifty years, 1862 to 1912. What happened to it in April 1912? 11 The world’s most successful, popular, and among the most prolific science fiction writer graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1929. Who was he? 12 What best-selling book of 1958 did Captain William J. Lederer (1912-2009), NA Class of 1936, co-author? 13 Samuel P. Carter (1819-1891), NA Class of 1846, who served as Commandant of Midshipmen, 1870-1873, and as President, USNA Alumni Association, 1888-1891, holds the distinctions of being the only American military/naval officer to attain both these ranks? U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY ALUMNI ASSOCIATION AND FOUNDATION U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY — FUN FACTS I ANSWERS: 1 Rear Admiral Christopher Raymond Perry Rodgers, 8th Supe, 1874-1878, and 11th Supe, June 13, 1881 to November 14, 1881 Admiral Charles R. Larson, NA ’58, 51st Supe, 1983-1986, and 55th Supe, 1994-1998 2 Captain George S. Blake (1803-1871), 5th Supe, September 15, 1857 to September 9, 1865, eight years. (Larson served twice but total of seven years). 3 Commodore Foxhall A. Parker, 9th Supe, died at end of June Week, June 10, 1879; and his brother, William H. Parker, NA 1847, had served as Supe, CSN Academy, 1862- 1865, and later as President, University of Maryland 4 President Ulysses S. Grant on June 4, 1869, but he did not give a speech. 5 President James Earl Carter, NA Class of 1947, mostly as a Midshipman in Bancroft Hall. 6 President George Washington at least some seventeen nights, but only one as President. 7 Mechanical engineering in 1874. 8 Baseball. 9 June Week because it most always took place in the month of June. 10 To the embarrassment of the U.S. Navy it sank at its pier and its wreck had to be raised and disposed of. It was temporarily replaced by Farragut’s old flagship, USS Hartford; and then in October by the recovered Spanish cruiser from the Spanish- American War, USS Reina Mercedes, which served as station ship until 1957. 11 Robert A. Heinlein, NA ’29, author of Stranger in a Strange Land, Starship Troopers, Time Enough for Love, The Number of the Beast, To Sail Beyond the Sunset, Glory Road, The Door into Summer, and many others. 12 The Ugly American which helped to promote the study of foreign languages for those serving in the diplomatic corps and the armed services. 13 Major General, U.S. Army, and Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy. He began as a naval officer, served in the Union Army during the Civil War achieving the rank of Major General, returned to the Navy in which he became a Rear Admiral. His desk used at Annapolis in the 1870s is today still used by the Commandant of Midshipmen. .

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