United States. Naval Training School (Dartmouth College )

Biography

The V-12 Navy College Training Program was established by the federal government to supplement the supply of college-educated Naval officers during World War II, which the Navy feared might decrease substantially after the lowering of the draft age to 18 in November 1942. In the spring of 1943, Dartmouth College was selected to participate in the program. The Board of Trustees established the Naval Training School (V-12) at Dartmouth as an instrument for the administration of the Navy V-12 Unit, on July 1st, 1943, to prepare enlisted men for duty as commissioned officers in the United States Naval Reserve, the Marine Corps Reserve, and the Coast Guard Reserve. The first Commanding Officer of V-12 Unit at Dartmouth was Captain Damon E. Cummings, USN. The V-12 program was in effect until summer term, 1945. At the end of the war, the College’s Navy students received transfer orders to NROTC (Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps), which began at Dartmouth in the winter term of 1945. Since the NROTC unit would require special instruction, the Department of Naval Science and Tactics was established at the Dartmouth in June, 1945.

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