08/25/2026
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Naval Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. The program began in 1926 with units at Yale University, Harvard University, Georgia Tech, Northwestern University, Washington University in St. Louis, and the UC Berkeley. Graduates of the program played a critical role in the Navy's expansion during World War II. Following reforms recommended by Admiral James L. Holloway Jr., NROTC began offering scholarships to students through competitive examination for the first time in 1947. By 1951, the program had expanded to 52 colleges and universities and graduated 1,949 new officers for the U.S. Navy
Captain Chester W. Nimitz stood up the NROTC unit at Berkeley in 1926. Two years later he wrote that "from the government’s standpoint, it costs approximately $700 per graduate and, while the cost may be approximated, the value to the government of each graduate is more intangible. In addition to this value as a naval reserve officer is his increased value as a citizen." One of Nimitz's first students was a Finnish immigrant named Onnie P. Lattu. Lattu seved in the Navy through World War II and eventually retired in 1965 with the rank of rear admiral after duty as the Assistant Chief of the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts for Transportation and Facilities.
