For the fifth consecutive year, 40 midshipmen of the U.S. Naval Academy’s sailing squadron will return to the port of Bristol, this Friday, June 14, through Monday, June 17.

The Naval Academy Sailing Squadron will be docked at the Herreshoff Museum dock and will be available for touring Saturday and Sunday, June 15 and 16, from 12 to 4 p.m. The Midshipmen are sailing from Annapolis, Md., on five 44-foot sail training vessels. These young men and women are participating in an offshore professional development program designed to provide experience in navigation, seamanship, and small unit leadership responsibilities. 

This experience allows them to integrate skills learned at the Academy during their first year of study, and a number of midshipmen return the following summers as either skippers or executive officers in the program, providing further command opportunities.

The sailing craft in which these midshipmen train are the latest of four generations of one-design offshore cruiser-racers to be authorized for the training of midshipmen.  Midshipmen began sailing in a fleet of identical 44-foot wooden yawls at the end of World War II. After 25 years of service, these vessels were replaced by 12 fiberglass yawls with the same exterior lines as the original boats designed by Naval Architect Bill Luders, but with an interior auxiliary diesel engine. 

Midshipmen on this training exercise are on the newest models of Navy 44 sloops designed by David Pedrick. The first boat of this series was delivered in 2007. The Navy 44 has proven to be a very successful design and is a successor to the famous Luders yawls which gave midshipmen sailing training for generations.

Founded in 1845, the U.S. Naval Academy today is a prestigious four-year service academy that prepares midshipmen morally, mentally and physically to be professional officers in the naval service. More than 4,400 men and women representing every state in the U.S. and several foreign countries make up the student body, known as the Brigade of Midshipmen. U.S. News and World Reports has recognized the Naval Academy as a top five undergraduate engineering school and a top 20 best liberal arts college.

For more information about Naval Academy Sailing, visit http://www.usna.edu/Sailing.