NROTC History

The Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) was first established in 1926 to offer selected college students the Naval Science curriculum necessary to qualify for a commission in the Naval Reserve. The initial program began at six universities and was highly successful. During the years preceding World War II, the program expanded to include additional universities and colleges.

During World War II, the Navy expanded from a force of 100,000 in 1938 to over three and one half million in 1945. The Navy became the world's leading sea power and with it came the requirement for a larger regular career officer corps. As a result of the World War II expansion and studies conducted by the Navy, civilian educators and Congress, the mission of the NROTC was modified in 1946 to encompass the Regular NROTC Program. The Regular Program was established to provide well trained and educated junior officers to supplement the output of officers from the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. The original NROTC concept of 1926 remained in effect when the Reserve Officer Procurement Program was renamed the Contract NROTC Program. In the fall of 1971, the names of the two NROTC programs were changed to the Navy/Marine Scholarship Program and the Navy/Marine College Program respectively.

NROTC History at the University of Oklahoma

The NROTC Program was established at the University of Oklahoma (OU) in the summer of 1940. It marked the first Naval training conducted at the University since World War I, when a reserve unit of about eighty men was established for a brief period in 1918.

The first NROTC classes were conducted during the fall semester of 1940. One hundred midshipmen were enrolled. A member of the mathematics faculty, Commander J. C. Van de Carr, was named Professor of Naval Science and Tactics, relieving Commodore R. S. Haggard who had assisted in the initial selection of midshipmen. Selection of OU as an NROTC Unit was unique relative to the past practice of only selecting schools near large bodies of water.

World War II saw a greatly expanded Navy, and as a result, the demand for new officers exceeded the numbers turned out by the Naval Academy and NROTC units. A special wartime program called "V-12" was one of several national programs established to meet the need for more officers. The "V-12" Program was initiated at OU on 1 July 1943 when the existing NROTC midshipmen were transferred to an active duty status and the NROTC Program was essentially terminated. By this time, the NROTC Unit had grown to about 200 midshipmen. The wartime "V-12" Program had a considerable impact on university life. Midshipmen wore uniforms to class and a special three term year (four months per term) was initiated to reduce the time to graduation and speed the output of new officers to the fleet. The Navy men lived in fraternity houses and dormitories built specifically for their use and by the end of the War, there were over 400 "V-12" midshipmen on campus. After the War, the NROTC Program was re-established for the 1945-46 school year and the "V-12" Program was officially terminated.

Sixty six schools had "V-12" Programs at the close of the war. Fifty two of these, including OU, were selected to participate in the postwar NROTC Program. At OU, the size of the NROTC Unit decreased sharply with only 90 midshipmen being enrolled in the fall of 1947. This number later grew to 300 during the Korean War and then tapered off gradually to about 200. The size of the unit during the 1967-69 Vietnam period rose to 300 only to taper off again.

Today the NROTC Unit has a staff of five officers, four enlisted personnel and two civilians. The Battalion strength is approximately 59 Midshipmen, Officer Candidates, and Marines. The NROTC Unit at the University of Oklahoma has a proud tradition of excellence.