United States Naval Academy Preparatory School

The Naval Academy Preparatory School or NAPS is the preparatory school for the United States Naval Academy. NAPS is located on Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island. The mission of the Naval Academy Preparatory School is "To enhance Midshipman Candidates' moral, mental, and physical foundations to prepare them for success at the United States Naval Academy".

The Naval Academy Preparatory School is the Navy’s fourth oldest school; only the Naval War College, the Naval Postgraduate School, and the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland are older. Informal preparatory classes began as early as 1915.

In 1918, the Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels signed a provision to have up to 100 sailors from the fleet to be eligible for entry to the Academy. Due to the difficult nature of the Naval Academy's entrance examination, then Undersecretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt (future 32nd President) also allowed for a school to be founded to prepare Sailors and Marines for entry.

The first official classes were established at Naval Station, Newport in Rhode Island and Naval Station Treasure Island / San Francisco in California in 1920. A year later the schools were moved to Norfolk, Virginia and San Diego, California. San Diego classes were later disestablished and NAPS classes remained solely in Norfolk until 1942, when the new Naval Academy Preparatory School opened in Newport, R.I.