State University system until it was absorbed on July 1, 2025.
== History ==
The California Nautical School was established in 1929, when California State Assembly Bill No. 253 was signed into law by Governor C. C. Young. The bill authorized the creation of the school, the appointment of a board of governors to manage the school and the acquisition of a training vessel. The school's mission was "to give practical and theoretical instruction in navigation, seamanship, steam engines, gas engines, and electricity in order to prepare young men to serve as officers in the American Merchant Marine." By 1930, a training vessel and a school site was acquired; the original site was in Tiburon in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Due to the Great Depression, the early days of the school were full of financial uncertainty. As early as 1933, some state legislators were calling for the school's abolition. To save money, cadets and instructors alike lived and held classes aboard the training vessel, the T.S. California State. …
