wooden figurehead that had been prominently displayed on campus.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law an act of Congress (Public Law 73–21, 48 Stat. 73) on 25 May 1933 providing for the Bachelor of Science degree for Naval, Military, and Coast Guard Academies. Four years later, Congress authorized the superintendent to award a Bachelor of Science degree to all living graduates. Reserve officer training was re-established in anticipation of World War II in 1941.
In 1939, the first Yard patrol boat arrived.
In 1940, the academy stopped using Reina Mercedes as a brig for disciplining midshipmen, and restricted them to Bancroft Hall, instead.
In April 1941, superintendent Rear Admiral Russell Willson refused to allow the school's lacrosse team to play a visiting team from Harvard University because the Harvard team included an African-American player. Harvard's athletic director ordered the player home and the game was played on 4 April, as scheduled, which Navy won 12–0. Georgia Tech President and Colonel …