UGA ARCHIVES

The OLD COLLEGE COMPENDIUM Anchors Aweigh!  Aboard the USS Old College

 

The military service of Old College didn't end with the War of 1812. In 1942 the United States Navy took over much of the campus to use as a pre-flight school for potential Navy pilots.  The program, as described in Commander William Barnett's book US Naval Air Station, Melbourne Florida, World War II , involved intense physical conditioning and learning designed to eliminate candidates from the program before actual flight training began. The photographs below from Sanford Stadium appeared in the program's publication, The Skycracker.

Many buildings on campus received new naval names, including Old College which became the Ranger for the duration, as can be seen on the map below. Those who have climbed the hill to classes on south campus on a hot day will be interested to see that the road up from Sanford Stadium was nicknamed the "Burma Road" after the torturous route built to carry war supplies into China.

The Navy did far more than simply "board" the Ranger. The interior of the building was modified to a modern layout, removing fireplaces, flues and walls. When completed central hallways joined what had been the distinct east and west portions for the building for nearly 140 years, as shown in the 1948 floorplan below.

The radical change can be been when the 1948 plan is compared with the 1907 plan shown earlier.  

 

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