The United States Naval Academy, or USNA, is an institution for the undergraduate education of officers of the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. Its campus is located in Annapolis, Maryland, on the banks of the Severn River. Students at the Naval Academy are referred to by their military rank, Midshipman and never as "cadets." Upon graduation, Naval Academy Midshipmen are commissioned as Ensigns in the U.S. Navy or Second Lieutenants in the Marine Corps, and must serve a minimum of five years after their commissioning.

The Academy is often referred to simply as "Annapolis" although naval officers normally refer to it in conversation as "the Academy" or "the Boat School," while Midshipmen at the Academy often refer to the town of Annapolis as "Crab Town." U.S. sports media refer to the Academy as Navy, and this usage is officially endorsed. ROTC and Officer Candidate School graduates as well as cadets from the Air Force Academy and the Military Academy at West Point (USNA's traditional rivals) often refer to the Naval Academy as "Canoe U."

There is no graduate school directly associated with the Naval Academy. Instead, the Navy operates the Naval Postgraduate School and the Naval War College separately. The Naval Academy Preparatory School is the official prep school for the Navy and Coast Guard Academies.