Naval Training Center history

THE HISTORY

The Orlando Naval Training Center (NTC) was first commissioned on July 1, 1968. It "was established to enhance the manpower training capabilities of the United States Navy." It was the final of three active training facilities for Navy recruits, the others being Great Lakes Naval Training Center and San Diego Naval Training Center.

The Orland NTC was built on land used by the Army Air Corps during World War II as part of the Orlando Army Air Base. This base was decommissioned in 1946 with the military retaining the land with the exception of the airfield being returned to the city of Orlando (today's Orlando Executive Airport). It is the third military installation of note in Orlando, the first being Orlando AAB and the second Pinecastle/McCoy Air Force Base.

As the yearbooks of the training companies state: the NTC was charged with "providing basic indoctrination for enlisted personnel, and primary, advanced, and specialized training for officer and enlisted personnel of the Regular Navy and the Navy Reserve."

Along with the Recruit Training Command (i.e. basic training, or boot camp) NTC was home to the Service School Command (SSC) which initially provided training for two ratings: Personnelman (PN) and Yeoman (YN). These two schools relocated, however, and SSC later provided training for four other ratings: Torpedoman's Mate (TM), Quartermaster (QM), Signalman (SM) and Electronics Technician (ET).

In 1973, Orlando became the sole site of recruit training for enlisted women. Prior to this, women had been trained in Bainbridge, Maryland. The move to Orlando created the first co-located training site for enlisted men and women.

In the mid-seventies, the Nuclear Power School relocated to Orlando from locations in California and Maryland. The school trained officers and enlisted sailors in nuclear propulsion after formal training elsewhere. The Nuclear Field "A" School, formed in 1985, provided fundamental nuclear training and formal rate training for Machinist's Mate (MM), Electronics Technician (ET), and Electrician's Mate (EM).

In 1981, a new, full-service hospital replaced the small Navy hospital to provide complete medical care to the growing active-duty and retired military population in Central Florida. The Navy Hospital officially closed on June 2, 1995, and has since been converted into a Veterans Administration Outpatient Clinic.

February 1992 marked another historic undertaking as RTC Orlando organized its first co-ed recruit companies. The pilot program included nearly 900 recruits. A year later, many military installations across the country were ordered to close by the 1993 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission. After much discussion and input by the local community, NTC Orlando was chosen to be one of the bases closed. The Recruit Training Command graduated its last company of 459 recruits in the 1321st Pass-In-Review Ceremony Dec. 2, 1994. The command closed officially March 31, 1995.

More than 652,000 recruits graduated from RTC. The Service School Command officially closed in November 1996. The various schools relocated to other bases, primarily Naval Training Center Great Lakes, Illinois. Naval Nuclear Power Training Command, the last major command to remain aboard the training center, graduated its final class in December 1998, thereby completing thirty years of Naval training in Orlando.

With the closing of the Naval Training Center, Orlando and the surrounding area was left with no military bases. The closest being Patrick Air Force Base on the Atlantic Ocean. The property owned by the Department of Defense for the NTC was returned to the City of Orlando and a large-scale redevelopment plan has been developed turning the location into a major sub-unit of Orlando called Baldwin Park. The redevelopment includes hundreds of homes and apartments as well as shopping areas, parks and schools. As of the close of 2003, Baldwin Park is well on the way to completion.

The patch of the Orlando Naval Training Center.

Recruits from the Orlando Naval Training Center.

The parade ground & graduation (top image) and the barracks (bottom) of the Orlando Naval Training Center.

Images have been scanned from The Rudder, the NTC's yearbook, and are the property of the U.S. Navy.

Written by Thomas E. Cook.