US Navy Academy Chapel in Annapolis
14 September 2018 | Baltimore, Maryland
George Stonecliffe
While visiting the US Navy Academy a few days ago, we toured the Chapel on campus. Originally built in the shape of a Greek Cross, it was altered to the shape of a Romanesque Cross. It's beautiful dome has a star-studded cieling above the altar. Three massive stain glass windows adorn the interior. Seating for 2200 includes in its midst a reserved pew with a 5' tall candle and decorated holder. This candle represents all POW/MIA's from Vietnam to present day. No one else can sit in this pew. In the basement of the Chapel is the sepulcher for John Paul Jones. Along with some appropriate mementos, there was a plaque with this message: "Every officer in our Navy should know by heart the deeds of John Paul Jones. Every officer in our Navy should feel in each fiber of his being the eager desire to emulate the energy, the professional capacity, the indomitable determination and dauntless scorn of death which marked John Paul Jones above all his fellows." President Theodore Roosevelt