WASHINGTON – Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) Carlos Del Toro announced today that the formerly named Maury Hall, at United States Naval Academy (USNA), has been renamed Carter Hall.
This renaming honors former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who served as the 39th president from 1977 to 1981.
The decision arrived after a congressionally mandated Naming Commission outlined several military assets across all branches of service that required renaming due to confederate ties. In September 2022, Secretary of Defense Austin Lloyd accepted all recommendations from the naming commission and gave each service until the end of 2023 to rename their assets.
“When Secretary Austin directed us to implement the recommendations of the Naming Commission, he instructed us to give proud new names. Names that echo with honor, patriotism, and history. Names that will inspire generations of service members to defend our democracy and our Constitution,” Secretary Del Toro said during a renaming ceremony. “Today, on the Friday before Presidents Day weekend, that is exactly what we are doing. I can think of no one more worthy of this renaming than President Jimmy Carter.”
Carter was born in 1924 and grew up in Georgia. After briefly attending college, he entered the U.S. Naval Academy in the Class of 1947. After graduation 1946 (his class graduated early to support the Fleet following World War II), he spent the next seven years as a submarine officer. In 1962, he returned to Georgia, entered state politics, and was ultimately elected as Governor of Georgia where he focused on government efficiency and human rights efforts regarding racial barriers. During Carter’s tenure as President of the United States he continued his efforts regarding equal rights for all, promoted economic and social development, and later received a Nobel Peace Prize for his work on peaceful solutions to international conflicts.
“As part of our mission here at the Naval Academy, we strive to graduate leaders with the potential to assume the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship, and government. Among all of our institution’s thousands of graduates, only one has assumed the one office that most wholly embodies each of these responsibilities, the office of the President of the United States. That graduate is, of course, our 39th President, President James Earl Carter, Naval Academy Class of 1947,” said U.S. Naval Academy Superintendent Vice Adm. Sean Buck. “We are here today to honor his legacy as one of our institution’s most distinguished graduates. By naming this building in his honor we not only recognize his great contributions, but ensure that his legacy will forever inspire our nation’s future leaders. For generations to come, when midshipmen walk the corridors of Carter Hall, I have no doubt that they will be reminded of President Carter’s example and his legacy of lifelong service, and reinvigorated with the call to serve we all answered when we took our first oath.”
Family members of the Carter family, military and USNA leadership, and USNA students were present for the renaming ceremony.
“It would be impossible to overstate what this Academy and the Navy has meant to my grandfather, and by extension to my family,” said Josh Carter. “It was life on the farm that gave my grandfather his work ethic and his ability to enjoy getting up at 5:30 every morning. But it was this school that taught him discipline, the value of expertise, and the importance of service. It is my hope that every student that comes through this great hall will learn the same foundational values that my grandfather learned here and through his career in the Navy.”
Maury Hall was built and named in the early 1900s after Matthew Fontaine Maury. Maury was a leader in science and oceanography, nicknamed “pathfinder of the seas,” resigned his commission to serve in the Confederate Navy.