Royal Naval College, Osborne Royal Naval College, Osborne The Royal Naval College, Osborne, was a training college for Royal Navy officer cadets on the Osborne House estate, Isle of Wight, established in 1903 and closed in 1921. Boys were admitted at about the age of thirteen to follow a course lasting for six academic terms before proceeding to the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. Some formal appointments to the college were to HMS "Racer, a vessel attached to the college, previously the tender to HMS "Britannia". Following the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, Osborne House, overlooking the River Medina, where she had spent her
Royal Naval College, Greenwich transferred to University College London in 1967. The Royal Naval College continued to train women until 1976, when their courses were transferred to the Britannia Royal Naval College. From 1983 the relocated Joint Services Defence College also occupied much of the King Charles building. With a shrinking Royal Navy, the decision was taken to close RNC Greenwich in 1998. All initial officer training is now carried out at the Britannia Royal Naval College, and the new Joint Services Command and Staff College, created in 1997, took over the staff college functions. The college was established in buildings designed by Sir