The Mircea cel Bătrân Naval Academy (Romanian: Academia Navală "Mircea cel Bătrân") is a higher education institution based in the Black Sea port of Constanţa that trains officers for the Romanian Naval Forces, as well as maritime officers and engineers for the merchant marine. The Naval Academy has its roots in the Flotilla School established in the Danubian port of Galaţi in 1872. After the reorganization of the Romanian military education, naval higher education was assigned to the School of Application for Marine Junior Officers, established in Galaţi in 1896 and transferred to Constanţa in 1901. The school was reorganised in 1906 as the Superior Naval School, only to be disbanded during World War I, due to the occupation of Dobruja by the Central Powers. A Naval School was reestablished in Constanţa in 1920, with a Section for Merchant Marine established in 1938. After World War II it was reorganized and renamed several times until 1969, when it was named School for active Navy officers "Mircea cel Bătrân", after Mircea the Elder, a Wallachian voyvode who ruled the Dobrujan coast in the late 14th century.