In 1926, the U.S. Department of the Navy established the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps. Its purpose was to produce a reserve of qualified officers who would be needed for a possible rapid expansion of the military in the case of an unforeseen emergency. The original units were at the University of California, Northwestern University, University of Washington, Harvard University, Yale University, and Georgia Institute of Technology. A pilot Naval Reserve unit established in September 1924 at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland let the Navy test the concept before establishing its regular units. That pilot unit disbanded by 1929, but the original regular units are still active in 2013 (albeit with significant historical gaps at Harvard and Yale).