Upon the completion of the program a graduate is awarded a bachelor's degree and is commissioned in the Royal Netherlands Navy.

In the early years of the Navy, officers were trained in service aboard ships.

In 1785, the 'Kweekschool voor de Zeevaart' the first land-based training school for future officers, opened.

During the time of the Batavian Republic (1795–1806), as the Dutch Navy began to become more organized, the training school was improved as well.

With the forming of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on 10 January 1816, an institute for training naval officers was founded in Delft.