ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The U.S. Naval Academy is seeking to boost student diversity with a flashy commercial and a graphic novel aimed at attracting minorities, the superintendent said Friday, outlining new attempts to make the academy more representative of the Navy's enlisted force.

Vice Adm. Jeffrey Fowler, who recently completed his first year as superintendent, has made greater diversity a top goal through the commercial and the novel to be released in the fall.

"This is to reach out to those who haven't considered the Naval Academy and to augment that," Fowler said. "I don't need more applications, just to get more applications. I need more applications from underrepresented geography of America ... and I need more from what I consider underrepresented ethnic and racial minorities."

Minorities make up about 28 percent of the class of 2012, the highest percentage of minorities at the service academy yet, school officials say. But Fowler notes the Navy's enlisted force comprises about 47 percent minorities.

The academy, which has about 4,400 students, received nearly 11,000 applications last year for 1,250 positions. However, the academy faces stiff competition for minority students, who are in hot demand at the nation's elite colleges and universities, where military service isn't required after graduation.

Women and minorities are featured prominently in the new commercial, which is expected to run during televised Navy sporting events.

For example, a female midshipman is shown in a Blue Angels cockpit, smiling into the camera and giving a thumbs up. The women's soccer team is included, as is the football team, while the academy's choir sings upbeat music.

The Naval Academy first admitted women in 1976. Women now make up a little more than 20 percent of the academy's brigade, and their numbers have been increasing with each class.

Meanwhile, Fowler told reporters he has no plans to stop voluntary, nondenominational noon prayers, which have been criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Fowler said noon prayers have been a part of the Naval Academy since the institution was founded in 1845.