The Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes (RTC Great Lakes), is a command unit within the United States Navy primarily responsible for conducting the initial orientation of incoming recruits, also known as boot camp and recruit training, or RTC. It is part of Naval Service Training Command. It is a tenant command of Naval Station Great Lakes in the city of North Chicago, Illinois, in Lake County, north of Chicago.

Called "The Quarterdeck of the Navy" since it opened in July 1911, RTC Great Lakes has been the service's only enlisted basic training location since 1994, when the Recruit Training Command in Orlando, Florida, was closed under the BRAC process. The similar RTC San Diego, California, was closed the previous year.

All enlistees into the U.S. Navy begin their service at RTC Great Lakes with at least ten weeks of training, and more if they do not pass certain tests. Upon completion of basic training, qualifying sailors are sent to various apprenticeship, or "A schools", located across the United States for training in their occupational speciality, or ratings. Those who have not yet received a specific rating enter the fleet with a general designation of airman, fireman, construction man or seaman.

After the Spanish–American War, the U.S. Navy began investigating 37 sites around Lake Michigan for a new training center in the Midwest, an area that contributed 43 percent of the Navy's recruits at the time.

The main proponent of the North Chicago location was Illinois Congressional Representative and chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs (1900–1911) George Edmund Foss, later called "The Father of Great Lakes". Foss Park, just north of the base, is named in his honor. It is likely the facility would have been located elsewhere had it not been for the $175,000 contribution of the Merchants Club of Chicago to purchase the land.

Rear Admiral Albert A. Ross was the station's first commander and the base's Ross Field and Ross Auditorium were later named in his honor. The first flag was planted on site on 1 July 1905. President William H. Taft dedicated the station six years later on 28 October 1911. In that same year, the station received its first trainee, Seaman Recruit Joseph W. Gregg.

Naval Station Great Lakes was at the forefront of the racial integration of the Navy. African-Americans were permitted to enlist for general service in the middle of 1942 receiving training at Great Lakes as well as Hampton, Virginia. Previously they had been restricted to special duties. The Navy commissioned its first African-American officers, later known as the "Golden Thirteen", at Great Lakes in February 1944. In July 1987, building 1405, the Golden Thirteen Recruit In-Processing Center, was dedicated in their honor. The surviving eight attended the ceremony.

Navy recruit training is now exclusively conducted at Naval Station Great Lakes' Recruit Training Command. Prior to the mid-1990s, recruit training facilities included Naval Training Center Orlando and Naval Training Center San Diego. Female recruit training was previously limited to the Orlando facility. The Base Realignment and Closure Commission of 1993 resulted in the consolidation of recruit training to Great Lakes. Following the consolidation, the Navy undertook a massive recapitalization (recap) program to upgrade the Great Lakes Recruit Training facility. The recap included the construction of Camp John Paul Jones, a 48-acre (190,000 m²) site on land formerly owned by the Veterans Administration Hospital adjacent to Camp Porter. New barracks were also constructed and are referred to as "ships" by the recruits. Each "ship" was also named after an important ship in naval history, such as USS John F. Kennedy and USS Enterprise. Each "ship" can house up to 1,300 recruits during training.