NAVAL

HISTORY

HERITAGE

COMMAND

and
2 Naval History and Heritage Command

“Old Salts” spinning a yarn, 1888. Naval History and Heritage Command Photo Archives
www.history.navy.mil 3

CONTENTS

4 INTRODUCTION

6 HISTORY OF THE COMMAND

12 PROGRAMS

26 CONTACT NHHC

12 Collection Management Division

16 History and Archives Division

20 Museum Operations Division

24 Historic Ship and Aircraft Maintenance Office

25 Support Operations

25 Communication and Outreach Division
4 Naval History and Heritage Command

Welcome to the Naval History and Heritage Command! From its first holdings in 1800, a collection of professional 

books, to today with its extensive library, document archives, and 

artifact collections, plus underwater archaeology and preservation 

operations and nine official U.S. Navy museums, the command has 

undergone much growth and change. Through it all, the core mission 

of the Naval History and Heritage Command—to serve as the institutional memory of the United States Navy—has remained the same. 

The Navy’s rich history is in the good hands of the command’s many 

dedicated historians, librarians, archivists, underwater archaeologists, museum curators, and support personnel. These professionals 

collect, preserve, and protect the Navy’s important books, documents, 

art, and artifacts. Others research, analyze, write, and disseminate 

knowledge products to inform the leadership of the Navy, its Sailors, 

and the American people of the many lessons the Navy’s history and 

heritage provide from its past.
Naval History and Heritage Command, Building 57, Washington Navy Yard

VISION STATEMENT

Enhance the warfighting effectiveness of the 

U.S. Navy, using the power of History and Heritage 

to pass on hard-won lessons, foster unit combat 

cohesion, and garner the continuing support of 

the American people.

OBJECTIVES

• To interpret naval history and heritage and to provide relevant support to Navy leadership and 

Sailors in policy development, readiness enhancement, and in building esprit de corps.

• To conduct outreach with the American public to highlight the critical role the Navy plays in their daily 

lives and the importance of maintaining a strong Navy to protect their basic freedoms and America’s 

maritime commerce.

• To collect, preserve, protect, and make available the artifacts, documents, and art that embody our naval 

history and heritage for future generations.

• To advance the knowledge of naval history and heritage through professional research, analysis, 

interpretation, products, and services.

MISSION

The Naval History and Heritage Command serves 

as the Navy’s institutional memory by preserving, 

acquiring, producing, and disseminating history 

and heritage products and resources through Navy 

historical, archival, museum, curatorial, art, and 

underwater archaeological programs.

www.history.navy.mil 5
6 Naval History and Heritage Command

HISTORY OF THE COMMAND

The Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) traces its lineage to 1800 when President John 

Adams instructed Benjamin Stoddert, the first Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV), to prepare a catalog 

of professional books for use in the Secretary’s office. Thus was born the Navy Department Library, 

today an integral part of the command and its historical programs.

When the British invaded Washington in 1814, this book collection was rushed to safety outside the 

Federal City. Thereafter, the library had many locations, including a specially designed space in the 

State, War, and Navy Building (now the Executive Office Building) overlooking the White House.
www.history.navy.mil 7

Navy Department Library

Public Act No. 21 required federal departments to consolidate all their libraries into one, leading to the designation 

of the library attached to the office of the Secretary of 

the Navy as the Navy Department Library in 1882. The 

director—noted international lawyer and U.S. Naval Academy professor James R. Soley—gathered the rare books 

scattered throughout various Navy Department offices, 

collected naval prints and photographs, and subscribed 

to professional periodicals. He also began to collect and 

preserve naval records, particularly those of the Civil War. 

In 1915, the appropriations for the Navy Department 

Library and Office of Naval Records were combined, and 

a new office was established called the Office of Naval 

Records and Library. 

Office of Naval Records and Library

The project to gather, edit, and publish a monumental 

documentary series, called 

Official Records of the Union 

and Confederate Navies in 

the War of the Rebellion, was 

begun under the direction of 

James Soley. The thirteenth and 

final volume was published in 

1922. The series marked the 

beginning of a responsibility 

to collect, edit, and publish 

historical naval documents, a 

mission that NHHC continues 

to carry out in its American 

Revolution and War of 1812

documentary projects. 

Historical Section of the 

CNO’s Office

Once America entered World War I, emphasis shifted 

to gathering documents on current naval operations. 

Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels directed Admiral 

William S. Sims, Commander U.S. Naval Forces Operating 

in European Waters, to collect in his London headquarters 

war diaries, operational reports, and other historic war 

materials of naval commands. In 1918, Secretary Daniels

established the Historical Section under the Chief of 

Naval Operations and directed that historical material on 

World War I should eventually be collected there.

To handle World War I records in Washington, the 

Historical Section and the library were both incorporated 

in the Office of Naval Intelligence in 1919. When the war 

ended, Admiral Sims’s London collection and photographs 

and motion pictures from the various Navy bureaus were 

transferred to the Historical Section. The library, by now 

with more than 50,000 volumes, remained in the State, 

War, and Navy Building.

Post-World War I Integration

In 1921, a former member of Admiral Sims’s wartime 

staff, Captain Dudley W. Knox, was named Head of the 

Office of Naval Records and Library. Transferred to the 

retired list on October 24, Knox nevertheless remained 

on active duty until his final retirement at the rank of 

commodore on June 

26, 1946. He was the 

driving force behind 

the Navy’s historical 

program, earning for 

the office a national 

and international 

reputation in the field 

of naval archives and 

history. During his 

tenure, the Historical 

Section was absorbed 

into the Office of Naval 

Records and Library in 

1927. Knox, with his 

additional appointment as Curator of 

the Navy in 1930, envisioned a display of our nation’s sea 

heritage in a naval museum in Washington. Naval Activities was soon directed to identify “relics, memorials, and 

tokens of historical value” for eventual display in a Navy 

museum. In 1935, SECNAV’s General Order 32 provided 

guidance on the public display of “condemned or obsolete 

ordnance, guns, projectiles, and other condemned or 

obsolete material.”

Left: Navy Department Library Reading Room (Indian Treaty Room) in the State, War, and Navy Building, 1915.

Naval History and Heritage Command Photo Archives

The U.S. ensign from USS Shasta (AE-6) 

at Iwo Jima, February 1945. 

Collection Management Division
8 Naval History and Heritage Command

World War II Operational Archives/Oral History Program

At President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s suggestion, Knox 

began several documentary series. Seven volumes 

pertaining to the Quasi-War with France and seven 

volumes relating to the war with the Barbary Powers were 

ultimately published. World War II halted similar plans 

for documentary series on the American Revolution, the 

War of 1812, the Mexican War, and World War I. During 

World War II, Knox turned his attention to collecting 

documents generated by naval operations in a two-ocean 

war. Knox immediately began a campaign to gather and 

arrange operation plans, action reports, and war diaries 

into a well-controlled archive staffed by professional 

historians who came on board as naval reservists.

In addition to developing the World War II Operational 

Archives, the Knox group pioneered an oral history program whereby participants in the significant Atlantic and 

Pacific operations and battles were interviewed as soon as 

Coming Aboard. Painting, oil on board; Lawrence Beall-Smith; 1943. Navy Art Collection

Dudley W. Knox presents President Franklin D. Roosevelt 

with the seventh and last volume of Naval Documents 

Related to the Quasi-War Between the United States and 

France, 1938. 

Naval History and Heritage Command Photo Archives
www.history.navy.mil 9

possible. When the Pulitzer Prize-winning history professor 

from Harvard, Samuel Eliot Morison, was commissioned 

by President Roosevelt to prepare the 15-volume History of 

United States Naval Operations in World War II, he relied 

not only on his own combat experience, but also on those 

records assembled by Knox’s archivists.

Naval History Division

Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal established an 

Office of Naval History to coordinate the Morison project, 

an administrative history of the U.S. Navy Department—

then underway—and other planned World War II histories. Although Knox served as Deputy Director, Naval 

History—under Admiral Edward C. Kalbfus, who was 

assigned as the first Director of Naval History in 1944—

initially the Office of Naval Records and Library was kept 

separate from the Office of Naval History. The two merged 

in March 1949 to form the Naval Records and History 

The American Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet, Leaving the Firth of Forth, during the World War. Painting, oil on canvas; Brunell Poole; 1926. 

Navy Art Collection

Division in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, 

and this organizational designation was simplified in 

1952 to the Naval History Division. The division remained 

in the Main Navy Building where it had relocated just after 

the war.

The future home for the Navy’s historians was the 

Washington Navy Yard in southeast Washington, which 

in 1961 was converted from an industrial facility to an 

administrative center. The first component of the Naval 

History Division located in the Yard was the U.S. Naval 

Historical Display Center (now the National Museum of 

the U.S. Navy), which was established in 1961. In 1963, 

the Operational Archives moved to the Washington Navy 

Yard. The other sections of the Naval History Division 

followed in 1970, occupying several buildings scattered 

throughout the Yard.
10 Naval History and Heritage Command

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6

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Naval Historical Center

The Naval Historical Center was established by consolidating the Naval Historical Display Center and the Naval 

History Division in 1971. Most of the center’s activities 

were brought together in 1982 when they moved into 

the historic building complex named to honor Dudley 

W. Knox, who perhaps did more than any individual to 

strengthen and reinforce the Navy’s commitment to its 

historic heritage and traditions.

The Navy Art Collection and Gallery, which was 

already located in the Washington Navy Yard, became 

part of the Naval Historical Center in 1986. At the same 

time, the Naval Aviation History and Publication Division 

became part of the center as well but moved in 2009 

under the auspices of the Chief of Naval Operations’ 

Director, Air Warfare and Naval Air Systems Command 

at Patuxent River, Maryland. In 1996, the Naval Historical 

Center established the Underwater Archaeology Branch 

to manage the more than 2,500 Navy shipwrecks and 

14,000 aircraft wrecks dispersed globally. Navy museums 

across the United States consolidated under the Naval 

Historical Center in 2005–2006.

Naval History and Heritage Command

With the addition of the museums as subordinate organizations, the center was re-designated as the Naval History 

and Heritage Command (NHHC) in 2008, becoming an 

Echelon II command.

In addition to the museums, the command manages 

a Boston detachment that maintains USS Constitution, 

the Navy’s oldest commissioned warship, as authorized by 

Public Law 523 in 1954.

The formal opening of the NHHC Collection 

Management Facility at the Defense Supply Center in 

Richmond, Virginia, occurred in 2015, further allowing 

the preservation of naval artifacts in a centralized location 

with vastly improved environmental controls.

1 FADM Chester W. Nimitz. Painting, oil on canvas; 

Commander Albert Murray, USNR; 1946C.

2 Tonkin Gulf Incident. Painting, oil on canvas; 

Edmund J. Fitzgerald; 1964.

3 Monitors Laid Up after Civil War. Painting, gouache; 

Creative Arts Studio, Inc., Washington, DC; 1960C.

4 Commando Raid. Drawing, colored pencil 

on paper; Herbert Hahn; 1951.

5 Sense of Humor. Painting, watercolor on paper; 

Gene Klebe; 1965.

6 Operation Market Time. Painting, 

watercolor; Gene Klebe; 1965.

7 WAVE Airtraffic Controller. Painting, oil on canvas; 

John Falter; 1943. 

8 First Aid on Carrier Flight Deck.

Charcoal drawing; Julian Levi; 1944.

All images courtesy of the Navy Art Collection

8
12 Naval History and Heritage Command

Collection Management Division (CMD)

It falls to the curators of the division to keep track of the 

thousands of artifacts and pieces of art in the U.S. Navy’s 

collection, some that date back to the founding of the 

Republic. Since the first item was donated in 1908, the 

Navy has amassed more than 300,000 items, from ships’ 

bells to paintings to uniforms.

The Curator Branch

A vast collection of historic objects documenting many 

aspects of the United States Navy is maintained by the 

branch and donations of artifacts and specimens are 

accepted for exhibition, research, and study. As part of 

its education and outreach function, the Curator Branch 

manages the Artifact Loan Program, which extends the 

opportunity for eligible institutions to borrow historical 

artifacts for display purposes. Lending these artifacts is an 

PROGRAMS

The Naval History and Heritage Command oversees Navy programs and instructions related to 

history; advances knowledge of naval history and heritage through professional research, analysis, 

and interpretation, delivering a range of knowledge products and services; advises the Navy, other 

agencies, and the public on issues related to Navy ship and aircraft wrecks; and administers grants, 

fellowships, scholarships, and internships related to naval history.

integral part of the Naval History and Heritage 

Command’s goal to make collections accessible to the 

widest possible audience. 

The Conservation Branch

In 2014, the division relocated artifacts stored in separate 

facilities in Washington, DC; Virginia; and Tennessee to 

its new Collection Management Facility at Richmond, 

Virginia. The facility has improved temperature and 

humidity control, more appropriate shelving and storage, 

and an area for the conservation of artifacts. 

The Navy Art Collection Branch

The branch is the principal custodian of the Navy’s art 

heritage by collecting, documenting, and preserving the art 

that is significant to the history of the United States Navy. 

The collection is unique in its ability to bring naval history 

alive to each new generation and contains paintings, prints, 
www.history.navy.mil 13

World War II documents.

Collection Management Division

Model of David 

Bushnell’s 1776 

submarine invention, 

the Turtle. 

National Museum of the 

United States Navy

Copy of the Congressional Gold Medal 

awarded to John Paul Jones in 1787 for his 

Revolutionary War service.

Collection Management Division

Ship’s wheel.

Collection 

Management Division

Great White Fleet commemorative 

postcard with miniature photo album.

Collection Management Division

Left page: U.S. frigate Constitution captures H.M. Ships Cyane and 

Levant, 20 February 1815. Lithograph by James Queen, created 

from painting by Thomas Birch; date unknown. 

Navy Art Collection
14 Naval History and Heritage Command

and sculptures. Highlights include the Navy Combat Art 

Program, which features works from World War II, the 

Korean War, the Vietnam War, Desert Shield/Storm, and 

Operation Iraqi Freedom/Enduring Freedom. The Navy Art 

Collection Traveling Exhibitions Program loans exhibits to 

institutions and organizations throughout the United States 

and is designed to make Navy artwork accessible to as many 

people as possible.

The Underwater Archaeology Branch (UAB)

The branch is responsible for the preservation, protection, 

and study of the submerged cultural resources under Navy 

management. The branch’s Archaeology and Conservation 

Laboratory conserves archaeological artifacts following 

recovery from the underwater environment to ensure 

Kate Morrand, archaeological conservator for the Underwater Archaeology Conservation Laboratory at Naval History and Heritage Command, cleans 

artifacts recovered from the wreck of USS Huron, which sank in a storm off the coast of Nags Head, N.C., in 1877. 

U.S. Navy photo

their immediate survival and long-term stability. More 

than 75 percent—11,000 artifacts—of the branch’s artifact 

collection is on loan to eligible institutions as part of the 

Archaeological Artifact Loan Program.

One of UAB’s responsibilities involves the Sunken 

Military Craft Act (SMCA), which was enacted October 28, 2004, to preserve and protect sunken military 

craft owned by the United States from unauthorized 

disturbance. Those wrecks include American ships and 

aircraft in foreign waters, as well as foreign ships within 

U.S. waters. The law protects and preserves the wrecks as 

gravesites, while at the same time providing nonintrusive 

access for the diving public. UAB reviews requests for 

permitting authority that includes excavation at the sites 

for archaeological, historical, or educational purposes.
Top left: Combat artist Morgan Wilbur at work.

Top right: Julie Kowalsky, small arms curator, shows artifacts during a tour. 

Middle: Dr. Alexis Catsambis, left, and Blair Atcheson, historical 

preservation coordinator, both from the Naval History and Heritage 

Command at the Washington Navy Yard, move a late 19th-century 

Howell torpedo.

Bottom left: Kate Morrand, an archaeological conservator for the 

Underwater Archaeology Branch at Naval History and Heritage Command, 

guides the midsection of Howell Torpedo Number 24 onto foam in the 

warehouse at the Washington Navy Yard.

Bottom right: A section of a late 19th-century Howell torpedo restored by 

the Collection Management Division.

U.S. Navy photos

www.history.navy.mil 15
16 Naval History and Heritage Command

The Archives Branch

The division’s archivists catalog reams of documents, 

including deck logs, organizational records, and 

command operations reports for active duty ship and 

shore commands. In the photo department, archivists 

inventory and scan thousands of historical photographs 

and create extensive pictorial reference files, many of 

which are available on NHHC’s website. The branch provides reference services to scholars and other researchers 

for NHHC’s collections of photography, operational 

records, personal papers, and ship and aviation unit 

records. The archives are open to the public for research, 

with appropriate restrictions for classified records.

Operational Records and Personal Papers

The division maintains a select group of official 

operational records, historical documents, personal 

papers, officer biographies, oral histories, and manuscripts. The records relate to naval operations, policy and 

strategy, and histories of specific commands. 

Dale “Joe” Gordon, lead reference archivist at Naval History 

and Heritage Command, searches archived records for a 

command operations report (COR) in Naval History and 

Heritage Command’s Archives. U.S. Navy photo

Above: Operation order for riverine and coastal units in 

Vietnam, 31 May 1966. 

Naval History and Heritage Command Archives

Right: Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz signs the Japanese surrender 

document on board USS Missouri (BB-63), September 2, 1945. 

Naval History and Heritage Command Photo Archives

History and Archives Division (HAD) 

HAD houses a staggering collection—nearly 11,000 

reels of microfilm and six terabytes of electronic data, 

along with more than 200 million pages (and counting) 

documenting history.

The Histories Branch

The division’s historians dig through documents in the 

collection to research and write the award-winning series 

Naval Documents of the American Revolution (12 volumes 

and counting) and the Dictionary of American Naval 

Fighting Ships (DANFS). HAD researchers author other 

books, such as the recently published two-volume United 

States Naval Aviation 1910–2010, and provide analysis, 

historical context, and guidance to the Navy’s senior 

leadership and other Department of Defense commands.
www.history.navy.mil 17

Ship and Aviation Unit Records

The division collects the annual command operations 

reports of active U.S. Navy ships, has charge of deck logs 

dating back 30 years, produces summary histories of ships 

going out of commission, and holds research files on ships 

and aircraft of the U.S. Navy from 1775 to the present. 

Most of these are stored at the Washington National 

Records Center in Suitland, Maryland. 

Photo Archives

Photographic records collections are related to the U.S. 

Navy (or other navies when specifically connected with 

U.S. involvement or historical events) with specific 

emphasis on ships, aviation, places, wars/events, activities, 

and significant individuals associated with naval history. 

Photographs in the collection reflect both official and 

unofficial naval viewpoints and consist of donations and 

transfers made by the Navy and the public. The general date 

range of the collection consists of the mid-19th century to 

the 1990s, with particular focus on the World War II era. 

The entire collection consists of approximately one million 

photographs dating back as early as the Civil War.

NHHC FOIA Service Center

The center responds to Freedom of Information Act 

(FOIA) requests and can be reached at (202) 433-FOIA 

(3642), 288 3642 (DSN), or NHHC_FOIA@navy.mil. David Colamaria, Naval History and Heritage Command’s 

photographic archivist, looks at a glass plate photograph of Spanish 

Admiral Pasqual Cervera taken in 1898 or 1899. U.S. Navy photo
18 Naval History and Heritage Command

The Navy Department Library

The library, with its 182,000-book collection and more 

than 374,000 manuscripts, is currently housed in one of 

the Yard’s historic buildings. The library has had an online 

presence since 1996, and the staff continues to digitize 

books for its online library available through NHHC’s 

website. One of the few major military historical libraries 

open to the public, the Navy Department Library provides 

reference assistance to the Navy, the Department of 

Defense, the U.S. government, and an international 

clientele of researchers and scholars.

Reference Assistance

The Navy Department Library provides limited telephone, 

in-person, and written reference assistance. Detailed 

questions requiring in-depth research must be conducted 

in person or by employing a commercial research service. 

Typically, the staff will suggest possible sources of information, such as a book or archival facility, to assist patrons 

in conducting their own research. Simple questions such 

as “When was USS America (CV-66) commissioned?” 

or “Who was the Secretary of the Navy in 1938?” can 

sometimes be answered via telephone.

Circulation

Personnel stationed or employed on the Washington 

Navy Yard may borrow materials for one month. The 

library participates in interlibrary loan, but items more 

than 100 years old are not available. Rare, special collection, and reference books, as well as bound periodicals, 

do not circulate. The library reserves the right to refuse to 

circulate or permit the reproduction of any item considered unique or fragile. Faxed requests for interlibrary loan 

are not accepted.

Left: Cabin boys’ locker, woodcut, from 

Sailors Magazine and Naval Journal, 

September 1834. Navy Department Library

Below: Fleet, division, and squadron flags, 

from the United States Naval Signal Code, 1867. 

Navy Department Library images

Cruise Books

Most cruise books in the Navy Department Library may 

be reproduced. Researchers are encouraged to bring 

a digital camera to the library or to contact the Naval 

Historical Foundation concerning purchasing a reproduction. In some cases, photocopying or scanning by visitors 

and the Naval Historical Foundation will not be permitted 

when a volume is too fragile. World War II cruise books 

are not available for interlibrary loan. Duplicate copies of 

post-World War II cruise books may be loaned to your 

local library for “in library use” only, if your library agrees 

to return the books via a commercial courier service such 

as UPS or FedEx rather than the U.S. Postal Service.
www.history.navy.mil 19

With weapons at the ready, a Swift boat heads up a Mekong Delta waterway. Naval History and Heritage Command Photo Archives
Museum Operations Division (MOD) 

This division is responsible for the oversight and administrative requirements for the nine 

Navy museums. The MOD staff works with each facility to attain or maintain American 

Alliance of Museums accreditation (★) and develop the NHHC properties into a “Smithsonian-class” network of museums. Currently four of the museums have achieved formal 

accreditation and the remaining five are progressing steadily.

★ National Museum of the U.S.

Navy at the Washington Navy Yard 

chronicles the history of the U.S. 

Navy from the American Revolution 

to present conflicts. 

Highlights include:

• Deep sea submersible Trieste 

• USS Constitution gun deck

• Naval exploration

• The best of Navy art

• The American Revolution and 

the French Alliance

• The forgotten wars of the 

19th century

• Navigation

• Civil War: Securing the Seas for

Union Victory

• Spanish-American War

• Polar explorations

• The U.S. Navy in World War I,

World War II, the Korean War, 

and the Vietnam War

• Cold War Gallery

★ National Naval Aviation Museum at Naval Air Station Pensacola, 

Florida, continues the story of naval aviation and provides a closer look at 

the people and events that shaped naval history. From vintage uniforms and 

historic documents displayed in brilliant mahogany display cases, to dioramas 

that transport visitors to the World War I Western Front or to Main Street 

USA in 1943, the exhibits seek to capture the human element of the enduring 

history of naval air power. 

Highlights include:

• More than 1,000 aircraft, including a plane that was present at Pearl 

Harbor on December 7, 1941; a plane that was in Tokyo Bay at the time of

the Japanese surrender during World War II; and rare and one-of-a-kind

flying machines such as NC-4 (the first to cross the Atlantic by air), SBD

Dauntless Bureau Number 2106 (a veteran of the Battle of Midway), 

Que Sera Sera (the first aircraft to land at the South Pole), and the last 

combat F-14D Tomcat

• More than 4,000 uniforms and other artifacts

• Library includes personal/official papers of prominent 

aviators and more than 350,000 photos/images

• Flight simulators

• Blue Angels X4D Experience (3D images combined 

with special effects)

• Virtual flight deck

• Cockpit trainers

20 Naval History and Heritage Command
National Museum of the 

American Sailor at Naval Station 

Great Lakes, Illinois—the Navy’s 

only boot camp. 

Highlights include:

• More than 40,000 historic artifacts

and archival records relating to

recruiting and training history

• An extensive collection of naval

uniforms and accessories; boot

camp company photos; and 

recruiting pamphlets, postcards,

and newspapers

★ Hampton Roads Naval

Museum in Norfolk, Virginia, 

focuses on naval history in the 

Hampton Roads region with more 

than 21,560 objects, photographs, 

and paintings and 1,475 books. 

Highlights include:

• Battleship Wisconsin exhibit

• A painting of the 1781 Battle off 

the Virginia Capes by V. Zveg

• A 1798 18-pounder cannon from

the frigate USS Constellation

• Several artifacts from the cruiser

CSS Florida and the sloop-of-war

USS Cumberland

• The original builder’s model of the

ill-fated battleship USS Maine

• A Mark 7 undersea mine from

World War I

• A torpedo warhead from the 

German submarine U-352

• A 1944 coxswain navigation map 

of Omaha Beach

• The original builder’s model of the

aircraft carrier USS America (CV-66)

U.S. Navy Seabee Museum

in Port Hueneme, California, houses 

collections relating to the history of 

the Naval Construction Forces and 

Navy Civil Engineer Corps. 

Highlights include:

• 12,000 artifacts

• 11,000 linear feet of archival 

material, including documents,

photographs, maps, and books

www.history.navy.mil 21
U.S. Navy Submarine Force 

Museum and Historic Ship 

(HS) Nautilus in Groton, 

Connecticut, showcases the 

nation’s finest displays and 

collections of America’s 

submarine heritage. 

Highlights include:

• HS Nautilus, the nation’s only 

nuclear-powered submarine 

open for public visitation

• More than 33,000 artifacts, 

20,000 significant documents, 

and 30,000 photographs

• A 6,000-volume reference and

research library, a worldrenowned collection on the 

history of U.S. submarines 

open to anyone looking for

information on submarines or

submarine history

★ Navy Museums Northwest

1. Naval Undersea Museum in Keyport, Washington, possesses the largest 

collection of artifacts (35,000 artifacts and documents and 9,000 books) in 

the United States related to naval undersea history, science, and operations. 

Highlights include:

• Trieste II, a 96-ton deep submersible

• Collection of U.S. torpedoes, beginning with the Howell, the Navy’s 

second-oldest torpedo, and continuing through modern Mark 48 and 

Mark 50 torpedoes

• Collection of mines representative of every major conflict involving 

American forces from the Revolutionary War to Desert Storm/Desert Shield

• Collection of remotely operated vehicles, including CURV III and two 

prototype mine-hunting vehicles

• Contemporary U.S. diving suits

• Submarine battle flags

2. Puget Sound Navy Museum in Bremerton, Washington, possesses more 

than 18,000 artifacts of cultural, historic, and technological or artistic 

significance related to the U.S. Navy’s history in the Pacific Northwest from 

1840 to the present. 

Highlights include:

• More than 800 volumes in the Frank & Louise Reh Memorial Library collection including books, technical manuals, periodicals, newsletters, and DVDs

• Exhibits about life aboard USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74), one of the U.S.

Navy’s nuclear-powered aircraft carriers

• The history of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard

22 Naval History and Heritage Command

1 2
U.S. Naval War College 

Museum in Newport, Rhode Island, 

showcases the history of naval 

warfare, particularly as studied at 

the college, and the naval heritage of 

Narragansett Bay—a tale that begins 

with the nation’s colonial roots. 

Highlights include: 

• 9,000 artifacts

• The naval art of Thomas 

Hart Benton

• Manuscripts and books held 

by the NWC library

U.S. Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Maryland, offers more than 

56,000 items and two floors of exhibits about the history of seapower, the 

development of the U.S. Navy, and the role of the U.S. Naval Academy in 

producing officers capable of leading America’s Sailors and Marines. 

Highlights include:

• Rogers Ship Model Collection, the largest collection of 17th- and 

18th-century ship models on public display in North America

• Beverley R. Robinson Collection, an exceptional collection of prints 

illustrating famous ships and naval scenes from the last 500 years

• Malcolm Storer Naval Medals Collection, donated in 1936, comprising

1,210 commemorative coin-medals gathered from 30 countries and 

dating from 254 BC to 1936

• More than 12,000 manuscripts

www.history.navy.mil 23
24 Naval History and Heritage Command

Historic Ship and Aircraft Maintenance Office

NHHC has the rare honor and responsibility for maintenance of some of the nation’s most cherished vessels 

and assets. The Historic Ship and Aircraft Maintenance 

office oversees the repair and restoration of USS Constitution along with NHHC’s Detachment Boston, keeping 

Seaman Jorge Ortiz, assigned to USS Constitution, pries a copper sheet away from the hull of Old Ironsides as a part of the restoration work being 

performed on the ship. Constitution is lined with 3,400 sheets of copper that are replaced every 15-20 years. U.S. Navy photo

“America’s ship of state” as close to its 1812 configuration 

as possible. Responsibilities extend to the first nuclearpowered submarine, Nautilus, which was commissioned in 

1954 and is now a museum ship at Groton, Connecticut. 

The office also has responsibility for inspecting more than 

1,100 historic aircraft on loan around the country.
www.history.navy.mil 25

Support Operations 

Support Operations include the Financial Management 

Office, the Administrative Branch, the Human Capital 

Office, the Command Information Office, and the Office 

of Inspection and Compliance. These offices provide all 

the support functions of the command to include budget, 

payroll, personnel, information technology, and records 

management.

Communication and Outreach Division (COD)

Despite having custody of more than 240 years of U.S. 

Navy history—its narrative throughout the nation’s life—

there had been little emphasis in making the holdings 

readily and publicly available. That changed in 2013 when 

NHHC stood up the Communication and Outreach 

Division, which it began populating in earnest in 2014. 

This division offers a central point of contact for public 

requests for information or support; coordinates U.S. 

Navy commemorative and heritage events, such as the 

Battle of Midway commemorations and Navy birthday 

celebrations; and integrates, plans, and promotes U.S. 

Navy historic milestones and contributions throughout 

the fleet.

The Communication Branch manages the naval history 

narrative by providing a virtual presence 24 hours a day, 

7 days per week. The branch supports public access to 

NHHC resources and produces timely, relevant, and 

compelling content that promotes naval history through 

the command’s website and social media channels. The 

team also partners with Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, and civilian history organizations to 

share the story of the work done by the command’s 

history professionals. Sharing the relevance of Navy 

history to today’s Navy is accomplished through active 

engagement with media, book authors, documentary 

producers, and even Hollywood filmmakers. 

The Outreach Branch is responsible for community 

outreach and heritage training, i.e. making the Navy 

“come alive” through two activities: 1) supporting Navy 

commemorative events such as Navy birthdays and U.S. 

Navy participation in wars, conflicts, and operations, such 

as the Battle of Midway, the Vietnam War, World War I, 

and World War II, along with providing historical context 

for Navy outreach stakeholders’ events; and 2) planning 

and executing NHHC community outreach initiatives. 

The Integration Branch is responsible for integrating 

and coordinating with NHHC internal and external 

stakeholders such as CHINFO, Navy leadership, the 

Naval Institute, academia, the media, and the public. The 

Publishing Section edits and publishes histories that serve 

the needs of our Sailors, the U.S. government, and the 

American people. The section manages the production 

of historical products in various formats, including print 

books, eBooks, and downloadable PDF files.
26 Naval History and Heritage Command

CONTACT NHHC

See our website at 

www.history.navy.mil/about-us/contact.html 

for more information.

Anchor from the 

WWII aircraft carrier 

USS Enterprise

(CV-6), Leutze Park.
www.history.navy.mil 27
www.history.navy.mil

NAVAL HISTORY and

HERITAGE COMMAND