Still Pictures Aerial Photography in Record Group 38: Records of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations

Aerial Oblique and Vertical Photographs of Army Coastal Fortifications, Government Reservations, Urban Areas, and Coastlines in the United States and Territories, 1918 - 1929 (38-FCD)

The photographs in this series, were taken by naval aviation units, and primarily show 20th Century coastal artillery batteries, often located within much older forts. Fort Sumpter, South Carolina, for example, was reduced to a pile of rubble in the Civil War but is shown in this series with its rubble top leveled and surmounted by thick concrete walls protecting two breech loading coastal guns. The fort's docks and buildings are also shown. Some of the older forts are also shown without any modification. Forts and other areas documented in the series are primarily in the Continental United States; other locations photographed include the Panama Canal Zone, the Republic of Panama in defense of the Canal, Hawaii and Guam. The finding aid for the series is available in the Still Pictures Research Room.

Aerial Photographs Taken by the Italian Naval Aviation Group, 1917 - 1920 (38-IS)

This series consists of a folio of aerial photographs of Italian war operations during World War I, acquired by the U.S. Naval Attaché, Rome, in 1920. The photos provide details of Italian and Austria-Hungarian ports. There are also photos of naval vessels, biplanes, a dirigible, and the volcano, Vesuvius.

Pictorial Essay Related to Aspects of the Soviet Arms Threat in Cuba, ca. 1962 - ca. 1962 (38-CMCP)

This series consists of photographs taken during the Cuban Missile Crisis that were used by the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) for a pictorial essay entitled "Selected Aspects of the Soviet Arms Threat in Cuba: A Pictorial Essay". Photographs in this series contain aerial reconnaissance images taken by low level U.S. Navy patrol aircraft and feature views of Soviet vessels transporting SANDAL missiles and IL-28 aircraft both inbound and outbound from Cuba. Other photographs feature views of Soviet merchant ships transporting Komar-class gun boats in lumber enclosures; Komar-class gun boats under construction at a shipyard in Leningrad, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and an image comparison of SANDAL missile identification points. Withdrawn images in this series include aerial reconnaissance photos of ballistic missile bases under construction in Cuba.