Military Records

Other U.S. Navy repositories - post-Vietnam

The National Archives at College Park generally holds the records of the U.S. Navy through the end of the Vietnam War era. Records for the post-Vietnam years may be located at one or more of the following repositories:

Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC)

The NHHC is responsible for the preservation, analysis, and dissemination of U.S. naval history and heritage and is located at the historic Washington Navy Yard. It is the repository for the Ship’s Command Histories and other Operational Reports for the U.S. Navy beginning in the Early Cold War (1947) and the Korean War (1950). They can be contacted at the address(es) below:

Naval History and Heritage Command

805 Kidder Breese Street SE

Washington Navy Yard, DC 20374-5060

(202) 433-3224; Fax (202) 433-2833

Email:  archives@navy.mil

www.history.navy.mil

Navy Photographic Archives

Naval History and Heritage Command

805 Kidder Breese Street SE

Washington, Navy Yard, DC 20374-5060

Phone: (202) 433-7879

Email: nhhcphotoarchives@navy.mil 

https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography.html

Naval Personnel Center

Muster rolls dated after 2003 are held by this facility, and can be contacted at the address below:

Navy Personnel Command (PERS-00J6)

5720 Integrity Drive

Millington, TN   38055

Phone: (901) 874-3165

Naval Safety Center (NSC)

The Naval Safety Center is the custodian of and release authority for safety investigation reports on mishaps that result in illness, injury or death to personnel or damage to property.  They have aviation reports back to January 1970, and the mishap database covers other types of events back to 1980. While the NHHC has aircraft accident reports up to 1972, the NSC retains these reports for 1972 and onwards. 

Requests for information can be submitted by mail to the Naval Safety Center, Code 03, 375 A Street, Norfolk, VA 23511; or by email to safe-foia@navy.mil.  Safety investigation reports for aviation mishaps prior to 1970 can be requested from the Naval History and Heritage Command at nhhc_foia@navy.mil.  

Judge Advocate General

Navy courts of inquiry dated after 1940 and Navy courts-martial after 1976* are in holdings of the Navy Judge Advocate General. They can be contacted at the address below:

Judge Advocate General’s Corps

1322 Patterson Ave., Suite 3000

Washington Navy Yard, DC 20374-5066

*Pre-1976 Navy courts-martial documents are located at the National Archives at St. Louis and the National Archives at Washington D.C

Navy Records Officer

Permanent records of the United States Government are typically accessioned into the National Archives 30 years after creation by the originating agency or department. Recent records may still be held by the Navy and interested researchers will need to contact the Navy’s Records Officer. You can find the contact for the Navy Records Officer by following this link:

https://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/agency/departments/defense.

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