Frequently Asked Questions

Many jobs in the Navy provide schooling and work that can qualify for some college credits.  Servicemembers can check their military transcripts at the Joint Service Transcript website.

There are also opportunities for more school while in the Navy.  Find more at the Navy College Website.

One of the best sources of the histories on the ships of the U.S. Navy is The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, an eight-volume reference set published by the Naval Historical Center. While much of the Dictionary has been available on non-government web site, the Naval Historical Center has now placed the entries on line. You can find the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships at https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs.html. The hard copy volumes are also available in most major public and university libraries. If your library does not have a copy of this set, you can ask your librarian to request a photocopy of the appropriate pages from the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) and have them sent via fax. Some responding libraries will charge for this service.

The Naval Historical Center is on the World Wide Web at http://www.history.navy.mil or you can also write to them (they do not have the staff for e-mail) at:

Department of the Navy
Naval Historical Center
Ships' Histories Branch
805 Kidder Breese St. SE
Washington Navy Yard
Washington, D.C. 20374-5060

While there is no office dedicated to assisting with geneaology requests, the following sites may provide helpful information for family searches:

Copies of personnel records, getting

Family members - where they served

Finding someone (active duty or retired)

Histories of Ships

National Gravesite Locator

Rosters, ships'

Learn more about Space A travel on planes - not ships - at Air Mobility Command's website.

There are rules and regulations regarding the use of photographs seen on Navy websites and social media accounts.  Find out more by visiting the Defense Imagery Management Operations Center.

A "plank owner" is an individual who was a member of the crew of a ship when that ship was placed in commission. In earlier years, this applied to a first commissioning; since then, it has often been applied to one who was part of a recommissioning crew as well. "Plank owner" is not an official Navy term, and has consequently been variously defined by different Navy units.

 

Plank-owner certificates are procured by and issued to crew members of the ship being commissioned; they are not officially issued by the Navy. Some ships' crews design their own, while others purchase them from commercial sources. Perhaps the best-known of these are the ones sold by the United States Naval Institute. These color certificates can be obtained as blanks; if the purchaser wishes to provide the necessary information, they can be filled in for an additional charge.

Replacement certificates for overseas births can be obtained though the State Department.  Other records for life events that have taken place in the United States may be obtained through the CDC.

Navy Installations Command is an Echelon II shore command responsible for all shore installations under the control of the United States Navy. As an Echelon II command, it reports directly to the Chief of Naval Operations.

To bolster force protection, the general public is urged not to send unsolicited mail, care packages or donations to service members forward deployed unless you are a family member, loved one or personal friend. Mail from family members and loved ones has always been encouraged and the military mail system will continue to work hard to get that mail to service members overseas.

There are many well meaning Web sites, TV stations, and charity groups that are promoting donations to overseas service members. While well intentioned, you should not use them and you should discourage others from using them. These unsolicited letters of support or care packages to service members raise a force protection issue, since anonymous donors are different from legitimate family members and friends. DoD has cancelled mail programs which encouraged the American public in general to mail to "Any Service Member" (versus a specific deployed person). These new programs attempt to do the same thing by gathering names of service members to send mail. While legitimate mail from family members and loved ones is always encouraged, these donor programs, which collect and pass out service members� names and addresses, is discouraged.

On Oct. 30, 2002, the Department of Defense (DoD) suspended the "Operation Dear Abby" and "Any Servicemember" traditional mail programs due to force protection concerns. The Department of the Navy and the DoD cannot support creative and well-intentioned efforts that defeat force protection measures.

You can learn more about the Naval Academy here.