Series III: United States Navy Photographs

Folder titles are those used by the Navy Public Relations Department; folder titles in brackets were assigned by N-YHS Staff during processing. Often, the Navy-assigned titles sound ready for newspaper headlines. Some titles may seem to have no relationship to the photos to those unfamiliar with military terminology. "Baby Flat Top -- The Navy's Child Prodigy" is the title of a photo series showing life aboard an aircraft carrier. In "Shakedown," new recruits are taken on a practice mission in order to learn how to take care of a ship and to "get their sea legs."

Most of the photographs highlight the Pacific theatre of war. Battles shown or highlighted (sometimes including the aftermath) include: the invasion of Borneo, Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Guadalcanal, the Makin Island Raid, the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Battle of the Solomon Islands, the Battle of Santa Cruz Island, and the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Navy troops are shown in Borneo, the Philippines (the subject of many photos taken throughout 1944 and 1945), Formosa, New Zealand, Guam, Saipan, New Guinea, the Marshall Islands, and the Solomon Islands. Other photographs show Navy Combat Troops landing at Attu in the Aleutian Islands.

Photos showing the European front are mainly of Italy and North Africa, including "Operation Bootstrap" to liberate Italy. Photographs of Italy, including several titled "British fighting in Sicily" (folder 96), show "Naples in Ruins,"( folder 98) and troops landing in Anzio, Italy. Other European photographs include "U.S. Navy Crosses the Rhine" (folder 106), and others showing Le Havre, Brest, (folder 103), and beachheads throughout France (folder 102).

Women are the subject of many photographs and photographic series. Women at work in the New York Navy Yard get much attention, as do the WAVES, the Navy's Auxiliary force for women. WAVES are seen in church, on deck of a ship (sunbathing, while sailors look on), "at chow," and in their summer uniforms. Folder 95 contains a photo of Madame Chiang Kai Chek reviewing WAVES at a New York training academy. Folder 102 shows Eleanor Roosevelt reviewing a group of WAVES.

The New York Navy Yard (also known popularly as Brooklyn Navy Yard) is prominently featured in many photographs. The Navy Yard's activities peaked around October of 1944, with employment of over 70,000 workers working around the clock to build and repair ships for the United States Navy. The yard was made up of 6 dry docks, 2 building ways, 8 piers, 270 buildings, 19 miles of paved streets, and 30 miles of railroad tracks. Many ships launched from the Navy Yard are shown here, and several photo series show employees hard at work. One interesting photograph shows a visit by the Regent of Iraq to the New York Navy Yard (Folder 107.)

Military technology and weaponry dominate the Naval photographs. Many photos of the U.S. Ships were taken up to 20 years after the end of the war. A large number of these photographs are not marked with the name of the ship. However, ships shown during wartime are well-documented and described on the verso of the photographs. Aircraft carriers are pictured in Folders 95, 98, 99, and 108. A model aircraft carrier is shown on display at Rockefeller Center in New York in Folder 107. "Helldivers," or bombing planes, are shown in folders 98. "Avengers," torpedo bombers, are shown in Folders 98, 101, and 105. "Hellcats," another bombing plane, appear in Folder 97.