U.S. Navy Cruise Books, 1950-1988

Source Information

This data collection contains U.S. Navy cruise books for various years and ships from 1950 to 1988. More ships and years will be added to this database in future releases as we continue to digitize them from the Navy Library, the holder of the largest cruise book collection.

Cruise books are yearbook styled books put together by Naval departments or volunteers on board ship. Cruise books are typically published for ships deployed for long periods of time and are only for private distribution. The Navy does not stock, sell, or republish these books. Because of these things, cruise books can be extremely rare.

Since cruise books are modeled after yearbooks, one of the things they usually include is portraits of the sailors, officers, and other personnel on board the ship. With each portrait is listed the individual’s surname and naval rate. Portraits are generally organized alphabetically by surname within each division or department.

Other features of a cruise book may include candid photographs of crew members at work and play, details and history of the ship, and short biographies on captains, commanders, and other prominent officers.