Summary
The following chart gives the location of the Navy service records based on the date of separation
Dates of Service | Rank | Personnel Record Location |
1798 to 1885 | Enlisted | |
1798 to 1902 | Officer | |
1885 to December 31, 1994 | Enlisted | National Personnel Records Center Note: Personnel records are Archival 62 years after the service member's separation and are accessioned by the National Archives at St. Louis, MO |
1902 to December 31, 1994 | Officer | |
Discharged, deceased or retired on or after January 1, 1995 to December 31, 2013 | All Personnel |
This blog post gives further details about the service records and similar records available for researching individual officers and enlisted personnel of the United States Navy. Please note that some record series listed below at the National Archives in Washington, DC have an end date after the start date for the personnel records at NPRC. In such cases, researchers may wish to contact both locations to research sailors that served during time periods which are overlapped by separate sets of records.
Records at the National Archives in Washington, DC
For more information about these records, please contact the National Archives in Washington, DC - Textual Reference at archives1reference@nara.gov.
Revolutionary War
- Compiled Service Records of American Naval Personnel Who Served in the Revolutionary War
- Microfilm Publications:
- Digitized Records Available Online
- Some but not all digitized service records are available through the National Archives Catalog
- Ancestry, Fold3, and FamilySearch.
Officers
Abstracts of Service Records of Naval Officers
- Abstracts of Service Records of Naval Officers, 5/1798 - 7/1924
- Microfilm Publications:
- Digitized Records Available Online
- M1328 is available in full through Fold3 at Naval Officers Service Records.
- M330 is partially available through Fold3 at Service Records of Naval Officers 1798-1893. At present, they have made available abstracts of service records for the period May 1798 - December 1803.
Additional records relating to 18th through early 20th Century officers
Statements, Registers, and Records of Service
- Register of Officers of the Navy, 3/5/1799 - ca. 9/25/1823
- Records of Service of Officers, 1866 - 1867 (documenting ca. 1812 - 1865)
- Register of Sea Duty Assignments of Commissioned and Warrant Officers, 1815 - 1823
- Register of Service Performed by Officers, 1861 - 1865
- Officers' Statements of Service, 6/1842 - 12/1844
- Tabular Summaries of Officers' Statements, ca. 1842 - ca. 1842
- Data Relating to the Wartime Service of Naval and Marine Corps Officers, ca. 1867 - ca. 1867
- Service Records for Officers of the Volunteer Union Navy
- Registers of Volunteer Officers, 5/1861 - ca. 1880
- Lists of Naval Officers and Records of Their Service, 12/1884 - 1/1891
- Record of Service of Temporary Officers in the Spanish-American War, 1898 - 1899
Lists of Officers by Ship or Establishment
- Lists of Officers and Clerks of Vessels, Squadrons, Fleets, and Flotillas, 7/1859 - 1/1878
- Lists of Officers, 1878 - 1909
- Lists of Officers Assigned to the Naval Observatory and the Naval Academy, 12/31/1865 - 12/31/1877
Commissions, Warrants, Appointments, Promotions
- Letters Received Accepting Appointments as Commissioned and Warrant Officers, 1804 - 1811
- Letters Received Accepting Appointments as Commissioned and Warrant Officers, 4/20/1812 - 10/1864
- Letters Received from the Senate Confirming Appointments and Promotions of Officers, 10/18/1814 - 12/27/1842
- Letters Sent Relating to Officers' Appointments, Orders, and Resignations, 2/1842 - 12/1895
- Commissions Issued to Officers, 2/3/1844 - 12/28/1936
- Warrants Issued to Officers, 7/11/1846 - 8/14/1925
- Letters Received Accepting Positions as Acting Commissioned or Warrant Officers and Clerks, 5/1861 - 7/1871
- Letters of Appointment and Orders Sent to Volunteer Officers, 5/8/1861 - 6/5/1879
- Records of Proceedings of Naval and Marine Examining Boards, 1861 - ca. 1903
- Commissions, Discharges and Resignations of Spanish-American War Officers, 4/1898 - 4/1899
- Records of Promotions of Officers, 1909 - 1920
- Commissions Issued to Officers of the National Naval Volunteers, 1/22/1917 - 6/8/1918
Resignations
- Letters of Resignation Received from Commissioned and Warrant Officers, 1803 - 1825
- Letters to Commissioned and Warrant Officers Transmitting Appointments and Orders and Accepting Resignations, 5/15/1813 - 2/12/1842
- Letters Sent Relating to Officers' Appointments, Orders, and Resignations, 2/1842 - 12/1895
- Letters of Resignation Received from Commissioned Officers at the Outbreak of the Civil War, 1860 - 1861
- List of Commissioned Officers Who Resigned or Were Dismissed Before or After the Start of the Civil War, (documenting 12/1860 - 12/1861)
- Letters of Resignation Received from Volunteer Officers, 5/1/1865 - 11/12/1875
- Letters of Resignation Received from Officers, 2/1878 - 11/1886
- Commissions, Discharges and Resignations of Spanish-American War Officers, 4/1898 - 4/1899
Correspondence
- Letters Received from Commanding Officers of Squadrons, 2/16/1841 - 11/11/1886
- Letters Received from Captains, 1805 - 1885
- Letters Received from Commanders, 4/7/1804 - 12/28/1886
- Letters Received from Commissioned Officers Below the Rank of Commander and from Warrant Officers, 1802 - 1886
Engineers
- Testimonial Letters Concerning Engineers, ca. 1838 - 1877
- Registers of Service of Engineer Officers, 1/1842 - 1903
- Reports of Examining Boards for the Engineer Corps, 9/1/1849 - 3/13/1878
- Registers of Officers of the Engineer Corps, 4/1859 - 8/1901
- Register of Acting Engineer Officers, 5/1861 - 9/1865
- Letters Sent Concerning Appointments as Acting Engineers, 1/2/1864 - 4/19/1870
- Letters Sent to Officers of the Engineer Corps, 12/3/1850 - 10/12/1899
- Letters Received from Commissioned Officers Below the Rank of Commander and from Warrant Officers, 1802 - 1886
- Record of Vacancies and Promotions in the Engineer Corps, 3/1872 - 7/1897
Chaplains
- Records Containing Biographical, Service Record, and Other Information About Chaplains, 1804 - 1946
- Register of Applications for Appointment as Chaplains, Pursers and Marine Corps Officers, 1853 - 1860
- Letters Received from Commissioned Officers Below the Rank of Commander and from Warrant Officers, 1802 - 1886
Medical Officers
- List of Medical Officers, 1824 - 1873
- Applications and Orders of Medical Officers, 8/1844 - 2/1895
- Statements of Service of Medical Officers, 1842 - 1873
- Statements of Service of Acting Medical Officers, 1860 - 1870
Enlisted
For enlisted sailors that served prior to 1846, the primary source of information about individual enlisted sailors is muster rolls. Unfortunately, there are no indexes for these records, so you generally need to know the name of the ship in order to locate entries for specific sailors. Starting with 1846, rendezvous reports are available for some locations. Rendezvous reports list the name, rate, rendezvous (recruitment station or vessel), dates of enlistment, where born, age at time of enlistment, and a physical description. For more information, see Sailors in the United States Navy, 1798–1885
Muster Rolls
See Muster Rolls, Rosters, Morning Reports, and Personnel Diaries for a complete list of Navy Muster Rolls Series from 1798 through 1983.
Rendezvous Reports
1855-1891
- Weekly Returns of Enlistments at Naval Rendezvous, 1/6/1855 - 8/8/1891. Many of these records are available digitally through the National Archives Catalog.
- Microfilm Publications:
- Digitized Records Available Online
- Some but not all digitized service records are available through the National Archives Catalog
- Ancestry, Fold3, and Family Search.
Additional Rendezvous and Enlistment Records
- Descriptive Lists of Men Entered at the Naval Rendezvous at Baltimore, 1/1846 - 2/1852
- Keys to and Registers of Enlistment Returns, 6/1846 - 12/1902
- Register of Petty Officers, Seamen and Others Received On Board Receiving Ships at the Naval Rendezvous at Baltimore, 1855 - 1869
- Record of Volunteers Enlisted at the Naval Rendezvous at Baltimore , 7/1/1864 - 12/30/1864
- List of Enlisted Men at U.S. Rendezvous in New Orleans, Louisiana, 1864 - 1865
- Record of Substitutes Enlisted at the Naval Rendezvous at Boston, 6/7/1864 - 6/30/1864
- List of Men Shipped from the U.S. Naval Rendezvous, at Camden, New Jersey, 8/25/1864 - 10/4/1864
- Quarterly Returns of Enlistments on Vessels, 4/1866 - 8/1891
- Weekly Returns of Changes, Transfers, and Discharges from Recruiting Stations, Receiving Ships, and Naval Rendezvous, 4/1898 - 6/30/1902
Apprentices/Boys
Apprentices may also be listed on muster rolls and rendezvous reports, however the following records specifically relate to the enlistment of minors.
- Returns of Boys Entered as Apprentices, 7/1837 - 8/1842
- Certificates of Consent for Minors to Enter the Naval Service, 1838 - 1840
- Indexes to Enlistment Returns of Boys, 1864 - 1885
- Register of Enlistments of Naval Apprentices, 7/1864 - 10/1875
- Records Relating to the Enlistment of Underage Men as Apprentices, 7/1864 - 9/1889
- Weekly Reports of Boys and Apprentices Received on Board Naval Vessels, 6/26/1875 - 12/31/1894
Additional Records Relating to 19th and Early 20th Enlisted Sailors
- Lists of Recruits Enlisted for Service During the Civil War, 2/1864 - 6/1865
- Records Relating to Enlisted Men Who Served in the Navy Between 1842 and 1885
- Registers of Petty Officers Holding Permanent Appointments, 1893 - 1902
- Reports of Conduct of Enlisted Men and Duplicates of Composite Shipping Articles, 1867 - 1910
- Quarterly Reports of Conduct of Enlisted Men and Boys, 4/1875 - 6/1889
Naval Auxiliary
- Register of Commissioned Officers of the Auxiliary Naval Force, 1898 - 1898
- Personnel Records for Officers of the Naval Auxiliary Service, 1900 - 1917
- Personnel Records for Officers and Men of the Naval Auxiliary Service, 1901 - 1917
- Personnel Record Cards for Officers and Men of the Naval Auxiliary Service, 1901 - 1917
- Records Summarizing Service of Officers and Men of the Naval Auxiliary Service, 1901 - 1917
Official Military Personnel Files at the National Personnel Records Center and the National Archives at St. Louis
Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF) of enlisted sailors who were separated from the service from 1885 through 1994 and officers of the U.S. Navy who were separated from service after 1902 through 1994 are located at NARA's National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), (Military Personnel Records), 1 Archives Drive, St. Louis, MO 63138-1002. To request these records, please mail a completed GSA Standard Form 180 to NPRC. Veterans and their next of kin also may use eVetRecs to request records. See eVetRecs Help for instructions. For more information see Request Military Service.
If there is any information requested by the form that you do not know, you may omit it or provide estimates (such as for dates), but the more information you provide, the easier it will be to locate the correct file. If you are requesting a file for a sailor who served prior to World War 1, you may wish to search the file unit list available through the National Archives Catalog at Official Military Personnel Files, 1885 - 1998, as most service records for sailors that separated from 1885 through 1939 are listed in Catalog. If you find a match, please print out the Catalog description of the service record and attach it to the SF-180. Also some files have been digitized and are available online.
If your request is urgent (e.g. upcoming surgery, funeral, etc.), select Emergency Request in the Veteran Service Details section of eVetrecs. Alternatively, you may specify the emergency in the "Purpose" section of the SF-180 and fax it to the Customer Service Team at (314) 801-0764.
Records are accessioned into the legal custody of the National Archives at St. Louis and become archival 62 years after the service member's separation from the military, to include any reserve time. Separation from service is defined as discharge, retirement or death in service. This is a rolling date based on the present date.
Records of any veteran who separated from the military 62 (or more) years ago can be ordered by anyone for a copying fee. Archival files are subject to privacy restrictions and may have information redacted. For more information see Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF), Archival Holdings, Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF), Archival Records Requests, and Archival (Accessioned) OMPFS and EMFS.
Records of individuals who left service less than 62 years ago are non-archival. They remain in the legal custody of the Department of Defense and are maintained by NPRC under the Federal Records Center program. Federal (non-archival) OMPFs are subject to access restrictions, and only limited information or copies of documents from these records may be released to the general public within the provisions of the law. For more information see Request Military Service Records, Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF), Non-Archival Holdings, Access to Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF) for the General Public, and Access to Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF) - Veterans and Next-of-Kin.
Official Military Personnel Files at the Navy Personnel Command
Official Military Personnel Files (OMPFs) of enlisted sailors and officers of the U.S. Navy who were separated from the service after 1994 and for those who are actively serving in the U.S. Navy or the Navy Reserves are located at the Navy Personnel Command (PERS-313), 5720 Integrity Drive, Millington, TN 38055-3130. Please see the Navy's How to Request Navy OMPF Records and for more information, please review the Navy's webpage: Ordering and Reviewing Your OMPF. Members with a DoD Common Access Card (CAC), may order and view their record online at BUPERS Online (BOL).