This assignment involves looking at the history and significance of a specific ship or boat in the U.S. or Confederate Navy.  You are supposed to exam its purpose, design and innovations, accomplishments, and contributions to the Navy.

INFORMATION ABOUT A SHIP OR BOAT

The first place to check for information about a ship or boat is the 8-volume set called Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.  It is under call number VA61.A53 and copies are on the bookcases behind the Reference Desk, the main Reference shelves, and in the 3^rd floor stacks.  This work is arranged alphabetically, with a separate section on Civil War ships, and is based on official ships records.  You can access this source electronically by clicking here, but it is not as complete as the printed version.

Do a subject search in our Library Catalog on your ship since the more famous ships or boats have books written about them.  We may also have cruise books from your ship, covering what happened on some deployment and often with many photographs and details about the ship.  Also search the class or type of ship, such as battleships or cruisers, in Innopac and look through general books for background chapters on the development of this class of ships.  The information should apply to your individual ship.

INFORMATION ABOUT WHY THE SHIP WAS BUILT AND ITS DESIGN

There are some Reference books that might be helpful in determining why your ship was built.  In particular, the Illustrated Design History series by Norman Friedman are excellent summaries of changes made to each class of ship in these categories:

U .S. Aircraft Carriers: An Illustrated Design History (V874.3.F74)

U. S. Amphibious Ships and Craft: An Illustrated Design History (V895.F75)

U. S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History (V815.3F74) 

U. S. Cruisers: An Illustrated Design History (V820.3.F75)

U. S. Destroyer: An Illustrated Design History (V825.3F74)

U. S. Small Combatants: An Illustrated Design History (V833.F75)

U. S. Submarines Since 1945: An Illustrated Design History (V858.F75)

U. S. Submarines Through 1945: An Illustrated Design History (V858.F74)

There are copies of these titles in the Reference collection and the general collection.

Another Reference book that can shed light on the political and military climate at the time your ship was built is American Secretaries of the Navy.  This 2-volume set under call number VB23.A57 contains chapters on each Secretary of the Navy describing the major issues and activities of his term.

HEARINGS ON SHIPBUILDING PROGRAMS

There are often official meetings or hearings on funding for many Navy activities or programs.  There may be hearings on your ship or class of ships and these emphasize the justification for building the ship and the level of appropriation. 

One source of these is the Naval Affairs Committee Hearings, which are in book form on the third floor under call number VA53.A2.  This old Congressional Committee debated many Navy topics.  Since not every individual hearing is listed in Innopac, your best bet is to go to the shelves and look at the table of contents or index at the approximate time your ship would have been funded.  These hearings are also cited in bibliographies.

Another kind of hearings is the set called Hearings Before the General Board of the Navy.  The General Board was an advisory group and their reports cover 1917-1950.  This is a microfilm collection of 15 reels under call number VA52.A834H43.  Use the printed guide with the same call number to identify a reel and frame number.  If you find a hearing, you can print it out for free from any of the reader/printers.

NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE ARTICLES

Your ship or boat may have made the news when it was built or for something important it did during its career.  For example, accounts of battles will often discuss the ships or boats involved.  Since the ships you can write on cover most of the 200 years of American naval history, where you look will vary depending on the time period.

You can access the full-text of the New York Times back to 1851 via the New York Times Historical File.  We also have the Washington Post back to 1874 on microfilm.

The major database to identify articles in history journals is America: History and Life. This database includes references to articles published since 1964 but they can be on ships of any time period.  You can link directly to the full-text of the article for some of them. 

Older indexes are still in printed form, but go back to the early 1800's.  In particular, Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature and its predecessor, Poole's Index to Periodical Literature may refer to articles in early magazines.  Let a librarian help you find articles.

Also in the Library is a single volume printed index to the United States Naval Institute Proceedings.  Located on Reference Table 1, this index is the quickest way to see if there were any articles on your ship or boat in the old Proceedings.  The magazine itself is shelved with bound periodicals on the second floor and is duplicated on microfilm.  Only recent years are available electronically, but the bound volumes, microfilm, and index go back to 1874.

OTHER PLACES TO CHECK

Ask a librarian to explain how to use bibliographies to find books or journal articles on your ship or boat.  Click here to link to some possible bibliographies.   Notice there is one called Battleships and Battle-Cruisers, 1884-1984: A bibliography and chronology, which cites material on specific ships.  It is in book form only under V815.S64 on the bookcases behind the Reference desk.  While some bibliographies are electronic, another useful series, called American Naval History Bibliography, is not and you'll need to come to the Library to use it.

PRIMARY SOURCES

You need to think about what kinds of primary source material might be available on your ship or boat.  For example, the Library has about 250 War Patrol Reports on microfilm for World War II submarines.  We have papers of some of the famous naval officers who commanded various ships.  There may be records of an inquiry into an accident or disaster involving your ship.  We have papers of ship designers like John Ericsson.  There are some ships logs or cruise books.  There are many accounts of battles in which these ships may have participated.  And there are the hearings on funding before the ship was built.  Let a librarian help you with ideas for primary sources on your particular ship or click here to read a tip sheet.

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND ARCHIVES

The Division of Special Collections and Archives on the 3^rd floor of the Library contains a lot of unique information on ships, including some ships logs, people's journals of voyages, and battle reports.  Check with the librarians there about your ship.

NEED MORE HELP?

Ask a Reference librarian for further suggestions or contact the History Librarian.

Return to History Tip Sheets Page.

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URL: http://www.usna.edu/Library/History/Shipshistory.html
Last updated: 7 February 2008