Open.
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Received from National Personnel Records Center, NARA, of St. Louis, MO, in November 2006 (Acc. MS-2007-020).
Opened in November 2006.
Processed by James M. Roth.
The Department of the Navy was established by an act of April 30, 1798 (1 Stat. 553). It was preceded by the War Department (1789-1798). Its functions were to advise the President on naval matters, and administer the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. It was reorganized by the National Security Act of 1947 (61 Stat. 495), July 26, 1947, into a unit of the National Military Establishment. In 1949, the Department of the Navy was moved under the Department of Defense.
Personnel functions were vested in the Office of the Secretary of the Navy, with assistance of Board of Navy Commissioners, 1815-1842, until departmental reorganization under an act of July 5, 1862 (12 Stat. 510), created the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting, which was responsible for enlisted personnel. Assignment of officers vested in Office of Detail, established March 1861 in the Office of the Secretary, and transferred, April 1865, to Bureau of Navigation (renamed Bureau of Naval Personnel, 1942), which acquired responsibility for enlisted personnel from Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting in departmental reorganization of June 30, 1889, pursuant to General Order 372, Navy Department, June 25, 1889. Functions relating to civilian personnel were retained by the Office of the Secretary of the Navy under the supervision of the Chief Clerk.
Additional records of the Department of the Navy are available in Record Group 80 at the National Archives and Records Administration.
This collection contains copies of the Department of the Navy military personnel files for John F. Kennedy, Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy.
Arranged alphabetically by name.
This series consists of copies of Navy personnel files of John F. Kennedy, Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy. The originals are held by the National Personnel Records Center.