Author Archives: Chris Funck

USS Calvert exhibit at the Calvert Marine Museum

The Calvert Marine Museum, Solomons Island, MD, is nearing completion of a permanent exhibit featuring the USS Calvert. Part of the plan and investment for the exhibit was the commissioning of a display model of the USS Calvert.

If you plan to visit, helpful information is available on the museum’s website, here.

Museum location is 14200 Solomons Island Rd S, Solomons, MD 20688. Google map view here.

Permanent exhibit, as of September, 2020

Display model. Shows the Calvert’s configuration following the ship’s overhaul in 1958 which took place at Hunter’s Point Shipyard, San Francisco.
“The ship spent the several months undergoing overhaul. It resulted in a good overhaul of the engineering plant: On our sea trials toward the end of the period she made over 18 knots. We also had installed a high smoke pipe on the large false stack. It ruined the handsome appearance of the ship but it did wonders for the atmosphere on the bridge, which for years before had been miserable. The ship also underwent communications alterations and installation of electronic countermeasures equipment.” Captain Harry B. Stark, Commanding Officer, November 1957 to August 1958.
There are plans for a 4-to-6 minute video to be displayed in the unfinished cabinet at the bottom left area of this photograph. The video will likely show portions of the color 1944 film footage and selected sections of the 1962 and 1965-66 WestPac cruise movie footage.

Appreciation to Mark Wilkins, Curator of Maritime History, Calvert Marine Museum, for these photographs. And appreciation to Robert Hurry, Museum Registrar, for the close-up photograph of the completed display model.

Temporary exhibit, late 2018 to early-2019

This photograph shows a temporary exhibit, circa early-2019, before the larger permanent exhibit, pictured above, was completed.

About the USS Calvert exhibit

The article below was published in the Fall 2019 edition of the Calvert Marine Museum’s Bugeye Times newsletter. The full newsletter is available here.

About the Calvert Marine Museum, Solomon Islands, MD

The Calvert Marine Museum has a sizable collection of artifacts, documents and photographs related to the USS Calvert, her crew, Calvert reunions and the Calvert Associates.

Most of these materials donated to the museum were provided by John Cole, the original author, compiler, and publisher of the Calversion as well as the original organizer for the USS Calvert reunions. At the 1981 USS Calvert reunion, Atlanta, GA, the Calvert Associates approved the Calvert Marine Museum as the official repository for USS Calvert materials.

The museum manages the USS Calvert archive as a “dynamic collection” with volunteers actively cataloging, digitizing and archiving the thousands of photographs and documents.

If you have USS Calvert related materials, and you don’t know what to do with it, please consider sending your materials to the Museum and they will care for it for future generations. Contact me with questions and I will connect you with the appropriate staff contacts at the museum.

USS Calvert Associates reunion group’s visit to the Museum, October 2015

As part of the 2015 Baltimore reunion event, attendees were welcomed by the Calvert Marine Museum staff and Calvert County officials at the Calvert County Library. At the museum we were able to get close up to selected items from the museum’s ever growing collection of USS Calvert memorabilia. The library hosted a temporary exhibit of the USS Calvert in advance of the Museum’s long-term plans for the permanent exhibit as shown above.

Here are several photos from the 2015 visit to the Museum and library.

USS Calvert name board – Saved
“It is now 1991 … Back in 1978 the Levin Metals Co. of Richmond, Ca. scrapped out the Calvert, they sent me parts of the ship.
Last summer (1990) I received a call from them again. They wanted to know if I was interested in the ship’s nameboard that hung on either side of the bridge. I said I was interested and they said that they would ship it to me. Well it came, and I am happy. The board is seven feet long and nine inches high. The words U.S.S. Calvert APA 32, are made of brass and are six inches high.
It seems that Levin kept these boards from all the ships that they scrapped and since someone had just bought them out, they wanted to clean house. Since I had been sending them a newsletter since day one, they thought I might want it.
Levin, thank you very much.”
Calversion V24, p1
John L. Cole

Temporary exhibit, Calvert County Library. October, 2015

Captain Ward’s Letter to Families and Friends, February 1966

The following letter was sent, via air mail, to family and friends contacts of the Calvert’s crew members in early February 1966. Written and signed by Captain Ward, the Calvert’s Commanding Officer at that time, it is a fitting and warmhearted message as the Calvert neared the end of her final Far East Cruise, her return to San Diego, and eventual decommissioning later that spring.

Each image below is viewable as a larger version by clicking on the image.

Thank you to an anonymous donor for sharing this letter for inclusion on the website and historical record of the USS Calvert.

USS Calvert Historical Details – January 1, 1960 to August 1, 1966

The document available for download below is a draft of the historical details of the USS Calvert and crew from during the 1960s.

The 42-page document (a .pdf file) may be viewed or downloaded here:

and includes details on the following events and activities:

  • November 1960 to July 1961 Far East Cruise
  • 1962 WestPac Cruise
  • 1963 West Coast Training Exercises
  • 1964 WestPac Cruise
  • 1965 WestPac Cruise
  • Calvert’s Final WestPac Cruise, Vietnam Service – August 1965 to February 1966
  • Final days and decommissioning

Please leave comments below or email me directly if you have any corrections, questions, or details you would like to share.

This document represents a “working draft” and as such there may be formatting issues, grammatical errors, as well as historical inaccuracies, incomplete or conflicting details.

Document version history as follows:

  • v2020.06.02 – Addition of text from two letters (to friends and families; commendation) from early 1966. Both original documents are available on this website.
  • v2020.05.29 – Rough draft, first published.

USS Calvert Historical Details – January 1, 1955 to December 31, 1959

The document available for download below is a draft of the historical details of the USS Calvert and crew for the period 1955 to 1959. The 34-page document (a .pdf file) may be viewed or downloaded here:

USS Calvert Historical Research Notes for the period January 1, 1995 to December 31, 1959.

It includes details on the following events and activities:

  • 1955 Far East Cruise – March 1955 to September 1955
  • 1956 Far East Cruise – August 1956 to April 1957
    • Including details on Operation Tradewinds, Hawaii, and filming of sequences for the movie South Pacific
  • 1958 Far East Cruse – June 1958 to December 1958
  • A series of combined Navy-Marine beach landings and helicopter landing exercises during 1959 in Southern California and Hawaii, used to develop and test new techniques for joint Navy and Marine amphibious assaults.

Please leave comments below or email me directly if you have any corrections, questions, or details you would like to share.

This document represents a “working draft” and as such there may be formatting issues, grammatical errors, as well as historical inaccuracies, incomplete or conflicting details.

Document version history as follows:

  • v2020.05.22 – Rough draft, first published.
  • v2023.10.01 – Several updates, including photographs and maps. Daily history added for November and December, 1959.