Calvert Marine Museum, Solomon Islands, MD

The Calvert Marine Museum has a sizable collection of documents and photographs related to the USS Calvert, her crew, Calvert Reunions and the Calvert Associates. The museum also houses artifacts saved from the Calvert prior to her being scrapped in 1977.

The museum manages the USS Calvert archive as a “dynamic collection” with volunteers actively cataloging, digitizing and archiving the thousands of photographs and documents. A chronology of the Museum’s work to permanently create a display of USS Calvert archival material is presented here.

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.

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.

Items For Purchase

Third party sellers, not affiliated with this website, not affiliated with the Calvert Associates reunion association.

• WindJammer Arts now has a drawing of the USS Calvert available for purchase.
• Ebay often has USS Calvert memorabilia available: Cruise books, match books, lighters, photographs, miscellaneous historical papers, naval covers, etc.
• Etsy occasionally has USS Calvert memorabilia available

Veterans’ Health-Related Resources

• Asbestos & Mesothelioma – “The ships of the Crescent City-class were built at a time when asbestos was specified by the US Navy as a way to cut ship weight and increase speed while still providing fireproofing and insulation. From pipe and machinery covering to electrical cable sheathing to gasket and packing material and much more, asbestos-containing materials had hundreds of different uses on Navy ships and could be found in virtually all vessel areas.” from: https://www.mesotheliomafromnavy.com – Other helpful sites worth researching include:
  • Mesothelioma Prognosis Network has created the most extensive prognosis support and information source online.
  • Mesothelioma Guide for veterans
  • Mesothelioma Veterans Center at MesotheliomaVeterans.org
  • Mesothelioma Help Now is a good site for understanding types of mesothelioma (Pleural Mesothelioma, Peritoneal Mesothelioma, Pericardial Mesothelioma) and treatment options.
• Agent Orange
  • US Department of Veterans Affairs – Information regarding US Navy ships in Vietnam and the VA’s “Blue Water” criteria.
  • Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Association – Site dedicated to the efforts to pass legislation regarding coverage for blue-water navy personnel.
  • USS Calvert-related Agent Orange information is available here.

Additional USS Calvert related sites and pages:

• The Calvert at Wikipedia
• The Calvert at NavSource including several pictures of the Calvert.
• Calvert-related items on Ebay

Books

• A History of the USS Calvert (APA-32) by David. B. Cullen, Jr., is a 48-page book covering the ship’s history from 1942 to 1966. It includes a detailed account of the Calvert’s invasions, operations and voyages during WWII, Korea, and Vietnam.Mr. Cullen served as an officer aboard the Calvert during WWII. He published this book in 1986. Copies were made available at cost via the Calversion newsletter and at reunions for many years. You can download the full .pdf document by clicking on the title above.
• To All Hands: An Amphibious Adventure by John Mason Brown.
  • Brown was aboard the Calvert (code named Bond in the book) during operation Husky and wrote about the voyage and invasion of Sicily.
  • Most of the pictures in the book were taken aboard the Calvert and in the area of the Second Deck Division while en-route back to the eastern U.S. following the invasion of Sicily.
• History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II by Samuel Eliot Morison. Several volumes mention the Calvert by name and these volumes should be available in most public libraries:
  • • Volume 2: Operations in North African Waters – October 1942 – June 1943 – the Calvert is mentioned by name on pages 40, 139-142), the Harry Lee is mentioned on page 26.
    • Volume 8: New Guinea and Mariana – The Calvert is mentioned by name on page 364
    • Volume 9: Sicily, Salerno, Anzio – The Calvert is mentioned by name on pages 130-131

Other Museum Collections Containing Calvert-related Materials

• The Nimitz Library in Annapolis MD has a collection of Calvert action reports dated from November 1943 (Gilberts Islands operation) to October 1944 (Leyte operation).
• East Carolina University has a collection of Calvert-related materials from 1943-1945, including training materials, rosters, communiques, debarkation instructions, morning orders, plans for the day, and ship’s newsletters.

Other APAs (Attack Transports) and WWII Amphibious-Related Web Sites

• USS Harry Lee website. In Oct 1942 a large portion of the Harry Lee’s crew transferred to the Calvert when the Harry Lee suffered a mechanical break-down just prior to departing Norfolk, VA to participate in Operation Torch (invasion of North Africa).

• WWII-era Amphibious Forces An excellent web site by Russ Padden providing materials on attach transports (APAs) and many other WWII-era naval amphibious topics and ships. Russ does a great job linking to some of the best materials available on the web for WWII related amphibious operations, ships, and crews. He also has a great deal of information available on the attack transport USS Neshoba (APA-216). Note, Captain Sweeney, Commanding Officer of the USS Calvert in 1943 and 1944, was Commanding Officer of the USS Neshoba in later years.

Military medals, ribbons, patches and pins

• Suggested by a young reader/researcher, Amelia, if you are looking for a good overview of military insignia: https://wizardpins.com/blogs/education/military-insignia-history