Cruise book
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A cruise book is a yearbook-style publication often produced by ships of the United States Navy upon completion of a long deployment (typically six months or more).
On large ships, the books are produced on board by the ship's Morale, Welfare and Recreation department and Public Affairs staff, and then printed ashore by the same printing companies that publish high school and college yearbooks. The cruise book of a Nimitz Class aircraft carrier typically reaches over 600 pages in length, as it includes portraits of the more than 5000 sailors and Marines assigned to the ship's company and embarked carrier air wing.
Cruise books of smaller ships are typically much smaller, often 50-100 pages, and are produced informally by volunteers. They are printed ashore by the same companies that serve the larger ships.
It should be noted that USMC units also do Cruise books. Many units do so remotely from their deployed location, allowing them to proof the books prior to final printing. This is usually done by allowing the publisher to maintain a website where the pages are displayed to be viewed by anyone in the unit. An example of such a site can be viewed at http://www.mwss274ironmen.com/
The Navy Department Library has a collection of over 8,000 cruise books and similar Navy yearbooks, dating from the Spanish-American War to the present.
