Navy Ships Behind the Scenes
A recruiting sheet with a photograph of a destroyer tender and two destroyers at moorings, ringed by line drawings of eight auxiliary ships and the PT-10 patrol boat, each with a caption. The text presents the auxiliary fleet as vital to coastal defence and ends 'The United States Navy offers a career for you'. The technique is faint: the closing line is a general benefit claim.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Navy Recruiting Bureau
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Recruit
- Theme
- War and the military
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
U.S. Navy Recruiting Bureau. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-175 (NAID 513621).
Text on the object
"Navy Ships behind the Scenes" THE U. S. S. KANAWHA, OILER, PART OF THE TRAIN - THE NON-COMBATANT VESSELS THAT KEEP THE FLEET FIT AND READY. THE U. S. S. HOLLAND, NAVY SUBMARINE TENDER COMMISSIONED IN 1926, DRAWING 22 FEET, AND WEIGHING 11,570 TONS. STORE SHIP, U. S. S. ARCTIC, COMMISSIONED IN 1921, AND CREWED BY 166 MEN. U. S. S. WEST POINT, FORMERLY THE STEAMSHIP AMERICA, NOW COMMISSIONED A NAVY SHIP TO SERVE WITH THE AUXILIARY FLEET. U. S. S. PIGEON, FORMER MINE SWEEPER, NOW RECOMMISSIONED AS A SUBMARINE RESCUE VESSEL. U. S. S. PYRO, AMMUNITION SHIP, VITAL BOTH FOR PEACE-TIME MANEUVERS AND WARTIME EFFICIENCY. THE U. S. S. MINDANAO, BUILT AT SHANGHAI, AND STYLED WITH ITS SHALLOW DRAFT TO PROTECT AMERICAN INTERESTS IN CHINA'S INTERIOR U. S. S. RELIEF, ONE OF THE NAVY'S TWO FULLY-EQUIPPED FLOATING HOSPITALS. SPEARHEAD OF THE NEW MOSQUITO FLEET, THE PT-10, NEAR-DUPLICATE OF THE BRITISH-BUILT PT-9. PICTURED in the photograph is an important unit of "Navy Ships behind the Scenes"-a destroyer tender with part of her flotilla lying alongside for their routine check-up and repairs. To most Americans the United States Navy is symbolized by the swift-cruising dreadnaughts-the ships of the line. But behind this fighting front in equally active operation is the fleet of auxiliaries and inshore craft, smaller in size, but no less vital to the protection of America's double coastline. The sketches illustrate the types of ships of this auxiliary fleet. These auxiliaries furnish the combatant ships with replacement parts, supply them with food, ammunition, and fuel, provide surgical and hospital attention, keep men and ships in fighting trim, and link the inshore to the coastal patrol. They are all vital to America's defense of the waters which encircle her shores. Your Navy Recruiting Station can tell you about the advantages you will derive from service aboard these or any ships of the United States Navy. the UNITED STATES NAVY OFFERS A CAREER FOR YOU [imprint: NRB-30695-11-17-41-10M.] [#431]
