About

Audio program overview of the why Richmond, California was chosen as this national park location.

This program is part of an introduction to the history of the park and the WWII Home Front. You can listen to it at home, while driving, before your visit to the park visitor center or as part of the official NPS App driving tour. These files are also available as a free download on our website and can be a great educational tool for your classroom.

The Maritime Washington National Heritage Area tells a nationally important story of maritime heritage, from Native American canoe cultures to industrial working waterfronts, that shaped western Washington and contributes today to our development as a nation.

The SS Red Oak Victory Ship is the last surviving ship built in the Kaiser Shipyards, and is owned by the non-profit Richmond Museum Association. Today, the Red Oak Victory remains a monument to the men and women who worked in war related industries as part of the World War II Home Front. In 1998, the ship was saved from the Naval Reserve Fleet in Suisun Bay by a courageous group of men and women and has been under restoration since that time.

Sign titled "Flags at Sea" in the Charlestown Navy Yard. This sign describes five different sea flags.

It was here at The Rocks, in 1638, along the banks of the Christina River over 380 years ago, that the first Swedish and Finnish American settlers aboard the Kalmar Nyckel and the Fogel Grip landed. The wharf of rocks is all that remains of the first landing.

This lesson is based on the World War II facilities at Midway, among the thousands of properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The facilities have been designated a National Historic Landmark.

This Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan focuses on the Philadelphia Navy Yard at League Island. Today, the navy yard is known as the Philadelphia Navy Yard Annex, or the PNYA.

The pier was historically the lifeline of Kalaupapa, bringing patients, visitors, staff, and supplies into the settlement.

The replica tall ship, FRIENDSHIP OF SALEM, is docked at Derby Wharf and was designed to present the appearance an original 1797 Salem-built vessel. FRIENDSHIP OF SALEM represents New England’s influential role in the development of global and domestic maritime trade and in the economic and political development of the United States.

On December 13, 1914, the German auxiliary cruiser SMS Cormoran, out of fuel and cut off from Germany by World War I, took refuge from Japanese warships in Guam. The ship spent the next two years interned in Apra Harbor. When the United States declared war on Germany in 1917, the Cormoran's captain blew up the ship rather than let her fall into enemy hands.

The Bird Key Wreck, also known as the Brick Wreck.

The Francisco Morazan ran aground in a snowstorm on November 24, 1960. You can hike out to the site of the shipwreck. The Cormorants have made this home.

The Francisco Morazan ran aground in a snowstorm on November 24, 1960. You can hike out to the site of the shipwreck. The Cormorants have made this home.

The Francisco Morazan ran aground in a snowstorm on November 24, 1960. You can hike out to the site of the shipwreck. The Cormorants have made this home.

The Francisco Morazan ran aground in a snowstorm on November 24, 1960. You can hike out to the site of the shipwreck. The Cormorants have made this home.

Thousands of ships have been wrecked in the Great Lakes. Many met their fate as shipping and transportation peaked on the lakes during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. With them drowned countless sailors, captains, passengers and crew— victims of a time before modern forecasting and navigation. Learn about a wreck that occurred at Indiana Dunes in 1857.

The high cliffs that run the backside of Cape Cod spill out into loose rolling sand dunes at Head of the Meadow Beach in Truro.

Learn more about the treacherous Manitou Passage.

Learn about the treacherous Manitou Passage

In front of the T. Stell Newman Visitor Center at War in the Pacific National Historical Park in Guam stands the last Type-C Japanese midget submarine in existence.

This year marks the 80th Anniversary of the Japanese attack on Dutch Harbor and Unalaska, as well as their occupation of Attu and Kiska. Learn about the literary connections to the Aleutians, the USS Monaghan, and the American defense of Shemya Island during World War II.

Lieutenant Commander Abele was in charge of the USS Grunion, which was lost at sea in World War II, while patrolling the Aleutian Islands. His submarine remained missing until 2006, when a team of explorers hired by Abele's three sons found the submarine.

Submarines played a critical role in the Allied success of World War II. Learn about American, German, and Japanese submarines in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters.

Submarines were critical to Allied success in World War II, and played a role in disabling the Japanese Navy and Japanese merchant ships in the Pacific. Discover stories from submariners and their submarines that were stationed in the Aleutian Islands: the Finback, S-27, S-32, Triton III, and the Tuna II.

The USS Grunion was a World War II submarine that sank off Kiska Island, in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. She was last heard from July 30, 1942, but her final resting place (and the story of how she got there) remained a mystery for decades. In 2006, the sons of Lt. Cmdr. Mannert Abele led a team that found the Grunion. Discover the fate of the Grunion and her crew.

The Harbor Entrance Control Post is located inside the walls of Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island. Built in 1944, it was a joint Army/Navy installation to coordinate the defense of Charleston Harbor.

George Herold longed to be part of a submarine crew and enlisting in the US Navy he was given an opportunity. While in training at the Quartermaster Signal man School in Pearl Harbor, George witnessed the Japanese bombing . Later, in the Aleutian Islands, George was aboard the S-27 when it was grounded and sunk off Amchitka.

A torpedo man on the USS Finback, USS Fulton, USS Chub and USS George Washington Harry served in the Aleutians, South Pacific, Philippines and China Sea.