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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Personnel Strength of the U.S. Navy: 1775 to present

YEAR   OFFICERS      NURSES   ENLISTED    OFFICER       TOTAL
                                         CANDIDATES

1775       60           0          560        0           620
1776       90           0        3,000        0         3,090 
1777       90           0        2,500        0         2,590
1778       75           0        1,500        0         1,575
1779       75           0        1,500        0         1,575
1780       61           0        1,500        0         1,561
1781       61           0        1,000        0         1,061
1782       61           0        1,000        0         1,061
1783       61           0        1,000        0         1,061
1784       61           0          700        0           761
1785       61           0          700        0           761
1786        0           0            0        0             0
1787        0           0            0        0             0
1788        0           0            0        0             0
1789        0           0            0        0             0
1790        0           0            0        0             0
1791        0           0            0        0             0
1792        0           0            0        0             0
1793        0           0            0        0             0
1794      150           0        1,706        0         1,856
1795      150           0        1,706        0         1,856
1796      150           0        1,706        0         1,856
1797      150           0        1,706        0         1,856
1798      150           0        1,706        0         1,856
1799      200           0        2,000        0         2,200
1800      400           0        5,000        0         5,400
1801      200           0        2,500        0         2,700
1802      200           0        2,000        0         2,200
1803      200           0        1,500        0         1,700
1804      200           0        2,000        0         2,200
1805      191           0        3,000        0         3,191
1806      191           0          914        0         1,105
1807      191           0        1,954        0         2,145
1808      191           0        1,425        0         1,616
1809      450           0        4,425        0         4,875
1810      450           0        4,699        0         5,149
1811      454           0        4,910        0         5,364
1812      442           0        5,010        0         5,452
1813      525           0        5,000        0         5,525
1814      524           0        7,500        0         8,024
1815      531           0        6,242        0         6,773
1816      500           0        5,540        0         6,040
1817      494           0        5,000        0         5,494
1818      545           0        5,000        0         5,545
1819      568           0        3,500        0         4,068
1820      537           0        3,451        0         3,988
1821      484           0        3,451        0         3,935 
1822      534           0        3,240        0         3,774
1823      553           0        3,500        0         4,053
1824      531           0        3,564        0         4,095
1825      505           0        3,900        0         4,405
1826      471           0        4,291        0         4,762
1827      505           0        4,291        0         4,796
1828      506           0        4,291        0         4,797
1829      555           0        4,314        0         4,869
1830      615           0        4,314        0         4,929
1831      612           0        3,691        0         4,303
1832      642           0        4,670        0         5,312
1833      664           0        4,756        0         5,420
1834      695           0        4,756        0         5,451
1835      756           0        4,801        0         5,557
1836      787           0        4,801        0         5,588
1837      801           0        7,651        0         8,452
1838      847           0        6,809        0         7,656
1839      922           0        6,754        0         7,676
1840      932           0        7,085        0         8,017
1841      940           0        7,334        0         8,274
1842      998           0        9,784        0        10,782
1843    1,055           0        9,500        0        10,555
1844    1,063           0       10,040        0        11,103
1845    1,095           0       10,034       60        11,189 
1846    1,053           0        9,000       78        10,131
1847    1,126           0       10,000       67        11,193
1848    1,141           0       10,000       97        11,238
1849    1,282           0       10,000       63        11,345
1850    1,273           0        7,500       21         8,794
1851    1,246           0        7,500       46         8,792   
1852    1,232           0        7,500       73         8,805
1853    1,250           0        7,500       91         8,841
1854    1,254           0        7,500      125         8,879
1855    1,236           0        7,500      151         8,887
1856    1,027           0        7,500      154         8,681
1857    1,031           0        8,500      145         9,676
1858    1,068           0        8,500      161         9,729
1859    1,117           0        8,500      267         9,884
1860    1,150           0        8,500      292         9,942
1861    1,114           0       26,500      267        27,881
1862    3,224           0       30,000      230        33,454
1863    4,209           0       34,000      498        38,707
1864    5,679           0       51,500      501        57,680
1865    6,759           0       51,082      455        58,296
1866    2,297           0       13,600      443        16,340
1867    1,801           0       11,900      380        14,081
1868    1,976           0       10,000      292        12,268
1869    1,649           0       10,393      253        12,295
1870    1,551           0        8,765      246        10,562
1871    1,702           0        8,693      215        10,610
1872    1,699           0        9,719      262        11,680
1873    1,655           0        9,719      280        11,654
1874    1,595           0       10,812      293        12,700
1875    1,571           0        8,586      322        10,479
1876    1,646           0        8,058      342        10,046
1877    1,591           0        6,106      360         8,057
1878    1,582           0        6,135      370         8,087
1879    1,695           0        7,406      352         9,453
1880    1,713           0        7,322      326         9,361
1881    1,866           0        7,974      261        10,101
1882    1,911           0        8,018      241        10,170
1883    1,819           0        7,776      247         9,842
1884    1,660           0        8,947      239        10,846
1885    1,611           0        8,203      243        10,057
1886    1,549           0        8,123      237         9,909
1887    1,542           0        8,342      229        10,113 
1888    1,528           0        8,354      233        10,115
1889    1,530           0        8,147      244         9,921
1890    1,489           0        7,516      241         9,246
1891    1,510           0        7,501      236         9,247
1892    1,468           0        7,741      239         9,448
1893    1,486           0        7,801      242         9,529
1894    1,405           0        9,813      242        11,460
1895    1,412           0       10,189      245        11,846
1896    1,425           0       10,408      255        12,088
1897    1,399           0       10,327      259        11,985
1898    1,432           0       20,780      280        22,492
1899    1,588           0       14,501      265        16,354
1902    1,822           0       21,433      393        23,648
1903    1,893           0       27,245      652        29,790 
1904    2,014           0       29,321      823        32,158
1905    2,079           0       30,804      881        33,764
1906    2,133           0       32,163      757        35,053
1907    2,238           0       33,027      854        36,119
1908    2,443          20       39,048      811        42,322
1909    2,593          37       44,129      774        47,533
1910    2,645          54       45,076      758        48,533
1911    2,800          86       47,612      732        51,230
1912    2,964         110       47,515      768        51,357
1913    3,143         130       48,068      861        52,202
1914    3,271         135       52,667      916        56,989
1915    3,438         155       52,561      918        57,072
1916    3,870         152       55,123     1231        60,376
1917    8,038         345      185,143     1091       194,617
1918   31,194       1,386      495,662    2,096       530,338
1919   18,333       1,024      250,833    1,954       272,144
1920   10,109         533      108,950    2,253       121,845
1921    9,509         470      120,421    2,427       132,827
1922    7,855         479       89,482    2,395       100,211
1923    7,915         495       83,185    2,499        94,094
1924    8,165         486       87,709    1,824        98,184
1925    8,430         488       84,615    1,697        95,230
1926    8,618         473       82,629    1,584        93,304
1927    8,944         496       84,034    1,442        94,916
1928    8,898         503       84,822    1,580        95,803
1929    8,946         488       85,875    1,808        97,117
1930    9,038         502       85,467    1,883        96,890
1931    9,320         529       81,536    1,922        93,307
1932    9,463         504       81,679    1,738        93,384
1933    9,481         466       79,727    1,556        91,230
1934    9,623         349       80,792    1,548        92,312
1935    9,783         332       83,343    1,595        95,053
1936    9,897         350       93,625    2,420       106,292
1937    9,975         392      100,771    2,479       113,617
1938   10,312         427      105,599    2,750       119,088
1939   11,585         438      110,872    2,307       125,202
1940   17,723         504      192,173    4,873       215,273
1941   38,601         823      332,274    1,452       383,150
1942  118,038       2,907    1,102,218    6,004     1,259,167
1943  219,279       7,022    2,034,343  120,472     2,381,116
1944  300,101       8,893    2,808,134   84,627     3,201,755
1945  323,755      11,025    3,005,534   65,211     3,405,525
1946  233,035       9,077    1,832,896   30,459     2,105,467
1947   58,689       2,263      464,501    4,166       529,619
1948   45,298       2,008      396,204    5,722       449,232
1949   46,158       1,975      397,655    5,488       451,276
1950   54,423       2,426      498,954    4,951       560,754
1951   72,157       3,333      705,997    5,962       787,449
1952   79,166       3,081      735,753    6,265       824,265
1953   78,574       2,724      721,638    6,452       809,388
1954   77,889       2,403      674,580    6,514       761,386
1955   72,444       2,165      617,296    6,599       698,504
1956   70,419       2,065      596,741    8,512       677,737
1957   71,775       2,077      604,804    6,883       685,539
1958   71,144       6,181      569,890    6,181       647,215
1959   70,221       2,045      558,750    6,236       635,207
1960   68,587       2,140      555,946    5,778       630,311
1961   71,703       2,076      582,305    6,880       660,888
1962   71,593       2,098      577,677    6,694       655,964
1963   74,033       2,084      582,866    6,657       663,556
1964   75,371       2,028      583,218    6,717       665,306
1965   77,196       1,936      584,683    6,929       668,808
1966   78,100       1,943      630,767    6,725       715,592
1967   80,683       2,238      660,795    6,387       748,045
1968   81,961       2,225      663,797    6,589       752,347
1969   85,687       2,408      666,700    6,605       758,992
1970   82,565       2,283      643,164    6,048       731,777
1971   77,442       2,202      572,338    5,843       655,623
1972   74,208       2,254      524,205    5,774       604,187
1973   71,448       2,197      502,777    5,407       579,672
1974   68,250       2,527      483,257    5,021       556,528
1975   66,036       2,668      474,596    5,093       545,725
1976   64,110       2,570      460,161    4,938       529,209
1977   63,337       2,633      459,780    4,616       527,733
1978   62,890       2,606      458,710    4,915       526,515
1979   62,161       2,542      458,431    4,863       525,455
1980   62,648       2,640      457,459    4,989       525,096
1981   64,580       2,713      466,388    5,541       536,509
1982   66,579       2,661      475,147    5,582       547,308
1983   68,764       2,744      489,495    5,361       563,620
1984   70,382       2,896      497,837    5,298       573,517
1985   71,079       2,951      503,072    5,443       579,594
1986   72,890       3,029      510,713    5,662       589,265
1987   74,064       3,078      523,071    5,608       602,743
1988   74,115       3,055      523,106    5,395       602,616
1989   74,374       2,989      526,018    5,410       605,802
1990   74,557       3,020      525,159    5,707       605,423
1991   74,001       3,108      525,130    5,425       604,556
1992   72,126       3,205      498,769    5,152       576,047
1993   70,061       3,341      469,420    4,922       544,403
1994   61,750       3,251      402,626    4,286       480,224
1995   58,778       3,319      371,670    4,159       437,926
1996   57,477       3,275      355,048    3,275       419,075
1997   56,215       3,283      335,284    4,000       398,782


NOTES:

Italicized figures above indicate target for Year.

The figures for 1775 - 1942 were derived from the Bureau of Naval Personnel Annual Report, Navy and Marine Corps Military Personnel Statistics, 30 June 1960. Figures for 1943 - 1959 were derived from Annual Report Navy and Marine Corps Military Personnel Statistics, 30 June 1959. Figures for 1960 - 1992 were derived from the Bureau of Naval Personnel's quarterly Navy Military Personnel Statistics. The Bureau of Naval Personnel published monthly personnel statistics for the period 30 June 1941 to 1992. For those years, the highest personnel strength for the year is listed above. The figures for 1993 to the present were obtained directly from the Bureau of Naval Personnel.

23 October 1997