The United States Naval Photographic Science Laboratory (NPSL) was opened in the midst of the Second World War, on 24 February 1943, at the Anacostia Naval Air Station,

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It was established under the military command of the Chief of the Navy's

Bureau of Aeronautics The Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) was the U.S. Navy's material-support organization for naval aviation from 1921 to 1959. The bureau had "cognizance" (''i.e.'', responsibility) for the design, procurement, and support of naval aircraft and relate ...

, Division of Photography, with the mission of centralizing the production and preservation of all naval related photography operations.

History

In July, 1941, United States

Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense. By law, the se ...

Frank Knox William Franklin Knox (January 1, 1874 – April 28, 1944) was an American politician, newspaper editor and publisher. He was also the Republican vice presidential candidate in 1936, and Secretary of the Navy under Franklin D. Roosevelt during ...

convened a board to study the photographic needs of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. By August, the board had recommended an expansion of operations of the

to include a photographic facility. The

Eastman Kodak Company The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

would serve as architect, engineer, and equipment producer for the project, which initiated construction at Anacostia Naval Air Station in February, 1942. While initial operations of the laboratory commenced in February 1943, construction of the Anacostia facility was not completed, and full photographic operations were not underway, until the summer of 1943. The three-story brick building that would house the from 1943-1947 contained over 5,000,000 cubic feet of space. Construction of the facility cost the Navy $2,000,000, with an additional $2,500,000 invested in equipment and materials. Despite the building's size, additional working space had to be found in other buildings at Anacostia. Contributing to the lack of space was the housing of both the Navy Photo Interpretation School as well as the Navy's Photographic Intelligence Center (PIC) on the building's third floor. Sealed off from the rest of the facility, the third floor became one of the most closely guarded top secret areas in all of

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Here, men and women worked around-the-clock to produce photo mosaics for both the

island hopping Leapfrogging, also known as island hopping, was a military strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against the Empire of Japan during World War II. The key idea is to bypass heavily fortified enemy islands instead of trying to captu ...

operations of the Pacific theater, as well as for

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The operat ...

- the

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

invasion of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The laboratory was staffed by writers, directors, commentators, animators, cameramen, editors, sound engineers, and musicians. US Navy

WAVES Waves most often refers to: *Waves, oscillations accompanied by a transfer of energy that travel through space or mass. * Wind waves, surface waves that occur on the free surface of bodies of water. Waves may also refer to: Music * Waves (ban ...

were actively involved in many stages of production. A sound stage on site at the Anacostia facility was capable of accommodating several productions simultaneously. The facility's production facilities had the capacity for developing and printing upward of one hundred million feet of film per year. During its first months of operation, the provided photographic services exclusively to the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

, including the conducting of research to develop new photographic equipment and techniques in the areas of motion picture production, still photography, aerial photography, graphic arts and photolithography. It was responsible for providing secret and confidential services at the Anacostia facilities for

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ea ...

and developing films in quantity and for the training of

motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

camera operators A camera operator, or depending on the context cameraman or camerawoman, is a professional operator of a film camera or video camera as part of a film crew. The term "cameraman" does not imply that a male is performing the task. In filmmaking ...

. It was the Navy's sole wartime unit for the production of both live action and animated

training film A training film is a form of educational film – a short subject documentary movie, that provides an introduction to a topic. Both narrative documentary and dramatisation styles may be used, sometimes both in the same production. While most ...

s. During the last two years of the war, the laboratory had expanded its operations to provide production services for any military or governmental activity. The also served as a storehouse for copies of motion pictures and still photographs sent to the laboratory from war-time fleet and air base operations. This included, but was not limited to, the in theater work of the

Naval Aviation Photographic Unit The Naval Aviation Photographic UnitFaram, Mark D. (2009), ''Faces of War: The Untold Story of Edward Steichen's WWII Photographers,'' Berkeley Caliber, New York, New York, was a group of military photographers in the United States Navy during t ...

under the command of Cmdr.

Edward Jean Steichen Edward Jean Steichen (March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter, and curator, renowned as one of the most prolific and influential figures in the history of photography. Steichen was credited with tr ...

. Additionally, the laboratory was tasked with preserving and cataloging much of the historical photographic record of prior US military engagements, for all branches of service, dating as far back as the American Civil War.

Naval Photographic Center

In 1947, while maintaining its operations base at

Anacostia Anacostia is a historic neighborhood in Southeast Washington, D.C. Its downtown is located at the intersection of Good Hope Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. It is located east of the Anacostia River, after which the neighborhood is nam ...

, the was renamed the United States Naval Photographic Center (NPC).https://catalog.archives.gov/id/10466012 National Archives Catalog: Department of the Navy. Bureau of Aeronautics. Naval Photographic Science Laboratory. (2/24/1943 - 1947)

Footnotes

Gallery

USNPSL_Entrance.jpg, Entrance to the United States Naval Photographic Science Laboratory at Anacostia Naval Air Station, Washington, D.C.. USNPSL_Ship_Stage_50.jpg, Production of US Navy training film at the United States Naval Photographic Science Lab at Anacostia Naval Air Station, Washington, D.C.. USNPSL_Dark_Room_69.jpg, In the dark room at the United States Naval Photographic Science Lab at Anacostia Naval Air Station, Washington, D.C.. USNPSL_Waves_Animation.jpg, US Navy

working in the animation division of the United States Naval Photographic Science Lab at Anacostia Naval Air Station, Washington, D.C.. USNPSL_Voice_Over_64.jpg, Voice over work at the United States Naval Photographic Science Lab at Anacostia Naval Air Station, Washington, D.C.. USNPSL_Large_Prints.jpg, Large prints room at the United States Naval Photographic Science Lab at Anacostia Naval Air Station, Washington, D.C..

References

{{reflist
National Archives Catalog: Department of the Navy. Bureau of Aeronautics. Naval Photographic Science Laboratory. (2/24/1943 - 1947)
* Bors, Joseph A. "Navy Photo Science Laboratory." Popular Photography, vol. 14, No. 5, May 1944, p. 34-35 & 87. * Campbell, Douglas E.
FLIGHT, CAMERA, ACTION! The History of U.S. Naval Aviation Photography and Photo-Reconnaissance, 2014
* DeForge, Gerald T.
Navy Photographer's Mate Training Series: Naval photography. Module 1
* H. R. Clifford, "United States Naval Photographic Science Laboratories," in Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, vol. 43, no. 6, pp. 405–413, Dec. 1944. * Snyder, Cecil C. and Frame, Richard R.
"How Deep is the Ocean?" Popular Mechanics, May 1946, p. 124-125.
* Strock, R. O. and Dickinson, E. A., "Western Electric Recording System—U. S. Naval Photographic Science Laboratory," in Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, vol. 43, no. 6, Dec. 1944, pp. 379–404. * Warren, Mame. "Focal Point of the Fleet: U.S. Navy Photographic Activities in World War II." The Journal of Military History, vol. 69 no. 4, 2005, p. 1045-1079. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/jmh.2005.0268 Photo archives in the United States Arts organizations established in 1943 1943 establishments in Washington, D.C.