How Do I Locate Navy Personnel?

QUESTION: How to locate a shipmate or family member?
ANSWER: Active duty:

The Navy's World Wide Locator is a service established to find the present duty station of active duty personnel, and is for official business use only. Family members, active duty personnel and Navy retirees may also use this system. To do so, you must have the service member's full name, Social Security number, grade or rank, and, if possible, last known duty station. Write to:

World Wide Locator
Bureau of Naval Personnel
Pers-324D
2 Navy Annex
Washington D.C. 20370-3240

Retirees and those who have left the Navy but are not retired:

To locate retirees, limited service is available through the World Wide Locator (address above). Correspondence will be forwarded, if possible, to the retiree as addresses are not releasable by law under the Privacy Act. Also, many times the address is not known. You may also place a locator notice in the Navy's retiree newsletter Shift Colors or may advertise for former shipmates in any of the many veterans' organizations magazines.

For more information, see the Navy Locater page.