Naval History and Heritage Command

Navy regulations began when the Second Continental Congress enacted the Rules for the Regulation of the Navy of the United Colonies on 28 November 1775. The rules contained 44 articles that “established for preserving their rights and defending their liberties, and for encouraging all those who feel for their country, to enter into its service in that way in which they can be most useful.” The articles ranged from the commanders authority to instill discipline and obedience to the commander in chief of the fleet’s power to pardon and remit any sentence of death that shall be given in consequence of any of the articles. It was not until “An Act for the Government of the Navy of the United States,” enacted 2 March 1799, that Congress established the U.S. Navy’s first Constitutional law that provided rules and regulations. This was followed the next year by “An Act for the Better Government of the Navy of the United States.” 

In the years preceding the Civil War, 12 publications were promulgated under a number of titles by the president, the Navy Department, and the secretary of the Navy. A decision by the attorney general that the pre-Civil War issuances were invalid led to the inclusion in the 1862 naval appropriations bill of a provision that “the orders, regulations, and instructions heretofore issued by the Secretary of the Navy be, and they are hereby, recognized as the regulations of the Navy Department, subject, however, to such alterations as the Secretary of the Navy may adopt, with the approbation of the President of the United States.” Thirteen editions of Navy regulations were published under this authority. 

The 1973 edition of Navy regulations provided that “United States Navy Regulations shall be issued by the Secretary of the Navy with the approval of the President.” In 1981, the provision for presidential approval was removed. Congress enacted the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986, which granted each of the service secretaries the authority to prescribe regulations to carry out statutory functions, powers, and duties. 

The chief of naval operations is responsible for maintaining Navy regulations, and that they conform to the needs of the Department of the Navy. If any person in the Navy wants to make additions, changes, or deletions to a Navy regulation, he or she must forward a draft of the changes to the CNO via their chain of command. Ultimately, the secretary of the Navy must approve any changes to Navy regulations. 

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Regulations

• Navy Regulations, 1814
• Uniform Regulations, 1797
• Uniform Regulations, 1802
• Uniform Regulations, 1814
• Uniform Regulations, 1833
• Uniform Regulations, 1841
• Uniform Regulations, 1852
• Uniform Regulations, 1864
• Uniform Regulations, 1866
• Uniform Regulations, 1869
• Women’s Reserve, USNR, 1943
• Library Regulations: USS Pittsburgh
• Regulations Concerning the Naval Convoy of Military Expeditions, 5/27/1917
• Regulations for Powder Magazines and Shell Houses, 1874
• Regulations Concerning Armed Guards, 3/13/1917
• Rules for the Regulation of the Navy, 1775

Policy

• Women’s Policy 1947–1991
• Permitting Policy and Cultural Resource Management
• Privacy Policy
• Organizational Research and Policy Division, 1932–1949
• US Democracy Promotion Policy in the Middle East
• Collection Development Policy
• The Sullivan Brothers: U.S. Navy Policy Regarding Family Members Serving Together at Sea
• History of US Naval Operations Korea: Policy and Its Instruments
• US Navy Capstone Strategy, Policy, Vision and Concept Documents
• Bombing As a Policy Tool in Vietnam
• Islamic State and US Policy
• Iran, Gulf Security and US Policy
• Notes Related to Convoy Policy, 4/23/1918
• A Sense of Sovereignty:  How China’s ‘Century of Humiliation’ Affects U.S. Policy in the South China Sea
• NHHC Services and Policies
• General Information for Employees-Washington Navy Yard, 1941

Miscellaneous Orders/Directives

• List of Z-grams
• Alcohol in the Navy, 1794-1935
• Alcoholic Liquors: General Order No. 244, 21 March 1934
• Executive Order 9981, Desegregating the Armed Forces, 26 July 1948.
• General Order 99 (Prohibition in the Navy), 1 June 1914
• Port and Starboard: General Order, 18 February 1846
• Observance of the Sabbath Day: General Order No. 456, 15 March 1919
• Accepting Presents: General Order, 21 January 1834
• Animals on Public Vessels: General Order, 28 November 1838
• Furnishing Vessels: General Order, 17 December 1850
• Contracts of Enlistment Ending: General Order, 27 September 1851
• Naval Academy Graduates Denied Final Examination Letter If Addicted to the Habit of Intoxication: General Order, 17 May 1858
• Officers of the Navy Forbidden to Give Publicity to Any Hydrographical Knowledge Obtained During Service: General Order, 22 April 1862
• Rules for Naval Communication: General Order, 12 December 1862
• Rules for Correspondence with the Secretary of the Navy and Bureaus of the Department: General Order, 23 December 1862
• Rules to Disseminate General Orders to the Officers and Crew of Naval Vessels: General Order No. 1, 10 January 1863
• To Be Observed in the Navy of the United States in Relation to Paroles: General Order No. 9, 2 April 1863
• Requirements of Fathers, Mothers or Guardians to Present a Boy for Enlistment in the Naval Service: General Order No. 81, 21 November 1866