These annual collector's editions feature articles on the key issues that have faced the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine during the year. Each volume includes summaries of the sea services' most significant events and essays by leading authorities on personnel policies, aircraft and weapons developments, and legislative issues. In addition, each heavily illustrated, volume features photos and assignments of the flag and general officers and, since 1998, senior enlisted leaders of the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and NOAA at the time the volume was published. Each special hardbound edition is embossed with the U.S. Naval Institute seal on the cover and gold lettering on the spine.