Bluejackets at play in the last part of the 19th Century
Here is a great series of postal cards from the Detroit Publishing Co in the 1870s-1890s showing various scenes around the fleet. Several of these were taken on the grand old ship of the line USS Vermont which spent her entire life as a receiving ship. Others are on steel ships such as the protected cruiser USS Atlanta, and armored cruisers USS New York (ACR-2) and USS Brooklyn (ACR-3).
USS Brooklyn, “Apprentice boys at school.” Note the casemate gun
USS Atlanta, “Sword exercise” 1880s. It should be noted the Navy still had cutlasses on some ships through WWII. Note the Marine officer in kepi and the bluejackets in flatcaps.
USS Vermont, 1890, “Recruits waiting to be transferred.” note the hammock bedrolls on the bulkhead and dixie cups.
USS New York, “Scrubbing down”
USS Brooklyn, “Preparing Christmas dinner”
USS Brooklyn, “A quiet little game” showing bluejackets at play as a Marine looks on. Dig the landing gun to the left of the image under canvas.
Most of these are in the LOC under in their original B&W higher resolution condition (e.g. New York) should you be interested.
Since you’ve visited the Library of Congress Detroit Publishing Company collection, the dating of the postcards to the 1880s-90s is a little surprising. The first U.S. picture postcards were issued for the Columbian Exposition in 1893, but Congress did not standardize the mailing format and penny postage until 1898. The New York and Brooklyn were both commissioned in the 1890s. As the LoC’s backgrounder (http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/det/background.html) indicates, the photos used in the company’s color “Photochrom” postcards from 1905 onward date back to the 1890s at the earliest. Unfortunately the LoC seems to have the USS Texas as a postcard (http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.18030/?co=pgz), but you can enjoy this postcard of the Austro-Hungarian naval yard at Pola in Istria, now Pula in part of Croatia (http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsc.09551/).
It’s worth noting that this is the first U.S.S. Vermont, laid down in 1818, launched 1848, and used as a receiving ship until decommissioned in 1901 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Vermont_(1848)].