A lot of the basics of nf: trainworld.us/nf-guides/ (It's a mirror of nf-guides.com)
Ship and equipment info (often better updated than this site): trainworld.us
How vets (and lots of other things) work: (Adalbert's guide) http://www.navyfield.com/board/view.asp?Num=84358&Sort=D07 Short version: vets and experts make your crew more effective at their tasks, and 1 vet is about as good as 4 experts.
The best guns vary with the ship and what role you want to take. Generally, you want to maximize range (L version), and use the largest caliber guns that will fit. Exceptions include using triple 6.1 or dual 7.9 N/D on the Agano and Mogami CL due to the L (and in some cases N) guns not fitting, dual 5.5 instead of dual 6 (size and weight issues) or single 7.9 (barrel count, rate of fire) on the Tsukikei and Yubari.
AAing will generally force you to smaller guns (dual 4.7 or triple 6.1 if you are using AA gunners, dual 3.9 or 5 if you only have armament sailors, and dual 3.9 or triple 6.1 if you are using regular gunners). There are good general guides stickied here, in the US section, and at nf-guides.
If you want to go sub, those ship choices will work. If you're going for TW and ASW (until you get that sub), consider running with very small or no guns for extra speed.
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