Downloadable Source Documents

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U.S. Navy Auxiliary Ships, 1835-1945

Auxiliary Vessels Board Reports, 1941-1948
-- The Auxiliary Vessels Board and the District Craft Development Board are described on the Auxiliary Vessels Board page.

Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, 1911-1945
-- The Ships' Data Books are referred to on the Sources page for the 1835-1945 section. The Google scans are included here because they do not always turn up in Google searches. Volume 1 of the 1945 edition was downgraded from "Confidential" to "Restricted" by its originator (Admiral Cochrane) on 5 January 1946 (see correspondence inserted after page iii), and this copy was later reviewed and declassified on 28 September 1967 citing as authority DoD Directive 5200.9, "Downgrading and Declassification of Certain Information Originated Before January 1, 1946," dated 27 September 1958. The generalstaff.org site (formerly alternatewars.com) also has nice scans of volumes 2 and 3, all three volumes being presented in multiple sections.

U. S. Navy Temporary Auxiliary Ships of World War I

Unpublished Appendix (Volume II) to Clephane, History of the Naval Overseas Transportation Service in World War I
-- At the end of World War I the Navy Department assembled the records of the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS), which operated most of the Navy's temporary auxiliary ships of World War I except for the troop transports, and detailed LCDR Lewis P. Clephane, USNRF, to prepare a history. He prepared two manuscripts: one with the history proper (published in 1969 on the 50th anniversary of the war) and one with individual histories of the 450 NOTS ships from commissioning to end of service. This second manuscript, referenced on the World War I front page, remained unpublished but was available to the authors of the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships and the Online Library of Selected Images.

U. S. Navy Section Patrol (SP) and Identification (ID) Numbers, 1916-1941

Analogous World War II programs
-- Shipscribe has done no research on the World War II analogs to the World War I Section Patrol program but these two reports give glimpses into Navy and WSA activity in this area. The main World War II analog to the SP's appears to have been the Coast Guard Reserve, which enrolled several thousand small craft with CGR numbers during the war.

Shipbuilding Programs and Contracts of the U. S. Navy, 1938-1945
-- This report, NAVSHIPS (282), issued by the Finance Division of the Bureau of Ships, is referenced on the Introduction page for the section on Navy building programs, 1938-1945, as the primary source for program numbers and is also a comprehensive source for authorizations and appropriations for 1922-1945 as of the end of the war.

-- This report, NAVSHIPS 250-641, issued by Code 641 in the Bureau of Ships, is referenced on the Introduction page as the most comprehensive source for shipbuilding contracts of this period in their final form besides the postwar Ships' Data Books, which are not commonly available. A change updating it to 1 January 1956 has been entered.

-- This report, issued by Op-41, formerly Op-05, in the office of the Chief of Naval Operations, is referenced on the Introduction page for the section on Navy building programs, 1938-1945. It provides information from directives and other correspondence regarding the wartime building program for combatant ships. It does not cover the Auxiliary Program, the Landing Craft Program, or the District Craft Program, because they were under the cognizance of Op-414, formerly Op-23.

Shipbuilding Contracts of the U.S. Maritime Commission, 1937-1945
-- This report, issued by the Construction Division of the U. S. Maritime Commission ca. 1948, is a major source for data on the shipbuilding contracts of the Maritime Commission, 1937-1945, and was also referenced on the Sources page for the 1835-1945 naval auxiliaries section as the primary source for construction dates for all ships built by the MC.

-- This Maritime Administration report extends the record of U.S. Government merchant shipbuilding through 1976.


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