Operational Archives Branch
Origin and Scope of Collection
The origin of the Operational Archives Branch dates to 1884
when the war records section of the Office of Library and Naval War Records
was funded by Congress to collect, compile, and arrange the naval records
of the Civil War. During the First World War, the Navy set up an historical
office on the staff of U.S. Naval Forces operating in European Waters to
collect documents of historic value on the Navy's role in World War I. On
1 July 1919, the Secretary of the Navy combined the historical office with
the Office of Naval Records and Library to provide information to the Navy
Department and the general public. Between the wars under the direction
of Commodore Dudley Knox, USNR (Retired), the records sections of the Office
of Naval Records and Library developed into a nationally known naval archives.
During World War II, the demands to collect and arrange the large number
of documents caused other activities, such as aiding the public to cease.
The Navy commissioned a large number of skilled personnel to arrange and
classify documents received so pertinent operational data could be accessible
to the people in the Navy who needed the information. The staff of military
personnel of the Classified Operational Archives created an arrangement
system based on the Navy's command structure going from the President, fleets,
forces, type commands, shore establishments, individual ships, non-Navy
commands, non-US commands, to individual personnel. Within each section,
the records are arranged alphbetically by the name of the originating command.
All of the documents from one command are arranged chronologically by the
date of the document. This system of arrangement was used for the war diaries,
action reports, and operation plans received by the Chief of Naval Operations
during World War II. From the beginning these records were intended for
eventual transfer to the National Archives. During 1996, the Operational
Archives Branch transferred these collections to the National Archives
and Records Administration new facility at College Park, Maryland.
Instead of disbanding the historical activities which collected documentation
on World War II at the end of war, as happened after World War I, these
activities were consolidated under the Director of Naval History. The military
staff of the Classified Operational Archives Branch, which was civilianized
with permanent civil service personnel, continued to collect, process and
arrange the operational records of the U.S. Navy and the Chief of Naval
Operations, as well as the personal papers of officers and some enlisted
men who served in the Navy in the Twentieth Century.
After World War II, the Archives received several collection of foreign
naval records. The German records include the BdU diaries and essays from
the German Naval Archives. The main collection of German Navy records is
held on microfilm by the Textual Reference Branch, National Archives
and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740.
The Operational Archives also holds a collection of translated captured
Japanese records, microfilms of untranslated Japanese reports and diaries,
and allied originated analysis of Japanese subjects. The Archives holds
the reports from the Naval Technical Missions to Japan and to Europe, which
studied the weapons, ships, and factories that aided the war, among other
subjects, as well as the reports of the United States Strategic Bombing
Survey which studied the effects of the bombing in Europe and Japan.
The operational records of the Archives are similar to the World War
II documents. The Post 1 Jan 1946 war diaries contain diaries from commands
participating in the Korean Conflict, while the Post 1 Jan 1946 action reports
and operation plans contain training exercises, as well as the reports and
plans from the Korean and Vietnam Conflicts.
After the Chief of Naval Operations instructed that naval commands should
prepare an annual command history, the Archives established command files
for series documents, annual reports, and command histories. The World War
II and Post 1 Jan 1946 Command Files also contain donations from veterans
and researchers who used the Operational Archives to write histories and
memoirs.
The Archives also hold a collection of "Z files" that contain
information on 19th century naval officers and ships from the files at the
National Archives, Washington, DC. 20408.
The staff of the Archives can provide finding aids and indices for the
collections, as well as provide advice on your research. For a list of the
declassified and unclassified records held by the Operational Archives arranged
chronologically or aphabetically.
Last update: 1 October 96