Naval support in Normandy database

Discussion in 'American' started by John Szweda, Nov 5, 2012.

  1. John Szweda

    John Szweda Administrator
    Staff Member

    Oct 25, 2012
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    Milwaukee, Wisconsin
    Hello all,
    I am currently collecting information and making notes on the Naval support during D-Day and the days after. What my goal would be is to create a database or at least make the information available. I think it might be a nice addition to have the information available in how it supported Army and Airborne operations. It would basicly be a summary of what ships fired where, and at what time.
    The information would include the Omaha and Utah areas and would hope to include the following for each ship:

    1) Each ships pre-assigned shore bombardment target numbers and their locations according to Lambert grid coordinances.
    2) What those targets consisted of.
    3) Targets of opportunity that were identified.
    4) Targets of fire missions requested by shore parties and aerial observation(with Lambert).
    5) Reported results of fire missions.
    6) include each day and time of each mission.
    7) number of salvos or rounds fired.
    8) Any suggestions?

    Does anybody know if this has been done yet by anybody ?

    I believe I have most of the ships that had these missions, even some British ships for this area, however I may miss something.
    Also I have a basic map of the target numbers for Utah, but I havent found one for Omaha. Does anybody have this information or know where to convieniently find one? This would save me some time.

    Also does anybody have some suggestions, ideas, or additions before I begin?

    Also if I am successful, I will expand to the Cherbourg area in the future.

    Respectfully,
    John Szweda
     
  2. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
    Staff Member

    Oct 20, 2012
    2,547
    11
    Co. Kilkenny, Ireland
    Hi John,

    Great idea and well worth the effort in my view.

    Do you have all the American ships' logs for those vessels in the Bombardment Forces?

    For Utah, Bombardment Force A (Rear Admiral Deyo, USN) consisted of:

    • HMS Erebus (La Pernelle & Barfleur Batteries)
    • HMS Black Prince (Morsalines Battery)
    • USS Tuscaloosa (Ozeville Battery)
    • USS Quincy (Crisbecq Battery)
    • USS Nevada (Azeville Battery)
    • HMS Enterprise (Utah Beach West)
    • HNMS Soemba (Utah Beach East)
    • HMS Hawkins (Maisy & St Martin de Varreville Batteries)

    Source: "Utah Beach (Battlezone Normandy)" by Simon Trew.

    Royal Navy ships' logs are archived in ADM 53 on the UK National Archives site - see this page on their site. The site (to me at least) has always seemed a bit daunting to search but if you check out the great replies to my cries for help on the Rum Ration Forum on page 6 of the Thomas Kennedy's RN Service Record, you will soon get a handle on it.

    Exercise caution if you do order ships logs from them as the cost can be very, very expensive - tie down the date window carefully.

    I know Niels has been looking for the log of the Dutch sloop HNMS Soemba for some time now.

    Hope this helps John.

    Regards,

    Pat
     
  3. Jpz4

    Jpz4 Active Member
    Researcher

    Oct 24, 2012
    362
    6
    I'm still planning to check the records of the Soemba at the Dutch military/naval archives. Although I've had numerous opportunities to visit the archives, they're still moving from one place to another and any requests have to be filed five days ahead. And that hasn't worked for me just yet. But one of these days....

    Niels
     
  4. patelie

    patelie Active Member
    Researcher

    Hello
    I have the logs for Texas, Glasgow, Tuscaloosa and Quincy.. summary of bombardments, predesignated targets etc..
    But these are big .pdf files
     
  5. John Szweda

    John Szweda Administrator
    Staff Member

    Oct 25, 2012
    570
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    Male
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin
    Hello All,
    The information I have collected is a combination of ship diaries, Action reports, and Narrative reports for the following ships...USS Arkansas, Nevada, Texas, Quincy, Tuscaloosa, Baldwin, Butler, Barton, Carmick, Corry, Doyle, Ellyson, Fitch, Forrest, Frankford, Gherardi, Glennon, Harding, Herndon, Hobson, Jeffers, Laffey, McCook, Meredith, O'Brien, Plunkett, Rich, Satterlee, Shubrick, Thompson, Walke.
    I also have 4 HMS Enterprise, Glasgow, Talybont, Tanatside
    and 4 smaller US PC 552, 568, 617, 618
    I have reviewed 16 other ships that may not have had any fire missions, and may have had screening duties.
    I also could find no details on the USS Augusta, Amesbury, Emmons, Murphy (Murphy know to be screening)

    Are there any I missed that anyone can think of for Omaha and Utah

    Respectfully,
    John Szweda
     
  6. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
    Staff Member

    Oct 20, 2012
    2,547
    11
    Co. Kilkenny, Ireland
    Hi Guys,

    Below is a download link for the War Diary of the USS Nevada for the period 3rd - 30th June, both days inclusive. I think this document is slightly different to a ship's log, though I am not sure about this :huh:

    Download Link

    If anyone in the 'Advanced Researchers' Group wants to upload large files to my ADrive account, please send me a PM or email.

    Regards,

    Pat

    Edit inserted 08/11/2012 @ 23:32
    Download link moved to Advanced Researchers Area.
     
  7. kgm

    kgm Active Member
    Researcher

    Oct 26, 2012
    75
    2
    Pat,
    To answer your question; according to the U.S. Navy History and Heritage Command and other sources…

    Deck Logs
    A Navy ship's deck log is a daily chronology of certain events for administrative and legal purposes. Preparation of logs is governed by the current edition of Office of the Chief of Naval Operations Instruction 3100.7. This specifies the kinds of events to be entered. These events include:
    • Accidents [material]
    • Actions [combat]
    • Appearances of Sea/Atmosphere/Unusual Objects
    • Arrests/Suspensions
    • Arrival/Departure of Commanding Officer
    • Bearings [navigational]
    • Cable/Anchor Chain Strain
    • Collisions/Groundings
    • Courts-Martial/Captain's Masts
    • Deaths
    • Honors/Ceremonies/Visits
    • Incidents at Sea
    • Inspections
    • Meteorological Phenomena
    • Movement Orders
    • Movements [getting underway; course, speed changes; mooring, anchoring]
    • Passengers
    • Prisoners [crew members captured by hostile forces]
    • Propulsion Plant Status changes
    • Ship's Behavior [under different weather/sea conditions]
    • Sightings [other ships; landfall; dangers to navigation]
    • Soundings [depth of water]
    • Speed Changes
    • Tactical Formation
    • Time of Evolutions/Exercises/Other Services Performed
    A deck log identifies a ship's location and movements daily. If the ship is underway, its latitude and longitude are to be entered three times each day in blocks provided for the purpose. Deck logs are not narratives, and do not describe or explain a ship's operations.
    Additional information can be found at:

    http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq73-1.htm


    War Diaries

    World War II War Diaries were compiled between December 7, 1941 and December 31, 1945, by the U.S. Navy. They were identified by the Navy as "the principal means by which the day-to-day experience of the Navy is recorded for current study and future historical use." The operational information they contained was complementary to information provided by action reports, the basic source of reports for naval actions/operations during WW II.

    Hope this helps.

    Kevin
     
  8. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
    Staff Member

    Oct 20, 2012
    2,547
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    Co. Kilkenny, Ireland
    Thanks Kevin,

    I suspected this was the case with the USN but I think the RN only kept the ship's log regardless of whether they were on a war footing or not.

    I look forward to adding further documents to our collection in the 'Advanced Researchers' Section. If anyone has any such docs to share, I can arrange to give you access to my ADrive account.

    Regards,

    Pat
     
  9. John Szweda

    John Szweda Administrator
    Staff Member

    Oct 25, 2012
    570
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    Male
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin
    Hi Pat, Kevin, and Niels,

    While trying to figure out how to do a proper spreadsheet or chart (and having trouble) I stumbled across the idea that if I put this fire mission data on a document and post it like a photo, it wont be searchable through the forum...
    But if I just type the text for each ship as a forum thread, it WOULD be searchable by ADVANCED SEARCH on your site above, and could be searched in different ways (ship name, a Lambert co-ordinance, target #, even dates).
    Do you think this might be a better way to go with the information?

    Respectfully,
    John Szweda
     
  10. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
    Staff Member

    Oct 20, 2012
    2,547
    11
    Co. Kilkenny, Ireland
    Hi John,

    Yes, you are correct; if you take a screenshot of your table and post it as a 'photo', it will not be searchable. The ideal would be to create an online SQL database but I am still trying to learn this stuff myself.

    I would suggest that you create a table in MS Word and save the file as a htm file (File > File Save as....). Then email the file to me and I'll adjust it in Dreamweaver which is the web page editor I use to create the tables used here on the Forum.

    Below is an example table created in MS Word:

    [​IMG]

    I saved it as a .htm (not .doc) file thus:

    [​IMG]

    Hope this helps,

    Regards,

    Pat
     
  11. patelie

    patelie Active Member
    Researcher

    Pat
    The best thing if you want to use MySql is to create first a file in excel format. One column for each field needed. Then you save it in .csv format with a ; as separator and in utf8
    After you can import the file in a MySql database
     
  12. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
    Staff Member

    Oct 20, 2012
    2,547
    11
    Co. Kilkenny, Ireland
    Hi Patrick,

    Thanks, that's probably a better way to go then John if you can create a spreadsheet rather than a table in a MS Word document. Even if it's not immediately implemented into a SQL database, the data will be available when we come to setting up the database.

    In the meantime, you can still email me the spreadsheet and I'll convert it into a htm table for use on the Forum.

    Regards,

    Pat
     

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