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Re: Seeking WWII radio code names of US warships
2 people found this helpfulGary,
What you seek will not be easy to find. The names are known as codes for ship calls and are promulgated by various authorities such as the officer in tactical command (OTC), task force/task group commander, squadron/division commander, and so on.
As you correctly noted, such information needs to be protected, so the documents with this information would be classified. The problem with classified operational information such as this is that the information is readily superseded by newer promulgations and are subsequently destroyed, meaning that few documents of this type survived the war.In my former career as a declassification archivist, I had the good fortune to examine some records salvaged from the wreck of the USS Peary (DD-226). Among the legible documents in this collection was a list written on 23 December 1941 by Commander, Destroyer Squadron Twenty-Nine listing the calls for all of the ships in the Asiatic Fleet’s strike force. Peary’s call was Harry; that for USS Houston (CA-30) was Atchinson. Finding this particular document was a fluke. It was part of the Peary’s Registered Publications collection and would have been destroyed when superseded by a newer issuance of the document. However, Peary was sunk before that happened. The contents of her registered publications safe were somehow preserved, and NARA now holds these records.
I hope you find this information helpful.
A. J.
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Re: Seeking WWII radio code names of US warships
Hello Alex,
Been reading action reports from Air Group 12 during Operation Iceberg. One unidentified carrier is 'Hoosier Base', another is 'Pelican Base'. Very frustrating not knowing what ships they were.
Thanks for your assistance
Gary Santos
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Re: Seeking WWII radio code names of US warships
Hi Alex,
I hope you don't mind me replying to your post here. I'm currently conducting some research (from Australia) on USS Peary and have actually been trying for a while to obtain a copy of your article "The Sacrifice of the USS Peary." Unfortunately without any luck so far, largely due to Covid-19 restrictions and closures. I just saw your post here and had to reply. I was wondering if I could please ask your help in obtaining a copy of your article?(!).
Thank you very much,
Caroline.
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Re: Seeking WWII radio code names of US warships
Caroline,
I can see about making you a .pdf of the Prologue article.
A. J.
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Re: Seeking WWII radio code names of US warships
That would be wonderful if you could! Thank you very much indeed. I've a bunch of questions I'd love to ask you about your work on the records from USS Peary, but I imagine I could save you much of that by reading your publications first ( !)
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Re: Seeking WWII radio code names of US warships
Caroline,
HistoryHub apparently will not post personal contact information, so I took a chance and sent a note to your Cosmos email. My only other option is to try to post the .pdf here, but I hate to put the NARA moderator through the conducting of this awkward info exchange so we can have a more thorough discussion of what I’ve found about the Peary.
A. J.
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Re: Seeking WWII radio code names of US warships
Wonderful! Thank you! I shall check my email. Thank you very much to NARA moderator for letting me jump in on this post and I sincerely apologise for any hassle. Thank you!
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Re: Seeking WWII radio code names of US warships
Caroline,
I’m following you now in HistoryHub. You should be able to check my profile for contact info now. I thought I knew this app, but apparently I’m still learning the ropes. Sorry about the confusion and delay.
A. J.
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