| THE NAVY AFLOAT OCTOBER 1, 1941 |
| On October 1, 1941, the United States was slowly moving towards conflict in both the Atlantic and Pacific, to counter threats to national interests posed by .Germany and Japan. However, it would be the end of the month before the U.S.N. suffered its first loss, when USS REUBEN JAMES was sunk by a German U-boat in the Atlantic, and two months before the Japanese attack on the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Still, the organization of the forces afloat changed relatively little from October 1 to December 7, and so it should be informative to see how the Navy organized these forces. The sources for the pages with this information are the Confidential Notices issued by fleet commanders on or about October 1, setting for the Administrative organization of their forces for the second quarter of Fiscal Year 1942, which began on that date. At present, thanks to the generosity and kind help of Jeffrey Remick, I have copies of the Atlantic and Pacific Fleet Confidential Notices. If such a notice exists for the Asiatic Fleet I will acquire that at some point in the future. Note that the Atlantic Fleet information has been amrked up with written and typed notations, most seeming to date from early 1942. I have ignored these as ahistorical for October 1941 and gone with the original information as best as can be deciphered. When there is some doubt, I have so noted. The names of the Atlantic Fleet battleship captains, overwritten in my source material, have been generously provided by Jurgen Doescher. Unfortunately, my emails to Mr. Doescher have bounced back, but I wanted to mention my appreciation for his contribution here. It is interesting to compare the information here with the Administrative organization of the Forces Afloat one year earlier as well as in October 1939 . Of course, the Fleet commanders would not have included information on the Shore Establishment, so this is not included here. PACIFIC FLEET BATTLE FORCE/BATTLESHIPS, BATTLE FORCE CRUISERS, BATTLE FORCE DESTROYERS, BATTLE FORCE AIRCRAFT, BATTLE FORCE MINE FORCE, BATTLE FORCE SCOUTING FORCE/CRUISERS, SCOUTING FORCE AIRCRAFT, SCOUTING FORCE SUBMARINES, SCOUTING FORCE BASE FORCE ATLANTIC FLEET BATTLESHIPS, ATLANTIC FLEET & CRUISERS, ATLANTIC FLEET DESTROYERS, ATLANTIC FLEET AIRCRAFT/PATROL WINGS, ATLANTIC FLEET Added May 25, 2005 SUBMARINES, ATLANTIC FLEET NEW!! Aded July 4, 2006 BASE FORCE/TRAIN, BASE FORCE ORGANIZATION BY TASK FORCE SHIPS ASSIGNED TO NAVAL DISTRICTS FLEET MARINE FORCE COMMANDERS BY SIGNAL NUMBER (Complete for Pacific, not yet for Atlantic) Contact me: [email protected] Return to TABLE OF CONTENTS Return to WELCOME PAGE |
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| Vice Admiral William Halsey had not yet achieved fame in 1941, but would soon emerge as one of the USN's most aggressive commanders, eventually attaining the rank of Fleet Admiral. He was one of the few senior officers holding seagoing commande in late 1941 who also held seagoing command in September 1945. Photo from the Naval Historical Center Online Library. As far as I know, it is in the public domain. |