Glossary of US Naval Abbreviations

Question

Glossary of US Navy Abbreviations

I've been working on the military section of the profile of Andrew David Patterson Shaules (1923 - 1994) for one of our own, Robin Shaules.  Andrew was a United States Marine who served in the Marine Raiders (Special Forces) during World War II.  In researching his USMC records I came across a LOT of acronyms and abbreviations.  As I have an Army background and many of these naval acronyms are dated, I was not familiar with many of them.

I began a search online and I came across the 1949 publication of the Glossary of US Navy Abbreviations published by the United States Government Printing Office.  It is a massive list and just about every World War II era Naval / Marine Corps abbreviation or acronym that you can imagine.  I was able to solve some acronyms that I couldn't find anywhere else on the net.

I plan to add this to the Military and War resources page and if anyone is researching US Navy or Marine records from the WWII era, this is a wonderful resource.

Answer 1

Thank you for this, SJ. I'm sure it will be a help to many of us who come across the military abbreviations and "scratch our heads" as to what they mean.

And thank you again for all the work you have been doing on the profile for my father-in-law.  I look forward to every addition you make there.

Comments

Thank you, Susan. You're always so kind.

Answer 2

Thanks for the information and great job on the profile. It is nice to see a profile for a veteran to be done in such a great way to honor them for their service. Check the profile I left you a comment with some information.

Comments

That's great Dean.  I was double checking my sources and I have two Jan 43 records and I had assumed one was a duplicate.  The first record is his departure from San Diego 'to' the 3rd Raiders.  The second record isn't a duplicate at all, it is his arrival record 'at' the 3rd Raiders and shows he was assigned to Alpha Company.  

As I see on the Our Roots 3rd Marine Raider Battalion page you linked: "20 Feb 43, A Company embarked aboard the USS Sands (APD-13)."  This matches exactly to the manifest you found.  You wrote:  I did a search of Fold3 and found a passenger manifest with his name on it for the USS Sands (ADP-13).  

So there's our confirmation of my original hunch.  Thanks! 

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Not a problem, I enjoy doing research into Military and War history. Let me know if I can help you with anything in the future.

Answer 3

Very useful glossary.

Here you can find a list of military abbreviations in German language for

AT = Österreich
CH = Schweiz
DD = Deutsche Demokratische Republik (1949–1990)
DE = Bundesrepublik Deutschland
DR = Deutsches Reich

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_milit%C3%A4rischer_Abk%C3%BCrzungen