Agent Orange Facts of Lost Records for Submariners of the Vietnam Era on Special Operations.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by HK_User, May 9, 2021.


  1. HK_User

    HK_User A Productive Monkey is a Happy Monkey

    Fwd: USSVI OFFICIAL BUSINESS: SubVet News - #2020-061
    Yahoo/Inbox

    Don Hirschenhofer <donh948@gmail.com>
    To:Don Hirschenhofer

    Wed, Oct 28 at 8:41 AM
    Good morning gents. I'm a little late in getting this one to you.

    As a QM, I definitely remember writing in the Log.... "Underway as before" many times....

    DH

    ---------- Forwarded message ---------
    From: USSVI POC: William C. Andrea <NJVC@ussvi.org>
    Date: Tue, Oct 20, 2020 at 10:30 AM
    Subject: USSVI OFFICIAL BUSINESS: SubVet News - #2020-061
    To: Carl Donald Hirschenhofer <donh948@gmail.com>


    Date: 10/20/2020
    To: Distribution List
    =========================================================
    NEWS-01: Viet Nam era submarine deck logs information for Agent Orange claims
    Submitted by: John Dudas, USSVI VSO on 10/20/2020
    ------------------------------------------------------
    [21-01577] Vietnam era ship deck log declassification
    Nathaniel Patch <nathaniel.patch@nara.gov>
    Dear Mr. Dudas,
    Thank you for your recent inquiry to the National Archives regarding the declassification of submarine deck logs during the Vietnam War.

    The submarine deck logs from the Vietnam War have been scanned and they will be posted on our Catalog. This was all part of the digitization of US Navy deck logs from 1956 to 1978 project by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Archives. The 1971 to 1978 deck logs will take a little more time before they are posted on our Catalog because the Navy began using Social Security Numbers as identification numbers, so before posting them we needed to redact these numbers to protect people's privacy.

    As for the content of the deck logs of submarines, unfortunately, there is little that can be done. When these boats, be it nuclear ballistic missile boats, fast-attack nuclear submarines, or diesel-electric GUPPIES, went on patrol the deck logs effectively came to an end until they returned to port. The reason for this is because of OPNAV Instruction 3100.7 or earlier versions by Submarine Force and Theater Commanders, which state specifically that when a vessel (submarine or otherwise) begins a "Special Operation" that the deck log is to only include non-operational remarks. This guidance has manifested itself in different forms over the years from daily comments of "Underway as Before" or "On Special Operations" for each watch to a single page that summarizes that section of the month or the whole of the month in the same way.

    The instruction states that missions are classified and the deck logs are unclassified records hence why they come to an end and do not include details of the mission, location, and depths.

    You can request a patrol report from the Chief of Naval Operations using this contact:

    Department of the Navy - Office of the Chief of Naval Operations
    FOIA/Privacy Act Program Office/Service Center ATTN: DNS 36
    2000 Navy Pentagon
    Washington DC 20350-2000
    Email: DONFOIA-PA@Navy.mil
    Phone: 202-685-0412

    There are a few problems with patrol reports. For Fast-Attack Nuclear Submarines and Diesel-Electric GUPPIES, there were issues of records management during the Cold War regarding patrol reports, and there is a small cache of patrol reports that survive at the Office of Naval Intelligence. These reports are being used by ONI and do not belong to them. It's a fine distinction, but they are CNO records, and therefore that is the office to place your request with.

    You can also request the Command History of the submarines from the Naval History and Heritage Command, but the Command Histories or Command Operational Reports (CORs) are not more informative than the deck logs.

    Naval History and Heritage Command
    805 Kidder Breese Street SE
    Washington Navy Yard, DC 20374-5060
    (202) 433-3224Fax (202) 433-2833
    archives@navy.mil
    www.history.navy.mil
    We hope this explains the situation regarding the submarine deck logs during the Vietnam War period.
    Please let us know if you have any further questions.
    Sincerely,
    NATHANIEL PATCH
    Archivist, Archives II Reference Branch (RR2RR)
    National Archives at College Park, MD
    "Pax per scientiam"
    ___________________________________________________________________________
    As I stated in earlier emails concerning Blue Water Agent Orange Claims, You have to list all the information of your patrol with dates and locations (if Known) and Mark your claim as a "Special Operations Claim". The VA has a procedure to send all special Operations claims to CENTCOM in Tampa, FL because they are responsible for those types of operations and there is a full-time VA employee stationed there just for that purpose.
    Hope this helps.
    John Dudas USSVI Veterans Service Office
    This is an official email communication from the United States Submarine Veterans. Contact the sender if you do not want to receive these messages.
     
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