AG and MM Board

Armed Guard Officer's Log/Diary

Posted by Mike Allard on April 16, 2009, 11:29 am

I have a log kept by an ensign/lieutenant (j.g.) who commanded Armed Guard detachments on a tanker and two Liberty Ships. He made three voyages on the tanker, O.M. BERNUTH, and served from October 1942 to June 1943. He then served aboard the cargo ship, ROBERT J. COLLIER, from June 1943 to October 1943, making one voyage. The lieutenant served last aboard the troopship JOSEPH T. ROBINSON from December 1943 to April 1944.

This log records all crew, with full names, rates, service numbers, and dates of assignment to the ship. Each day's activities are entered, usually with exact times and durations. All ports, with arrival and departure times are recorded as well. Drills, exercises, instruction, etc., with gun crews and ships' crews are noted. All mundane duties such as cleaning and painting are there. Servicing of all weapons and munitions, and test firing of weapons is given great detail. Alerts, conditions, and watches are recorded. The officer even recorded the test numbers completed and the scores for each of the men who were trying to advance in rate.

From the discussion among those who have posted on this forum, I suspect this log is a VERY RARE item. It would be equally correct to call it a diary for all the detail it contains. Although the officer made record of all his time at sea, there are entries for his time not assigned to a ship. In his log he mentions having to make out reports due upon arrival in port. It is likely he made extensive use of these notes.

I hope to transcribe the log for it is a wonderful view into the daily lives of the Armed Guard aboard these ships. I will post some examples of the log entries.

Re: Armed Guard Officer's Log/Diary

Posted by Mike on April 19, 2009, 11:39 am, in reply to "Armed Guard Officer's Log/Diary"

I come here when possible hoping that some day my Father in law will be mentioned in one of these logs.

Re: Armed Guard Officer's Log/Diary

Posted by peggy Johnson on June 29, 2009, 4:58 pm, in reply to "Re: Armed Guard Officer's Log/Diary"

I am trying to find any and all info on Carl T.Sides who served as a Navy Armed Guard in WWII
on The Frank Springer, The ET Bedford and The CoQuille. He is 88 years old now and resides in a Nursing Home in Auburn Alabama. He is trying to find any of his old shipmates.

Re: Armed Guard Officer's Log/Diary

Posted by Melinda on April 17, 2009, 11:30 pm, in reply to "Armed Guard Officer's Log/Diary"

I'm always interested and grateful for anything that can give me a sense of what my sweet Daddy went through when he was in the AG. Thank you for your willingness to share this with us.

Re: Armed Guard Officer's Log/Diary

Posted by Bob Tassinari on April 17, 2009, 3:05 pm, in reply to "Armed Guard Officer's Log/Diary"

I have had for many years the voyage report of our Lt. It was declassified in 1961 and the subject led me to dig it out and do a reread. Our trip ended in Seattle in March of 1945. It is quite complete and I am impressed with the amount of time it took to prepare.The Liberty was the S.
s. Francisco Morazan.
A good subject and glad to see it posted.

Re: Armed Guard Officer's Log/Diary

Posted by Mike Allard on April 16, 2009, 2:47 pm, in reply to "Armed Guard Officer's Log/Diary"

Another entry...

Nov. 30, 1942

Convoy of 16 ships passed this morning--9 transports, 2 tankers, 5 freighters--escort of 9 destroyers and 1 battleship, the Arkansas. Received 3 additional destroyers and 4 corvettes to mount our escorts to 13. Also two airplanes--flying boats.

Two concussions about 1800 felt like depth charges. Several emergency turns followed. Had our usual gun drills and watches. Found out that M coil on degaussing system is not working due to a blown fuse.

Re: Armed Guard Officer's Log/Diary

Posted by Ron Carlson on April 16, 2009, 12:26 pm, in reply to "Armed Guard Officer's Log/Diary"

Mike,

Armed Guard commanding officers were obliged to file a report at the end of each voyage. I understand the National Archives has a huge collection of them. Of course whether they were as comprehensive and detailed as the one you have probably varied officer by officer. The AG website has a few such reports, of greatly varying degrees of detail, at http://armed-guard.com/reports.html. In fact one report, I can't remember which now, records one of Tom Bowerman's voyages and recounts how Tom got into some minor mischief and was assigned extra duty by his commanding officer.

I hope you will transcribe the report you have and make it available. It deserves to be seen and read. The excerpt you have already shared is much more detailed than other officers' reports I have seen (not that I'm an expert on the matter) so indeed it may be a rare find.

Ron Carlson, Webmaster

Re: Armed Guard Officer's Log/Diary

Posted by Rick Pitz on April 16, 2009, 5:09 pm, in reply to "Re: Armed Guard Officer's Log/Diary"

Mike / Ron:

I have several reports from my own research, and they do vary widely in content. One sample is posted on the Hyperwar web site at:
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/rep/NAG/index.html

Mike - thanks for sharing these. It is always good to see something that provides a glimpse into the daily routine.

Rick

Re: Armed Guard Officer's Log/Diary

Posted by Luther L Clements on July 25, 2009, 5:35 pm, in reply to "Re: Armed Guard Officer's Log/Diary"

Looking for history of SS James Rolph liberty ship 1944---1945

Re: Armed Guard Officer's Log/Diary

Posted by Mike Allard on April 16, 2009, 12:14 pm, in reply to "Armed Guard Officer's Log/Diary"

Here is one entry from the log. Some are lengthier and many not so detailed.

Nov. 26, 1942

0900-Test fired 3”50 gun expending 5 rounds, also 20 M.M. guns 238 rounds expended. Guns #2, 4, 5 worked perfectly. Had a jam on #3 20 M.M. Action taken immediately--gun placed on safety, magazine taken off and water poured on length of barrel. Nose of shell jammed in breach--ejected out by rammer and thrown aboard. After end of shell jammed in magazine--dislodged. Gun cleaned and ready for action. 4”50 firing pin not working perfectly so did not fire gun--broke firing pin down--had crew stand by on 3”50 gun and 20 M.M. All clear and ready for action. Also fired 24 rounds of Colt .45.

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