Admiralty War Diaries World War 2

World War 2 at Sea

ADMIRALTY WAR DIARIES and REPORTS

Transcribed by Don Kindell

Links to Main World War 2 Pages:
- Royal Navy Organisation
- Casualties - killed, died, missing
- 1,000 Warship Service Histories
- Convoy Escort Movements
- Battles, Major Warship Losses
- Naval & Military Campaigns
- Navies Daily , 1939-42
- Admiralty War Diaries

HMS Whitehall, destroyer (Navy Photos, click to enlarge) return to World War 2, 1939-1945

British and Other Navies in World War 2 Day-by-Day, Ship Movements, Actions, Losses is an amalgamation of many official sources, including Admiralty War Diaries and Reports. It covers the period August 1939 to March 1942.

To complete the series would be a major, long term task. We are therefore making individual Admiralty War Diaries available so that researchers have access to them. A number of Admiralty Reports are also included.

HOME FLEET, Commander-in-Chief April-December 1942
January-December 1943
January-December 1944
January-July 1945 (including destroyers)

Home Fleet, BATTLECRUISER SQUADRON
mainly covering 1940 Norwegian Campaign March-December 1940 (including HMS Renown's engagement with German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, 9 April 1940)

Home Fleet, CRUISER SQUADRONS (CS)
mainly covering 1940 Norwegian Campaign CS1 - March-August 1940
CS2 - March-December 1940
CS10 - September-December 1940
CS15 - July-December 1940
CS18 - March-December 1940 (includes report on Battle of Cape Spartivento)
CS20 (or AA Ships) - May-June 1940

Home Fleet, DESTROYER COMMAND March-September 1940
April-December 1942
January-December 1943
January-December 1944

Home Fleet, SUBMARINES March-September 1940 {including Norwegian Campaign)

Home Fleet, ROSYTH COMMAND
November 1939

NORTH ATLANTIC COMMAND, GIBRALTAR April-December 1942

WEST AFRICA COMMAND, FREETOWN April-December 1942
January-April 1943

SOUTH AFRICA and SOUTH ATLANTIC COMMAND, CAPETOWN January-December 1941
January-February 1942

MEDITERRANEAN FLEET April-December 1942

MALTA COMMAND January-December 1941
April-December 1942

LEVANT COMMAND
(including Eastern Mediterranean and Aegean Seas) September-November 1943

EAST INDIES FLEET
(including Diary of Admiral Layton, Commander-in-Chief, China who commanded the Station from Singapore at this time.) c April 1940 to c May 1941
December 1941-March 1942 (Admiral Layton diaries) January-March 1942

Note: East Indies Fleet and Eastern Fleet operations are covered by a variety of sometimes overlapping documents, with some blocks of months not available at all

EASTERN FLEET
(formerly East Indies Fleet) Report of Proceedings 1942 (covers missing months of 1942)
April-June, December (only) 1942
January-December 1943
January to April 1944 (May to November 1944 not available), December 1944
January to October 1945

BRITISH PACIFIC FLEET February-July 1945 (excluding Operation Iceberg - but see HMS King George V's story - British Pacific Fleet operations off Okinawa in Operation Iceberg )
August-October 1945 (Occupation of China coast)
December 1945 -June 1946

REPORTS

Norwegian Campaign - Allied Landing Plans, Operation R.4, April 1940

Bombing attack on HMS Glasgow, 9 April 1940

Bombing attack on HMS Gurkha and sinking, 9 April 1940

Stavanger Bombardment (Operation Duck) and near loss of HMS Suffolk 17 April 1940

Operation Aerial, June 1940 (transcribed by Roy Martin)

HMS Khartoum - Loss due to defective air vessel, 23rd June 1940

(for more ship information, go to Naval History Homepage and type name in Site Search)

Abbreviations

GS - Greek ship
FFS - Free French Ship
FS - French Ship
HMCS - Canadian Ship
HMRT - HM Rescue Tug
HNethMS - Dutch Ship
HS - Hospital Ship
MOMP - Mid-Ocean Meeting Point in Atlantic, so presumably also in Indian Ocean
NS or HNorMS - Norwegian Ship
ORP - Polish Ship
RAN - Royal Australian Navy
RCN - Royal Canadian Navy
RFA - Royal Fleet Auxiliary
RIN - Royal Indian Navy

q.v.: quod vide, which see: i.e. from Home Fleet War Diary (q.v.)

return to World War 2, 1939-1945

or Naval-History.Net

revised 23/8/15