Reports of Proceedings, HMA Ships and Establishments

Accession Number AWM78
Collection type Official Record
Object type Official Record
Copyright

Item copyright: Commonwealth of Australia copyright
Copying Provisions Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction.
Description

This series comprises the Reports of Proceeding (ROPS) created by the units of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) from the Second World War until the 1970s. Reports of Proceedings (ROPs) are the official record of activities of the Royal Australian Navy's commands, vessels, shore establishments, administrative authorities and installations.

Reports of Proceedings were normally submitted by a commanding officer to their superior, and then on to Navy Office. Reporting was required in both wartime and peacetime. In some cases, especially in the early years of the Second World War, reports were in the form of 'war diaries', or in earlier decades they were sometimes referred to as 'Letters of Proceedings'.

There are Reports of Proceedings from five general navy groups, Commands; Vessels and groups of vessels (e.g. squadrons, flotillas), Administrative authorities (e.g. Naval Officer in Charge, Flag Officer Commanding), Shore establishments and Miscellaneous. The types of information found in ROPs typically include events of `historical significance'; dates of arrival at, and departure from places visited; details of ships in company; visits and official calls; outstanding incidents; details of operations, and the state of the ship and its company. Some ROPs may also include photographs.

More information can be found in the introduction to the series.