This book comprises four manuals compiled from official sources
during World War II Manuals such as those in this book, were
distributed widely through the fleet and used constantly as a
standard reference. The Office of Naval Intelligence published a
library of manuals that covered our own Navy as well as British,
French, Soviet, Japanese and German Navies, among others. The first
part of this book comprises the manual entitled ONI 222-US:United
States Naval Vessels. In the official introduction to this manual.
Commodore Thomas B. Inglis, USN,Acting Director of Naval
Intelligence states, "It is a graphic and statistical picture
of the U.S. Navy at its peak in numerical strength. The information
in this manual is corrected to and as of 1 September 1945." The
second part of this book is study compiled by the Statistical
Section of the Officer of Naval Intelligence. Entitled The United
States Fleet (From Pearl Harbor to Oct. 1, 1945). the purpose of
this study is two fold. As it states in the introduction, "the
purpose of the present table is A: To provide a compact and readily
intelligible overall view of the United States Fleet. (1) Before the
onset of War, (2) At the end of the war, (3) At the present time,
and (4) As presently being built for the future, and B: To present a
summary of the charges which have taken place in the United States
Fleet, Documented by the names or hull numbers of the vessels whose
status have changed". The latter includes those ships sunk
during the war and converted/reclassified to other uses. The final
part of this book is a reprint of a 1 December 1944 document
entitled Index of United States Fleet. This document was prepared by
Commander, Air Force, Pacific Fleet. Excepting un-named ships and
craft, all vessels are included. They are listed individually by
their classification, followed by their name, in tabular form under
their class name. While this document does not include unnamed
ships, such as those found in the Patrol Vessel and Amphibious
categories, the manual does include a separate section for Landing
Ships, Craft and Vehicles, with characteristics and illustrations,
at the end of the document.