Logs & Action Reports, 1943-45

Courtesy of Curtis E. Presley

These documents include routine logs, war diaries, ship’s movement sketches, radio traffic, weapon performance evaluations and narratives.

All log entries are signed by an officer. Authorship of other documents can be determined by initials (i.e. WRB:Lr), where the first initials are the author and the second are the yeoman or typist.

Many of these files are quite large and are suitable for making high-resolution prints. Click on the [Low Resolution] link to view a smaller file — less than 10MB — that is more appropriate for viewing on a computer monitor.

Some files can be searched for specific text. The latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader is strongly recommended; it’s free and these files contain some advanced features that are disabled in older Acrobat software.

For unfamiliar terms, see the glossary.

Action Report Chart

Logs

This is the official record of Abbot’s navigation and other significant activities. Includes muster rolls and position reports. Gaps in the dates will be filled as new material in received. Dates of major engagements are noted in the battle stars listing. Traditionally, log entries on special occasions such as New Year’s Day are written in rhyme.

High-resolution file size in megabytes is indicated in [brackets].

War Diary

Concise narratives of combat and other activities in the Pacific. Includes ship’s latitude and longitude every eight hours. Some of the text can be searched.

High-resolution file size in megabytes is indicated in [brackets].

Radio Traffic

Combat radio traffic as monitored by Abbot’s radio room. Mostly fire control traffic during bombardments. Pretty boring stuff.

High-resolution file size in megabytes is indicated in [brackets].

Action Reports

Detailed narratives of specific combat activity, mid-1944 to mid-1945. Includes description of combat and analysis of weaponry and crew performance.

The action report forms were two-sided on cheap paper, so reproduction quality varies considerably. They are listed by date of action and official title. Comments and file size in megabytes are in [brackets]. Where no action report exists for an event, the war diary or log book entry can be used.