World War II Naval Dictionary

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For a selection of basic naval terms, see the log and report glossary.
fuze
Cutaway view of 1940s-era radio proximity fuze. [U.S. Navy image]

This searchable dictionary of nearly 9,000 terms is mainly a compilation of three U.S. Navy publications that list World War II terminology, transcribed by the Naval Historical Center in Washington, D.C..

We have not modified the wording of the official terms or definitions, but we have added general categories to help put the terms into context and to indicate the sources: abbreviations, blueprints, engineering, nautical, orders and Bureau of Personnel Condensation Codes. The abbreviations category also includes jargon and common code words.

Entries marked glossary are from deck log and action report glossaries assembled by the Abbot and Bush destroyer web sites. These were mainly compiled by veterans, and specifically pertain to World War II destroyer logs and reports.

The other sources are:

Capitalization and punctuation vary considerably; expect to see many styles in use.