Officially established as a division within the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in August 1919, the Strategic Plans Division was responsible for unifying naval policy, logistics, and tactics. The division's files span 1917-1947, but the bulk of their material is from the 1930s and the war years of the 1940s. This publication will interest researchers who need an overview of naval intelligence and its various subsidiaries during World War II.

Complete Collection: 50 reels in three series

Series 3: Miscellaneous Subject File, 1917-1947. This file includes war plans and estimates that the Intelligence and War Plans offices of the Navy, Army, and Marines prepared, as well as some prewar conference proceedings and reports on several scientific expeditions. Of special interest are Army Military Intelligence studies on such countries as Germany, Italy, and Japan; documents concerning joint operations, including the Normandy invasion; Fleet Marine Forced monographs on the Mandate Islands; and military plans for the seizure or defense of Pacific Islands having strategic value in an American-Japanese (Blue-Orange) war.

24 reels (1-24)

Series 8: Records Summarizing Operations, 1939-1945. These consist of U.S. naval operational reports as well as daily summaries of naval actions in both theaters of the war, noting the outcomes of encounters with the enemy in casualties, prisoners, damage of ships and planes, and the movement of troops.

5 reels (25-29)

Series 12: Records of the Pacific, Alaskan, and Far Eastern Section, 1940-1946. The Pacific Section and its successors in COMINCH and in the postwar Strategic Plans Division prepared strategic estimates and coordinated details for operations in the Pacific. Included are minutes of meetings of Pacific Fleet Officers held for coordinating strategy against Japan.

21 reels (30-50)