Abbreviations used in messages to Admiralty from ships 1942

I have recently obtained 6 pages of messages from the National Archives that were sent to the Admiralty from ships participating in one of the Malta Convoys, Operation Harpoon. My Grandfather was on HMS Bedouin, which was subsequently sunk, hence my specific interest.
My problem is this: on the lower part of the messages, there is a list of all the people/departments in abbreviated form, that these messages were copied to eg. Ist Sea Lord etc.
Is there anyone out there who can decipher them. I will attach one page so you can see what I mean.

Many thanks,
Katharine

 

From the Navy List for June 1942 (this page and following ones. Also this page and following ones):

1st Lord = First Lord of the Admiralty
1st S.L. = First Sea Lord
A.C N.S.(F) = Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Foreign)
N.A. 1st S.L. = Naval Assistant to First Sea Lord
U.W.R. = U-Boat? War Room?
D. of P. = Director of Plans Division ((1101) - Navy lists > Bimonthly > 1942 > June - British Military lists - National Library of Scotland)
W.R. Battle File = War Room? Battle File
Ops. = Operations
O.D. = Operations Division
O.I.C. = Operational Intelligence Centre
F.O.S. = ?

E. in C. = Engineer in Chief of the Fleet
D. of Salvage = Director of Salvage Department ((1124) - Navy lists > Bimonthly > 1942 > June - British Military lists - National Library of Scotland)
C.C.R.T. = Captain in Charge Rescue Tugs (The Tattie Lads de Ian Dear (Livre électronique) - Lire gratuitement pendant 30 jours)
S. Branch = Special? Branch / Surveyors? Branch
C.W. (Cas.) = Admiralty Record Office File (Casualties) (Military abbreviations used in service files)
D. of L.D. = Director of Local Defence Division ((1102) - Navy lists > Bimonthly > 1942 > June - British Military lists - National Library of Scotland)
(D.)D.M.S. = (Deputy) Director of Minesweeping Division
(D.)D.T.M = (Deputy) Director of Torpedoes and Mining Department ((1122) - Navy lists > Bimonthly > 1942 > June - British Military lists - National Library of Scotland)
D. of P. (Q) = Director of Plans Division (Quartermaster)
Vice Contr. = Vice Controller
Parl. Sec. = Parliamentary Secretary
Fin. Sec = Financial Secretary
Sec. = Secretary
D. = Director
D.N.C. = Director of Naval Construction Department ((1110) - Navy lists > Bimonthly > 1942 > June - British Military lists - National Library of Scotland)

 

W.R is probably War Room I think. So U.W.R. Might be Underground War Room.

 

Flag Officer Submarines

Have you seen Vice-Admiral Curteis' Despatch Katharine?

 

Hello Michel,
Thank you so very much for your deciphering of the personnel/depts the messages were sent to and for the accompanying links-much appreciated.
Thanks too to Tom and Richelieu.
Richelieu, no I had not seen Vice Admiral Curteis' Despatch.
Michel, could I ask you a big favour-if I put the other pages (5) on here would you do the same with those? First though, I will go through and eliminate any I already know through your help above, to avoid repetition.
Katharine

 

Hi Katharine,

Yes, please do post the other 5 pages here, and post what abbreviations you have already solved too. I'm sure that the collective wisdom on this forum will help clear up the remaining puzzles.

 

Hello Michel,

Thank you,
Here are the other 5 pages.
1. From HMS Partridge 1615: V.A. Malta ??? Fleet code W/T is Whitehall, what does T/P mean? What does 'My 1500...' mean? The other abbreviations I have, thanks to you.
In fact, NO survivors from Bedouin were picked up until many hours later, so this message is incorrect.
2. From HMS Partridge 1445: Repeated Malta CCO, what is CCO? What are the numbers for eg. CW (Cas.) (3) ?
3. From HMS Cairo 0957: O.C. , D. of P.W.R Battle File, N.L., D of S.T.(2), I.M.N.G., N.I.D. 10(2), D.M.W.D., T/P for Dep Contr. (3), D(4), D.N.C.(2), D.A/S.W (2), P. , File X (I assume that relates to Force X) Bath BA ??
4. From HMS Bedouin 0920: Movts, N.L., S.Br., T/P for Dep Contr.(3), D. (4), D.N.C.(2), D. A/S W. (2), P.
5. From HMS Partridge 1415: Hydrog., N.L., P., S.W.R.

Any help would be much appreciated, again huge thanks,
Katharine

 

1. T/P = teleprinter I think; my 1500 indicates his signal of that time. V.A = Vice Admiral.

 

2. C.C.O. - not sure, will see what I can find. I think the numbers are simply the numbers of the copies sent to that section in the Admiralty.

 

Hi Katharine,
W/T in this case is not Whitehall but Wireless Telegraphy (Morse Signalling), I agree with Tom that T/P = Teleprinter both methods of communications.

Regards
Hugh

 

Tom and Hugh,

Thank you for your input-much appreciated.
Katharine

 

I agree with Tom: the number between brackets is the number of copies to the recipient section.

O.C. = Officer Commanding? (commanding what?)

"D. of P.W.R. Battle File" is simply lacking a space. It should read:
D. of P.
W.R. Battle File

N.L. = ? (Naval Liaison? with what?)

D.of S.T. = Director of Sea Transport Department ((1147) - Navy lists > Bimonthly > 1942 > June - British Military lists - National Library of Scotland)

I.M.N.G. = Inspector of Merchant Naval Gunnery (The Merchant Gunners, Frederic Charles Dreyer - Wikipedia or (1491) - Navy lists > Bimonthly > 1942 > June - British Military lists - National Library of Scotland)

N.I.D. 10 = Naval Intelligence Division, communications security and encryption systems unit (British Department of Naval Intelligence – Wikipedia, wolna encyklopedia)

D.M.W.D. = Director of Miscellaneous Weapons Development Department

D.A/S.W. = Director of Anti-Submarine Warfare Division

Movts = Movements

P. = Plans?

Hydrog. = Hydrographic Department ((1107) - Navy lists > Bimonthly > 1942 > June - British Military lists - National Library of Scotland)

S.W.R. = Submarine? War Room

 

Hello Michel,

Wow! That is absolutely brilliant. Thank you so much-very much appreciated.
Thank you for your time and effort spent in sorting things out for me.

Really great!
Katharine

 

It's all right Katharine, this is fun!

Malta C.C.O. could be Malta Convoy Control Officer, but this appears to be a U.S. Navy abbreviation. Otherwise Chief of Combined Operations, but he wasn't located in Malta...

 

V.A. Malta = Vice Admiral, Malta

NEW VICE ADMIRAL FOR MALTA. 20 JANUARY 1942, MALTA.

Edit: Oops, already found by Tom:

 

'Addressed CAIRO repeated Malta CCO' to me indicates it is a Radio Station.
I would therefore suggest Malta Combined (or maybe Central) Communications Office.
All the abbreviations and names after the message show the distribution.

Tim

 

Malta Central Communications Office sound right. See other examples of Royal Navy CCOs:

DERBY HOUSE SIGNAL SECTION. 1942, LIVERPOOL.

THE SIGNALS DEPARTMENT AT THE ROYAL NAVAL BASE AT HARWICH. 15 MARCH 1945.

 

You are on the correct track Tim. As ex-comms I can tell you that C.C.O. during WW2 stood for Code and Cypher Office. Central Comms Office also fits the situation - take your pick.

Regards
Hugh

 

Top left and bottom right of this form may be of interest re CCO.
Found in my Dad's wartime memorabilia. This form came from the Landing Ship Infantry (LSI) HMS Queen Emma at the time of Operation Torch 1942.

Best regards,

Steve

 

Hi Katherine,

I forgot to ask - what was the file reference that those pages came from? Interesting to see if there are similar for other naval operations.

Regards

Tom