Transfer Orders (vessels)

[Kilgs]

This is for anyone but probably Timerover since he has all sorts of little nuggets like this.

I'm looking for the text/orders of transfer papers to a vessel. I don't want the form but is there some cool "You are hereby ordered to proceed directly and without haste... etc" language used?

(This can be for any era/culture since I just want to use it as a basis.)

 

[Timerover51]

Your wish is my command, Sahib.

The following from the Official Records of the US and Confederate Navies, 1861-1865. I can get additional ones from the Spanish-American War period if you need them, but they are about the same terminology.

Order of the Secretary of the Navy to Lieutenant Wyman, U. S. Navy, commanding Potomac Flotilla, regarding U. S. S. Young Rover.
Navy Department, April 25, 1862.

Sir: You will give directions to the U. S. bark Young Rover, recently transferred to your command, to proceed to Key West and report to Flag-Officer Wm. W. McKean, or the senior commanding officer present, for duty in the Eastern Gulf Blockading squadron. Should it be necessary to have any repairs put on her before leaving for the Gulf, you will send her to Washington for that purpose.

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,
Gideon Welles.

Lieutenant E. H. Wyman, Commanding Potomac Flotilla, Potomac River.

Report of Lieutenant Wyman, U. 8. Navy, commanding Potomac Flotilla, regarding U. S. 8. Young Rover.

Flotilla, Potomac and Eappahannock, April 28, 1862.
Sir: I have the honor to inform the Department that in obedience to your order of the 25th instant (received to-day), I have directed the U. S. S. Young Rover, to report at Key West to Flag-OflBcer W. W. McKean, or senior officer present.
She requires no repairs and will sail immediately on being filled with
water.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
E. H. Wyman,
Lieutenant, Commanding Flotilla.

Hon. Gideon Welles,
Secretary of the Navy.

And for sample reports of engagement, you can locate the reports on the ships involved in the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898 at the following website.

http://www.history.navy.mil/docs/spanam/spanam.htm#anchor671595

Sample of what is there.

WASHINGTON, February 25, 1898.

DEWEY, Hongkong:

Order the squadron, except the Monocacy, to Hongkong. Keep full of coal. In the event declaration of war Spain, your duty will be to see that the Spanish squadron does not leave the Asiatic coast, and then offensive operations in Philippine Islands. Keep Olympia until further orders.

ROOSEVELT.

And that is Theodore Roosevelt, acting temporarily as the Secretary of the Navy.

 

[Timerover51]

And a sample of an order to a prize crew, in this case of a slaver captured off of the coast of Africa.

Order of Commander T Taylor, U. S. Navy, commanding U. S. S. Saratoga, to Lieutenant Guthrie, commanding prize ship Nightingale.

U. S. S. Saratoga, Kabendo, April 21, 1861.

Sir: You will proceed with the American ship Nightingale, of Boston, captured at this port, this morning, by this ship, to Monrovia, Liberia, where you will immediately give information of your arrival to the Rev. John Seyes, or his successor, the agent appointed by the U. S. Government to receive and provide for Africans recaptured by the cruisers of the United States. As soon as the agent is ready to receive the African captives on shore they will be lauded with care, and be taken charge of by the agent, who will give for them triplicate receipts, specifying them as men and women and male and female children. You will then enclose one of the receipts addressed to the
flag-offlcer commanding this squadron and leave it in care of the U. S. agent. You will also call on the chief of the Government of Liberia, and inform him of the purpose of your visit, which being completed, you will take in wood and water sufficient to carry you to New York, where you will report in person to the commandant of the naval station and in writing to the honorable Secretary of the Navy, inclosing one of the receipts of the U. S. agent for the African captives.

You will be prepared to deliver up the vessel to the U. S. marshal, and all the papers and one of the agent's receipts for the captives to the judge of the U. S. district court, and be ready to act in the case of the ship under your charge as your orders and circumstances may require.

Lieutenant Hays, of the Navy, and Lieutenant Tyler, of the Marines, are ordered to report to you for duty. Six petty officers, 3 seamen, 8 ordinary seamen, 6 landsmen, 2 boys, 1 corporal of marines, 5 privates of marines will accompany you as the prize crew.

On your arrival at New York you will strictly prohibit anyone from leaving the ship or having any communication with the shore until the vessel is delivered to the U. S. authorities. The provisions remaining on board and all public property in your charge, will be turned over to the commandant of the U. S. naval station, as well as the prize crew, with the accounts accompanying them.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Alfred Taylor,
Commander.

Lieutenant J. J. Guthrie, U. S. Navy,
Commanding Prize Ship Nightingale.

 

[rancke]

Here's a bit of chrome I came up with for Bill Cameron's adventure Broken Arrows. It involves the PCs being tasked with tracking down a navy ship, the Pulawy:

Bayruth has a copy of the Pulawy’s orders [handout]:

Kataluru Base/Kataluru System, 102-1120

Lieutenant Commander the Right Honorable Bazzul R. Moncreefe, commanding His Imperial Majesty's Ship Pulawy,

Sir, when your ship is in all respects ready for deployment, you will leave Kataluru Base and and report to Murchison Base on or before 087-1121.

During the intervening period, you will visit every system in the Zyra Cluster other than Kataluru and Murchison in whatever order you see fit.

In each of these nine systems, your ship will engage in collecting signals intelligence data. You are to run silent off a gas giant or planetoid belt of your own selection for seven days while observing and recording as much of the activity in the system as possible. All the SIGINT you collect is to be encrypted and a copy passed to the senior IN officer stationed in the system for analysis and forwarding to Fleet HQ.

Upon conclusion of the SIGINT collection, you will proceed to the local port for resupply, shore leave, and courtesy visits. In the six systems that do not have local Imperial Navy, Marine, Army, or Scout installations, you will engage in previously scheduled commerce inspection exercises with both SPA and local planetary defense forces.

Upon completion of all appropriate activities, you will jump to another system and repeat the aforementioned procedure.

In order to maximise the effectiveness of the mission, the order in which you visit the nine systems has been left for you to decide.

Signed Commodore K. Lupin, Chief Operations Officer of Kataluru Base.​

Hans

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

Yea for Bureaucracy-6!

Oh, goodness, this thread is awesome. I do love me some handouts. And because I am a sicko, bureaucracy. Thanks guys, lovely stuff here.

 

[Timerover51]

Oh, goodness, this thread is awesome. I do love me some handouts. And because I am a sicko, bureaucracy. Thanks guys, lovely stuff here.

Greetings, Magnus and Kilgs, would you like some more to work with. I am not lacking for material to tap into?

 

[Patron Zero]

Hand-outs and small props do bring much to a game, I encourage their usage whenever not distracting to the flow of play.

Sidebar: The players in my Traveller game (circa mid-1980s) had a set of coffee mugs made that featured their ship's name and registration number super-imposed over the vessel's 'nose-art'.

 

[aramis]

Modern Disposition Form Format

Disposition forms are a general purpose form for specific information. I've had personal orders cut on one; I've seen unit mobilization orders on them as well, and requests for information.
http://www.history.army.mil/html/topics/apam/StatusofUnit_opt.pdf is an example directing transfer of records.

In short, I use that basic format, modified slightly, in my Traveller games.

EG:

DISPOSITION FORM
To: 3076 LIR, Regina, Col Vladimir Shushugliar, Commanding
From: HG Willem Caranda Aledon, Duke of Regina
Date: 113-1197
Subject: Transfer of status

As of this date and receipt of these orders, the 3076 LIR is attached to His Graces Huscarles, to be barracked at Regni, in the Ducal Palace.

Unit to take local transportation from current barracks to Regni, as available. Civilian transportation authorized at ducal expense, or Navy of Regina forces if available and sufficient, at the colonels' discretion.

Upon arrival, the unit shall report in formation in armed dress to the Castellan, HE William Hamford. Standard protocol applies. Unit material assets should be delayed up to 48 hours to allow for HE William to arrange for the needed security.

After outfitting to Ducal uniform, the unit shall detach one battalion of the Colonel's choice to Regni Downs to assume starport security detail.

One company shall be detatched to HQ 4859 LIR for training in Ducal Security, again, specific company at colonel's discretion.

These orders issued in consultation with and upon the word of His Grace Willem, Duke of Regina.

For the Duke,

William Hamford
Castellan of Regni Palace,
Baron-tenant of Regni Downs
Acting Brigadier of Huscarles

ACC: RAdm Santanocheev, IN HQ, Mora
ACC: Gen Hurzog, CG of Army of Regina
CC: Col Iqill, CO, 4859 LIR
CC: Gen Braskr, HQ, IA-Regina
CC: Each member, 3076 LIR

Authentication: original orders issued upon Ducal Stationary.
Text Authentication key: [redacted]
​

I like the DF because one can easily mock up a DF for use as a handout.

 

[GypsyComet]

There is also the bit from the beginning of Weber's long (and increasingly tedious) Honor Harrington series:

""From Admiral Sir Lucien Cortez, Fifth Space Lord, Royal Manticoran Navy," she read in her crisp, cool voice, "to Commander Honor Harrington, Royal Manticoran Navy, Thirty-Fifth Day, Fourth Month, Year Two Hundred and Eighty After Landing. Madam: You are hereby directed and required to proceed aboard Her Majesty's Starship Fearless, CL-Five-Six, there to take upon yourself the duties and responsibilities of commanding officer in the service of the Crown. Fail not in this charge at your peril. By order of Admiral Sir Edward Janacek, First Lord of Admiralty, Royal Manticoran Navy, for Her Majesty the Queen."

Readable here should the text be not an acceptable post: http://www.baenebooks.com/10.1125/Baen/0743435710/0743435710___1.htm

 

[Hemdian]

Here are some I used for an adventure once. Loosely modeled on those shown on the back of the AHL box. I think Twilight:2000 (1st ed) used a similar format IIRC.

 

[Kilgs]

Bloody awesome!! Thanks guys, those are all excellent! Especially the privateer award. Thanks for the help.

Sidebar: The players in my Traveller game (circa mid-1980s) had a set of coffee mugs made that featured their ship's name and registration number super-imposed over the vessel's 'nose-art'.

This idea is officially stolen.

 

[Timerover51]

While not totally in line with the thread, I can readily see the following request by a shipping line in the Imperium in the event of hostilities breaking out within range of normally secure shipping routes. Turrets for reserved hard mounts, gunners, and maybe a Marine squad. Not sure about carrying a lot of firepower for passengers.

Letter from G. Vanderbilt, esq., to the Secretary of the Navy, requesting that California steamers be provided with Government arms.

Office of the Atlantic and Pacific Steamship Co..
177 West street, New York, April 16, 1861.

SlR : For the better protection of our California steamers, which are known to transport large amounts of specie on every voyage from Aspinwall to New York, it has been deemed advisable to place on each one good and serviceable pivot or swivel gun. There are undoubtedly some guns of this description at the Brooklyn navy yard which can be spared from the Government service, and I write this to inquire whether you will permit this company to use those guns for the purpose named.

I am informed by Mr. W. H. Aspinwall that during the Mexican war the steamers on the Pacific Ocean owned by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, of which he was one of the managing owners, were furnished with guns by the Government.

It is likewise deemed advisable to place on board each of our three steamers regularly employed in this trade 100 muskets or rifles of the most approved description, and it is believed that these arms, in the hands of passengers such as ordinarily travel over this route, will be a sufficient protection against any pirate or privateer.

The shippers of specie by our line are alarmed at the present state of affairs, and are apprehensive that our steamers may be seized or robbed on their voyage from Aspinwall to New York, unless some special provision be made for their safety.

An early reply will greatly oblige your very obedient servant,
C. Vanderbilt.

Hon. Gideon Welles,
Secretary of the Navy, Washington.

Aspinwall was the eastern terminus of the Panama Railway, built by William Aspinwall in 1850 for the transport of prospectors west and gold specie east following the California Gold Rush. It is now know as Colon, Panama, the eastern terminus of both the railway and the Panama Canal.

 

[Timerover51]

Given the lack of a faster-then-light communication system in Traveller, which I actually really like, I can see a ship being given the following orders, substituting planets for ports. Courier ships are going to be a premium at all times I suspect.

U. S. Flagship Richmond,
Naples, May 5, 1861.

SIR : You will proceed immediately to Tunis and give the enclosed letter to Commander Palmer of the Iroquois. If the Iroquois has not been to Tunis, you will leave the letter for Commander Palmer at that place. If Commander Palmer has left Tunis, you follow him to Cagliari, island of Sardinia. If he has ]eft there you will go to [Port] Mahon, island of Minorca, and if the Iroquois is not there and has not been there, you will leave the letter in the hands of the U. S. consul. When the letter is disposed of you will proceed as soon as possible to New York, stopping at Gibraltar or Cadiz to fill up your coal, and on your arrival at New York report to the honorable Secretary of the Navy.

I am, respectfully, yours,
Chas. H. Bell,
Flag-Officer.

Captain George N. Hollins,
Commanding U. S. S. Susquehanna, Naples.

Flag-Officer was a rank used by the US Navy to indicate the ranking officer on a naval station, as the rank of Admiral did not then exist in the US Navy, and Commodore had gone out of use and authorization as well. That did change as the Civil War progressed and the Navy grew much larger.