Abaft - at or near the stern or aft
Ashcan - depth charge
AK - U. S. Naval symbol for freighter, AO for tanker, AP for troop transport.
AS or ASW - Anti-Submarine Warfare
Bow - front of the ship
CA - U. S. Naval symbol for heavy cruiser, CL light cruiser.
Can - destroyer; if referring to the submarine, it can mean the battery
CinCPac - Commander in Chief Pacific, Adm. Nimitz, based at Pearl Harbor, later Guam
CinCPOA - Commander in Chief Pacific Ocean Areas, Adm. Nimitz
ComInCh - Commander in Chief of the fleet, Adm. King based in Washington.
ComSubPac - Commander Submarines Pacific that from Jan. 43 was Adm. Lockwood based at Pearl Harbor, later Guam
CV - U. S. Naval symbol for carrier, CVL light carrier, CVE escort carrier; later CVN nuclear powered.
DD - U. S. Naval symbol for destroyer, DE destroyer escort
Depth charge - explosive charge set before being dropped to explode at a selected depth
Destroyer - fast, maneuverable thin hulled ship, with several deck guns, torpedo tubes, dozens of depth charges that were rolled off the stern; Naval symbol DD.
Destroyer Escort – smaller than destroyer, slower, cheaply mass produced, effective; Chidora was a widely used Japanese ship like it; Naval symbol DE.
Div - division, an organizational unit of several submarines or ships
Escort - any ship used to protect convoys and hunt submarines
Fish – torpedoes
Forward – fore or front of the ship or submarine, as, forward torpedo room
FRUPac - Fleet Radio Unit Pacific, but often used for our codebreakers
Hedgehog - smaller ASW weapon, developed by British, fired to either side of escort, so ship could maintain sound contact on target; exploded on contact.
Port - left side of the ship facing forward or towards the bow
Radar - developed just before WW II sends radio signal to bounce from target to give direction and range to it. Exact range was critical for TDC. Our subs used it decisively for night attacks. Germans and Japanese developed units to receive radar signals to warn of attacker; Japanese had a few primitive radars.
RDF - radio directional finding used two separated receivers to identify location of signal; British called it Huf-Duf.
Sonar - which British called ASDIC; sends sound signal through water to bounce off target, showing its location. Our subs sought deep temperature gradients that deflected sonar signals, providing safety. An instrument in the conning tower reported outside sea temperature.
Squadron - an organizational unit of several submarines, ships, or aircraft
SS - U. S. Naval symbol for submarine (later SSN nuclear, SSBN nuclear ballistic)
Starboard - right side of the ship facing forward or towards the bow
Stern - rear of a ship
TDC - Torpedo Data Computer located in conning tower that solved torpedo firing problem
Tincan - can, destroyer
Ultra - messages from U. S. code breakers

Created by John F. Yeaman for Quiet Victory Seminar