Chief of Naval Operations Organizational Research and Policy Division
Dates: 1932-1949
Collection Number: AR/638 (Formerly COLL/638)
Scope and Content Note
The Organization Research and Policy Division, designated OP-23, was established 23 December 1948 as a subordinate activity within the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations under the cognizance of OP-02, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Administration). It conducted research and studies involving the organizational functions and principles in use or proposed for adoption within the National Military Establishment. It was disestablished on 4 November 1949.
The Division was headed by Captain Arleigh A. Burke, USN, who reported on board on 29 December 1948.
The collection was arranged in three series:
Series I: Basically unclassified records relating to the War and Navy Departments, and other aspects of the postwar organization for National Security, 1932-1949. These records consist of correspondence, memoranda, newspaper and magazine articles, drafts, directives, executive orders, manuals, statements, bills and acts, charts, slides, and testimony and reports of committees relating to Defense Department unification. They are arranged according to the Navy Filing Manual and thereunder alphabetically and chronologically.
Series II: Classified records relating to the unification of the War and Navy Departments, and postwar organization for National Security, 1932-1949. These reports consist of correspondence, memoranda, proposals, reports, studies, testimony, budget, logistics, bills and acts, investigations, conferences, and committees relating to Defense Department unification. They are arranged according to the Navy Filing Manual and thereunder alphabetically and chronologically.
Series III: Records relating to the B-36 Investigation, 1947-1949. These records consist of information on the roles and missions of the Air Force and the Navy (especially Naval Aviation and Marine Aviation), the decision to cancel the construction of the aircraft carrier United States, and associated Congressional hearings on the B-36 bomber program. They also consist of correspondence, communications, legislative summaries, agenda items (prepared by the House Armed Services Committees), statements, biographies, bibliographies of documents, questions, and briefings of witnesses, a file of recorded testimony, technical and statistical data, and special reports. They are arranged according to the Navy Filing Manual and thereunder alphabetically and chronologically.
Preferred Citation
This collection should be cited as Organizational Research and Policy Division, 1932-1949, Archives Branch, Naval History and Heritage Command, Washington, DC.
