Naval History and Heritage Command

Finding aid (Word)

Scope and Content Note

The Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet (CINCPACFLT) is responsible for the conduct of naval operations in war and peace, as well as for such specialized activities as island administration.

These records span a period of more than thirty years and document several segments of CINCPACFLT's activities. The first category originated within the Command Information Bureau which was established at Fleet headquarters in l968-1969 when the crew of the PUEBLO (AGER-21) was repatriated to the United States from the Democratic Republic of Korea. This documentation also concerns the court of inquiry into the capture of the ship.

The second group of records relates to the naval administration of the Trust Territory of the Pacific and Bonin-Volcano Islands during the 1945-1970-era.

Another collection of records covers naval operations in the Southeast Asian Conflict, especially for the l965-1975 period.  Monthly reports of that war, as well as reports on specific operations and assistance rendered under Vietnamization and Cambodian aid programs, are also included.

In addition, three groups of microfilmed Pacific Fleet messages are held, but are filed separately. These include 832 microfilm reels containing incoming and outgoing dispatches for the World War II years of 1941-1945, a similar chronological message file for 1944-1974 (3,331 reels), and a collection of 175 reels documenting specific operations during the Vietnam War in the 1964-1969 era.

The collection is divided into eight series:

Series I: Records of the Command Information Bureau relating to the Pueblo Incident, 1968-1969.  These records are arranged alphabetically.

Series II: Tapes, film, negatives, photographs, and slides relating to the Pueblo Incident, 1968-1969.  These records are arranged in numerical order.

Series III: Newspaper clippings relating to the Pueblo Incident, 1968-1969.  These press clippings were purchased from a commercial clipping service and came from all parts of the United States.  Due to their large size, they are filed separately from the main boxed collection.

Series IV: Records relating to the administration of the trust territories of the Pacific and the Bonin-Volcano islands, 1945-1970.

Series V: Source documents for Pacific area naval operations review, Jan 1967-Feb 1970.  The records are arranged chronologically.  The documents represent records collected by the staff historian for CINCPACFLT which were used in preparing the command's monthly summaries of activities.  Much of this material deals with naval operations in Vietnam.

Series VI: Pacific area naval operations/fleet operations reviews, 1965-1971. They are arranged chronologically.  These documents are summations of activities under CINCPACFLT which were taken in large part from the material in Series V.

Series VII: Subject files, 1954-1966.  These files primarily relate to Vietnam.  However, some additional materials pertaining to other areas of Pacific operations also are included.

Series VIII: Vietnamization and Cambodian Aid, 1973-1975.  These are subject and message files which deal with Vietnam and Cambodia after the withdrawal of American troops from Southeast Asia.

Note: The majority of this collection is restricted due to classification.

Preferred Citation

This collection should be cited as the Records of Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet, Archives Branch, Naval History and Heritage Command, Washington, D.C.