Proper Usage of "Master Ship List" Database.

[joe]

Hi - new member, first post.

Thanks, first of all, to the Group maintainers, as well as to the HNSA web content providers - yours is a remarkable online resource.

I'm an amateur ship historian and model builder, and my use of these resources thus far has been in pursuit of information for a class of Maritime Commission vessels from 1944-, the C4-S-B2 troopship types including "Marine Angel", "Marine Devil", and their sisters. For several years of casual research, I've not yet found plans or any technical documentation save the most basic, as well as as many photos as I can dredge off the net.

This changed recently when I finally learned to use the NARA finding aids and the Archives' website to search for records. Thanks to HNSA and NARA, I'm now in the early stages of planning a research trip to College Park (I'm located in California).

At the moment, though, I'm confused about the proper interpretation of the information in HNSA's version of the Master Ship List database (at http://www.hnsa.org/doc/nara/searchplans/index.php), and I hope that someone on the board can clear up my confusion. I've searched for the ships I'm interested in, and have found the following info:

Prefix           Name                                                Year                 Series              Cross Ref

USAT	MARINE RAVEN		1944-X		RG336		STACK 231
USAT	MARINE ROBIN		1944-X		RG336		STACK 231
USAT	MARINE WOLF		1944-X		RG336		STACK 231

Imagine my excitement when I learn this means that at least some technical info for these mysterious vessels exists in College Park!

Herein, though, is the source of my confusion: for these entries, "Series" seems to indicate NARA Records Group 336, which are the "Records of the Office of Chief of Transportation", not the "Records of the Maritime Administration", which I've learned is RG 357, and in fact is listed at NARA as containing microfilm that is likely to have the plans I'm looking for. Is this likely to be a transcription error or some other wrinkle in this version of the Master Ship List? And if so, is "Stack 231" then a physical locator at College Park for RG357, rather than in RG336?

Any help folks can provide would be fantastic, as I'm trying to plan for this trip in May. Best of luck in your searches, and thanks in advance!


Cheers,
--joe.

[pekelney]

This is interesting because I have not used RG 336. I sent an email
to the archivist in the cartographic section. They are the ones that
know the record groups and have created this finding aid.

rich

On Mar 2, 10:45 pm, joe <jrei...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi - new member, first post.
>
> Thanks, first of all, to the Group maintainers, as well as to the HNSA web
> content providers - yours is a remarkable online resource.
>
> I'm an amateur ship historian and model builder, and my use of these
> resources thus far has been in pursuit of information for a class of
> Maritime Commission vessels from 1944-, the C4-S-B2 troopship types
> including "Marine Angel", "Marine Devil", and their sisters. For several
> years of casual research, I've not yet found plans or any technical
> documentation save the most basic, as well as as many photos as I can
> dredge off the net.
>
> This changed recently when I finally learned to use the NARA finding aids
> and the Archives' website to search for records. Thanks to HNSA and NARA,
> I'm now in the early stages of planning a research trip to College Park
> (I'm located in California).
>
> At the moment, though, I'm confused about the proper interpretation of the

> information in HNSA's version of the Master Ship List database (athttp://www.hnsa.org/doc/nara/searchplans/index.php), and I hope that

> someone on the board can clear up my confusion. I've searched for the ships
> I'm interested in, and have found the following info:
>
> Prefix           Name
> Year                 Series              Cross Ref
> USAT MARINE RAVEN
> 1944-X
> RG336
> STACK 231
>  USAT MARINE ROBIN
> 1944-X
> RG336
> STACK 231
>  USAT MARINE WOLF
> 1944-X
> RG336
> STACK 231
>

> Imagine my excitement when I learn this means that at least *some*technical info for these mysterious vessels exists in College Park!

>
> Herein, though, is the source of my confusion: for these entries, "Series"
> seems to indicate NARA Records Group 336, which are the "Records of the

> Office of Chief of Transportation", *not* the "Records of the Maritime

[joe]

Ah, interesting - I hadn't realized that it was a direct transcription of NARA's content. I'll stay tuned for the resolution, if any.

The result (i.e., RG 336) was odd at first as it showed up for several types of vessels, and then became more confusing as it didn't match any of the explanations in the key (http://www.hnsa.org/doc/nara/searchplans/key.htm#cross).

Thanks for passing it on!


--joe.

[joe]

Hi - I was wondering if there was any resolution on this oddity as yet.

Thanks for your help so far!


Cheers,

--joe.

On Saturday, March 3, 2012 8:37:29 PM UTC-8, pekelney wrote:

[pekelney]

I did not get a response from the archivist to my email, but I will be
visiting NARA and will ask in person.

rich

[joe]

Thanks for the response, Rich; enjoy your trip to the Archives!


Cheers,
--joe.

[pekelney]

So RG 336 is the Records of the Office of the Chief of
Transportation. They have a number of USAT ships in flat files.

I was able to get a booklet of general plans for USS Marine Raven
scanned. When I get home next week I will put a 150 dpi version up on
the web site.

rich

[joe]

That's fantastic - thanks so much for taking the time to ferret them out!

And how odd that these files are still in paper form, and haven't been collected with the RG 357/MARAD materials. (One should never doubt a Finding Aid, I guess.)  No wonder I've had such difficulty finding references to them.

How I envy your access to NARA - thanks again, Rich!


Cheers,
--joe.

[pekelney]

Folks,

We have added a booklet of general plans of USAT Marine Raven, a WW II
troopship to the HNSA web site.
http://hnsa.org/doc/plans/

rich

On Mar 14, 9:07 pm, joe <jrei...@gmail.com> wrote:
> That's fantastic - thanks so much for taking the time to ferret them out!
>
> And how odd that these files are still in paper form, and haven't been
> collected with the RG 357/MARAD materials. (One should never doubt a

> Finding Aid, I guess.)  No *wonder* I've had such difficulty finding

[joe]

Excellent - this certainly changes the course of my research; many thanks for the work done!

In a way, the mystery deepens, as this suggests that no builders' drawing set survives for these vessels; indeed, the booklet of general plans doesn't even seem to include a set of hull sections in this instance. In some respects, the search continues - but now, it's undeniably nice to finally know what the deck configuration was (the available photos are terribly unclear)!

Keep up the good work.


Cheers,
--joe.