Naval history and heritage command
The Naval History and Heritage Command is the archival command that holds crew association records for Royal Navy destroyers in one of 3 record series, and its files are where the surviving evidence that a particular person served in a particular destroyer is actually preserved. The command is a United States Navy organization headquartered in Washington, DC, and it operates two public branches that matter to this site: the Navy Department Library in Washington, DC, and the Naval Undersea Museum in Groton, CT, the home of the 14,000+ item collection of the submarine branch. For the destroyer lineage that this site documents, the library branch is the relevant one: it holds the crew association series, the classification series, and the biographical series, and it is the command whose reference staff can confirm a service entry for a man who served in HMS Cossack, the D class destroyer commissioned in 1917. Crew association is the record that links a person to a ship and a period of service, and the command keeps the written evidence for that link.
The three record series that hold a service entry
The service entry a researcher looks for lives in one of 3 record series, and each series answers a different question about the same man. The crew association series records who was on the ship and when; the classification series records what class of ship she was and how she was rated; and the biographical series records what the man did in his life. A crew association entry is a name, a ship, and a period, and it is the entry that ties a person to HMS Cossack rather than to one of the other ships of her class.
What a crew association entry contains
A crew association entry states the name of the ship, the name of the person, the period of service, and the rank or rate at which the man served. For a man who served in HMS Cossack from 1917 to 1918, the entry records the ship, his name, the dates, and his rate, and those 4 fields are what the command's reference staff use to confirm that he was on the ship. The entry is the evidence, and it is the entry that this site's crew association pages cite when they record a man's service.
How a service entry is recorded and stored
To record a service entry, the command files the written evidence in the crew association series, and the entry is stored under the ship name and the period of service. A researcher who wants to confirm that a man served in a destroyer starts with the ship name and the dates, and the command's reference staff pull the entry from the series and confirm the link. The entry is stored in 2 places: the written file in the library, and the reference index that the command maintains for public queries. The written file is the primary record, and the reference index is the finding aid that tells a researcher where the written file is.
The reference process
The reference process runs in 2 steps. First, the researcher submits a query with the ship name, the person's name, and the period of service. Second, the reference staff check the crew association series and, if the entry is there, return the confirmation with the rank or rate. If the entry is not in the command's series, the researcher is directed to the Admiralty records held by The National Archives in Kew, London, which hold the service records that predate the command's holdings. The 2 institutions together cover the full record, and a complete crew association may require a check at both.
What the command holds and what it does not
The command holds the 3 record series named above, and it does not hold the ship's log, the muster books, or the personal letters of the crew. Those items are held elsewhere, and the command's role is the association record, not the ship's daily record. The table below sets out what the command holds and where the other records are, so that a researcher knows which institution to query for which kind of evidence.
| Record type | Where it is held | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Crew association entry | Naval History and Heritage Command, Navy Department Library | Name, ship, period, rank or rate |
| Classification record | Naval History and Heritage Command, Navy Department Library | Class, rating, and displacement of the ship |
| Biographical record | Naval History and Heritage Command, Navy Department Library | The man's service and life record |
| Admiralty service record | The National Archives, Kew, London | The full service record for pre-1939 entries |
| Submarine branch records | Naval Undersea Museum, Groton, CT | The 14,000+ item submarine collection |
The command's holdings are the association record and the classification record, and the National Archives holds the service record that goes deeper into a man's career. A researcher who wants the full story of a man's service in HMS Cossack checks the command for the association entry and the classification record, and checks the National Archives for the service record, and the 3 records together give the complete account.
How crew association records are used on this site
Crew association records are used on this site to link a man to a ship and a period, and the pages in the crew association section cite the command's entry as the evidence for that link. For the destroyer lineage that this site documents, the association record is the record that proves a man was on the ship, and the pages that carry those records are organized by ship name and by period. A page for a man who served in HMS Cossack states the ship, the period, and the rank, and cites the command's crew association entry as the source, and that citation is what makes the page a record and not a guess. The site's broader context, the line of classes that HMS Cossack belongs to, is set out in Destroyer classes explained, and the association record is the entry that ties a man to a specific ship within that line of classes.
How to request a crew association record
To request a crew association record, start with the 3 fields the command needs: the ship name, the person's name, and the period of service. Submit those fields to the Navy Department Library's reference desk, and the staff will check the crew association series and return the entry if it is there. If the entry is not in the command's series, the staff will point you to the National Archives in Kew, and the 2 requests together cover the full record. The request takes the ship name, the person's name, and the dates, and those 3 fields are all the command needs to begin the check.
The crew association archive is the record that ties a man to a destroyer and a period, and the Naval History and Heritage Command holds that archive in its 3 record series, with the crew association series as the one that matters most for this site. The command's reference staff confirm the entries that this site cites, and the National Archives holds the service records that go deeper, and together the 2 institutions keep the evidence that a particular man served in a particular ship of the Royal Navy's destroyer line.