OPERATION ORDERS

Operation orders (OPORDs) are directives issued by naval commanders to subordinates for the purpose of effecting coordinated execution of an operation.

Figure 2-4.-Communications watch organization.

Operation orders are prepared in accordance with a standing format, as set forth in Naval Operational Planning, NWP 11 (NWP 5-01).

An OPORD is an operations plan made up of the heading, body, and ending. The basic plan, contained in the body of the OPORD, is concise and contains minimum detail. More detailed information on various ship departments is contained in enclosures (called annexes and appendixes).

The annex of most concern to radiomen is the communications annex. The communications annex, along with its appendixes and tabs, discusses the many details to be considered in planning communications for a particular operation. In this annex, you can find such information as the applicable circuits, equipment, and frequencies that will be used in the upcoming operation.

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES

In addition to the OPORDs, you should also become familiar with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) used by your division and department. SOPs should be sufficiently complete and detailed to advise personnel of routine practices. The detail depends upon such variables as the state of training, the complexity of the instructions, and the size of the command.

Staff sections, divisions, and departments often find it convenient to establish their own SOPs for operating their respective areas and for guiding their personnel in routine matters. Some examples of communications SOPs are:

Procedures for persons going aloft;

Handling of visitors in radio spaces; and

MINIMIZE procedures.

Communications SOPs are written to meet an objective. SOPs may vary from command to command and may differ according to their objectives. Your job will be to recommend changes or maybe even write the objectives. In any event, a complete set of SOPs will enable you and your shipmates to perform your duties in a responsible, professional, and safe manner.

MESSAGE LOGS

Accounting for messages addressed to your guard list (list of commands for which you receive message traffic) is the most important part of processing messages. Accounting for all messages processed in your message center is accomplished with logs. Although ashore and afloat automated systems automatically log, store, and retrieve messages, there still is a need to manually log and file both incoming and outgoing messages.

CENTRAL MESSAGE LOG

Depending upon the traffic volume processed, a message center may use either a separate outgoing/incoming log or a combined Central Message Log to record processed message traffic. All messages are logged in the Central Message Log after they have been logged in the appropriate circuit log. The normal practice is to use separate logs for outgoing and incoming messages (figure 2-5).

The entries in the Central Message Log are station serial number (SSN), precedence, DTG (original on a readdressal), originator (original on a readdressal), subject, classification, time of receipt (TOR) for incoming messages or time of delivery (TOD) for outgoing messages for each message. It is also useful to indicate on the log over which circuit the message was relayed. This is helpful during tracer situations. The Central Message Log is filed in the communications center master file on top of the messages processed for that radio day (raday).