New Ordnance Manual

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[ronone]

CWO2 Bradley J Lacey posted today (2 May 2008) on  .com

The ORDMAN has left our office (CG-7D Small Arms Program) and has gone to
concurrent clearance. I don't have a time line as to how long the process will take.
Unfortunately as the expansion of the ordnance world within the CG has grown so has the number of
directorates that will get a crack at the manual before we can get it out. As for our hair, most of it's
still there thanks to the workload being shared by those that stepped up and helped with the updating and
editing process.

I would like to know just what "expansion of the ordnance world within the CG has grown" means?  There are far fewer ordnance systems and weapons types than there were 25 years ago and much fewer than 35 years ago. 

The ordnance world is not as great as it once was and this comes from the killing of the military readiness offices.  There is simply little interest in it in the Coast Guard.  If there was, there would be a lightweight 5"/62 on the new cutters instead of 60 year-old redesign. 

Another posted remarked,

First, when they combined the Ordnance Manual and the Small Arms Manual together, there were alot of unchanged references within the manual.

The removal of Small Arms from the Ordnance Manual was the brain child of a LCDR in CGHQ who thought he knew everything about small arms and small arms training. His only knowledge base was his short time on the CGA Pistol team.   In later years, this same person attempted to beat me up on  .com over SAI quotas.  He had been at Group Fort Macon and continually asked for SAI School quotas.  I would reply (I was the program manager) that he had 12 instructors in the group and it was his responsibility to see that they were used to the best benefit of the Coast Guard.  Evidently, some liked to have the SAI moniker but refused to work as one. (This is one reason I invented the HJ  qual code).  With some irony, he wrote in the 1989 Small Arms Manual that SAI were "district resources" and could be called upon to be used anywhere the district wanted.  He probably forgot he wrote this.  He never did get more quotas. 



When the Small Arms Manual (COMDTINST M8370.11) came out in 1989 I was asked to review it for problems.  There were many.   I have no idea if any of the errors were corrected.  I was not asked again to review any further changes. 

I still haven't figured out why SAI training quotas and pyrotechnics were included in the SA manual.

[LTGunner]

Well, I guess glacial progress is better than none at all. 

I guess the only thing that has bothered me about the USCG Ordnance Manual is the reliance by Ordnance & Weapons personnel on it.  Yes, its intent is to provide USCG guidance on Ordnance issues; but there is a HUGE Ordnance reference library that extends well beyond the “box” called the Ordnance Manual. 

The Naval Logistics Library and Explosives Safety Technical Manuals (ESTM) CD ROM (Series available from NOSSA) has a wealth of information to call upon.  Most the questions I've seen asked over the years have been readily available in multiple reference documents, other than the Ordnance Manual, such as OP4 Ammunition Afloat.

There are also a wide range of reference documents for professional development such as Hatcher’s Notebook or Dahlgren’s Shells & Shell Guns for example.

The Ordnance Manual is the Commandant's Instruction on how to administer the USCG’s Ordnance Program.  As such, the CG HQ Team has the responsibility to get it right and provide solid guidance to the program. 

Good luck! 

[EX-CG-GM]

OP 735 (if memory serves me correctly) was about the only book I used extensively.

[ronone]

Alas,   OP 735 is no more.  It went with the 5"/38.   I gave my very much ponied copy to a new chief who didn't have, for some reason, a personal copy. 

The Ordnance Manual for the Coast Guard came out in 1929 thanks to then Commander Russell R. Waesche.   The Coast Guard then was growing in ordnance awareness and it had the purpose to go beyond simple instruction.  It was to show the navy that the Coast Guard was serious about being a support service to the navy.  Throughout the 1920s the Coast Guard worked with navy war planners.  Also, do not forget the four-stacker destroyers the CG got from the navy for Prohibition work.

One of my favorite OPs was 1014.  The one about accidents, or, as I used to call it.  "Dumb Ass People with Ordnance."   Of course, this also applies to civilians. I read in the paper that an experienced  civil war collector blew himself up with a civil war naval 9" projectile.  His wife reported the round had been made safe.  Yep, the old oxymoron, safe ordnance.

I used to read OP 4 to my kids to bore them to sleep. 

[LTGunner]

One of my favorite OPs was 1014.  The one about accidents, or, as I used to call it.  "Dumb Ass People with Ordnance."   Of course, this also applies to civilians. I read in the paper that an experienced  civil war collector blew himself up with a civil war naval 9" projectile.  His wife reported the round had been made safe.  Yep, the old oxymoron, safe ordnance.

The recent version of "Dumb Ass People with Ordnance." is EXPLOSIVES SAFETY ACCIDENTS AND LESSONS LEARNED, NAVSEA SW020-AD-SAF-010.  The publication supersedes NAVSEA OP 1014 dated 15 Aug 72 and NAVSEA OP 3347 dated 1 Jul 68.

[ronone]

The verson of 1014 I read was much older than 1972, but just as humorous.   Is NAVSEA SW020-AD-SAF-010 on line?  Navy Knowledge on line perhaps?  I need a chuckle now and then. 

[LTGunner]

I don't believe its been posted to the web.  Its dated 15 April 2005.  Some of the original incidents and a few new ones have been added to the new manual including the USS PRINCETON incident of 1844. 
I recall reading the 1014, it had a story about a guy who brought a presumed, inert hand grenade on the Mess Deck and you can guess the rest of the story...

[ronone]

I liked the story in the old 1014 that told of a WWII army guy who used a Japanese 60mm mortar as a dart in his tent.  It was reported he made four or five successful throws at a knot in the tent floor board. 

I wonder if the 1813 Revenue Cutter Gallatin should be in it.   They blew up the magazine sinking her in Charleston.  Killed three if I recall correctly. 

[EX-CG-GM]

Bill,

Was 1014 the one that had the pics of the ammo ship that blew up in the San Francisco bay area?  Maybe Mare Island.....during WW II?

I also enjoyed reading the Landing Party manual.

[ronone]

Stan,

Yes, I believe it had the Port Chicago incident in it.  It is a classic case.


I was able to download EXPLOSIVES SAFETY ACCIDENTS AND LESSONS LEARNED, NAVSEA SW020-AD-SAF-010 from NKO yesterday. 

I read a bit of it and they've taken the fun out of it.  They made it too regulatory.   However, it is good to see some people are just as stupid as they have always been. 


I have copies of the Landing Party Manual going back to 1927.   It should be called "Camping like the Marines, but not quite."  The Coast Guard has not idea of Landing Party Duty today.   I wrote an article about one use of a landing party. It is a classic example.

"Crisis at Cedar Keys," Naval History, 16:2 (April 2002): 41 - 45.

[LTGunner]

I was able to download EXPLOSIVES SAFETY ACCIDENTS AND LESSONS LEARNED, NAVSEA SW020-AD-SAF-010 from NKO yesterday. 

Thanks Bill, appreciate the extra effort to locate it on NKO.  Good to know there's an electronic version available to NKO users.     (Note, Root Beer Cheers).