When Holland was rebuilding it's navy fleet shortly after world war 2 and the ships were provided with radar, sonar and other electronic equipment, the need arose for people that could gather and evaluate all the new information and present it to the commanding officer of their ship. The eyes and ears of a navy vessel.

     A new service was established, the Action Information Organization (AIO). British and American AIO served as a model and mixed with the typical Dutch opinion the service started to operate. NATO participation by the Dutch was the main reason to build up the AIO based on the British and American models. Gathering and digesting action information was done conform NATO regulations laid down in different NATO manuals. Manoeuvring and navigating needed during action was done conform the same regulations. On Dutch navy vessels the navigator was the head of the AIO. Education and training needed for the new service was given at NAVGIS in Den Helder. First part of the course was finished with the certificate RAPP- 2nd class followed by putting it into practice aboard a navy vessel. Aboard a record was kept to sign up all the tasks done in practice and only agreed on if it was successfully performed. Having recorded all the tasks a new course for the 1st class certificate was in reach. An experienced good first class RAPP is able to go for corporal and even more.

      Subjects given at NAVGIS were: theory action information - ACP165 NATO manual - radio communication procedures - reporting procedures - tactical plot - filter plot - grid plot - general plot - air plot - air raid reporting - surface raid reporting - theory radio radar - radar equipments - theory navigation - English - meteo. Once aboard tasks had to be performed like: tpo tactical plot officer - air raid reporting controller - surface raid reporting controller - directed net controller - asw teller - dpo direction plot officer - making meteo CANAL en ANAL - ATTP NATO manuals.

Navigation.
One of the two main tasks of the AIO is navigation. Going from point A to point B under different circumstances was always supported by the operation room at the tactical plot. In poor visibility the AIO supported with a mist navigation team and a communication team during mooring and replenishment at sea. Ops room yeoman was also navigators yeoman and was responsible for all nautical publications and instruments - this because the chart desk and LORAN etc. was often located in the ops room. For this job a course was given at the hydrographical office in The Hague finished with a diploma. In later time the course was given by NAVGIS too. Navigators yeoman was also responsible for the chronometer, the correct time on the ships clocks and supported during determination of the position. A course in meteo was provided by meteorologists at Naval Airbase Valkenburg. Everything was given that was needed for making 24 hour synoptic weather reports and - bathy thermograph - weather balloon - international weather charts - meteorological instruments. As ex-navigators yeoman I was often asked by people from the engine rooms for expired British Admiral charts. They liked them for their quality and used them between gaskets.

Action information.
Action information is understood as: all information gathered by means of radio intelligence - radar - sonar or other sources which are necessary for a possible action. A clear structure of the four great W's was observed during the gathering - What - Where - Whither - When. During anti submarine warfare AIO was looking for: where - how many - depth - speed - course. During air raids: where - how many - course - altitude - speed. The service provided the ballistic report for the artillery when needed and assisted in the shore bombardments. The organization operated the different communication lines and directed aircraft during actions like asw or other targets.
In my view an exercise in shore bombardment was one of the jobs I liked to do. This was done on indication of a spotter who was ashore. The first shot (for fire on affect) was always exciting. The organization was also occupied with electronic warfare and support during landing parties. On destroyers the priority is sub marines, on cruisers                                                                                 mainly air defence and artillery.


Playing cat and mouse.
An anti submarine action was always one of the most intensifying events often carried out with two ships that encircled the submarine. At close distance this action could be supported by helicopters while a contact at far more distance was supported with S2n's or Orion's. Being the ASW-teller at my division aboard the Hr Ms Limburg and Hr Ms Groningen I was involved in a lot of ASW actions. The position of the submarine was displayed on the ASW plot table by a small red dot and the green dot represented the other hunter involved in the action. Both positions had to be tracked carefully. The red dot was only visible when sonar had a good contact of the submarine. During the hunt for the submarine intricated search patterns were often executed. The assisting hunter was always close in range so a good report from the ASW tellers was of extreme importance. The leading hunter was the one that had the best sonar contact with the submarine which changed when the contact was lost. During a good contact the control over the ship was taken over by the ASW officer in the operation room.






                         I know you are out there.....!

















   Fort NAVGIS at Den Helder            My class in april 1967 with LTZ2 OC H.A.J.Nijenhuis SGMJ NGID Bode and KPL NGID Schenk (sjeng)

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