Superseded or Revised Publications
When a great number of minor or major
changes are necessary to a publication, it may be
either completely revised or superseded by a new
publication. In such cases, either an entirely new,
revised publication or requisition instructions for
ordering the new publication will be forwarded
to all applicable commands. Procedures for
disposal of superseded publications are delineated
in SECNAVINST P5212.5, Disposal of Navy and
Marine Corps Records.
PUBLICATIONS CORRECTIONS
PETTY OFFICER
The leading RP should appoint an RP2 or
RP3 as publications corrections petty officer. At
least semiannually, the leading RP should review
and check publication changes entered to ensure
CRP publications are complete and current.
Additionally, the administrative officer periodi-
cally receives a listing of instructions, publica-
tions, and directives in effect, including series
indicators and effective edition indicators. This
list can be used by the RPC or RP1 to further
ensure that the publications in the office are kept
up to date.
LIBRARY OPERATIONS
The Command Religious Program can be a
major contributing factor to the morale of
personnel who are at sea for extended periods of
time. One way to help maintain high morale is
to provide a well-stocked shipboard library.
Religious Program Specialists are tasked with the
operation and maintenance of the shipboard
library. The commanding officer may appoint the
chaplain or the senior RP aboard as library
officer responsible for operating and maintain-
ing the library. The library officer has the follow-
ing responsibilities:
Assign and train personnel to function as
librarians
Receive, inventory, record, catalog, and
shelve new books
Update the library collection on a
continuing basis
Maintain library spaces
3-10
. Encourage the use of the library by
publicizing hours of operation and new
books received
Detailed procedures for the operation of the
library at sea may be found in chapter 8 of
Religious Program Specialist 3 & 2, module 1,
Personnel Support, NAVEDTRA 287-01-45-82.
NAVAL COMMUNICATIONS
In the Navy, all written material, such as
letters, documents, publications, charts, and
messages addressed to or sent from a command,
is considered to be official correspondence.
OPNAVINST 3120.32, Standard Organization
and Regulations of the U.S. Navy, contains
detailed information concerning official corre-
spondence.
Official naval correspondence is prepared in
naval format, using the Department of the
Navy Correspondence Manual, SECNAVINST
5216.5C. The standard naval letter format is also
used to correspond with certain agencies of the
United States Government, especially those within
the Department of Defense. Some civilian
agencies that correspond extensively with the
Department of Defense have adopted the naval
format.
Most official letters addressed to persons out-
side the Navy are written in business form,
including those dealing with matters relating to
individuals and those written to civilian firms and
to government officials or agencies that have not
adopted the naval form.
Since the Command Religious Program is a
command responsibility, all correspondence
relating to it and involving the Navy in an official
way is considered to be official correspondence.
In the following section, the drafting of pro-
fessional and pastoral correspondence as well as
messages will be discussed.
DRAFTING LETTERS
The basic principles of preparing naval letters
can be applied to all forms of official naval
correspondence, including directives.
A letter will be more effective if it is carefully
planned. An outline, or perhaps some brief notes,
will enable the writer to ensure that all ideas
intended to be conveyed have been included and
arranged properly in the letter.