What we are providing here is a program that opens Google Earth, so you need to have downloaded the free Google Earth program and installed it on your computer on your own hard drive.

According to current proposed legislation, it *MAY* be necessary to prove your ship was inside the area between this line and the shore line. This line represents the 12-miles from Baseline that we intend the legislation to refer to if that language stays as is.

When you open the Google Earth program, go to the TOOLS on the Google Earth Menu Bar at the top, choose OPTIONS, and than choose the tab 3-D VIEW. Go to the box marked SHOW LAT/LONG and choose DEGREES, DECIMAL MINUTES. This is because most notations of Latitude and Longitude found in Ship Deck Logs generally used the Degree, Decimal Minute format.

Note that at the bottom of the Google Earth window, there is a display of the latitude and longitude that changes as your cursor controlled by the mouse is moved. Wherever that cursor stops shows an exact latitude and longitude to match-up with a reading from the Deck Log.

USING THE SHIPLOCATION.kmz FILE

Directions on checking a ship's location using Google Earth

The ship's Deck Log has three location boxes at the top of the page. They are listed as degree, decimal minutes with a compass reference, N,S,E.W. See figure 1.
1. In figure 1, example A reads 16 18.2N by 108 16.3E.
2. In Google Earth, go to the map area for Vietnam. You will see a Pin Icon in the upper Menu that says �Add Placemark� when you put your cursor point on it.
3. Click on that to open the dialog box. See figure 2. In the dialog box (shown larger than default), type in this example: 16 18.2N in the first box labeled Latitude. Type 108 16.3E in the lower box labeled Longitude. Note the space between the degrees and the minutes. Click ENTER to set the Placemark Pin.
4. If the Pin falls between the line and Vietnam shore, that point is within the Territorial Waters of Vietnam.
5. In some cases, there will be a latitude and longitude written in the Narrative portion of the Deck Log. That may give the location of a specific operation the ship was on. Check that position in addition to the three entries at the top of the page.
6. Send the Ship's name, the coordinates and the date to our database that is collecting ships that can be documented as within the Territorial Seas of Vietnam. Send this information to [email protected] . If you can e-mail a copy of the ship�s Deck Log showing this information, that would be ideal. Please try to send that information in a .PDF file format.*
7. If the pin does not fall within the required line, ignore it and go on to the next set of co-ordinates. To delete the old Placemark, click it and delete it using the delete key on the keyboard.

To double check that the co-ordinates were properly keyed in: right click on the pin you placed, and then click PROPERTIES. This will open that dialogue box and show the co-ordinates it defines. Note that these co-ordinates took the decimal minutes and converted them to minutes and seconds. To convert decimal minutes to minutes and seconds, multiply the decimal number by 60. Example: 28.2 minutes is 28+(.2*60)= 28 min 12 seconds.

Some basics for using Google:

You can click on the SHIPLOCATION.kmz file to open Google Earth. Or, when Google Earth is already open, clicking on the .kmz file should move your view to the coast of Vietnam.

When you first open Google Earth you may see a tip window. Close that by clicking on CLOSE.

Use the Navigation Controls that appear in the upper right corner of the Google Earth Window when you move your cursor there. You can then use the ZOOM IN [+] or ZOOM OUT [-].

When your cursor is in the shape of a hand, you can hold down the left mouse button to move the map around.

If you go to the top menu, under VIEW, and click on the GRID selection, the Latitude and Longitude lines for the entire globe will be available, and will scale to your location as you zoom in and zoom out.

If you need assistance using Google Earth please contact [email protected] via e-mail.

Ray's Video on Placing a Pin

Ray Melninkaitis has created an instructional video about placing pins on Google Earth with the Vietnam Territorial Seas subroutine active. This will help anyone wishing to see exactly where any set of Latitude and Longitude lines cross on the map. Ray will be taking the lat/long numbers from a typical Deck Log. Anyone wanting to find the location of their ship at a particular Deck Log entry for the Latitude and Longitude should find this helpful.

Aircraft Carrier Spreadsheet Updates

Ray will be keeping track of which carriers can be shown by Deck Log to have been in the Territorial Seas of Vietnam. Figure 3 (May 30, 2015 Update) is a spreadsheet he will use to record those ships. Please coordinate through Ray before undertaking any extensive research regarding your ship's location so we don't have a duplication of effort going on. We would like a volunteer from each carrier to take on the job of completing the research. Anyone willing to look at additional ship Deck Logs is certainly invited to let us know that also. Following the carriers, we will be getting digitized Deck Logs of ammumition ships, and oilers. We will do the same thing for each Hull Type.Digitizing the Deck Logs is a MONUMENTAL project. Those who want Deck Logs of ships not currently on the scan schedule can still get them from NARA as hard copies.

More information on this aspect of the project will be forthcoming as we move forward with identifying which ships qualify under the current direction of this Legislation.

Here is a pdf of the Summary Page of the carriers that have been located so far. REMEMBER, we have not yet looked at all carrier Deck Logs for the entire War period yet. The details are in the spreadsheet above.

TRACKING THE AMMO SHIPS (AE)

This Calendar Graphic shows when an ammunition ship was within the Theater of Combat between 1962 and 1975. When those Deck Logs are reviewed (Hopefully this will happen by mid-2016), dates when the AE was within Territorial Seas will be marked.

TRACKING THE OILERS (AO)

This Calendar Graphic shows when a Fleet Oiler (Hull Type AO) was within the Theater of Combat between 1962 and 1975. When those Deck Logs are reviewed (Hopefully this will happen by mid-2016), dates when the AE was within Territorial Seas will be marked.

When that Hull Type as been completed, we will move on to other type ships. We are starting with thips that are LEAST LIKELY to have been in the Territorial Seas on every WESTPAC Deployment.

Accessing the Digital Archives of the Deck Logs