c. Copy for the originator of the basic letter. (Use a copy-to block.)
d. Copies for any earlier via addressees and any earlier copy-to addressees only if your endorsement is significant. (Add these addressees to your copy-to block.) Routine endorsements include “forwarded,” ‘‘ forwarded for consideration, ” and “forwarded recommending approval. ” Significant endorsements include “forwarded recommending disapproval,” “readdressed and forwarded,” and those with substantive comments.
e. Copies for any copy-to addressees your command adds. (Include these in your copy-to block. To the right of each of these addressees, type (complete) to show that your endorsement includes the basic letter, enclosures, and prior endorsements.)
f. Copy for your file
Don’t repeat in your reference and enclosure blocks any references and enclosures shown in the basic letter or prior endorsements; show only the references and enclosures you add. Assign letters to all references you add, even a single one, by continuing any sequence of letters begun earlier. Likewise, assign numbers to all enclosures you add.
Send any enclosure you add to the action addressee. Also send it to the originator of the basic letter if that activity lacks it.
The enclosure’s importance will determine whether others should receive it.
Omit enclosures to any addressees who have them already. Similarly, omit enclosures to any addressees when sending them is impractical.
SPEEDLETTER
Use speedletters for urgent UNCLASSIFIED matters that don’t require electrical transmission. The speedletter calls attention to the need for priority handling. Use it because speed of delivery is important, not just because completion of the form is easy. Avoid issuing directives through speedletters.
When speedletters arrive from other activities, process them before routine mail. Similarly, action officers are to give them prompt attention.
Prepare a speedletter on this special form: Naval Speedletter, OPNAV 5216/145 (Fig. 10-8). The form has six identical pages with carbons between them. The top three pages are for outgoing copies; the bottom three pages are for internal use.
If you need a continuation page, use plain paper and follow standard letter practice in setting margins, numbering pages, and so on.
MEMORANDUM
A memorandum is used to correspond informally within an activity or between several activities. Choose the format that suits the subject, occasion, and audience. Your choices, starting with the most informal, are:
a. The printed memorandum form (Fig. 10-9)
b. The plain-paper memorandum (Fig. 10-10)
c. The letterhead memorandum (Fig. 10-11)
d. The memorandum-for (Fig. 10-12)
If the subject is insignificant, no file copy is required.
BUSINESS LETTER
Use the business letter to correspond with agencies or individuals outside the Department of the Navy who are unfamiliar with the standard letter. It also may be used for official correspondence between individuals within the Department of the Navy when the occasion calls for a personal approach.
Normally, the text should be single-space within paragraphs (see Fig. 10-1 3). Do not indent or number main paragraphs. If the letter is likely to run eight lines or less, you may start the address more than two lines below the date, use side margins as wide as 2 inches, indent paragraphs, and double-space throughout the text.
Use Sincerely for the complimentary close of a business letter. Start typing at the center of the page on the second line below the text.
