Friday, May 25, 2018

Number One, Broadway

I wrote a letter to the Maritime Administrator today. I hope he reads it.

May 25, 2018

Rear Admiral Mark H. Buzby, USN, Retired
Maritime Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue., SE
Washington D.C., 20590

Dear Admiral Buzby,

With the recent sale of Number One, Broadway to a real estate developer, the last vestiges of the United States Lines are under the imminent threat of destruction. New York Post reports the new owner of the property will convert the space into condos. As often happens in New York, old interiors are demolished to make way for the new. The few remaining objects of the United States Lines are worth preserving not only due to their intrinsic beauty but because they are touchstones of another age – one often evoked to remind the nation and legislators the importance of a robust civilian Merchant Marine. As the ultimate custodian of our nation’s maritime history, perhaps you may use your good offices to save these jewels of our past.

The history of the United State Lines and its parent company International Mercantile Marine is inextricable from the rise and fall of American preeminence in shipping during the twentieth century. The original formation of United States Lines as a compact between the Federal government and private shipping industry was unprecedented and inarguably set the stage for the Merchant Marine Act of 1936. The ships of the United States Lines inspired generations of Americans; society pages of leading newspapers highlighted the comings and goings of its passenger liners during the 1930s, thus offering an improvised nation hope for better times. Masters such as George Fried and H. Pedersen executed daring sea rescues to great public acclaim; the former received twenty-seven awards and a number of parades down Broadway for saving lives. When the Second World War came, the officers and men of the United States Lines trained a nascent Merchant Marine Corps of Cadets at Kings Point, while others commanded around 300 freighters – one of them, SS Nathaniel Greene earned the coveted title of Gallant Ship. Post-war, the leadership of the company blundered yet produced the magnificent SS United States – a ship that still holds the Blue Riband for the trans-Atlantic speed record. As meteoric was the company’s successes, as was it’s fall.

Today artifacts from the glory days of the United States Lines are scattered. Successive moves have resulted in neglect and discarding much of its headquarters’ original contents. What now remains at Number One, Broadway is surreptitiously available to the public in the building’s lobby and the retail floor of the current tenant, CitiBank. In the lobby is a stunning globe light fixture – the only of its kind since its twin came crashing down years ago – and a stunning marble staircase slated for removal – undoubtedly by a jackhammer and torch in an upcoming renovation. The bank has beautiful murals showing the original tenant’s shipping routes, and a magnificent 4-foot long polished brass model of an old-style United States Lines passenger liner. Original ballroom-style light fixtures light the bank, and it still has some IMM-logoed metalwork near the entrance. The public has a hint of the once grand opulence of the place.

Given the significant cultural and historical value of the United States Lines and the unique nature of what remains, for everything to disappear would be a considerable loss. If your administration has contacts with the buyer – Midtown Equities – or perhaps the seller’s broker – Cushman & Wakefield – they may be worth querying to see if any of the art may be saved or placed in a safe location to be conserved and appreciated by the American public. Immediately nearby is your museum – the American Merchant Marine Museum at Kings Point; it is in a grand, old Gold Coast mansion, and does have United States Lines ship models, and a few items from the fleet including a flag and a hat – but nothing from the old headquarters itself.

I hope this letter will inspire you to look at the United States Lines objects not so much as a relics requiring preservation, but as inspiration as to what America once was and can be again.


Sincerely,


Ian Watts












Tuesday, May 8, 2018

The Last Full Measure

Every time I visit the American Merchant Marine Museum at the United States Merchant Marine Academy, there's always a little something that captures the imagination - it is like a huge curiosity cabinet. Since I have been looking a bit closer at the history of the Merchant Marine Combat Bar ribbon, seeing (and holding) a Tin Fish Club member card was particularly exciting. I know it is just a piece of cardboard with print on it, but that card represents perhaps one of the most terrifying days of the owner's life up until that point. There's something about the black humor - the creation of a club specifically to laugh at Death after having survived a torpedoing - that encapsulates the experience. And yet, having laughed at Death, the cadet-midshipmen went on to graduate and ship.



The card belonged to a fellow by the name of Oran F. Perks. Extant public records show his career as a licensed officer starting as a 3rd Assistant Engineer on the States Marine-operated ship SS Wolverine in June 1944 and ending as a 2nd Assistant Engineer aboard the Calmar Line ship SS Hagerstown Victory in October 1945. Taking into consideration the Tin Fish Club card's issue date, it was barely three months before his first job as a Kings Point graduate when he experienced the cold reality of war at sea.. I found he supported a Maryland Maritime Museum and was a teacher, which probably means he left the maritime industry after the war and in retirement wanted to give something back. Many old seamen do this even after having been on the beach for decades - some out of an appreciation for their alma mater or for a place that captured their imaginations. He wasn't a warrior, but his vocation expected him to be one - for just a moment. Thus, the war was only a brief chapter in his life. Along with the card was a note to the ex-museum director for him to return the card when he was done with it. That means it was something special, a touchstone, for the original owner. And now, it is in a box along with a club alumni pin to be re-discovered. I'm glad I had the privilege to see it.


On the same day, I held the Tin Fish Club card, I learned a mural of the SS America was leaving Academy's dining hall - Delano Hall. It is a massive mural at 190" high by 139 ½" wide; it is the focal point of the the dining hall and has remained in place for generations of midshipmen. Once removed, it will reveal a cast stone plaque titled "The Last Full Measure." The mural covered it for almost seventy-five years; and although the Academy wants the plaque to remain in place, the Administration is unsure of its condition given it has been buried for quite some time in an often humid dining hall. Archival photographs and an old issue of Polaris show the plaque featuring a shirtless cadet-midshipman behind a machine gun hovering over two columns of names. It was installed in October 1943 behind the head table in the center of Delano Hall in what was then called the Academy's canteen; the intention of the plaque was to honor cadet-midshipmen who died over the course of the Second World War. Their names were periodically added as war reports filtered back to Kings Point.


With no end to the war in sight, but with the tide turning, the Academy's Superintendent Captain Giles Stedman commissioned the painting of SS America mural in 1944 and had it promptly placed over the plaque in 1945. Captain Stedman, who arrived at Kings Point a month after the plaque's installation, was concerned that students seeing the names of their friends and fellow classmates being constantly added to the list was not good for overall morale. For Captain Stedman, the painting was particularly touching as it shows the ship entering New York harbor on the morning of July 29, 1940 - just before she became the flagship for the United Lines' fleet with Captain Stedman at the ship's helm. Howard Barclay French, who painted mural, "wanted the viewer to enter the moment of the painting" and captured the regal approach of the ship dressed overall into the country's busiest port, guided and not pushed by tugs. And like Captain Stedman, he knew the SS America quite well as he painted a mural on the ship in 1940; his attention to her detail was unparalleled (click image for the full photograph).

I agree with Giles Stedman - the plaque is too depressing. I think dwelling too much on the militaristic at a place like Kings Point misses the core mission of what it means to be both a merchant officer and naval officer. The Academy, in many respects, is already full of memorials to those cadet-midshipmen who have died in past conflicts - the chapel on grounds is dedicated to the 142 who perished in the Second World War with a grand honor roll atop a platform with the inscription "Tell America." A plaque such as the "Last Full Measure" was a fine piece of propaganda for the war - it was meant to inure young men for certain death. The SS America mural is deeply symbolic of what it wished to achieve as well. The mural has the ship dressed as it was during the time of Neutrality; the underlying message of the mural is the United States wanted freedom of the seas and to trade in peace - per the Maritime Act of 1936, that is what the nation was investing in by having a place like Kings Point. If you sit and eat under that mural day in and day out, and having taken a history class on maritime history, the idea of freedom of the seas and idea of neutrality sits with you in your subconscious. You put a bare-chested warrior in its place, well, you get an entirely different result. Today's military's place is to keep the peace - the last thing most career military officers want to be involved in is a shooting war.

Nevertheless, the work order for moving the mural stands in the public record:
The purpose for moving the mural is to
reveal the relief sculpture and plaque to inspire
the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA)
midshipmen with the deeds of their forebears.
Apparently, the rendering of a ship in peacetime is not inspiring. The same ship served in the Second World War with great heroism as the USS Westpoint. She rescued two-thousand British refugees from Singapore before the fortress fell. The war was but a chapter of her career and one that did not define her worth. The same is true for an education at Kings Point - its motto is "In Peace and War." Lest we forget, In Peace comes first.

I'm going to guess The Tin Fish Club would be divided on the subject of the mural or plaque. I am going to guess they would want the SS America.


Wednesday, January 17, 2018

U.S. Naval Reserve Insignia reprise


U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Midshipman Identification badge.
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, NY.
Circa 2017.
The Eagle Pin.


Midshipmen at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point met the proscription of the U.S. Naval Reserve badge from their uniforms of by the Chief of Naval Operations in June 2011 with mild derision. The Academy administration did not, and quietly resurrected the pin for local use in 2013. For the almost seventy-five year existence of the Regiment of Midshipmen, Kings Pointers pinned the insignia on their uniforms with pride. If no other piece of insignia or decoration adorned midshipmen coats or shirts, the Sea Chicken was present. Its removal echoed a larger narrative of the changing rôle of merchant seamen within the U.S. military establishment and the struggle of the Merchant Marine to remain relevant in an age where Federal maritime policy has been one of neglect. Its reappearance emphasizes its symbolic status and importance within the midshipmen community.

Often a means for military and paramilitary organizations to cultivate group cohesion is through the selective disbursement of insignia among its members. Insignia falls into three broad classes: rank designator, personal award, and unit identifier.  Rank insignia indicates seniority and managerial responsibility within an organization. As one achieves seniority, the uniform is updated with a progression of rank pins; with another stripe or another star comes additional opportunities for command. Badges are awarded for knowledge area expertise; this recognition enables the wearer to feel invested in their rôle. By comparison, unit identifiers embody continuity with the past and promote a mythos of belonging. Thus, a uniform’s accouterments operate as potent coded visual markers and their configuration signal mimetically shared traditions. Through deciphering insignia at salute distance, by those within or trained in the organization’s symbolic language, can one divine a member’s seniority, skill area, and place in the organization’s hierarchy. Among insignia, badges are often more coveted than rank insignia. Badges are objects of prestige for what they represent: a skill, a position of trust, or an achievement. In this light, wearers meet the removal of a badge with some degree of resistance and critique unless done to signify a merit-based change of status. Without group consultation, the act of removal may cultivate ill will.

No discussion of the U.S. Naval Reserve (USNR) badge’s deletion is complete without a sketch of contemporary U.S. Naval culture. The U.S. Navy is compartmentalized and hierarchical in structure. It has aligned its officers into communities. The prestige of attaining rank and qualifications governs these communities. The culture is such that badges represent a passage through a figurative ritual process denoting one’s advancement as a militarized officer. In the specific case of the Surface Warfare Officer (SWO) badge, these rituals include watch standing and mastering damage control. In fact, among the surface officer communities, the award of the badge separates those junior in subject mastery from those who hold advanced, compartmentalized knowledge. In the Surface Supply Corps, if a junior officer does not earn that community’s badge while afloat, they rotate back to shore; this acts as an impetus for the officer to return to the prestige of a ship billet. Moreover, if a junior officer does not earn the SWO badge, they, in turn, do not advance in rank. Since the U.S. Navy has a limited number of billets, failure to advance results in eventual discharge from the service.

The SWO badge has an analog in the enlisted community; it is the Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist (ESWS) badge. The design is similar to the officer’s except it has enlisted cutlasses as opposed to an officer’s swords, and is brushed silver in finish. The prerequisites for earning the enlisted badge are similar to the officer’s badge but dissimilar enough to warrant a separate award. This badge, though, is not the determiner of a sailor’s “fitness”; however, earning it enables an enlisted sailor to advance in rank and opens a hatch for entry into the surface officer community.  Junior commissioned officers seen wearing the silver ESWS badge are members of a small community of “Limited Duty Officers” or ex-enlisted sailors who by virtue of specialized knowledge and ambition are granted entry into the officer corps.  These individuals call themselves “Mustangs.” After completing the requisite – or what they call “Mickey Mouse” – qualifications, they replace the ESWS for the SWO badge. The replacement of the badge is not done grudgingly; Mustangs are keen to take on the mantle of regular officers and undergo the breadth of rituals associated with the prestige of rank. The only obvious markers of their previous status as an enlisted sailor after attaining the SWO badge would be the deep crimson ribbon for “Good Conduct” in their ribbon rack.

Through a confluence of events and tradition of use, the USNR badge mediates a position of both a skill badge and a unit identifier for the Kings Pointer. As I have discussed before, the badge was created expressly to identify members of the newly formulated U.S. Naval Reserve Merchant Marine Reserve. In time, it was adopted by cadets of the U.S. Maritime Commission and awarded to cadet-midshipmen at state maritime academies (CFR 1941 Title 46 §293.16 “they shall wear such Naval Reserve insignia”). Despite Kings Pointers sharing a similar uniform and speaking the same military vocabulary as their colleagues at the U.S. Naval Academy, the badge became an integral identifier of Kings Pointers and marked them apart. Since the badge was an official U.S. Navy decoration, and since Kings Pointers wore the badge past graduation aboard U.S. Navy ships and auxiliary vessels, it identified them as maritime professionals serving with the U.S. Navy. In this discrete definition, the badge spoke to their community and unique skill-set from the moment they entered the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point. Thus, like Mustangs and their silver ESWS badge, the USNR badge denotes membership in a small group of mariners within the ranks of the U.S. Navy officer community. It specifies Naval Officers who completed various prerequisites and swore an oath, at one time or another, as members of the Merchant Marine Reserve (USNR/MMR).


It is worth mentioning that the USNR badge was deleted from the Kings Point midshipman uniform once before during a stretch from 1956 to 1964. Congressional and U.S. Navy oversight legislated away the status of U.S. Navy Midshipman Reserve for the Kings Pointer; this was due to ending the Merchant Marine Reserve Program. The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and its allies argument for the reinstatement of the program was that many students enrolled at the Academy for the opportunity to become licensed officers of the U.S. Merchant Marine and for the prestige of joining the U.S. Armed Services as a commissioned officer. Conventional wisdom at the time held, if they wished to simply sail, they could go to a state maritime school. After Congress addressed the oversight and reestablished the program, Kings Pointers reclaimed the title of midshipmen and donned the pin once again.

Popular backlash from the Vietnam War resulted in problems for the U.S. Armed Services to attract recruits after the cessation of hostilities. This, coupled with former volunteers leaving the military in droves, resulted in too many vacancies and a weakened threat response by the military. The U.S. Navy, long a proponent of bifurcation of Active duty and Reserve personnel, found this segregation counter-intuitive for maintaining a ready force and wasteful of resources. Thus, under Admiral Zumwalt, it re-organized its personnel system and abolished both the formal and informal barriers between “regular” and “reserve” officers.  Among those in the latter class were U.S. Merchant Marine Academy graduates.  As a means of identifying Merchant Marine Reserve Officers who took active commissions, and indicating their important contribution to the mission of U.S. Navy, in 1978 the Bureau of Personnel wrote into regulation the ability to wear the USNR badge on the uniforms of active duty officers. This reversed an explicit 45-year prohibition of its wear and gave a long overdue nod to maritime professionals who chose to “Go Navy.” This symbol of status and prestige remained unchanged until 2011.

During early 2011, the U.S. Navy underwent another personnel realignment and rewrote the specifications for its various officer communities. Among those programs written out of existence was the U.S. Naval Reserve/Merchant Marine Reserve (USNR/MMR). Despite their military education component falling under the auspices of the U.S. Navy Education Command, Kings Pointers remained in the U.S. Naval Reserve, but MMR became a component of the Strategic Sealift Officer (SSO) community. Strictly speaking, the USNR badge represented the identification of a class of individuals who no longer existed within the U.S. Navy. A press release from the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations states:
Extensive coordination with several Navy organizations and the U.S. Maritime Administration helped with the program change.
The SSOP [Strategic Sealift Officer Program] supports national defense sealift requirements and capabilities, which are executed by Military Sealift Command (MSC). The program provides the Navy with officers that possess sealift, maritime operations, and logistics subject matter expertise, and further hold U.S. Coast Guard credentials as Merchant Marine officers.
“These changes will help align and improve support to Military Sealift Command and numerous other Joint and Navy commands,” said Vice Adm. Bill Burke, Deputy CNO for Fleet Readiness and Logistics, who is the SSOP program sponsor. “This revision improves stewardship, integration, and opportunities for about 2,400 Navy Reserve officers.”
The SSOP, like the old MMR Program, will continue to provide the capability for emergency crewing of sealift ships and shoreside support to Navy commands that require unique maritime expertise. Further, this change provides opportunities for greater operational support to the Navy by expanding selected Reserve (SELRES) billets and active duty recalls to SSOP officers. (Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. “Merchant Marine Reserve Program becomes Strategic Sealift Officer Program” NNS110616-16 Release Date: 6/16/2011.)
The new program brought with it a new badge and provisions to earn it. Unlike the USNR badge, a midshipman could not earn the SSWO badge by pledging an oath, as done when formally entering the USNR/MMR; in fact, the initial CNO communication explicitly mentioned midshipmen (at Kings Point and the State Maritime Academies) were not authorized to wear the new badge. This singled-out of Kings Pointers and rubbed a bit of salt in the wound since earning this new badge was unattainable for the duration of a midshipman’s tenure at the Academy. In an ironic twist, the new badge’s design gives a nod to its historical roots – it keeps the “eagle from the USS Constitution’s stern” and places over it crossed U.S Navy officer swords behind a Federal U.S. shield surcharged with “a fouled anchor from the U.S. Merchant Marine flag” (U.S. Navy Uniform Regulations NAVPERS 15665I, 5201.2.bbb). The last design note is deemed particularly insensitive by some Kings Point alumni since one of the few locations that fly U.S. Merchant Marine flags is Kings Point. As a matter of course, the Strategic Sealift Officer program only mans Military Sealift Command ships – thus only mariners attached to MSC will ever earn the badge; in essence, the SSWO badge very clearly pigeonholes maritime school graduates as being merchant mariners in the U.S. Navy. Whereas the USNR badge was more democratic in its wear; Kings Point midshipmen and graduates wore it while attached to any of the U.S. Navy’s activities and not just the MSC.

Nevertheless, with the change, the Kings Point class of 2013, became the last Kings Pointers to wear the USNR badge. Upon graduation, those who took oaths as commissioned officers in the U.S. Navy removed the USNR badge, and due to permutations of administrative procedures, could immediately wear the new SSWO badge. The class of 2014 and all those that followed did not have this opportunity. Unless the Academy took action, incoming U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Plebe candidates would find themselves without the once proud symbol of their Federal service status and obligation on Acceptance Day; as mentioned before, the badge awarding ceremony is the first ritual Kings Point midshipmen participate in at the Academy.

The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Commandant, under the provisions of U.S. Code (CFR 2006 Title 46 §51308.1), could prescribe the wear and standards of uniforms at the Academy. Under this umbrella, he granted the Regiment of Midshipmen their distinctive uniforms and ability to wear pieces of insignia and awards specific to the Academy. With word of the deletion of the old badge, the Academy administration was quick to act, and after consultation with the insignia manufacturer, Vanguard Industries, they came up with a redesign of the traditional badge and new name. Vanguard first manufactured the badge on July 11, 2013; afterward, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Ship’s Store stocked the item as “MM BDG MIDSHIP ID GLD” – U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Midshipman Identification Badge in Gold.

The Ship's Store initially ordered 900 units of the new badge. On the same Purchase Order was a $500 tooling fee for the new die. Kings Point, in effect, now owns a key component of their identity. The badge is a Kings Point-only uniform item. It is similar to the old USNR badge with the exception that four stars replaced the letters U S N R on the scroll beneath the eagle. When in uniform, Kings Pointers at the Academy will continue to look as they have for decades, thus keeping visual continuity and cultivating an esprit de corps. They call it simply: “The Eagle Pin.”

On graduation day, when Kings Pointers become active-duty commissioned officers or join the ranks of those in reserve, they will continue to remove the re-designed USNR badge. Within the U.S. Navy, their unique identity is no longer as markedly visible as before. Since a Kings Pointer is thrifty to a fault, they will reuse their old uniforms, and they will be distinctive by the shadow of two pinholes on their khaki shirts and Service Dress blues. Time will tell whether or not the U.S. Navy will re-establish the oldest of its badges. Until then, Kings Pointers will work for their sanctioned pins and place them over the outline of their first.

Special thanks are owed to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Alumni Association and Foundation in granting me access to their trove of old yearbooks and for publishing my previous article on the subject; the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Ship’s Store for answering my queries about the badge; Vanguard Industries for furnishing me with production dates of “The Eagle Pin”; and many others who endured my inane questions about what the old badge meant to them. Thank you all.


Note

The naming convention for the USNR badge has changed over time. In the 1930s documentation refers to it as a USNR insigne and during the Cold War, it became a USNR badge. In colloquial speech, it is today called a USNR pin. I use badge as this is the term commonly used by archivists and collectors in both the United States and British Commonwealth. Insigne (an outmoded term for a single piece of insignia), insignia, badge, and pin nomenclature holds in any discussion of U.S. Naval uniform insignia.


U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Midshipman Identification Badge in Gold.
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, NY.
Single piece, solid construction.
Hallmark, V-21-N (Vanguard Industries)
Circa 2017.




Despite some talk that the badge has a variant with no stars, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Ship's Store staff (the sole distributor of the badge) and Vanguard Industries (the sole manufacturer of the badge) have communicated to me that there is no such variant.


Strategic Sealift Officer Warfare badge.
U.S. Navy.
Two piece construction; punched anchor device.
Hallmark, V-21-N (Vanguard Industries)
Circa 2017.





U.S. Naval Merchant Marine Reserve insignia (miniature).
U.S. Navy.
Single piece, solid construction.
Eagle stamped sterling silver with gold-plate.
Hallmark, Vanguard N.Y.
Circa 1943.





Surface Warfare Office badge.
U.S. Navy.
Single piece, solid construction.
Hallmark, V-21-N (Vanguard Industries)
Circa 2017.














Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist badge.
U.S. Navy
Single piece, hollow construction.
Hallmark, V-21-N (Vanguard Industries)
Circa 1979. The badge is pinned above the ribbon rack on a Zummy uniform reefer.


The U.S. Navy sometimes errs in re-writing uniform regulations. Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, Jr., the Chief of Naval Operations, wished to “humanize a service soured by the war in Vietnam” and ordered a drastic change in the uniform for enlisted sailors in 1971. Out were the bell-bottom trousers, buttonless jumpers, black silk four-in-hands tie, and white Bob Evans sailor’s caps. They were replaced with military shirts, straight-legged trousers, pewter-buttoned reefers, neckties, and combination hats. The enlisted sailor became almost indistinguishable in appearance from officers and chief petty officers. This order became mandatory in 1973 when morale in the U.S. Navy was at a low. The thought was if enlisted sailors felt they looked professional, they would take more pride in the service.

However, the changes Admiral Zumwalt initiated resulted in the opposite. Reportedly, the change in uniform caused a problem in morale among career petty officers; they complained loudly that discipline suffered and sailors wanted their crackerjacks back. On August 1, 1977, the Secretary of the Navy John Lehman, supported CNO Admiral James L. Holloway III’s order to return to the old uniform. In classic U.S. Navy style there was a year-long evaluation period before the release of “BuPers Notice 1020 of 22 March 1978” allowing for jumper-style uniform purchase by those testing the new uniform.  In July of the same year, U.S. Navy Uniform Regulations, 1978 came out permitting the rest of the fleet Seamen to Petty Officers Second Class the same. By 1984, The service collectively breathed a sigh of relief when the “Zummy uniform” finally was out for all.

But, the uniforms were not retired soon enough for the ESWS badge to be pinned on the above reefer.


Surface Warfare Officer (top) & Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist badge (bottom)  (subdued).
U.S. Navy
Single piece, solid construction.
Hallmark, V-21-N (Vanguard Industries)
Circa 2017.




Both the officer and enlisted badges have subdued versions for wear in joint combat operations or attached to Fleet Marine Forces, in brown and black metal, respectively. In the U.S. Navy, rank insignia and the SWO/ESWS badge, gold becomes brown and silver black when subdued.


Surface Warfare Officer (top) & Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist badge (bottom)  (subdued) - reverse.





References

Coming Soon... The New Uniforms.All Hands. 675 (April 1973), p 3-7.

Jumper Style Uniform Guidance Provided.All Hands. 736 (May 1978), p 3.

Traditional Uniform Returns to Navy.All Hands. 737 (June 1978), p 4.

James C. Bradford. America, Sea Power, and the World. John Wiley & Sons, 2015. see “Z-grams: Zumwalt’s Reforms” p 308

The New York Times & Clyde Haberman. “August 2, 1977: Navy Reviving Bell-Bottoms” in New York Times The Times of the Seventies: The Culture, Politics, and Personalities that Shaped the Decade. Running Press, Nov 12, 2013.

Rogers Worthington “Saluting A Return To Navy Tradition: To Rebellion And Back In A Decade.Chicago Tribune, July 05, 1986.

Thomas H. Lee, Jr. “Blue Navy.The Harvard Crimson, December 7, 1972.

United States. Bureau of Naval Personnel. U.S. Navy Uniform Regulations, 1978. Department of Defense, Navy Department, Bureau of Naval Personnel, 1979.

United States. Bureau of Naval Personnel. United States Navy Uniform Regulations, 1985. Department of Defense, Navy Department, Bureau of Naval Personnel, 1985.

United States. Bureau of Naval Personnel. U.S. Navy Uniform Regulations NAVPERS 15665I.  Department of Defense, Navy Department, Bureau of Naval Personnel, 2013.

United States. Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. “Merchant Marine Reserve Program becomes Strategic Sealift Officer Program” NNS110616-16 Release Date: 6/16/2011.

United States. Code of Federal Regulations of the United States of America 1941 Supplement Titles 46-50. National Archives, Washington D.C., 1943.