merchant marine academy

November 27, 2017January 7, 2020

Becoming a Kings Pointer

Midshipman cap badge.
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, NY.
Single piece construction.
Hallmark, V-21-N (Vanguard Industries).
Circa 2006.

This is the first in a series of articles where I explore the culture of the U. S. Merchant Marine Academy Regiment of Midshipmen. This first post focuses on the process of a Midshipman Candidate becoming a Plebe Midshipmen, and finally a Fourth Class Midshipman.

A U.S. Merchant Marine Academy alumnus intimated to me there are no fraternities permitted at Kings Point but that midshipmen are all one fraternity. Yet within the ranks, there are subtle differences; the most telling comes in a midshipman’s final year. There are the “Gung Ho,” active duty commission-bound, and the industry-leaning ”Merchie bum.” who have decided, with a shrug and a hint of self-effacement, to “Go Merch.” A measure of pride among some was the assumption of an aloof status within Regiment as a Zombo. Over the next weeks, I spoke with the same alumnus and a current midshipman, and after my conversations with them, I reflected on the pride underpinning both statements and how the Regiment maintains itself with such seeming contradictory messages. I propose this dichotomy of signals within the ranks of the Regiment allows an escape valve of sorts for the academic and military rigors experienced by midshipmen from Day Zero to the moment they leap into Eldridge Pool for their final act as midshipmen in the class Change of Command ceremony.

Although government-run academies are repositories of the past, Kings Point does not operate in a vacuum. That being said, the administration and student body are insulated by the fact the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy is a closed institution supporting a discrete function, outside factors often shake its timbers, yet it perseveres.

In the decade following the Second World War, demobilization brought with it the rapid Federal dismantling the workshops of war. In the maritime field, the U.S. allocated ships to its allies, scaled-back and canceled construction projects in shipyards, and cut training programs. Despite calls to the contrary, the newly ascendant Merchant Marine was not immune. The U.S. Maritime Administration Annual Report of 1954 notes closure of the last of the U.S. Maritime Service training facilities with the exception of Kings Point. Under Executive Order, the U.S. Maritime Administration actively purged its institutional memory of its wartime activities keeping only the essentials: 27,297 cubic feet of records were transferred to General Services Records Management Center, in Washington, D. C., 3,887 cubic feet were salvaged, and 5 cubic feet transferred to National Archives. The next year brought 12,524 cubic feet of records to General Services Records Management Center, New York, NY; 47,216 cubic feet were “salvaged.” In effect the Government department largely responsible for U.S. gain during the war deleted itself.

Cognizant of potential future difficulties, in the waning days of the Second World War, the Academy administration lobbied Congress to place the Academy on the same footing as the other Service Academies. Academy efforts met with success; thus, as the Eisenhower administration demobilized and the U.S. Maritime Administration found its resources legislated out-of-existence, Kings Point gained recognition as both a permanent federal fixture and a degree-granting institution. The Academy weathered the upheavals of the Vietnam era – following the Regiment marching off-campus in protest to administrative procedures – which resulted in the abolition of the strict battalion system of Regimental governance. Equal rights reached Kings Point with the matriculation of female midshipmen – it was the first Service Academy to do so; the present day finds the Academy reflecting on sexual assault and protection of individuals as the Academy acts in the role of in loco parentis.

The course of study has gradually changed from a purely vocational one to granting B.S. and M.S. degrees. This change represents a need for the Academy to honor its responsibility to provide students with opportunities for meaningful employment after graduation. Following industry trends, Kings Point innovated in maintaining relevance for its graduates. In the past, it provided training for students in nuclear physics to prepare them for a career in a nuclear-powered merchant fleet (an idea which floundered with the widely unsuccessful experiment in the form of the NS Savanna). The 1980s saw a dwindling U.S. merchant fleet with a smaller pool of available positions; to counter this, the Academy offered a dual certification program where a midshipman could study and sit for exams for either a Deck or Engineering license. At present, the Academy gives its students the opportunity to sail on a variety of ships and engage in industry internships to experience the multitude of positions potentially open to them upon graduation. Of course, the Merchant Marine being an auxiliary to the Department of Defense in a time of military conflict, enables Kings Pointers to join all branches of uniformed services. However, the rites and rituals of the Regiment remain relatively unchanged.

The Regiment has its origins in the United States Maritime Commission Corps of Cadets established by the U.S. Merchant Marine Act of 1936. The Corps of Cadets was instituted immediately after the creation of United States Maritime Commission with the express mission of educating maritime professionals on 15 March 1938. To fulfill this mission, The U.S. Maritime Commission established Cadet schools on the East, West, and Gulf Coasts. The USMCCC on the East Coast peregrinated along the Long Island Sound before finding a permanent home at Kings Point, New York in 1942. The primary purpose during this period was to supply trained junior Deck or Engineering officers to a rapidly expanding U.S. Merchant Marine fleet. As the Second World War progressed, ships slipped off their ways sometimes as quickly as three weeks of construction. A reported 2,700 vessels were launched, with some 1,554 sunk. With crews numbered at an average of 42, an estimated 120,000 people were needed – government records count 243,000 served all together. By war’s end, around 3,000 cadet-midshipmen found themselves at sea in one capacity or another.

The education midshipmen receive today at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy teaches them how to become both maritime professionals – be it shoreside or at sea – and auxiliaries of the U.S. Defense establishment. No longer a “fink factory” for junior officers, as labor unions once derided the Academy during the war, Kings Point prepares midshipmen for a rewarding career as maritime leaders. This education is grueling with the expectation of a midshipman to concurrently master technical certifications and mediate military regimentation. These two components are considered separate dominions, but the very nature of their military education in the form of the Regiment permeates every aspect of their tenure at the Academy: from how to live in their Spartan rooms to personal interactions as defined by a codified set of numbered regulations. For a non-uniformed visitor to the Academy, Sir or Ma’am is an unconscious honorific given by all midshipmen to those in their midst; it is a military courtesy extended by the Regiment to all within the confines of Kings Point.

The Regiment’s command structure acts as a leadership laboratory in which every upperclass midshipman is given the opportunity to lead in some capacity. This experience gives them a practical taste of running or participating in a rigid atmosphere as is common aboard merchant and military ships – the latter more rigid than the former. The stated goal of the Regiment’s leadership is to encourage a midshipman’s rise within the command structure with the eventuality of becoming a Regimental officer – the logical conclusion is to hold an appointment as the Regimental Commander or as a member of their staff. The noted exception is the jocular “Zombo” – a first classman who rates respect of their juniors, yet eschews both the status and opportunity for a leadership position within the Regiment. The Zombo takes their status outside the anointed Regimental spheres of power quite seriously and does the very least to keep their rank and rate, breezing through their last year beyond the reach of Regimental politics and responsibilities. The foil of the Zombo is the proverbial “Regcock.”

The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy was born in the crucible of national emergency and came of age in a time of war. Its history speaks to how the Regiment’s structure is an evolving reflection of shipboard life seventy-five years ago. Unlike the U.S. Naval Academy, where teamwork is drilled into midshipmen to suppress individuality using close-order drill and sports, Kings Point cultivates the psychology of self-sufficiency and independent thinking. The culture that permeates the Academy is of community tempered with a can-do attitude. The ultimate test of an individual’s grit is through “Sea Year.” “Sea Year” is a bifurcated program where midshipmen third class and second class – or those in their second and third years of study, respectively – learn the ropes of the sea-borne maritime industry for two sailing periods of four months and eight months on commercial or government marine vessels. This singular experience, although ostensibly an apprenticeship – tests and congeals a midshipmen’s independence of spirit, and both ingrains and cultivates a strong sense of self. Upon their return from their first sailing, midshipmen are no longer the prima materia of their Plebe year and are notably changed and matured. Having experienced the isolation and beauty of maritime trade first hand, they understand the importance of bootstrapping common to the function of work aboard ships often underway for months at a time. In a word, they internalize their ultimate goals within the Regiment and proceed to become a Zombo or a Regcock. However, to earn the privilege of experiencing “Sea Year,” a midshipman must undergo the gauntlet of Indoctrination and Plebe year.

The Academy’s combined mission has created a unique culture within the Regiment where midshipmen function as a group and close ranks when challenged. This fraternity coalesces during the trials of a midshipman’s first year as a Plebe. Like members of other military academies, midshipmen undergo a period of indoctrination where they are molded into members of the Regiment and proceed along a track where every year brings them new responsibilities and opportunities. Simply put, the Regiment is a class-based system. Unlike other military schools, Kings Point midshipmen embrace the irregular, the ersatz, and the ironic. There may be a ribbon for “company cheer,” but on the other hand, the company that does the worst job keeps an oral tradition of being the worst; some companies revel in their unstated labels.

The first day of a Plebe Candidate – also known as a Candidate– at the Academy is called Processing Day. Upperclassmen succinctly refer to this day as “Day Zero” – a day on which a Candidate begins their figurative journey on the Regimental calendar as nothing. After signing in, and gathering their name plaques and blue backpacks, there is a mandatory head shaving for male Candidates (women do not undergo this humiliation) – symbolizing their status as a tabula rasa on which upperclass midshipmen will mold to fit into the Academy hierarchy. Lining up in the quadrangle outside Delano Hall, they officially enter a month known as Indoctrination. During this period, they no longer have a first name, and thus no individual identity. With the close of each day, a Candidate garners respect for their superiors and cultivates a keen desire to earn badges of Regimental identity. They also learn to recognize the gold crows and ladder bars on the upperclass trainers’ uniforms as signs of prestige and respect.

Despite the non-uniformed nature of the current U.S. Merchant Marine, Kings Point continues the tradition of uniforms as instituted in nautical schools of the past century. A uniform visual appearance is a crucial concept for Candidates to negotiate on Day Zero. After the Ships Store gives them a quick sizing up, they issue the Candidates a stack of uniform items. From this moment forward, Candidates no longer rate wearing civilian clothes. Beyond their khaki uniforms, the only clothes the Candidates wear are their exercise gear. The number of companies that comprise of the Battalion has ebbed and flowed over the course of the Academy’s history – seven at the height of the Second World War shrunk to five in 2016. As of this writing, the number is six. At Indoc, a Candidate’s shirt color specifies one of the five companies to which they are assigned. They are:

1st: Dark Green
2nd: Light Blue
3rd: Dark Blue
4th: Maroon/Red
5th: Neon Green
Band: Yellow (before the 2017 academic year, Band wore black shirts)

Over the next month, they are drilled, PTed, and subject to the recollection of the contents of a section called “Plebe Knowledge” from a volume titled Bearings upon command. This slim volume acts as an orientation and reference for Candidates regarding the Regiment and their home for the next four years. Bearings first appeared immediately after the Second World War when Kings Point attempted to model itself on the precedent set by other U.S. Service academies; this type of indoctrination was pioneered by the U.S. Naval Academy in the 1930s as a means for reorienting and molding future naval officers. Beyond the recitation of facts from Bearings, Candidates and later Plebes, being subject to “personal correction” from the moment they wake at 5:00 am to lights out at 10:00 pm (0500-2200) was also a U.S. Naval Academy innovation.

The dropout rate is minimal during Indoc. A candidate understands the month is temporary and a necessary phase in their military education, despite the psychological shock of abandoning an often-comfortable middle-class life. They are taught the rigors of memorization, the hierarchy of Kings Point, and the overriding discipline of time management and importance of group cohesion. Often, an individual’s infractions or remedial performance is met with punishment for the entire group. It is in the group’s best interest to buoy its members for success – be it a clean head (lavatory) or for military appearance. To reinforce the dynamic of the group, Candidates eat, sleep, and perform ablutions together.

After a month as Plebe Candidates, the Candidates don khaki uniforms and attend a ceremony called Acceptance Day. On this day, they swear an oath and enter the ranks as Midshipmen USNR – or the more formal, midshipmen, Merchant Marine Reserve, United States Naval Reserve with the simultaneous status as Enlisted Reserve per Federal Code Title 46, Chapter II (10-1-16 Edition), Subchapter H, § 310.6b.3; the latter status is the mechanism by which the government ensures a service obligation from midshipmen who drop out of the program. At this moment they become Plebes at Kings Point. As noted, reaching this day was not without its challenges. During the dog days of summer, they reported to Kings Point in August. With them, they brought the barest of necessities: undergarments, exercise shoes, toilette articles, and a computer, all undergirded with a desire to succeed. This last point cannot be belabored more: this past summer a Candidate collapsed from heat exhaustion, having pushed themselves to the limit.

The Regiment builds itself around visuals. When a Plebe Candidate is sworn into the USNR, they are given analogs to the pins once known as USNR pins, now called Merchant Marine Midshipmen Identification pin. They also don the shoulder boards of a Plebe: a shoulder board with no ornamentation other than a Merchant Marine snap button – gold with an anchor flanked by a single star to the left and right. They are permitted to wear garrison covers and combination caps. The former without any insignia, and the latter with an anchor of the same design as that worn by midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis.

In essence, the insignia worn by the Plebes indicate they enjoy a status where they could be called to active service with the U.S. Navy at a time of conflict. It also points out they are indeed at the lowest position within the Regiment’s hierarchy, ready to archive personal and group awards, and hold rank – if they so choose. Upperclassmen teach them that with each stripe comes privilege. The lack of insignia also points out they have no status as members of the Kings Point community – this is something they must achieve as a group.

As Plebes, midshipmen continue some of the rigors of Indoc and work toward Recognition. Recognition Day is when Plebes transition to the status of Midshipmen Fourth Class. It is an event organized by the Regiment’s training staff – those upperclassmen responsible for Plebe training – and only occurs when the Regiment as a whole considers the Plebe class as having satisfactorily exercised the spirit of being a Kings Pointer. This is evaluated by intangibles such as genuine enthusiasm during athletic events (of which all Plebes must attend), dormitory decoration, and demeanor. Recognition may happen as early as October or as late as March or April depending on their performance.

At the end of their first trimester in October, Plebes declare their course of interest and take on the moniker of either Deckie or Engineer by going “deck” or “engine”; the former is for midshipmen enrolled in a Deck course and the latter for future members of the black gang. Only on Recognition Day, they are given insignia denoting either: a fouled anchor for Deck or a three-bladed propeller for Engineering. They also trade-in their blank shoulder boards at Recognition specifying the same: anchor in a rope circle for Deck, and a propeller for Engineering. In the past, there was a Dual certification program where a midshipman could earn a certification as a Deck officer and an Engineering officer; its insignia was an anchor superimposed by a propeller. These insignias are not worn until Recognition; in the 1990s and early 2000s, the status of a Plebe having declared a major – regardless of Engineer or Deck – was denoted by shoulder boards they would wear for about a trimester – U.S.N.-style Fourth Class boards with a Maritime school snap button.

On Recognition Day comes new insignia for a Midshipman’s cover and collar. After the ceremony, Plebes become full members of the Regiment as Midshipmen Fourth Class and rate the opportunity wear both their class and course of study insignia. The insignia of a Midshipman Fourth Class is a fouled anchor – it has the same form as a miniature U.S.N. midshipman anchor – and it is pinned on both collars of their khaki shirt and left blouse of their garrison cover. Their course of study insignia goes on the right blouse of their garrison cover. The day after Recognition the new Midshipmen Fourth Class are issued their Kings Point cap badge for their combination cap – the badge is similar to the Plebe cap badge with the exception that in the cable’s lower loop, it has the seal of the U.S. Merchant Marine in miniature.

All the minute permutations in Candidate, Plebe, and finally Midshipman Fourth Class’ uniform appearance underscore their place within the hierarchy within the Kings Point Battalion. The ribbons on their chest denote group or individual awards, the anchor or prop reminds others as to their course of study, and the Merchant Marine Midshipmen Identification pin speaks to their community. After the experience of the ardors of their first year, midshipmen forge close friendships in the crucible of experience.

Special thanks are owed to Dr. Joshua Smith of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point and Interim Director of the American Merchant Marine Museum. He introduced me to B. Sturm and W. Kelley, two Kings Pointers who showed me the ropes and contributed greatly to this post; without their input, this post would never have happened.

For more images of Kings Point insignia over the years as well as an old copy of Bearings, please see images I have on the companion site to this:
insignia of the regiment of midshipmen

Midshipman cap badge. Stay-Brite. This is worn by Midshipmen after Recognition Day.

Midshipman cap badge, circa 1940s. This is a holder image until I photograph the current cap badge in Stay-Brite. It is from the U.S. Naval Academy and is worn by U.S.N. Midshipmen and U.S.M.M.A. Midshipmen. The design has remained unchanged for the past 75 years. This is worn on a Plebe’s combination cap prior to Recognition Day.

Name plaque, circa 1980s. Like those worn by U.S. Navy chief petty, warrant, and commissioned officer, Kings Point issues name plaques with the unit’s seal. ZIGGY is an affectionate term given to a member of the football team who is able to weave with finesse through defensive lines.

Midshipman Fourth Class insignia, circa 1980s.

Deck program course of study pin, circa 2007.

Plebe hard shoulder boards, circa 2017.

Plebe hard shoulder boards denoting a course of study has been decided, circa late 1990s-early 2000s. Unlike U.S.N.A. and N.R.O.T.C. Fourth Class should boards, the position of the anchor is off-center and the snap-button is of the Maritime School-type. This particular button was introduced in the mid-1940s as a catch-all for civilian mariners. to wear on their caps and coats if they were not members of or did not wish to wear the insignia of the U.S. Maritime Service. These same buttons were also worn by mariners whose companies did not have a defined button in the catalog of corporate livery.

Midshipman Fourth Class, Deck Program hard shoulder boards, circa 1990s.

January 17, 2018October 6, 2019

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.

November 8, 2017April 26, 2019

Cenotaphs and Cemeteries

Maquette, American Merchant Mariners’ Memorial
Clay and painted wood.
Artist: Marisol (Marisol Escobar)
Located at: American Merchant Marine Museum.

“The men of our merchant marine form the essential link between the home front and the millions of men in the armed forces overseas. These men, although relatively few in number – around 180,000 – performed an heroic task in delivering the goods. I am informed that since their first casualties, three months before Pearl Harbor, more than 5,800 have died, are missing, or have become prisoners of war while carrying out their assigned duties. … [T]hese men may feel that they are the forgotten men of war. They are not. They deserve and receive from all of us thanks for the job they’ve done.”

FDR’s Christmas greeting to the U.S. Merchant Marine, 1944.

I visited Gold Beach near the commune of Arromanches in Normandy on a chilly spring morning. The beach was deserted and serene in its stone silence. A brisk breeze kept all except the bravest of seagulls away. The sun, the wisps of clouds, and the shadowy remnants of an artificial harbor demanded reflection. Beyond the stalwart concrete caissons lie the bones of a group of sixty ships known as the Derelict Convoy who acted as the breakwaters that made the Normandy landings possible. Without the fearless devotion of their skeleton merchant crews, the landings would have failed.

Turning around, I crouched low on the sand and looked to the bluffs overhead, thinking of all those who lost their lives on the same beach almost seven decades prior. I imagined for many a young man this same gentle beach was their last sight: grains of sand in front, blue sky above, and churning seas behind – all colored by adrenaline static as fear spiked their guts. And many of them died, an estimated 1,100, on this beach in a single day. Local legend claims faint red leeches into the channel, markedly visible after a storm. I climbed aboard a Land Rover and toured the broken and twisted remnants of the concrete emplacements tasked with sentinel duty over the seaside. They stood perched on their cliffs as gaping sockets naked to the elements. Later that same day, I walked among a field of white grave makers and was lost among the names of so many taken too soon. I was moved by the silence of the place and of the sea. It was harrowing.

Across the ocean, at the tip of Manhattan Island, rests a cenotaph and sculpture in memory of the sailors and mariners who perished in the Atlantic during the Second World War. It is the East Coast Memorial. Unlike the Normandy American Cemetery, the solemnity of the memorial seemed lost on those around me. Summer was coming, and vendors were out with hot dogs and frozen treats. Everyone was rushing to queue up for the ferry to take them to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Purists among us may call for hushed silence upon seeing such a memorial. However, the ultimate sacrifice of the few was so that we may live and go about our concerns without fear. And there, the names of the dead persist in direct view, in the background, stalwart and barely reflected upon by those who pass by.

President Kennedy debuted the memorial eighteen years after the close of the Second World War. The pylons of the memorial, acting as a cenotaph, are comprised of several slabs flanking two sides of a black eagle. The eagle is poised for flight above a wave and grasps a wreath of olive branches. Names and ranks of the dead are carved deep into the stone in orderly rows. Absent from the memorial are the names of the many merchant seamen who perished in the wartime Atlantic. As almost an afterthought, a tablet, placed on the eagle’s pedestal is engraved with the following:

1941 * * * * 1945
ADDITION TO THE 4,597 AMERICAN SERVICEMEN HONORED HERE / WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN HER SERVICE AND / WHO SLEEP IN THE AMERICAN COASTAL WATERS OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN / THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / HONORS THE 6,185 SEAMEN OF THE UNITED STATES MERCHANT MARINE / AND THE 529 SEAMEN OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY TRANSPORT SERVICE / WHO LOST THEIR LIVES DURING WORLD WAR II

A stone’s throw from the imposing and sterile war monument, another, more visceral and emotional monument faces the City. It honors the Merchant Mariner. The president of AFL-CIO, Joseph Lane Kirkland – himself a Kings Pointer – conceived of an idea to commission a monument that would pay homage to the generations of Merchant Mariners who were pressed into the service of the nation. He gained the support of a fellow classmate, then superintendent of the Merchant Marine Academy, Rear Admiral Thomas A. King. He had a similar idea and wished to create a national monument. Combined, their ideas coalesced and became the national American Merchant Mariners’ Memorial. After holding a nation-wide competition, a maquette submitted by Marisol moved the jury. Instead of creating a work in an impersonal, heroic Greco Deco style, she chose a personal, almost accusatory rendition of four merchant seamen alone on a floundering lifeboat.

Unlike somber pride represented by the East Coast Memorial, this work evokes the terror and gnawing helplessness felt by many of those who were torpedoed, abandoned ship, and whose fate was left to the capricious sea. Twice a day the body of one of the figures is swallowed by the harbor and is frozen in desperation, just beyond the grasp of his struggling comrade; one shouts out to the viewer, calling for an act of compassion to deliver his shipmates from a certain death; while another is on his knees, impassive and staring toward those who abandoned him. Kirkland spoke at the monument’s installation in 1991, saying it is: “a fitting remembrance dedicated to those merchant seamen who gave their lives in defense of the love of democracy that Americans share with the citizens of other free nations around the world.”

It is the most visceral of statues I have ever encountered and is all the more powerful since it was based on the plight of the survivors of the SS Muskogee. Standard practice among U-Boat crews was to wait for identifying debris from their victims or query any survivors after a torpedoing to mark their score in their reports; in this case, the commander of the U-Boat who sank SS Muskogee took a series of snapshots for propaganda purposes of the ship and the remanants of her crew. The snapshots surfaced decades after the war and reached the eyes of the son of one of those who was aboard the ship; in them he saw the last image of his father alive. He later tracked down the commander to learn the story of his father’s death; afterward, he distributed the image, hoping to identify the others on the life raft in an effort to provide closure for their families. The image made it into the hands of Marisol at the time of the competition for the design of American Merchant Mariners’ Memorial; she never rendered a sculpture like it prior or since.

Naval warfare in the Atlantic and Mediterranean theatres of war, as cruel as it was, was still prosecuted by professionals and governed by tradition. As heartless as the abandonment of the survivors of the SS Muskogee may seem, the German commander told the son that he did come alongside and gave the survivors water, rations, and smokes – a final act of gentlemanly courtesy to tide them over until their rescue. He further explained he was unable to take survivors since his already cramped boat had no room. In the Pacific, survivors often met capture, torture, or death by machine-gun, as the record shows.

Captain Arthur R. Moore writes in the opening of his exhaustive study of American ship losses, A Careless Word – a Needless Sinking, he could not describe the emotions of the survivors who sat in lifeboats watching potential rescue ships pass them by in plain sight. Marisol did this flawlessly. For those merchant seamen who returned, young in years but made old through the horrors of war, Vice Admiral Emery Scott Land addressed them on Maritime Day, May 23, 1945:

“Very few people in this country realize the hardships men of the Maritime Service have withstood so far in this war. Many of you have been torpedoed and been thrown into the water of the North Atlantic, in the middle of the winter. Many have seen their shipmates killed by explosions, collisions at sea, taken prisoners by submarine and in many instances have seen practically entire convoys wiped out by enemy action. Some of you have probably been afloat on a life-raft in the tropics and practically burned to a crisp and almost passed out because of thirst. Some of you have been aboard ships which cracked and fell apart, and most of you know how it feels to return from Europe via the North Atlantic in the winter, with only ballast in the lower holds. For my money the men of the Maritime Service deserve a lot more credit for the job they have done, than the credit they have received.”

Official reports state war conditions resulted in the loss of 1,586 United States-flag merchant ships and marine casualties during the Second World War. Postwar researchers tabulate the number as 1,768. Nevertheless, U.S. Maritime Commission estimates cover the period spanning from the sinking of the SS City of Rayville after striking a mine on November 8, 1940, to May 8, 1945 – V-E Day. The bulk of the tonnage was accounted for by 570 ships lost from direct war causes; a balance of 984 was lost in marine casualties resulting from convoy operations, reduced aids to navigation, and blackouts; other losses include 32 U. S. flag vessels that were not sunk in combat, but scuttled by their own crews to form the artificial harbors for the Allied invasion of Normandy.

The destruction of ships by the enemy resulted in a heavy loss of life. “Merchant Marine Casualty List No. 30,” from October 1945 – and the last of the Second World War – brought the United States Merchant Marine casualties reported to next of kin during the period from September 27, 1941, to June 30, 1945, to a total of 6,059 individuals, which breaks down as follows: Dead 4,830; missing, 794; prisoners of war, 435.

American merchant seamen, although they did not share the uniforms of military combatants, were killed, imprisoned, and imperiled just the same. The War Manpower Commission steadfastly maintained the Federal mandate that the U.S. Merchant Marine functioned “as an auxiliary to the armed forces and [bore] the heavy responsibility for deploying troops […], for moving supplies […], for bringing American troops home and for providing the food and machinery required in the rehabilitation of Europe.” The Roosevelt administration understood the militarized nature of the work American merchant seamen did, and as recognition of being erstwhile agents of the Federal government, the War Shipping Administration provided them with small tokens of appreciation throughout the final years of the Second World War in the form of ribbons and medals. The final thank you was a Victory Medal. After the Merchant Marine’s institution of a pyramid of honor by the War Shipping Administration, this medal was the bookend to wartime awards.

To this day, the last surviving Merchant Marine veterans are fighting for recognition from Congress for their sacrifices and to be placed on a similar footing with others who fought and sacrificed their lives for the greater good. As they slowly die of old age, the American merchant seaman’s role continues unrewarded and mostly unrecognized. Despite government praise at the time of the war, the unspoken compact between the Federal government and all those who volunteered at the government’s behest were abandoned. Unlike their uniformed peers, who were granted education benefits, medical treatment, and low-interest loans, irrespective of whether they faced the enemy or not, merchant seamen who survived the war received nothing except for a mealy-mouthed citation and few bits of colored cloth. These tokens did not provide them with a living, only a hollow thanks. The greatest award was intangible – they survived.

Special thanks are owed to Dr. Joshua Smith of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point and Interim Director of the American Merchant Marine Museum. He opened the Museum’s collections to me and there I discovered Marisol’s maquette which in turn formed the genesis of this post.

The Normandy photos are from a trip to France I went on with my family. One evening my Grandfather Willard told me he had a Z-Card. This post is for him.

References

Division of Public Relations, U.S. Maritime Commission. “Derelict Convoy.” Victory Fleet, Vol III no. 17 Oct 23, 1944, pp 1-

Division of Public Relations, U.S. Maritime Commission. “Gallant Ghosts.” Victory Fleet, Vol III no. 19 Nov 6, 1944, pp 1-3

Roosevelt, Franklin. “Christmas Greeting.” The Master, Mate, and Pilot, Vol. 8, No. 1 Jan 1945.

The Master, Mate, and Pilot, Vol. 8, no. 7 July 1945, p 9.

“Merchant Marine Casualty List No. 30.” The Master, Mate, and Pilot, Vol. 8, no. 10, Oct 1945, p. 8.

Moore, Arthur R. A Careless Word – a Needless Sinking: A History of the Staggering Losses Suffered by the U.S. Merchant Marine, both in Ships and Personnel, during World War II. American Merchant Marine Museum, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, NY, 1998.

September 15, 2012April 25, 2019

U.S. Naval Reserve Insignia

U.S. Naval Merchant Marine Reserve insignia.
Single construction.
Eagle stamped brass with gold-plate.
1939-1940.
badge: 2-3/4in from tip to tip of wings.

In October 1942, a curious chain of memoranda was passed between the New York State Maritime Academy Superintendent and various U.S. Navy officials. Prompted by Kings Point cadet uniforms having sewn on them a previously professional only device in preparation for a parade on the 24th of the month, the NYSMA Superintendent had a valid question, and perhaps potentially a little egg-on-face for his counterpart across Long Island Sound. The notes touched on the eligibility of cadets at the aforementioned academy to wear a relatively recent badge: the U.S. Naval Merchant Marine Reserve Insignia. This insignia came to be called the U.S. Naval Reserve Insignia, or simply the Sea Chicken.

(580) Dy
October 14, 1942

From: The Superintendent, New York State Maritime
Academy.
To: The Chief of Naval Personnel.
Via: The Commandant, Third Naval District.
Subject: Merchant Marine Reserve Insignia.
Wear On Academy Uniform.
Reference: (a) Art. 16-9 of Chapter XVI of U.S. Navy
Uniform Regulations, 1941.

1. Information is requested whether the insignia
described in reference (a) is authorized to be worn on
the dress uniform of cadets enrolled in this academy who
hold appointments as Midshipmen in the Merchant Marine
Reserve, U.S. Naval Reserve, and who do not hold licenses
issued by Marine Inspection Service.

/s/ Thos. T. Craven.
[Vice Admiral T. T. Craven, U.S.N.]

1st endorsemnet
JJ55-3
DMq09:cs

19 October 1942.

From: The Commandant, Third Naval District.
To: The Chief of Naval Personnel.

1. Forwarded.
2. The Commandant considers that the Merchant Marine
Reserve insignia is intended to give recognition to
merchant marine officers employed by private companies
who are members of the Naval Reserve, and, therefore,
does not recommend that cadets enrolled in the New
York State Maritime Academy be authorized to wear this
insignia.

/s/ Paul P. Blackburn,
By direction.

26 October 1942
Pers-1016--KS
JJ55-3(1522)

From: The Chief of Naval Personnel.
To: The Superintendent,
New York State Maritime Academy,
Fort Schuyler, The Bronx, N.Y.
Via: The Commandant Third Naval District.
Subject: Merchant Marine Reserve Insignia - to be
worn by midshipmen, Merchant Marine
Reserve.
References: (a) Supt. N.Y.St.Mar.Acs.ltr (580)Dy
of Oct. 14, 1942.
(b) Art. 16-9, Uniform Regulations,
U.S. Navy.
Enclosure: (A) Copy of BuNav ltr. Nav-1644-XKS
(QR2(C)(66) of Oct. 4, 1941.

1. As midshipmen, Merchant Marine Reserve, at the State
Maritime Academies are required to wear a uniform
appropriate to an officer, and as these Academies are
under the supervision of the War Shipping Administration,
which succeeded to the training functions formerly
performed by the U.S. Maritime Commission, midshipmen,
Merchant Marine Reserve, under instruction at these
Academies, are authorized to wear the Merchant Marine
Reserve insignia on their Academy uniforms.

/s/ L. E. Denfield,
The Assistant Chief of Naval Personnel.

Apparently, the Maritime Academies had a friend in the Chief of Naval Personnel, as in 1942 the matter was settled in that all cadets may indeed wear the insignia. All of this begs the question: what was this insignia, that caused such a stir of interest among Naval and Maritime Academy officials?

The Merchant Marine Reserve had its beginnings in 1913 when US Congress wrote into law a reformulated the Naval Reserve Force. At the time, the Reserve was separated into five classes, and soon became six:

Class I: The Fleet Naval Reserve: Consisting of personnel having former active Naval Service.

Class II: The Naval Reserve: Consisting of persons of the seagoing profession who had served at least two years aboard a vessel on the high seas or larger lakes.

Class III: Naval Auxiliary Reserve: Consisting of persons who had served or were serving in the Merchant Marine of the United States.

Class IV: Naval Coast Defense Reserve: Consisting of personnel capable of performing special and useful service in the time of war.

Class V: Volunteer Naval Reserve: Consisting of personnel qualifying for the other classes of the Reserve, who were willing to serve without pay in the time of peace.

Class VI: Naval Reserve Flying Corps: Consisting of personnel who were from the Naval Flying Corps.

Class III, Naval Auxiliary Reserve, comprised of officers and unlicensed seamen, was the precursor of the Merchant Marine Reserve program, and the one for which the U.S. Naval Merchant Marine Reserve Insignia would ultimately be destined.

Insignia for the Reserve was first prescribed in “Changes in Uniform Regulations United State Navy, 1913 No. 10” in 1915. This was the first official publication of distinctive uniform elements for the entire Naval Reserve. At the time, those Merchant Marine Officers in Class III wore their steamship line or company uniform with the Naval Reserve Force device on the collar of the “military coat,” or on the lapels of the “box coat.” This device was a miniature of the commissioned officers cap device. There were also special buttons worn on Merchant Marine uniforms. The button field was plain, with an anchor and the letters “U.S.” on either side of the shackle above the stock, and with the letters “N.R.” on either side of the shank between the stock and the flukes.

On June 25, 1938, the Naval Reserve Force underwent a name change to become simply the Naval Reserve. The classes were reduced to three with the original Naval Auxiliary Reserve renamed the U.S. Naval Merchant Marine Reserve, and still remaining the class III program. The “Naval Reserve (Merchant Marine) Insignia, Special Distinguishing Insignia for certain licensed officers” as it was first known and later called the “breast insignia of the Merchant Marine Reserve, U.S. Naval Reserve (Eagle and Scroll badge)”, was approved for wear on Merchant Marine uniforms on April 7, 1938, by then Secretary of the Navy, Claude A. Swanson. This insignia replaced the miniature cap device and buttons originally approved for the Naval Auxiliary Reserve. The authorization for the aforementioned insignia was the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, in which it was stated: “Licensed Officers who are members of the United States Naval Reserve shall wear on their uniforms such special distinguishing insignia as may be approved by the Secretary of the Navy.” The 1936 Act was based on the earlier Shipping Act of 1916 that required officers serving on vessels receiving a Federal government operating subsidy to be, if eligible, members of the United States Naval Reserve. Other Naval Reserve officers serving in merchant ships in positions that required them to wear “a uniform appropriate to an officer,” were authorized to wear the insignia. The insignia was emphatically not authorized to be worn with the naval uniform. Moreover, enlisted men of the Naval Reserve were not permitted to wear the Merchant Marine Reserve insignia.

As authorized in 1938, the Merchant Marine Reserve insignia was composed of a gold embroidered bronze or gold plated metal pin consisting of a spread eagle surcharged with crossed anchors and shield 5/8in in height, 2-3/4in from tip to tip of wings; length of anchors 7/8in; and underset with 3/16 scroll bearing the letters “US” on one side of the shield and “NR” on the opposite side. Wearers were required to wear the Merchant Marine Reserve insignia on the left breast of their Merchant Marine uniform and nowhere else.

The eagle design is based on the original eagle carved into the stern of the USS Constitution. The scroll pattern was often found on the stern of ships and contained the ships’ names. The shield has 13 stars and stripes with crossed anchors taken from the then current US Navy officer’s cap device and recalling the original Naval Auxiliary Reserve insignia. Following the design of the cap device, the original insignia design had the eagle looking to its own left. In 1941, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox prescribed a change wherein all Navy insignia bearing eagles were henceforth to have the heads facing their own right. According to heraldic law, the right side (dexter) of the shield is the honor side, and the left side (sinister) indicated dishonor or illegitimacy. The suggestion also has been made that the change was to have the eagle look toward the olive branches on the left side and peace as appears on the Great Seal of the United States, rather than the warlike arrows to the right. More information may be found here.

The 1930s was a turbulent time. The U.S. shipping industry was in free fall due to the Great Depression, with foreign firms having taken over most overseas and making strident end-runs in domestic shipping. As war erupted across Europe and Asia, the belligerent nations, which once carried the majority of U.S. trade, swept their ships into national service, leaving the U.S. both lacking in both ships and men. The Federal government stepped into the fray by subsidizing ship construction and encouraging the training of young men to enter the trade, and the U.S. Navy found itself looking for warm bodies to man its ships in the eventuality of war in Europe and in the Pacific. Naturally, the U.S. Navy looked to Nautical Schools and Merchant Marine Academies for potential manpower. Nevertheless, manpower could only be had with concessions from both sides: military and civilian.

At the invitation of the Navy Department, an informal conference of the governing bodies and Superintendents of the State nautical schools was held in Washington from April 12-14, 1938. The conference was attended by representatives from the then four State schools: New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and California. The object of the conference was to bring about a closer cooperation between the Navy Department and the State nautical schools; also to coordinate the work of the four schoolships. The end goal was to create a professional class of ship officers both adequately trained for the rapidly modernizing maritime industry and serve as potential U.S. Navy officers. Never before had a closer relationship between the two been groups been attempted.

Captain Felix X. Gygax, U.S.N., Director of the Naval Reserve, in the Bureau of Navigation, presided over the conference. The opening addresses at the conference were made by Captain Chester W. Nimitz, U.S.N., Assistant Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, Navy Department, and Captain Gygax. In referring to the State nautical schools, Captain Gygax said:

The Navy Department acknowledges and commends the splendid results that have been achieved, as attested by the fine record of the graduates of these nautical schools at sea, and the success of many more in positions of high trust and responsibility in connection with the administration and operation of the maritime industry ashore.

The conference resulted in the following: First, the curricula of the State nautical schools were extended with schools preparing young men not only for service in the American Merchant Marine but also in the United States Naval Reserve. The following nine naval subjects were added to the course of study: Navy Regulations, Naval Law, International Law, Types and Characteristics of Naval ships and aircraft, Tactics and Manoeuvering, Ship Drills, Gunnery, Communications and Damage Control. The instruction in these subjects was to be given the form of lectures by commissioned and active duty Naval officers. Second, the Bureau of Navigation, under the authority of the Secretary of the Navy, issued instructions to local Naval District Commandants providing for the admission of nautical school students in the Naval Reserve as Merchant Marine Cadets, in accordance with the Naval Reserve Act, approved June 25, 1938. Third, the Chief of Bureau of Navigation and the Chief of Naval Operations recommended to the Secretary of the Navy that appropriate steps be taken to secure from the Maritime Commission the allocation of funds for the construction of suitable vessels as replacements for the then present State schoolships, as necessary; these ships were to be of such a character as to be readily usable as naval auxiliaries in an emergency. The recommendation was immediately approved by the Secretary of the Navy. Thus was the inception of the Merchant Marine Midshipman Reserve program which provided the beginnings of Naval Science Program at the Maritime Academies. The New York State Maritime Academy was the first of the schools to open its doors to Naval instructors in 1939; by the end of the year, a big gun found its way to Fort Schuyler.

NYSMA cadets marching at World’s Fair 1939.

Soon thereafter, with the storm clouds of war looming over the Atlantic, civilian instructors the Nautical Schools joined the Merchant Marine Reserve and sewed the new insignia on their reefer jackets. By 1940 the criteria for valid wearers of the insignia was broadened to include staff officers licensed under the Bureau of Marine Inspection and serving on ships with certificated of registry issued by the Secretary of Commerce under contract with the Maritime Commission. That same year, Merchant Marine officers employed by or under the supervision of the U.S. Maritime Commission and enlisted members of the Naval Reserve who were actually licensed and serving as licensed officers were authorized to wear the insignia. And other Naval Reserve Officers serving on merchant ships or under the supervision of the United States Maritime Commission were authorized to wear it; with the same stipulation that it not be worn on the Navy uniform.

On the coattails of the limited National Emergency of September 8, 1939, Roosevelt declared a National Emergency on June 27, 1940; and finally an Unlimited National Emergency on May 27, 1941. The first declaration brought with it the activation of the Naval Fleet Reserve; the last, all members of the Naval Reserve not in deferred status were called to active duty. Members of the Merchant Marine Reserve immediately found themselves in reserve officer status if on requisitioned ships between the former and later declarations as per the Merchant Marine Act, 1936 Title III Section 302(g). Along with them, on October 5, 1940, cadets of the Maritime Commission aboard these ships were placed on active duty as Midshipmen, Merchant Marine Reserve due to previous Maritime Commission and Navy interagency agreements. By early 1942:

[…]There were 60 cadets serving as Midshipman, Merchant Marine Reserve, on active duty on Merchant Marine vessels taken over by the Navy.

The school ships of the state maritime academies were not taken out of auxiliary status and activated; thus, students and non-Naval Reserve instructors remained unaffected. At the same time, with the allocation of government funds and provision of schoolships, schools (now academies) had their training programs vetted by the Maritime Commission. However, these same instructors became inducted into the Maritime Commission’s uniformed training organization – the Maritime Service. With the final action, came membership in the Merchant Marine Reserve. After the formal declaration of war on December 8, 1941:

The Supervisor, three Assistant Supervisors, the three District Cadet Training Instructors, the three Commanding Officers of Cadet Schools, and almost all Cadet Training Instructors in districts and at Cadet Schools hold licenses as officers of the Merchant Marine, and commissions in the United States Naval Reserve. On January 6, 1942, the Navy ordered these Naval Reserve officer instructors to active duty status.

It may be due to creative thinking by a Navy supply officer, a Maritime Commission purser or New York uniform supply house salesman, but Corps of Cadets members began to sporadically wear the insignia in 1940. This would be due to a perceived de facto, and not codified de jure reserve status of the cadets and cadets holding a nominal officer status. Ship officers, as defined by U.S. law, are those sailing under or holding a license as issued by the US Bureau of Marine Inspection. Nautical tradition held that cadets were officers-in-training with rank below the lowest officer grade but rating privileges held by a mid-level unlicensed mariner. Some shipboard cadets, known as “cadet officers”, previously held licenses but did not sail under them, and could conceivably claim Merchant Marine Reserve status. Others cadets perhaps (and did) don the insignia while on ships activated during the first emergency periods. Either way, on paper this insignia was only valid while in active employ aboard merchant vessels. If a ship were seized directly by the Navy, cadets became midshipmen – as happened to some merchantmen namely oilers and Maritime Commission designed freighters – and were officially barred from wearing the insignia on their uniforms aboard ship. Moreover, the regulations did not state that the insignia was not for midshipmen, rather licensed officers.

It is worth mentioning that the personnel of the Merchant Marine, Government Marine (e.g. Army Transport Service and Coast and Geodetic Survey) and Armed Marine (US Navy and Coast Guard) shared similar trades, but diverged in organizational culture. The Merchant Marine sailor of the late 1930s suffered through the deprivations of the Great Depression and union struggles against shipowners. Except for ship officers, many held no particular allegiance to ship or employer. With the Jones Act, foreign colleagues were ejected from vessels, thereby removing skilled labor, and introducing gaps in overall ship manning. Depending on the union, mariners could be militantly left-leaning or thoroughly apathetic in their daily struggle to make a living. The Navy rank and file also came from the same lower-middle-class background as the merchant sailors – although tempered by grueling training and autocratic hierarchy. Men in the Regular Navy took a dim view of civilians and reservists on shore and in their midst. Many officers of the former worked their way from the deck to the pilothouse; a small number came from the nautical schools and academies. Most active Navy officers came from the Naval Academy where they were molded and inducted into an efficient warrior class. It is at this intersection where academy graduates and the service found themselves: outsiders making an entrance into an unforgiving hierarchy bound by custom and regulation. It is no surprise that despite coexisting on the same waterfronts, the two groups held each other at arm’s length.

Nevertheless, only after the formal granting of Midshipman, Merchant Marine Reserve status to all cadets in state and federal maritime academies in August 1942 – some months after the move of the East Coast Corps of Cadets from Fort Schuyler to their permanent home at Kings Point – did the mass distribution of the insignia to all Corps of Cadets members occur. This was done by the administrators of the Merchant Marine Academies, not the Navy. Absent is period documentation indicating Navy complicity. However, the insignia was only granted after a cadet completed preliminary training in basic Navy Science and swearing an oath. This oath was not compulsory but was done by all cadets. In fact, the Maritime Commission distributed a pamphlet depicting the insignia as an award granted cadets: “U.S. Naval Reserve Insignia Worn by Cadets of U. S. Maritime Commission and Officers of Merchant Marine Enrolled in Naval Reserve.” Interestingly, at the time of press in early 1942, cadets were not yet called cadet-midshipmen.

State maritime academy cadets did not wear the insignia at any point up to October 1942; graduating class photos attest to this fact. The lack of insignia would not be due to the absence of a Naval Science curriculum; a course of study created by a gentlemen’s agreement in 1938, and put into practice in 1939 – which coincidentally was the same year that the Corps of Cadets was invited to the NYSMA grounds by then Superintendent Tomb. Nor did not having Midshipmen, Reserve status; which state cadets were afforded in August 1942. Nor even lack of connection to the Maritime Commission; with accepting federal monies and federal ships with which came Federal curricula and staff. It would be due to a creative reading of provisions of wear of the Merchant Marine Reserve insignia did the Corps of Cadets come to wear the insignia; and a rather conservative reading that state cadets did not. It is notable in that the wide-spread distribution of the insignia to cadets only came with Tomb coming to Kings Point a month after its inception as the first superintendent in April 1942.

Kings Point, from its outset, was linked strongly to NYSMA, although both diverged in raison d’être. The NYSMA was created to educate young men from New York for the maritime industry operating out of the Port of New York. The Maritime Commission Corps of Cadets, to bring young men from around the country without access to state schools, the opportunity to become licensed officers of the subsidized blue-water U.S. Merchant Marine. Thus, having looked at the successful model of staffing, cadet structure and uniforming, the early Merchant Marine Academy had similar components as the NYSMA. There was a strong cross-pollination of Kings Point and NYSMA instructors and potential students, Kings Point copying NYSMA regimental and honor system and using practically the same uniforms. At the permanent establishment of the NYSMA at Fort Schuyler, Tomb hailed the facility as being the future Annapolis of the U.S. Merchant Marine; after his transfer to Kings Point, he hailed the Merchant Marine Academy as the same. As such, there existed a friendly rivalry between the two. The mass distribution of the badge, and with it, a perceived honor status, can be viewed as a slight affront to – perhaps even antagonizing – the older school. NYSMA was hampered by New York bureaucracy and its expansion plans stymied by Federal land use provisos and local political posturing. In this light, the Superintendent’s letter makes sense; as does that of the Commandant, Third Naval District. In essence, if the upstart institution may have the insignia, then so should NYSMA – or vice-versa. Whatever the case may be, all maritime academies, having their cadets subject to Midshipmen, Reserve status and the blessing of the Chief of Naval Personnel secured the insignia on October 26, 1942 – but not in time for the big New York Navy Day parade just two days prior. Thus, as an administrative matter in 1942, the Chief of Naval Personnel authorized Merchant Marine Midshipmen, USNR, under instruction at the state maritime academies, to wear the Merchant Marine Insignia on their academy uniforms, since these academies were under the supervision of the War Shipping Administration.

Post-war saw a change in the military establishment’s view of the role of the Merchant Marine as an auxiliary and the desirability of Merchant Mariners in its reserves. In 1951, the Navy regulations were revised, and only cadets who were Midshipmen, USNR, at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy were allowed to wear the insignia on their academy uniforms – not on their uniforms if shipping out or serving on commissioned Naval vessels. With the 1952 abolition of the Merchant Marine Reserve under Public Law 467 by the 82nd Congress, came the resultant removing Midshipman, USNR status from Merchant Marine Academy cadets and therefore the eligibility of wearing the Merchant Marine Reserve Insignia. Despite being granted Federal status, having a military character and Naval Science courses, Merchant Marine Academy cadets became simply “officer candidates.” This touched off a controversy in that one of the selling points in a Merchant Marine Academy (state or Federal) education were draft-deferment or exemption and the possibility to be granted a commission in the U.S. Navy upon graduation. Gone was the pin, escape clause, and privileges. However, due to an administrative oversight, cadets continued wearing the badge until mid-1954 with its overall disappearance on cadet uniforms in 1956. Apparently, the California Maritime Academy administration must not have gotten the memo, as in 1958, 18 of 50 graduates were sporting the insignia; in 1959, however, the insignia was absent. 1964 saw with the re-institution of the merchant marine naval reserve status at Kings Point; only to have it abolished in 1965 and superseded by a Naval Reserve commission for the class of 1968 with accompanying badge reappearance.

The state academies had to wait until 1977 when their cadets became Midshipmen, USNR, of the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) to pin the insignia back on their uniforms. Beginning in 1980, those cadets who signed a Training and Service Agreement and became Midshipmen, USNR, were also authorized to wear the Merchant Marine Reserve Insignia. Up until recently, all Midshipmen USNR enrolled in maritime training programs leading to a merchant marine license, were eligible to wear the insignia.

With the start of the Merchant Marine Reserve, U.S. Naval Reserve (MMR, USNR) program in 1977, the insignia was authorized for the first time for wear on the Navy uniform of officers by this officer community. The requirement for wear was published in the 1978 Navy Uniform Regulations:

To be eligible to wear this insignia, Naval Reservists must meet one of the following requirements:

a. Be licensed merchant marine officers who sail on their license at least four months every two years and are members of the MMR , USNR program.
b. Be officers in the Maritime Service holding merchant marine licenses and who are instructors at Federal, State and Regional Academies, and at industry, or union maritime schools who are members of the MMR, USNR, program.
c. Be merchant marine officers holding licenses as Chief Mate/First Assistant Engineer/Radio Officer or higher, with eight years of licensed sailing experience and currently employed in a maritime related position ashore, and who are members of the MMR, USNR program.

On June 10, 2011, a change in the Merchant Marine, U.S. Naval Reserve program resulted in it being called the Strategic Sealift Officer program, and along with it a replacement of insignia (OPNAVINST 1534.1D § 12.b.5). The new device, Strategic Sealift Officer Warfare Insignia, will be available in May 2012. Despite patterns yet to be struck:

The SSOWI is approved for wear by officers who have successfully completed the qualification requirements outlined in OPNAVINST 1534.1D. The insignia is gold in color and is two and three-quarter inches by seven eighths of an inch in dimension, reflecting the background of an eagle from the USS Constitution’s stern, crossed naval officer swords and a U.S. shield with fouled anchor from the U.S. Merchant Marine flag. The SSOWI will be available in two sizes (normal and miniature). The normal size SSOWI shall be worn on all uniforms, less dinner dress. The miniature SSOWI shall be worn with miniature medals on dinner dress uniforms (NAVADMIN 164/12 § 2.B).

Good to know, I guess. To the way of the shadow box and collector the illustrious “Sea Chicken” – once symbol of the larger debate of how Merchant Mariners figure in U.S. National Defense – shall go.

References
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Education. Public Document 42: III Annual Report of the Commissioners of the Massachusetts Nautical School for the Year Ending November 30, 1938. Boston: Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1938.

U.S. Congress. Naval auxiliaries for use in the Merchant marine. Hearings before a special subcommittee of the Committee on Naval Affairs, House of Representatives, Sixty-third Congress, second session, on S. 5259, a bill to establish one or more United States Navy mail lines between the United States, South America, and Europe; and H.R. 5980, a bill to authorize the President of the United States to build or acquire steamships for use as naval auxiliaries and transports, and to arrange for the use of these ships when not needed for such service, and to make an appropriation therefor. Washington D.C.: GPO, August 1914.

Department of the Navy. “STRATEGIC SEALIFT OFFICER PROGRAM.” OPNAVINST 1534.1D § 12.b.5. Washington D.C., June 10, 2011.

Department of the Navy. “STRATEGIC SEALIFT OFFICER WARFARE INSIGNIA (SSOWI).” NAVADMIN 164/12 § 2.B. Washington D.C., May 18, 2012.

Original design of insignia as found in Uniform Board notes 1938.

Dating the Merchant Marine Reserve Insignia is not very tricky. There are two main variations in design and two types: stamped metal and embroidered. The former continued to be worn until 2012 with planned phase-out in 2013. The embroidered device fell out of use in the mid-1950s along with all embroidered badges on US Navy officer uniforms. It has the interesting quality of being one of the longest-lived badges in the Navy and least awarded.

1938-1941

The first pattern, as noted in the text is the own left-facing eagle. It was issued until mid-1941.

This specific item is part of a Panama Railroad Steamship Company pursur grouping. It is displayed along with a Merchant Marine Defense Ribbon; meaning it was worn at least until mid-Second World War.

1939-1940

This is a gold-plated pin from the pre-war period. It was issued prior to mid-1941. The insignia lacks a hallmark; as is the case with many pre-war items.

This item is of particular interest as it comes from a U.S. Maritime Commission Corps of Cadets cadet grouping dating to the regiment’s sojourn at Fort Schuyler. Of interest is the fact that the original owner was relatively old at the time of enrollment, being 22; meaning he was probably a “cadet officer” and sailed under his license until Navy enlistment in 1943. At the time college students were less apt to drop their course of study to join the Corps of Cadets, with hawsepipers making up a handful of cadets during this period.

1942

This is a Vanguard insignia that comes from a U.S. Merchant Marine Academy graduate that ended up being a junior radio officer; or a radio officer attached to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Further research is required on my part.

1943

The above is from March 1943 granted after the Acceptance of Appointment as Midshipman, Merchant Marine in the U.S. Naval Reserve.

1944

Embroidery of the insignia was still of a high standard in 1944. Notice the overall difference with…

1945

1946
The following two insignias are from 1946. Do note the difference in embroidery.

The first is on a black wool backing for wear with the USMMA dress jacket as well as on the Service Dress Blue coat.

The second is on a khaki twill backing; it was sewn on the khaki working coat. This is an unusual example, as previously, cadet-midshipmen were directed to wear the pin device on khaki – khaki was commonly steamed, as opposed to dry-cleaned like the worsted wool. When the pin was reinstated, this failed experiment was not repeated, as khaki working coats were no longer in a cadets-midshipman’s sea bag.

The third device, with a Coro hallmark, also dates from the same period and was worn on dress whites of the period.

2010

The last item is a Vanguard insignia from 2010. It was manufactured by International Insignia in Providence, Rhode Island. Many Vanguard insignia items are actually jobbed out to International Insignia as Vanguard in recent years has apparently found contracting low volume orders more cost effective than striking them inhouse. Notable would be the occasional IOH I-21 as opposed to V-21-N hallmark.