What turned me onto the historical backstory of my rating was an insignificant story that I read about the installation of radar onto the USS Washington (BB-56) as told in the pages of Ivan Musicant’s 1986 book, Battleship at War: The Epic Story of the USS Washington. As documented in Muscant’s book, the placement of this unit was cause for a significant sector blindspot, leaving the ship vulnerable during the first Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in November of 1942 (U.S. The foremast of the USS Washington (BB-56) showing the SG radar antennae on the foreward face of the tower. Despite this lack, I did manage to excel at my job and advance in a timely manner. Other than the basic historical narratives (also presented in the training manual) regarding the history of naval radar, I didn’t give it much thought. I was none too interested in discovering any of the historical aspects or the development of my rating beyond what was presented in my training manuals. My own rating, Operations Specialist, seemed to be (to me) quite ordinary and less historic as compared to traditional ratings such as boatswain’s mates, gunners mates and machinist mates. These ratings (similar to the Army’s Military Occupational Specialty or MOS) are denoted on each sailor’s sleeve insignia with a unique emblem symbolizing certain characteristics of that specialty.
Navy enlisted men and women receive schooling and training to perform specific job functions to meet the needs of each unit or command.
During my naval career, I performed my job without so much as a fleeting thought regarding the historical aspects of my chosen specialty. Navy and an amateur military historian, I’ve researched a vast number of subjects ranging from basic minutia to emotionally gut-wrenching and personally significant stories with historical context that I find utterly fascinating. But the question I have is, how many of them combine all three “genres” of militaria collecting into one, singular focus?Īs a ten-year veteran of the U.S. Still other collectors pursue metal insignia and uniform devices. Many people collect U.S.Navy rating badges and many other folks collect ephemera.
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