Counting Explosive Ordnance Disposal, there are currently (2016) four Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) Technician categories devoted to ordnance: Surface Ordnance, Aviation Ordnance, and Submarine Ordnance. Two of these—Surface Ordnance and Submarine Ordnance—share the same insignia: A spherical, flaming shell, embroidered in gold for a sleeve device on shoulder boards. That insignia was introduced in the 1951 edition of the U.S. Navy Uniform Regulations; it was designed for two CWO technicians, Surface Ordnance and Control Ordnance.
Since that time, the CWO categories related to ordnance have undergone several changes, but at their core they remained relatively unchanged in spite of breathtaking advances in the technical subject—ordnance—around which these categories were developed.
Today’s Surface and Submarine Ordnance Technicians can trace their roots back to a different CWO classification system. Of the five CWO categories related to ordnance handling or disposal in 1952, three—Aviation, Control, and Surface—were really expansions of the CWO Gunner category. A fourth, Underwater Ordnance Technician, had formerly been Torpedoman, and the last was Mine Warfare Technician.
Tracking down precisely the source ratings or duties of a Control Ordnance Technician is maddening for researchers “limited” to the publicly available resources on the Internet. One thing that is clear is that the title was changed by reversing the two descriptive words to come up with “Ordnance Control Technician” beginning with the 1962 edition of the Navy Register. But it would be interesting to know more, considering that the insignia for the Control Ordnance/Ordnance Control CWO category is the same as the one used today for CWO Ordnance Technicians with officer designators 716x (Surface) and 726x (Submarine).
In 1970, the CWO category of Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician first appeared in the Navy Register with an officer designator of 716x, which of course is today’s designator for Surface Ordnance Technician. It was the last major change to CWO Ordnance categories before the Navy performed a major overhaul of both the CWO and Limited Duty Officer programs.