U.S. NAVY CWO PHOTOGRAPHER COLLAR DEVICE

From its very beginnings, the United States Navy has recognized the need for officers who are intimately familiar with the nuts-and-bolts operation of the equipment on its ships, from guns and ordnance to communications devices and propulsion machinery. So it’s not surprise that Warrant Officers, promoted from the ranks of enlisted Sailors to specialty positions related to their rating, have held positions in the U.S. Navy since the Continental Congress first authorized the construction of ships to fight the British in 1775. (Actually, Warrant Officers very often came directly from Civilian life from the late 19th Century until the start of the 20th Century, but today they have worked their way up.)

But it was only in the middle of the Twentieth Century that this specialized officer grade began to come into its own. The first major change came in 1949 with the passage of the Career Compensation Act, which created four pay grades for Warrant Officers, which at the time were divided into Warrant Officers and Commissioned Warrant Officers (CWOs). The officer grade of Warrant Officer, WO, were at a paygrade of W-1; CWOs began at the W-2 pay grade and could move up to the next pay grade after the appropriate length of duty as a CWO. For example, a Commissioned Warrant Officer could be promoted to the W-3 paygrade after spending between six and twelve years as a CWO; the highest CWO paygrade of W-4 could only be achieved with a minimum of twelve years as a CWO.

A few years later, the term “Commissioned Warrant Officer” was replaced with Chief Warrant Officer, and four ranks were created for pay grades W-1 though W-4, with the rank title indicating pay grade. A Warrant Officer was designated Warrant Officer W-1, followed by Chief Warrant Officer W-2 (abbreviated CWO2) and so forth. The W-1 grade was disestablished in 1975, and in 1992 Congress passed legislation authorizing the addition of a new Warrant Officer Grade of W-5 (CWO5). The Navy did not officially establish the new rank until 2002, and the first CWO to reach this new rank was promoted aboard the USS Ronald Reagan on the first day of October, 2003.

The collar device for the Chief Photographer rank that you see here was specified in the U.S. Navy Uniform Regulations of 1951 as a “Corps device.”

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Price

$9.59

Quantity

USPHS

Merchant Marine

AUXILIARY

U.S. NAVY CWO PHOTOGRAPHER COLLAR DEVICE