U.S. NAVY CWO ORDNANCE TECHNICIAN (SUBMARINE) HARD SHOULDER BOARDS

The introduction of the Limited Duty Officer (LDO) in 1948 was intended to reward long-serving enlisted men with an opportunity to become commissioned officers without the need for a college degree or attendance at the lengthy Officer Candidate School. Ostensibly, this new type of commissioned officer category was meant to augment existing Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) categories such as Underwater Ordnance Technician—but even reading the Navy’s own explanations of the LDO program left many Sailors bewildered over what the differences in fact were between the duties of LDOs and CWOs. Consider this description of the two officers’ roles published in All Hands magazine in 1958: “The role of the warrant officer is that of technical specialist in a prescribed occupational area; the role of the limited duty officer is that of supervisory specialist in the specific technical area represented by his category.”

The author then went on to use another 500 words trying to explain what that explanation meant.

Perhaps the best way to understand the relationship between CWOs and LDOs is by looking at where both types of officers likely came from: the Chief Petty Officer rate. A Chief Petty Officer is responsible for one area of technical expertise, i.e., his rating—Torpedoman’s Mate, in our examination of the CWO category of Underwater Ordnance Technician. A Chief Torpedoman’s Mate was supervised by an Underwater Ordnance Technician, who also oversees CPOs from several other ratings such as Fire Control Technician. Finally, the LDO is responsible for several CWO categories.

The Warrant Officer category of Underwater Ordnance Technician was changed in the mid-1970s as the Navy sought to align the LDO and CWO programs more with the concept of warfare communities. After the change was made, Sailors serving in the Torpedoman’s Mate rating could advance to two CWO positions: Surface or Submarine Ordnance Technician, with CWO designators respectively of 716x and 726x. The analogous Limited Duty Office designators were 616x and 626x.

Although the Torpedoman’s Mate rating was merged into the Gunner’s Mate rating in 2007, the change had no effect on the path of advancement for Sailors in the TM rating who were seeking to become CWOs or LDOs.

Important: Due to the extremely low demand on this item, it is manufactured on order. While we might have some in stock, please allow for up to 10 business days processing time.

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Merchant Marine

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U.S. NAVY CWO ORDNANCE TECHNICIAN (SUBMARINE) HARD SHOULDER BOARDS