CT Cryptologic Technician Rating Patch

Look under the big white letters and you will find two small signal flags, Charlie and Tango, spelling out CT in the international flag code. Charlie is the one with horizontal bands of blue, white, red, white and blue. Tango is three vertical bars of red, white and blue. Between the C and the T sits the rating mark itself, a quill crossed with a lightning bolt. It is the Navy's cryptologic rating, the enlisted sailors who collect, analyze and exploit signals and keep the fleet's own traffic out of other hands.

The roots go back further than the rating. In 1927 a handful of Marines trained in katakana in Shanghai and then set up a radio intercept station in Peiping, and the classroom on the roof of the Navy Department building in Washington turned out at least 176 enlisted radio operators, 150 Navy and 26 Marines, who became known as the On the Roof Gang. During World War II, OP-20-G pushed for a rating of its own, and the Specialist (Q) ratings followed. In 1948 the Navy folded them into the Communications Technician rating, and on 26 March 1976 it was renamed Cryptologic Technician. The branch letters tell you the job: CTR for collection, CTT for radar and electronic signals, CTI for the linguists, CTM for maintenance, and CTN for networks starting in 2004, which became Cyber Warfare Technician in 2023.

The patch has the classic rating shape, flat on the sides with arched top and bottom bands. A gold band across the top carries UNITED STATES NAVY in navy blue lettering, and a matching gold band at the bottom reads CRYPTOLOGIC TECHNICIAN. The center is a navy blue field framed in a thin white line, with the white C, the crossed quill and bolt, and the white T across the middle. The two small signal flags sit centered just above the lower band. It measures 4.5 inches wide by 3.25 inches tall, finished with a navy blue merrowed edge and an iron-on backing.

A lot of CTs can tell you their branch letter, their duty stations and not much else, and that is the job. They stood watches aboard surface ships, submarines and aircraft, and at shore stations around the world, and most of what they did never made an evaluation narrative in any detail. The quill stands for the written record and the bolt for the radio spectrum, and between them is the whole trade. The community keeps up with itself through groups like the U.S. Naval Cryptologic Veterans Association. When two old CTs meet, the first question is usually which branch and which station.

It sits well on a sea bag or a jacket, or in a shadow box next to a crow, a set of discharge papers and a station photo. It also makes a good gift for a shipmate who spent his enlistment behind a cipher-locked door. Iron it on or stitch it, the flags still spell the same two letters.