US Navy Damage Controlman DC Rating Patch

Look under the crossed axe and maul and you will find two signal flags, yellow, blue and yellow for Delta, and blue, white, red, white and blue for Charlie, spelling DC the way a signalman would hoist it. Damage Controlman is the rating that keeps a ship afloat and fighting after she is hit. DCs fight the fires, patch the pipes, shore the bulkheads and stop the flooding. They train the rest of the crew to do the same, because on a damaged ship everyone is a firefighter. The DC is the ship's fire marshal, and every sailor on board has a DC to thank for the drills.

The rating was established in 1948 by pulling together the Navy's firefighting specialists, Carpenter's Mates and Painters into one trade. In 1954 the Chemical Warfareman rating was disestablished and its work moved to the DCs, which is why chemical, biological and radiological defense belongs to them. In 1972 the rating was folded into Hull Maintenance Technician, and in 1987 it came back as its own rating. DCs train at A school in Great Lakes, Illinois, about ten weeks long. They run the repair lockers at general quarters, keep the watertight fittings tight, and maintain the installed firefighting systems and the damage control and lifesaving gear.

The patch is 4.5 inches wide by 3.25 inches high, in the curved-top shape sailors know from rating patches, with a navy blue merrowed edge. A gold band across the top reads UNITED STATES NAVY in navy blue, and a matching band at the bottom reads DAMAGE CONTROLMAN. Between them, a large white D and C stand on either side of a red axe and maul crossed at the handles. The Delta and Charlie flags sit small and square under the tools. The backing is iron-on, and it takes a needle if you would rather sew it.

When a ship takes a missile, a mine or a fire in the engine room, the DCs are the ones running toward it. Their training is built for the worst day of a ship's life, and most of the time it is spent on drills nobody else wants to run. They carry the gear, check the extinguishers and walk the spaces so the ship is ready when it counts. Shipmates may joke about the DCs during drills, but nobody jokes about them once the alarm is real.

Put it in a shadow box with your crow or your chief's anchors and a photo of the repair locker crew, or on the jacket you wear to a ship's reunion. It also makes a good gift for a DC who just made rate, or a retired one who still checks every fire extinguisher in the house. Two letters, two flags and the tools of the trade.