Deck Yeoman Ratings Patch

The two small flags under the crossed quills spell out the rating in signal flags: Yankee, striped yellow and red, and November, checked blue and white. That puts YN on this patch twice, once in block letters and once in flags, with the rating name across the bottom. Anyone who spent time near a signal bridge reads it at a glance. The yeoman is the Navy's administrative and clerical rating. Evaluations, fitness reports, naval messages and service records all cross a yeoman's desk sooner or later.

The rate is as old as the Navy's first frigates. When Congress funded six frigates in 1794, each was to carry a yeoman of the gun room and a captain's clerk, and the captain's clerk is the ancestor of today's YN. Carpenter's and gunner's yeomen followed in 1798, a boatswain's yeoman in 1799, and the captain's clerk took the yeoman title in 1835. On March 17, 1917, the Navy was authorized to enlist women as Yeoman (F), and by the end of World War I more than 11,000 were serving in the Naval Reserve. Today's yeomen handle protocol, enlisted evaluations, officer fitness reports, message traffic and mail, and senior YNs serve as flag writers on the staffs of flag officers.

This patch measures 4.5 inches wide by 3.25 inches tall, a rectangle with arched top and bottom finished in a navy blue merrowed edge. UNITED STATES NAVY runs across a gold band at the top in navy lettering, and YEOMAN sits in a matching gold band at the bottom. The center field is navy blue, with a large white Y and N on either side of the yeoman's crossed white quills. The Yankee and November flags sit just under the quills, small enough to miss on a first look. The back is iron-on.

The ship's office is where leave chits, advancement paperwork, orders, awards and the captain's correspondence all end up. A good yeoman knew where every one of those stood and who was waiting on it. At general quarters a YN has a station like everyone else aboard, and then it is back to the paperwork. The rating has stayed in the Navy, afloat and ashore, since the frigate days. A crew that got paid, promoted and home on time usually had a sharp yeoman behind it.

It fits a shadow box with a set of crows and a photo of the ship, or the side of a sea bag. It is also a good gift for a retired chief yeoman or a son just out of A-school. Iron it on or stitch it down. Two flags under the quills say it plainly: YN.