Navy Rating Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist Patch

The blades crossed behind the warship's bow on the enlisted surface warfare pin are cutlasses, a nod to the days of sail, while the officers' gold pin carries swords. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Thomas Hayward approved the Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist program on 1 December 1978. The silver pin was first available in April 1979, four years after officers got their gold surface warfare pin in 1975. ESWS gave enlisted sailors on cruisers, destroyers, frigates and amphibs a way to prove they knew the whole ship beyond their own rate. This patch is for every sailor who stood in front of that board and walked out qualified.

The original 1979 criteria asked for a petty officer with 24 months aboard a surface ship, good evaluations and qualification in every watch station for the rating and pay grade. On top of that came the PQS for damage control, damage control petty officer, repair party leader and work center supervisor, then an oral board and the commanding officer's approval. Later rules under OPNAVINST 1414.9 enroll E-5 through E-9 sailors after 12 months aboard and give them 18 months to finish, with more prerequisite PQS on damage control and ship survivability. ESWS also became a requirement for an E-5 to advance to E-6. Whether the qualification came on a Spruance-class destroyer, an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, a Ticonderoga-class cruiser or an amphib, damage control was the heart of it.

The patch uses the classic Navy rating patch shape, a wide panel with curved top and bottom, 4.5 by 3.25 inches with a navy blue merrowed edge. A gold banner across the top reads UNITED STATES NAVY in blue letters, with the registered mark after NAVY. The center is navy blue, and the silver-gray surface warfare device spreads across it, the bow of a warship rising over breaking waves. A gold lower banner reads ENLISTED SURFACE WARFARE SPECIALIST in blue. Blue and gold frame it, and the silver of the device matches the enlisted pin.

Ask a surface sailor what the pin took and you will hear about nights with the PQS book in berthing and chiefs who signed nothing until the answer was right. The qualification gave a petty officer real standing with junior sailors and the wardroom alike, because everyone aboard knew what the board asked. It also made the ship safer. When a fire or a flooding casualty hit, the sailors wearing the silver pin knew where the valves, the fire plugs and the repair lockers were. That is the reputation this patch carries.

It fits a shadow box next to your ship patches and the pin itself, or a jacket or vest worn to a ship's reunion. It is iron-on backed and can also be sewn on. For a son or daughter reporting to a first ship, it is fair warning of what the first year aboard will ask. Bring a pen to the board.