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At random: The USS NAUTILUS SSN 571 made history by cruising submerged from the pacific to the Atlantic Ocean, passing under the North Pole at 11:15 p.m. EDST on August 3, 1958.

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Corabelle

Posted 2007-07-05 9:27 PM (#5084)

COMSUBBBS

Posts: 2561

Location: Rapid City, SD

Subject: Rank & Rate

I'm running across this R & R in one of my brother's letters, but don't really understand what it means: RMSM. I thought he was an RM/3C, so am a bit confused.

Help, please.

Ron Wert

Posted 2007-07-05 10:26 PM (#5086 - in reply to #5084)

Crew

Posts: 75

Subject: RE: Rank & Rate

FAIRLY simple even though some old timers still have a problem with it.
Rate: is your pay grade. E1=seaman/airman/fireman recruit; E2=seaman apprentice; E3=Seaman; E4=XX third class; E5=XX second class etc...

Up there where the XX is are the two letter RATING designation. Rating is what you do for a living in the Navy. Used to be dozens of them, now it seems you're either a Torpedomans Mate or a Machinists Mate. The Navy probably saves $4.98 a year by not having to make so many different rating badges. I was an EN (Engineman) while on active duty. Your brother was a radioman. I can see the next question being formed. Why was he a "Radioman" while the Torpedomen, Machinists, Electricians, Bo'sns (boatswain), and probably a few others I'm too old to remember and probably don't have time to look up, are "Mates". I don't really know but I think it probably has to do with what they did together when the rest of us were sleeping.

Hope this clears it up for you.

Corabelle

Posted 2007-07-06 12:09 AM (#5090 - in reply to #5086)

COMSUBBBS

Posts: 2561

Location: Rapid City, SD

Subject: RE: Rank & Rate

Thanks, Ron. I undestand that his rate was RM. Can the RMSM mean Radioman Seaman? I have never heard that Rate/Rank said together. Or would it be the rank that he had before he earned the 3C? I know that he talked about being a "Striker"? Could the SM somehow stand for "Striker"? If so, what does the last "M" stand for?

Still confused.

Glad he was a "man" instead of a "mate." We didn't have to worry about what he was doing while the rest of you were sleeping!

Edited by Corabelle 2007-07-06 12:12 AM

JrKrup, Skimmer

Posted 2007-07-06 12:15 AM (#5091 - in reply to #5090)

Master and Commander

Posts: 1324

Location: Oxnard, CA

Subject: RE: Rank & Rate

RMSN, not RMSM. RM meant Radioman. SN mean Seaman - a non-rated radioman striker.
SM is a Signalman. They sent messages by flashing light, by flag hoist and by hand semaphone. The slang for a Signalman is "Skivvy Waver."

Corabelle

Posted 2007-07-06 12:20 PM (#5107 - in reply to #5091)

COMSUBBBS

Posts: 2561

Location: Rapid City, SD

Subject: RE: Rank & Rate

Thank you, Skimmer

I looked it up again, and it was RMSN, not SM, so it must have been while he was a Striker for Radioman, but really didn't have that rank/rate yet.

Again, thank you. That clears up a lot.

Cora

Tom Curtis

Posted 2007-07-06 12:49 PM (#5109 - in reply to #5084)

Crew

Posts: 52

Location: Fallbrook, California

Subject: RE: Rank & Rate

The use of the word "rank" for Navy enlisted personnel is incorrect, as the word "rank" is used to indicate paygrade for officers. The enlisted term for paygrade is "rate". So, for enlisted personnel, their rate is their paygrade, and their "rating" indicates their occupational specialty. The rating badge is a combination of rate (pay grade as indicated by the chevrons) and rating (occupational specialty as indicated by the symbol just above the chevrons).

SOB490

Posted 2007-07-07 6:09 PM (#5141 - in reply to #5109)

Old Salt

Posts: 489

Location: San Freakcisco CA area

Subject: RE: Rank & Rate

Tom Curtis - 2007-07-06 10:49 AM

The use of the word "rank" for Navy enlisted personnel is incorrect

Oh, I don't know about that -- the years I spent bunking in the After Battery and After Torpedo Room proved to me that we raghats could be damn rank!

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