OK - quick lesson needed left and right facing eagles PLS

[easterneagle87]

OK, give me the nickle tour on Left and Right facing eagles. I thought right facing eagles were pre-WW2. Yet the white CPO torpedo rating is stitched 1944 on the back. Thanks in advance for the info!

[MattS]

I know that applies to USN officer's cap badges...

[Justin B.]

There was one group of petty officers, the Seaman Branch, who wore their rating badge on the right side. Torpedoman's Mate was one of these. In 1941 the regs specified that the eagle always face forward, so badges for wear on the right have an eagle looking to its left, and vice versa for badges for the other side.

 

http://uniform-reference.net/insignia/usn/usn_ww2_enlisted.html

[easterneagle87]

Thanks!

[CTI1610]

In 1948, the Navy did away with right sleeve rates altogether. Since then, all rates have been worn on the left sleeve.

[David Minton]

To make things confusing there are some exceptions to this, along with manufacturing errors. I don't have my reference books in front of me, so please excuse if this is not 100% accurate.

 

While the Torpedoman rate falls under the Seaman Branch (and was right facing from 1941-48), the Torpedoman V (Aviation Torpedoman) was not, and used a left facing eagle. This makes it difficult to date this particular specialty mark.

 

There are also some fairly common manufacturer errors. I have a number of examples of right facing Aviation Boatswain's Mate ratings. My presumption is manufacturers learned of the new rating, and incorrectly assumed, since it was a type of Boatswain's Mate, it should be right facing as well.

[KurtA]

That khaki CPO rate with "I" (IBM Operator) is really nice. Not commonly found.

[easterneagle87]

Got to fund other prjects, so it's listed (both actually) over on that other site and pretty reasonable.