Collecting WWII submarine-qualified jumpers by rating: Relative Scarcity

[Josh B.]

All,

 

Ever wondered how scarce a submarine-qualified, WWII-era enlisted man's uniform is by rating? Since I took the time to look, I figured I might as well share what I've found.

 

Using the USS Dentuda muster roll dated 3/1/44 as a representative example of a submarine on a mid-late war patrol, here's the breakdown from among 70 total enlisted aboard: (yes, other subs/ patrols won't give identical numbers, but the trends will be similar):

 

Radio (4 total)

1 CRM, 2 RM2/c, 1 RT2/c

 

Electrician (11 total)

1 CEM, 2 EM1/c, 2 EM2/c, rest EM3/c

 

Quartermaster (3 total)

3 QM3/c

 

Torpedo (11 total)

1 CTM, 1 TM1/c, 4 TM2/c, rest TM3/c

 

Gunner (2 total)

2 GM3/c

 

Motor Machinists (19 total)

3 CMoMM, 6 MoMM1/c, 7 MoMM2/c, rest MoMM3/c

 

Fire Control (1 total)

FCS3/c

 

Commissary (4 total, 2 Officer service, 2 enlisted service)

1 StM1/c

1 CK2/c

2 SC2/c

 

Sound (2 total)

CSM, SM2/c

 

Pharmacist (1 total)

CPhM

 

Yeoman (1 total)

Y3/c

 

[RustyCanteen]

When you get down to it, a submarine (especially in those days) was literally just propulsion and weapons. When you consider that the subs relied on a large bank of batteries in addition to that, it makes sense for the main compliment to consist of people who worked in those three ratings; MM/MoMM/EM/TM.

 

Now the bigger surface vessels, could really have a lot of MM/MoMM/EM/GM aboard, especially in the earlier years before they switched to oil fired boilers and you had a ton of non rated Firemen, etc.

[Josh B.]

Whoops Russ, your comment reminded me to add in all of the non-rated guys into the headcount. Glad you mentioned it, my apologies. For this patrol, unrated group:

 

Unrated (striking not noted in this particular roll, 11 total):

 

7 F1/c

3 S1/c

1 S2/c