Ranks and Rates of the US Navy
US Coast Guard ranks and rates are generally similar.
You have this under abbreviations, but it might be worth including here too since it includes quite a bit of information.
Additions
Re: Additions
Matteo wrote: ↑Wed Dec 23, 2020 8:43 pm This probably goes to Resources for nautical and military terminology... do we have a link to this article?
It seems interesting (found that CP stands for in 1896 US logs): https://news.usni.org/2014/12/03/brief- ... -navy-jobs
Re: Additions
Great find by studentforever: https://www.ourfamtree.org/category/ships.php 
This list a lot of crew members (not just officers) that served on some of the older US ships.
This list a lot of crew members (not just officers) that served on some of the older US ships.
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Chicago Al
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Sat Dec 24, 2022 10:37 pm
Re: Additions
I found that the lists of 'Register of Commissioned Officers...' as found at ibiblio, hathitrust, and elsewhere, were not that useful, as many, including for most years of the 19th C, were not linked and apparently not available online.
However, they ARE available, and linked through Ancestry.com. Obviously this requires a subscription, and unfortunately you can't just open a volume to browse, you have to search under a name. Once you've pulled up the volume though, you can manually (?) search through it.
For the years I was interested in, 1865-1873, what has been scanned are bound volumes that appear to aggregate 5 years each. So a 900+ page volume actually will have several indexes you have to locate and search for your target name, then backtrack to find the entries. The physical, scanned page numbers do not match the digital ones at all, so it's tedious...but potentially rewarding. Each year's listings are 'as of January' but there are also mid-year volumes with less detail; I'm not sure if that occurred every year.
Beware of errors even in this very official source. Some errata are noted in each volume, but just in delineating the career of Edward C. Thatcher, my collateral ancestor, I found one glaring mistake: prior to his 5 year term as an assistant surgeon (1867-73), he'd served in the same rank in the Civil War while still in med school, but in one edition of the register and copied later in Callaghan there's a listing for 'Henry C. Thatcher' with Edward's exact date of enlistment and discharge.
In one listing late in Edward's Navy career, he's listed as a 'Passed Assistant Surgeon,' which I am pretty sure in 19th c Navy terminology means that he had passed written and oral examinations and was eligible to be promoted, but was waiting on a spot in the surgeons' ranks to open up. This is distinct from 'passed over,' which is the opposite, and wouldn't be public information. I don't know if he was in fact ready for promotion; he seems to have become dissatisfied with the Navy, and left it abruptly in early 1873, departing for S America shortly thereafter.
Anyone feel free to correct me, most of my 'background' in naval doings is from obsessive reading of Patrick O'Brian novels years ago, for all love!
However, they ARE available, and linked through Ancestry.com. Obviously this requires a subscription, and unfortunately you can't just open a volume to browse, you have to search under a name. Once you've pulled up the volume though, you can manually (?) search through it.
For the years I was interested in, 1865-1873, what has been scanned are bound volumes that appear to aggregate 5 years each. So a 900+ page volume actually will have several indexes you have to locate and search for your target name, then backtrack to find the entries. The physical, scanned page numbers do not match the digital ones at all, so it's tedious...but potentially rewarding. Each year's listings are 'as of January' but there are also mid-year volumes with less detail; I'm not sure if that occurred every year.
Beware of errors even in this very official source. Some errata are noted in each volume, but just in delineating the career of Edward C. Thatcher, my collateral ancestor, I found one glaring mistake: prior to his 5 year term as an assistant surgeon (1867-73), he'd served in the same rank in the Civil War while still in med school, but in one edition of the register and copied later in Callaghan there's a listing for 'Henry C. Thatcher' with Edward's exact date of enlistment and discharge.
In one listing late in Edward's Navy career, he's listed as a 'Passed Assistant Surgeon,' which I am pretty sure in 19th c Navy terminology means that he had passed written and oral examinations and was eligible to be promoted, but was waiting on a spot in the surgeons' ranks to open up. This is distinct from 'passed over,' which is the opposite, and wouldn't be public information. I don't know if he was in fact ready for promotion; he seems to have become dissatisfied with the Navy, and left it abruptly in early 1873, departing for S America shortly thereafter.
Anyone feel free to correct me, most of my 'background' in naval doings is from obsessive reading of Patrick O'Brian novels years ago, for all love!
Last edited by Chicago Al on Fri Apr 07, 2023 2:57 am, edited 2 times in total.
Re: Additions
Thanks for the info!
Yes, that's the definition I know for passed in this context.
viewtopic.php?t=261#owpedia_p
We OWaholics have learned a whole new vocabulary
Yes, that's the definition I know for passed in this context.
viewtopic.php?t=261#owpedia_p
We OWaholics have learned a whole new vocabulary
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Chicago Al
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Sat Dec 24, 2022 10:37 pm
Re: Additions
Ha! Thanks, Randi! I had looked all over for confirmation about the definition of 'passed,' it was one of those things that I was quite sure of but felt I needed a source for. Yet no google search brought satisfaction, and I'm pretty good at search terms. Turns out it was here all along!
Re: Additions
The United States Navy Memorial
Search the log for a service member by name, or by station or ship.
https://navylog.navymemorial.org/search-navy-log
Search the log for a service member by name, or by station or ship.
https://navylog.navymemorial.org/search-navy-log
Re: Additions
Sounds promising, but when I tried a sailor from Lackawanna it didn't find him 
Re: Additions
For me it was quite the opposite. 
A Lieutenant-Commander not listed in the 1906 and 1907 Register of the Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the Navy of the United States, is listed here.
A Lieutenant-Commander not listed in the 1906 and 1907 Register of the Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the Navy of the United States, is listed here.