The Navy Supply Corps is the United States Navy staff corps concerned with supply, logistics, combat support, readiness, contracting, and fiscal matters.

Duties

Commissioned officers An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent context ...

in the Supply Corps practice a variety of disciplines, including supply management, expeditionary logistics, inventory control, disbursement, financial management, contracting, information systems, operations analysis, material and operational logistics, fuels management, food service, and physical distribution. Supply Corps officers are widely distributed throughout the Navy and Department of Defense; they are typically billeted to an operational command (sub, ship, EODMU, Seal Team, NMCB/ACB, etc) or shore activity's supply department, or to a supply unit or command, such as Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Groups (NAVELSG), Fleet Logistics Centers (FLCs) or Navy Special Warfare (SPECWAR) Logistics Groups which support the

United States Navy SEALs The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting s ...

. Ratings that compose the U.S. Navy enlisted Supply community are: *

Logistics Specialist The logistics specialist (LS) is a US Navy enlisted rating that was created on 1 October, 2009 by the merger of the storekeeper (SK) and postal clerk (PC) ratings. It also included the previous functions of the former aviation storekeeper (AK) ...

(LS) – assist in managing inventories and ordering of parts and supplies, financial management, contracting, and mail * Culinary Specialist (CS) – manage and execute all food-service operations * Retail Services Specialist (RS) – assist in managing shipboard retail and service activities * Personnel specialist (PS) - manage disbursing and pay

History

Pursers

The Supply Corps emerged from the traditions of ashore naval logistics and the shipboard position of

Purser A purser is the person on a ship principally responsible for the handling of money on board. On modern merchant ships, the purser is the officer responsible for all administration (including the ship's cargo and passenger manifests) and supply. ...

, which had been in use with the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

since the 14th Century. The ship's Purser was primarily responsible for the handling of money and the procurement and keeping of stores and supplies. The Supply Corps considers as its birthday 23 February 1795, when the nation's first Purveyor of Public Supplies, Tench Francis Jr., was appointed by President

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

. American Pursers served with distinction from the earliest days; Samuel Hambleton was a purser serving on

Oliver Hazard Perry Oliver Hazard Perry (August 23, 1785 – August 23, 1819) was an American naval commander, born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. The best-known and most prominent member of the Perry family naval dynasty, he was the son of Sarah Wallace A ...

's flagship, the USS Lawrence, during the

Battle of Lake Erie The Battle of Lake Erie, sometimes called the Battle of Put-in-Bay, was fought on 10 September 1813, on Lake Erie off the shore of Ohio during the War of 1812. Nine vessels of the United States Navy defeated and captured six vessels of the Briti ...

, when he volunteered to work a gun and aided in the Americans' eventual victory. Hambleton was severely wounded by a cannonball that fell onto him from the rigging of the ship. Unlike their line counterparts, pursers originally did not hold

rank Rank is the relative position, value, worth, complexity, power, importance, authority, level, etc. of a person or object within a ranking, such as: Level or position in a hierarchical organization * Academic rank * Diplomatic rank * Hierarchy * ...

. An 1854 Act of Congress legalized the relative rank conferred upon pursers by General Order of 27 May 1847. Pursers with more than twelve years' service ranked with commanders and those with less than twelve years ranked with lieutenants.

Pay Corps

In 1860, the name of the position of Purser was changed to "Paymaster". Ashore naval logistics, which had been the purview of civilians, were transferred to Paymasters throughout the 1860s.

Supply Corps

By Act of 11 July 1919 the designation of the Pay Corps was changed to Supply Corps. Recent developments have mirrored those in the private sector logistics, with an increasing scientific and quantitative emphasis and reliance on networked computing power.

Traditions

The Oakleaf

Originally, staff officers were distinguished from line officers only by the details of their uniforms, such as number of buttons on lapels, cuffs and pockets, epaulets, color, cut of coat, or amount of gold lace. Uniform regulations issued 1 May 1830 specified that a Purser should have, in addition to the live oak leaf and acorn (which appeared on the collars of all officers in varying abundance) a

cornucopia In classical antiquity, the cornucopia (), from Latin ''cornu'' (horn) and ''copia'' (abundance), also called the horn of plenty, was a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce, flowers ...

embroidered on the collar of his full dress coat. In 1841 the distinguishing mark on the Purser's collar was changed to a 4" row of gold embroidered oak leaves and acorns. A modification of the uniform regulations, dated 27 May 1847, provided gold epaulets for the Purser on which was a solid

crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...

with the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

letters "P.D." in silver within the crescent. In September 1852 the letters "P.D." were abolished. By General Order of 23 August 1856, Pursers were required to wear the uniform of their relative rank with the exception of the lace on the pantaloons; their corps device on epaulets, shoulder straps and cap remaining the same. As late as 1862 uniform regulations did not distinguish among the different staff corps. In January 1864 the various corps were again assigned distinguishing marks, with the Pay Corps insignia being a silver oak sprig worn on the shoulder straps and in the wreath of the cap. In regulations of 1905, while the insignia of the Pay Corps remained "a silver oak sprig", the pattern was a little different. Instead of the three leaves and two acorns standing out separately from the stem as heretofore, the three leaves and three acorns (one acorn having been added) were brought together at the stem of the sprig inscribed in a rectangle. The last significant change to the Supply Corps insignia came in 1919; the leaf retained its shape, but was to be embroidered in gold instead of silver.

Ready for Sea

The official motto of the Supply Corps is "Ready for Sea" – reflecting the Supply Corps' longstanding role in sustaining warfighting. This motto derives from the traditional report from each Department Head of a ship to the Captain prior to an underway: the traditional form is ''"Good Morning, Captain, The Supply Department is ready for sea in all respects."''

Pork Chop

Supply Corps officers are often called "Pork Chop" within the wardroom, a reference to the Supply Corps oak leaf insignia's superficial resemblance to a pork chop. Supply Corps officers assigned to submarine duty are known simply as "Chop" for the same reason. Supply Corps officers are sometimes colloquially called "SuppO," although this term is technically reserved for the Department Head, who is nearly always the senior Supply Corps officer at a command. On small ships where two Supply Corps officers are posted, the junior officer ("ASuppO) is often called "Lamb Chop".

Career progression

Navy Supply Corps School in the 2021 Bristol Fourth of July Parade

New Supply Corps junior officers attend the Navy Supply Corps School (NSCS) in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...

. Current Navy policy dictates that Supply Officers complete two operational tours and obtain a warfare pin for consideration for Lieutenant Commander (O-4) boards. Supply Corps officers are eligible for command of supply units (e.g. a Supply Corps officer is always in command of Naval Cargo Handling Battalions). In addition to shipboard billets, Supply Corps officers also serve in forward deployed land-based units (e.g. with Construction Battalions working alongside

Civil Engineer Corps The Civil Engineer Corps (CEC) is a staff corps of the United States Navy. CEC officers are professional engineers and architects, acquisitions specialists, and Seabee Combat Warfare Officers who qualify within Seabee units. They are responsibl ...

officers and with the Marine Corps). Three stars (Vice-Admiral) is the highest rank a Supply Corps officer can attain. Twenty Supply Corps Officers have advanced to that rank: William J. Carter, E. G. Morsell, Edwin Dorsey Foster, Charles W. Fox, Murrey L. Royar, A. A. Antrim, Stephen R. Edson, Robert F. Batchelder, Joseph M. Lyle, Kenneth R. Wheeler, George E. Moore II, Vincent A. Lascara, Eugene A. Grinstead, Edward "Fast Eddie" M. Straw, Keith W. Lippert, Justin D. McCarthy, Alan S. Thompson, Mark Harnitchek, William "Andy" Brown, and Michelle C. Skubic.

Notable Supply Corps servicemembers

John Bello John Joseph Bello (born March 30, 1946, in New Britain, Connecticut) is an American entrepreneur best known for creating and building the SoBe brand of New Age beverages. Early life Bello grew up in Plainville, Connecticut, the son of the late G ...

– founder and CEO SoBe Beverages; President, National Football League Properties 1986–93 *

Norman Cahners Norman Lee Cahners (1914–1986) was a major American publisher and philanthropist. The Cahners Publishing Company, which he founded in 1960, had grown into the largest U.S. publisher of trade or business magazines at the time of Cahner's death, th ...

– business publisher and inventor of the four-way pallet * Eddie Carlson; CEO,

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

* John Whitehead; Chairman, Goldman Sachs * Benjamin Edwards – President, Chairman, CEO, A.G. Edwards, Inc. *

Roger Enrico Roger Anthony Enrico (November 11, 1944 – June 1, 2016) was an American businessman who is best known for his lengthy service as chief executive officer of PepsiCo. Early life Enrico was born on November 11, 1944, to Italian immigrants in the ...

– CEO, PepsiCo *

A.G. Lafley Alan George "A. G." Lafley (born June 13, 1947) is an American businessman who led consumer goods maker Procter & Gamble (P&G) for two separate stints, from 2000 to 2010 and again from 2013 to 2015, during which he served as chairman, president ...

– CEO,

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer he ...

Bruce Laingen Lowell Bruce Laingen (August 6, 1922 – July 15, 2019) was an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Malta from 1977 to 1979. Laingen is best known for having been the most senior American official held hostage during th ...

– U.S. Ambassador to Malta * Melvin R. Laird – Secretary of Defense, 1969–1973 *

Leonard Lauder Leonard Alan Lauder (born March 19, 1933) is an American billionaire, philanthropist, art collector. He and his brother, Ronald Lauder, are the sole heirs to the Estée Lauder Companies cosmetics fortune, founded by their parents, Estée Lauder ...

– CEO, Estée Lauder *

Bill Marriott John Willard "Bill" Marriott Jr. (born March 25, 1932) is an American billionaire businessman who is the executive chairman of Marriott International, of which he owns 11.28%. Early life and education Marriott was born in Washington, D.C., ...

– CEO,

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* James J. Mulva; former Chairman, President, CEO of ConocoPhillips *

Regis Philbin Regis Francis Xavier Philbin (; August 25, 1931 – July 25, 2020)Archived aGhostarchiveand thWayback Machine was an American television presenter, talk show host, game show host, comedian, actor, and singer. Once called "the hardest working ma ...

– television personality *John N. Raudabaugh - Member, U.S. National Labor Relations Board, 1990-1993 *

Roger Staubach Roger Thomas Staubach (, -; , -; born February 5, 1942), nicknamed "Roger the Dodger", "Captain America", and "Captain Comeback", is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for ...

– NFL quarterback

References

External links

Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) official website

Navy Supply Corps Foundation
{{Authority control

Supply Supply may refer to: *The amount of a resource that is available **Supply (economics), the amount of a product which is available to customers **Materiel, the goods and equipment for a military unit to fulfill its mission *Supply, as in confidenc ...

Military logistics units and formations of the United States Navy