. NITED --~TATES .-TATES & COMMAND SUPPORT/AMpHIBIOUS FORCES/SEALTEAMS/FLEETS/FLOTILLAS/GROUPS MICHAEL L. ROBERTS / / Schiffer Military/Aviation History Atglen, PA FOREWORD I nsignias are the modern form of heraldry of the knights of old. In the armed services insignias serve as a form ofshorthand that iden tifies an individual's service, rank, authority, specialty and organi zation. The organizational insignia, from the plain to very involved de sign, expresses a pride in oneselfand his or her organization. From this pride springs self-discipline, the essence ofrespect for self, for service and for country. The first semi-official Navy organizational insignias began to ap pear in the fledging NavalAeronautical Organization in the early twen ties with the establishment ofthe Bureau ofAeronautics in 1921 and a year later the formation offighting, scouting, observation, seaplane pa trol and torpedo plane squadrons. By 1927, the now familiar High Hat, Felix the Cat and VF-2's Flying Chiefs squadron insignias began ap pearing onthe sides ofthe Navy's nimble, brightlycoloredbiplanefight Acknowledgements The following are honorably mentioned for giving me the encour ers. By thebeginning ofWorldWarII all Navy aviation squadrons, most agement neededfor thisproject: Naval and Reserve air stations, and even aircraftcarriers had distinctive . . . mSlgruas. DavidBernstein KeithMorey During the SecondWorld War aviation squadrons, surface ships and RobertBiondi J.L. PeteMorgan submarines, and shore establishment organizational insignias abound, WilliamCain DaveRobinson RobertDugger JamesTownley establishing a high esprit de corps within each individual in that unit. Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny and a host ofother charac Thepatchesdepicted inthisbookarefrom theauthor'spersonalcol lectionandarepresentedforhistoricalpurposesonly,and toserveas ters truly went to war with all branches of the armed services on the aguidefor historians, collectors, and designers. sides of tanks, planes and ships bridges. In fact in 1943, the Navy told This book is not intended to be the complete authority on the subject.Itdepictsover1150patchesfromWorldWarIItothepresent. its squadrons to knock off using Donald Duck so often for proposed The images on pages 6, the front coverand endsheets are offi . . . mSlgruas. cial U.S. Navy photographs. I remember all the displays of insignias in Life Magazine ads and collecting bottle caps and stickers from boxes of cereal during the war that had aviation insignias on them. We all knew what the insignias of BookDesignbyMichaelL.Roberts& RobertBiondi. the Flying Tigers, Eagle squadron, 94th Fighter and VF-31 squadrons Copyright© 1996byMichaelL.Roberts. LibraryofCongressCatalogNumber:96-67361 looked like, what kind of planes they flew and how they performed in All rightsreserved. Nopartofthiswork maybereproducedorusedinany formsorbyany means combat. When I grew up I was able turn my childhood dream into real graphic,electronicor mechanical, including photocopyingorinformation storageand retrieval sys ity when Ibecame aNavalAviator. Acquiring thatfirst patchinTraining tems- withoutwrittenpermissionfromthecopyrightholder. Squadron One and having it sewn on my flight jacket meant I had ar PrintedinChina. ISBN:0-7643-0068-7 rived and was truly a part ofthat unit. As my career progressed, so did Weareinterestedin hearingfromauthorswithbookideasonrelatedtopics. the number ofpatches on my flight jacket until I ran out ofroom. Each patch on my jacket, as well as those that adorn thejackets ofmy"fellow PublishedbySchifferPublishingLtd. NavalAviators, aircrew, andsquadron/shipmates haveaspecialmemory 77LowerValley Road Atglen, PA 19310 and, in many cases, a long history behind them. Pleasewl;teforafreecatalog. Thisbookmaybepurchasedfromthepublisher. My interest in insignias is historical and I was fortunate to be able to Pleaseinclude$2.95postage. Tryyourbookstorefirst. continue to gather information on Navy and Marine Corps aviation or- --------------------{0f-------------------- CONTENTS ganizations whileIwasinthe Navy. Frequenttrips toWashington, D.C., allowed me to spend considerable time at the NavalAirand Operational Histories offices where I collected as much information as I could on Activities 7 Navy/Marine squadrons. I have been lucky to be able to be in a position Bases 14 to share much of this information as insignia editor for THE HOOK Battalions/Regiments 16 magazine, the Tailhook Association's quarterly journal of carrier avia Centers : 23 tion. In this capacity I have produced the magazine's patch page, a fea Clubs 34 ture for 16 years, and answered all insignia inquiries. I quickly learned Commands 37 that it is next to impossible to identify every insignia because there are Commanders 40 so many, and many are unidentifiable, even with the help ofthe histori Communications 41 ans at theNavalAirHistory office where all Navy aviation insignias are Cruises 46 supposed to be officially approved. Depots 47 This book serves as a valuable guide for the insignia collector and Desert ShieldlDesert Storm 48 lovers of Navy patches in providing color pictures of past and present Divisions 50 active and Reserve Navy aviation squadrons, ships, aircraft and shore Facilities 52 organizations. Itwill help the serious collectors and those getting started Fields 61 to identify patches in their collections. Mike's collection ofNavy insig Fleets 62 nias is vast and I thank him for sharing his collectionwith all ofus. Flotillas 63 Forces 64 Doug Siegfried, CDR USN (Ret) Groups 71 Medical 81 THE HOOK Magazine Missiles 85 Insignia Editor Schools.· 87 Shipyards 92 Squadrons 94 Stations 108 Teams 126 Units 131 Miscellaneous 138 Index 149 Glossary 157 ---------------------{G)I------------------- CruiseMissileSupportActivity; U.S.AtlanticCommand FleetCombatDirectionSystemsSupportActivity;Dam Neck,VA FleetActivities;Sasebo,Japan FleetCombatDirectionSystemsSupportActivity;SanDiego,CA NavalActivities; United Kingdom HeadquartersSupportActivity;Taipei,Taiwan Naval ElectronicSystemsEngineeringActivity;St.Inigoes,MD NavalSecurityGroupActivity;Adak,AK NavalIntelligenceProcessingSystemSupportActivity ACTIVITIES ---------------------------10)1------------------------- NavalSecurityGroupActivity;Anchorage,AK NavalSecurityGroupActivity;Augsburg,Germany NavalSecurityGroupActivity; Guam NavalSecurityGroupActivity;HomesteadAFB NavalSecurityGroupActivity;Athens,Greece NavalSecurityGroupActivity;Hanza,Okinawa NavalSecurityGroupActivity;Augsburg, Germany NavalSecurityGroupActivity;Bremerhaven,Germany NavalSecurityGroupActivity;Kami,Japan NavalSecurityGroupActivity;Kamiseya,Japan NavalSecurityGroupActivity;Azores NavalSecurityGroupActivity;Kamiseya,Japan NavalSecurityGroupActivity;Edzell,Scotland NavalSecurityGroupActivity;Groton,CT NavalSecurityGroupActivity; Keflavik, Iceland NavalSecurity GroupActivity;Misawa,Japan NavalSecurityGroupActivity;GaletaIsland NavalSecurityGroupActivity;KeyWest,FL ACTIVITIES ACTIVITIES ---------------------------10)1------------------------- -----------------------lG)I------------------------ NavalSecurityGroupActivity; Naples, Italy NavalSecurityGroupActivity;Panama <IvaiSecu'rityGroupActivity;WinterHarbor, ME NavalSecurityGroupActivity Department;DiegoGarcia, B.I.O.T . NavalSecurityGroupActivity; NorthwestChesapeake,Virginia NavalSecurityGroupActivity;WinterHarbor, ME NavalSecurityGroupActivity;Philippines NavalSecurityGroupActivity; SanVetoDeiNormanni,Italy <IvaiSecurityGroupActivityDetachment;Atsugi,Japan NavalSecurityGroupActivity Detachment;Atsugi,Japan NavalSecurityGroupActivity Detachment;Atsugi,Japan NavalSecurityGroupActivity;SanVeto DeiNormanni,Italy NavalSecurityGroupActivity;SkaggsIsland,CA <IvaiSecurityGroupActivityDetachment;Bahrain,SaudiArabia NavalSecurityGroupActivityDetachment;SugarGrove,WV NavalSecurityGroupActivity Detachment;PyongTaek,Korea ACTIVITIES ACTIVITIES ~---------------------i0f---------------------- -----------------------1@f---------------------- NavalSecurityGroupActivityDetachment;Yokosuka,Japan NavalSupportActivity;DaNang,Vietnam avalSupportActivityDetachment; Gaeta,Italy NavyEuropeanOperationsSupportActivity; London,UK NavalSecurityGroupReserve311;Tulsa,OK <IvyPersonnelSupportActivity;SanFransisco,CA ShoreIntermediateMaintenanceActivity; LongBeach,CA NavalSupportActivity; Naples,Italy NavalSupportActivity;Philadelphia,PA NavyTacticalInteroperabilitySupportActivity;SandDiego,CA NavalSupportActivity;NewOrleans,LA ShoreIntermediateMaintenanceActivity;Philadelphia,PA ShoreIntermediateMaintenanceActivity;SanDiego,CA NavalSupportActivity;Seattle,WA NavalSupportActivity;SoudaBay,Crete NavalSupportActivity;SoudaBay,Crete ACTIVITIES ACTIVITIES ------------------------.,@}---------------------- ----------------------{@r--------------------- MotorTorpedoBoatBase9 MotorTorpedoBoatBase17;SamarIS. MotorTorpedoBoatBase21 avalBase;Rota,Spain Naval Base;Yokosuka,Japan Naval ReserveAdvanceSupplyBase MotorTorpedoBoatBase25 NavalAmphibiousBase;Coronado,CA NavalAmphibiousBase;Coronado,CA avalSubmarineBase;Bangor,ME NavalSubmarineBase;Groton,CT NavalSubmarineBase;KingsBay,GA NavalAmphibiousBase; LittleCreek,VA NavalBase;GuantanamoBay,Cuba NavalBase;GuantanamoBay,Cuba NavalSubmarineBase;NewLondon; Groton,CT NavalSubmarineBase;PearlHarbor,HI NavalSubmarineBase;SanDiego,CA BASES BASES -----------------------{@f----------------------- --------------------------1@I----------------------- NavalCargoHandlingandPortGroup NavalCargoHandlingBattalion1 NavalCargoHandlingBattalion4 Seabees Seabees NavalCargoHandlingBattalion6 NavalCargoHandlingBattalion320 NavalCargoHandlingBattalion407 Seabees Seabees Seabees NavalCargoHandlingBattalion522 NavalCargoHandlingBattalion602 Seabees Seabees;50thAnniversary 1942-1992 BATTALIONS/REGIMENTS BATTALIONS/REGIMENTS ------------------------10r-----~---------------- ---------------------------1§f-------------------------- -------'----------------------