The men filling these chief billets were actuallyfirst and second class petty officers. The classifica-tion of these ratings can be seen in figure 7-5.A significant change to uniforms and ratingbadges occurred in 1886. The first class pettyofficer wore a double-breasted, sack-style jacket,while petty officers second class and belowretained the traditional jumper-style uniform. Thefirst class rating badge consisted of an eagle, threechevrons, and a specialty mark. The master-at-arms rating badge, however, consisted of an eagle,three chevrons, a specialty mark, and three arcsor rockers. This jacket along with the master-at-arms rating badge falsely led many people tobelieve this was a chief petty officer uniform.On 25 February 1893, President BenjaminHarrison issued an executive order outlining thepay scale for Navy enlisted personnel. Thisexecutive order was issued to the Navy as GeneralOrder Number 409 (fig. 7-6). This general orderdivided the pay scale into rates and for the firsttime listed CPOS. Both General Order Number409 and U.S. Navy Regulation Circular Number1 (fig. 7-7) listed chief petty officers as distinctFigure 7-7.-U.S. Navy Regulation Circular No. 1.7-13
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