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Background,
Description, and Symbolism of the U.S. Navy Seal
The first American
Navy seal was adopted by the Continental Congress on 4 May 1780 for
the Board of Admiralty, progenitor of the Navy Department. This seal
was affixed to naval officer commissions, and was as follows:
"the arms,
thirteen bars mutually supporting each other, alternate red and
white in a blue field, and surmounting an anchor proper. The crest a
ship under sail. The motto Sustentans et Sustentatum. The legend
U.S.A. Sigil. Naval."
The ship on the
seal wore a national ensign at the stern and a commission pennant
atop the mainmast. The Continental Navy of the American Revolution
went out of existence in 1785 with the sale of the last ship, USS
Alliance. When a separate Navy Department was founded in 1798, the
Board of Admiralty seal was no longer used. Naval officer
commissions from 1798 to 1849 carried a distinctly different seal
which contained the basic elements of the current official seal --
the sea, ship under sail, eagle and anchor.
The seal again
underwent change about 1850 as the design came even closer to that
which is in use today. Neither the 1798 nor the 1850 seal seems to
have had any specific authorization. The century following the
appearance of the 1850 design witnessed variations in the position
and shape of the eagle, ship and anchor. Sometimes land was shown on
the seal, and at other times only water. Likewise, the several Navy
Bureaus and Offices employed a variety of seal designs. For years
prior to 1957, when the present seal was adopted, military and
civilian officials within the Navy expressed the need for an
official seal of uniform design.
Naval records
reveal an interest in and awareness of the many variations which had
crept into the seal details. Concerted effort to arrive at a
redesigned standard seal for use by the Navy, afloat and ashore,
awaited the post-World War II period. Recommendations from
Secretaries of the Navy, heraldic experts, and historians resulted
in this final seal design approved by President Eisenhower, and
promulgated by Executive Order 10736 on 23 October 1957:
On a circular
background of fair sky and moderate sea with land in sinister base,
a three-masted square-rigged ship underway before a fair breeze with
after topsail furled, commission pennant atop the foremast, National
Ensign atop the main, and the commodore's flag atop the mizzen. In
front of the ship a Luce-type anchor inclined slightly bendwise with
the crown resting on the land and, in front of the shank and in back
of the dexter fluke, an American bald eagle rising to sinister
regarding to dexter, one foot on the ground, the other resting on
the anchor near the shank; all in proper colors. The whole within a
blue annulet bearing the inscrip tion "Department of the Navy" at
top, and "United States of America" at the bottom, separated on each
side by a mullet and within a rim in the form of a rope;
inscription, rope, mullet, and edges of annulet all gold.
Land in the
design would symbolize the Navy's supporting shore facilities as
well as the fleet's amphibious strike capabilities. Since the
wording "Navy Department," used on earlier seals, had generally come
to signify only the headquarters activities in Washington, the
inscription was changed to "Department of the Navy" in order to
embrace the Navy's total world-wide operations afloat, in the air,
and ashore.
Above Information Provided
by the Navy Historical Center |
