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Background, Description, and
Symbolism of the U.S. Navy Seal shown of the Navy Plaque
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 |
