Question for the Sailors...
 

I just received from Charlotte, N.C. this photo of my Uncle Bill's grave marker.

I know nothing of his service except U.S. Navy during WW2, and am hoping the Navy info on the marker will tell me a little about his service.

Can ya'll help?

Thanks,

Steve / 82Rigger

I'll take a stab at this for you. SS: Submarine Service or SS ? Enlisted Submarine Warfare Specialist, ML: molder, 2: Second Class Petty Officer.
Could be the SS is misplaced, it normally follows the rate, such as
ML2 SS. Only speculation on my part.

ML, Molder, Equip and work in foundry. Make castings. Use molding tools. Operate oil furnaces.

A lot of "Rates" have been done away with over the years.
ML ? Molder (disestablished 01 October 1997)

ML or Ml - Molder

ML(SRC) - Molder (Ship Repair) (Cupola Tenders)

ML(SRF) - Molder (Ship Repair) (Foundryman)

ML(SRM) - Molder (Ship Repair) (Molder)

Well, I hope this helps out some. Any more questions and I'll see what answers I can dig up for you. Carry on.

Thanks, Sparrowhawk!

Appreciate the info!

So, I gather then that SSML2 is a combination of OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY and RATE (rank?).

Before I posted the pic I did a search on SSML2 and all I got was a lot of hits on OTHER peoples' grave markers with the same designation. No helpful info at all.

Thanks again!

Steve

Steve, The only other thoughts I can add is that during WW2 it was very important that American People were made to feel we as a country were doing something about the enemies "Wolf Packs." Thus the designation SS would become a very important tile give to those who served on our Nations Submarines.
So the grave marker may reflect the proper designation used during the WW2 period. Again this is just speculation on my part.
"So, I gather then that SSML2 is a combination of OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY and RATE (rank?)."
Sort of. The occupational specialty would be Molder as that was the job he performed. The rank is the 2 or second class Petty Officer, now more commonly know as an E-5. The SS denotes he was qualified to serve on Submarines.
The SS: Use of Submarine Designations
a. Submarine designations ?SS? or ?SU? shall be placed in parenthesis immediately after the member?s rate or rating abbreviation, e.g., MM2(SS), SA(SU). All service record pages and all correspondence pertaining to the member thereafter, until such time as the submarine designator may be revoked, shall include the appropriate designation. In addition, the outside of the enlisted service jacket shall be stamped ?Qualified in Submarines (SS, SG, or SQ)? as appropriate.

SS: denotes Submarines powered by diesel fuel.
SSN: Nuke powered
SSBN: Subs that carry Ballistic Missiles

It's a bit confuseing, I wish I could explain myself better.

Sparrowhawk,

Your explanation is fine. Any confusion is on my end of the stick, due to my unfamiliarity with Navy classification.

Don't quite understand what kind of work he would have done on a sub, but I'll visit some WW2 diesel boat sites and see what I can learn.

Thanks again!

Steve

Steve , In St Mary's GA they have a great Submarine Museum with a working Periscope :), if you want to chat with some old submariners they would probably be able to answer your questions and Kingsbay Naval Sub Base is located near there also. Ft Clinch State Park in Fernandina Beach,FL is a great site to watch the submarines come and go out to sea from the parapets of a 160 yr old fort :)

Thanks for the info, Jerry!

Maybe the museum has a website.

I'm running into something a little puzzling.

In searching the web for this Navy personnel classification SSML2 I'm getting hits on SURFACE vessels.

Sailors with this classification are showing up as crew members on WW2 era battleships, cruisers, destroyers, destroyer escorts, etc.

It's no big deal if I don't find out more about this, but I'm having fun learning about WW2 Navy stuff! :D

Steve, I just checked and here is their web site http://www.stmaryssubmuseum.com/

BTW their periscope optics were fixed last year they just haven't updated their web site to show it yet. But so far the web site has some good info.

Steve, I haven't found out any more information than what I've already posted. I have a bubble head (sub guy) doing some checking for me, hopefully he'll turn up some more answers..

Rigger - also have been checking. I found a site where another guy carried the same rate but it didn't define it. I sent him an email but he goes back to 45 and he may no longer be on a computer or even living? Will advise if I hear something.