Navy Rank Shoulder Boards
of the Soviet Superpower

(1960-1978)

 

 

 
The establishment of warrant officer ranks came about in the early 1970's when the Soviet military faced a chronic shortage of senior enlisted personnel.  Reenlistment rates during this period averaged only ten percent.  In an effort to reverse this trend, the Soviet navy reintroduced the warrant officer ranks.  In the navy these were known as michman, while in the subordinate services they followed ground force tradition and called them praporchiks.  These reforms improved the status of senior enlisted men who chose to remain with the service.  Those who were selected as warrant officers were required to serve an additional five years, two of which would be in the form of advanced technical training.

Warrant officers were also seen as being an interface between the commissioned officers and enlisted men.  They possessed greater responsibilities due to their greater experience, but were also allowed to relieve commissioned officers of their duties, or even become commissioned officers after a time.

Featured in this section are additional shoulder rank boards worn by the Soviet fleet and its subordinate services of naval infantry, coastal artillery, and naval aviation.  The boards on this page reflect the ranks from seaman to senior warrant officer.  Commissioned officer ranks are listed in the previous section.

Back to Insignia Index for
The Soviet Superpower

 

Earlier Period Navy
Shoulder Boards

1958 Pattern

1969 Pattern

Later Period Navy
Shoulder Boards
Boards for Greatcoat/Tunic
 (4-side)
  • General Grade Officer
  • Senior Officer
  • Junior Officer
     

Shirt Sleeve Boards (6-sided)

  • General Grade Officer
  • Senior Officers
  • Junior Officers


Enlisted Boards

  • Enlisted Sailor Boards
     

Enlisted "Short" Boards

  • Enlisted Sailor Short Boards

 

Boards for Greatcoat/Tunic
 (4-side)


Shirt Sleeve Boards (6-sided)

Boards for Greatcoat/Tunic
(4-side)

 

Shirt Sleeve Boards
(6-sided)



Enlisted Boards


Enlisted "Short" Boards

 

 

 

  

 

Shoulder Boards for Greatcoat and Tunic (Four sided)

This section describes the common four-sided shoulder boards worn by warrant officers of the fleet, naval aviation, the naval infantry, and the coastal artillery.  These boards were designed to be sewn directly onto the shoulders the tunics and jackets.

As with naval commissioned officer shoulder boards, the fleet versions originally came in only parade and black service variations, but a summer service version was established 2 July 1973 by Order of the Ministry of Defense #144.  No parade warrant officer boards were ever established.  The every day boards of the subordinate services differed from the fleet winter boards only in their piping, which was either blue or red.

 

Fleet

Naval Aviation Naval Infantry / Coastal Artillery
Winter Service Summer Service Service Service

 Warrant Officer

Starshii Michman / Starshii Praporchik

Coming Soon!
Coming Soon!
Michman / Praporchik

Coming Soon!

  

Warrant Officer Shoulder Boards for Shirt (Six-sided)

The shoulder boards in this section were designed to be slipped through loops on the shoulders and secured by a 14mm button featuring an anchor that was sewn through to the tunic.  Most were worn with the shirtsleeve uniforms, but there were exceptions that paralleled the commissioned officer uniform regulations.  It should be noted that all shoulder boards come in various lengths in order to accommodate soldiers of different sizes, the differences in length in the images below reflect this fact.

The black fleet boards were not worn with the shirt, but rather with the Summer Everyday/Out of Formation and Summer No. 3 Out of Formation uniforms.  They were the equivalent of the Naval Aviation and Naval Infantry service boards which followed the same regulations.  Gold boards were used by all naval services when wearing the yellow shirtsleeve uniforms.

White fleet boards were established on 2 July 1973 by Order of the Ministry of Defense #144 and were worn with all white shirts and white naval jackets.  They are identical to the army and air force white warrant officer boards adopted in the 1980's.

 

Fleet

Naval Aviation Naval Infantry / Coastal Artillery
Gold Winter Service Summer Service Service Service

 Warrant Officer

Starshii Michman / Starshii Praporchik

Coming Soon!

Coming Soon!
Coming Soon!
Michman / Praporchik Coming Soon!

Coming Soon!

Coming Soon!

 

 

Enlisted Fleet Boards (1969-1980)

The shoulder rank boards of conscript sailors and enlisted extended service personnel of the Soviet naval services are detailed here.  These boards continued the tradition of designating the fleet to which the sailor was assigned.  This was accomplished by simple two letter abbreviations marked in yellow.

The design of these letters often differed due to manufacturer variations, some even look as if they were applied with stencils at the unit level.  Rank stripes (also in yellow) were added above the letters as the sailor rose in rank. 

General Fleet Board Baltic Fleet Northern Fleet Black Sea Fleet Pacific Fleet

Basic 4-Sided Boards

Coming Soon! Coming Soon! Coming Soon! Coming Soon! Coming Soon!

6-Sided Boards

Coming Soon! Coming Soon! Coming Soon! Coming Soon! Coming Soon!
'Short' Boards
Coming Soon! Coming Soon! Coming Soon! Coming Soon! Coming Soon!

 

 

1969 Branch of Service Colors

The enlisted shoulder boards introduced in 1969 continued the existing naval traditions forward.  Sailors in the fleet continued to use all black shoulder rank boards with yellow stripes and writing, the naval infantry used black rank boards with red piping, while those in naval aviation simply used light blue boards with yellow markings.  Officer cadets used fleet boards with white piping, but did not constitute a separate service.  Examples of these boards are shown below.

Fleet
(Black)
Naval Infantry/Coastal Artillery
(Black w/ Red Piping)
Naval Aviation
(Light Blue)
Coming Soon! Coming Soon! Coming Soon!

 

 

  

Enlisted Rank Boards (4-sided)

In this section the rank boards of conscript sailors and enlisted extended service personnel of the Soviet naval services.  These boards continue the Soviet tradition of designating each branch by different colors.  Fleet services use black boards, naval aviation use light blue, while the naval infantry use black with red piping.

Prior to 1980 the fleet boards of soldiers and sailors were marked with yellow two letter abbreviations of the fleet from which the sailor served.  The design of the letters often differed due to manufacturer variations, some even look as if they were applied with stencils at the unit level.  Rank stripes (also in yellow) were added above the letters as the soldier rose in rank.

Rank

Fleet

Naval Aviation Naval Infantry / Coastal Artillery

Senior Ship's Petty Officer / Starshina

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Senior Petty Officer / Senior Sergeant

Coming Soon! Coming Soon!

Petty Officer / Sergeant

Coming Soon! Coming Soon!

Junior Petty Officer / Junior Sergeant

Coming Soon! Coming Soon!

Junior Petty Officer 2nd Class / Corporal

Coming Soon! Coming Soon!

Seaman / Soldier

Coming Soon!

 

 

Enlisted "Short" Rank Boards

These rank boards were worn with the enlisted No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No.4 uniforms as well as the enlisted work uniform.  As with all naval boards, the color of the differed depending on the branch of the navy that the sailor served in and the time of year.  Black and white were used by fleet personnel, light blue were used by naval aviation, and black with red piping were used by the naval infantry.  Black with white piping was only used by officer cadets in conjunction with the gold anchor insignia.

Those with ranks above that of conscript sailor would have yellow rank stripes across the board in place of the Cyrillic letter abbreviations.  The naval infantry and navy Kursant boards are noteworthy for the colored borders around them.  The Kursant board below is for an apprentice seaman cadet.  Other Kursant ratings would also have yellow rank stripes to denote their rank at the time of their being selected as a cadet.
   

Navy (Summer) Navy (Winter) Naval Aviation

Naval Infantry

Kursant

 

Works cited

<1> Voennaya Odezhda Voorukennik Sil CCCP i Rossii (1917-1999- godi), Redkaya Kniga, 1999. Print
<2>  Webster, David and Chris Nelson. Uniforms of the Soviet Union 1918-1945. p.58. Atgen, PA. Schiffer Publishing Ltd. 1998. Print.