United States Navy Armed Guard

United States Navy Armed Guard units were established during World War II and headquartered in New Orleans. The purpose of the guard was to man the deck guns of merchant ships to provide a nominal defense against attack. This was to counter the constant danger presented by enemy submarines, surface raiders, fighter aircraft and bombers. There was a shortage of escort vessels to provide the merchant vessels with adequate protection. The NAG had three training centers, at Norfolk, Virginia; San Diego, California; and Gulfport, Mississippi. At the end of the war, there were 144,857 men serving in the Navy Armed Guard on 6,200 ships.

Unit Composition

The United States Navy Armed Guard (USNAG) were U.S. Navy gun crews consisting of Gunner's Mates, Coxswains and Boatswains, Radiomen, Signalmen, an occasional Pharmacist's Mate, and toward the end of the war a few radarmen serving at sea on merchant ships. Armed Guard crews served on Allied merchant marine ships in every theatre of the war. Typically the crew was led by a single commissioned officer, but earlier in the war chiefs and even petty officers had command.

Duty

The assignment as an Armed Guardsman was often dreaded because of the constant danger. Merchant ships were slow, unwieldy, and priority targets of submarines and planes. Furthermore, merchant ships were among the last to receive updated equipment. Early on in the war, some ships only had a few machine guns, so the crews painted telephone poles to imitate the barrels of larger guns. The most common armament mounted on merchant ships were the MK II 20mm Oerlikon autocannon and the 3"/50, 4"/50, and 5"/38 deck guns.

When practicable, the Navy Armed Guard aboard a merchant ship would provide cross-training to merchant crew members in the use of the guns in the event the Navy personnel were killed or injured. The Navy Armed Guardsmen would typically sail round trip on the same ship, occasionally they would get a different assignment upon reaching their destination depending on convoy schedules.

First Use in Convoy to Russia

The first merchant ship to make the eastbound convoy to North Russia (PQ-8 out of Iceland) with a Navy Armed Guard was the 3800-ton freighter SS Larranga. At the insistence of the ship's master, Captain Cameron Dudley Simmons, she was installed with a Navy Armed Guard consisting of Ensign H. A. Axtell, Jr. and eight enlisted men under his supervision. Ordnance placed under their charge on the SS Larranga was one 4-inch gun and eight .30-caliber machine guns. The Armed Guard crew of the SS Larranga has the distinction of being the first to fire on an enemy submarine from an armed merchant vessel.

Navy Armed Guard are shown during practice fire aboard the SS George Taylor, 22 November 1942.

Insignia of the United States Armed Guard.

Armed Guard crew manning a 20mm gun on board a transport.

In this bleak painting by American combat artist Mitchell Jamieson, members of a Naval Armed Guard contingent load and fire the forward deck gun aboard a merchant ship in pitching seas.

Navy Armed Guard Training Center.

During gunnery practice at sea in September 1943, Naval Armed Guardsmen learn the finer points of operating the 4-inch deck gun aboard a merchant ship. Virtually unknown outside the Navy itself, Armed Guardsmen provided some measure of defense against enemy attack.

Three Naval Armed Guardsmen, their non-regulation hair and beards prominent, pose for a photo while on leave.

On board the merchant ship SS O.M. Bernuth, members of the vessel’s Naval Armed Guard operate a 4-inch deck gun.

A combat-ready Naval Armed Guardsman is shown wearing his life vest and a radio headset used for communication between gun stations aboard his ship.

Loading 3-inch shells on the SS George Taylor while carrying troops of the 127th Infantry Regiment of the 32nd Infantry Division from Brisbane, Australia to Port Moresby, New Guinea, 19 November 1942.

Navy Armed Guard during practice fire aboard the SS George Taylor, 22 November 1942.

Navy Armed Guard crew take a refresher gunnery course at a DEMS gunnery school somewhere in England while their ship is in port. "There's the target!" says Sgt. G.W. Dunn of the British Royal Marines instructor in the use of anti-aircraft guns, 1 December 1943.

Navy Armed Guard crew take a refresher gunnery course at a DEMS gunnery school somewhere in England while their ship is in port. H. Morgan, S1C, finds plenty of kick in this twin .50 cal. gun. Sgt. D.W. Dunn, a Royal Marine instructor readies the gunner while J. Campbell, S1C, awaits his turn at the machine gun, 1 December 1943.

Navy Armed Guard crew take a refresher gunnery course at a DEMS gunnery school somewhere in England while their ship is in port. This gun, shooting steel balls under a spotlight at a moving target, illustrates the proper use of tracer bullets, 1 December 1943.

The Navy armed American merchantmen and placed Navy gun crews aboard them—the famous Armed Guard.