NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps

The NOAA Corps is the smallest of the eight uniformed services of the United States government. It has over 300 commissioned officers, but no enlisted or warrant officer personnel. The NOAA Corps today employs professionals trained in engineering, earth sciences, oceanography, meteorology, fisheries science, and other related disciplines. NOAA Corps officers operate NOAA ships, fly NOAA aircraft, manage research projects, conduct diving operations, and serve in staff positions throughout NOAA, as well as in positions in the United States Merchant Marine, the United States Department of Defense, the United States Coast Guard, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the United States Department of State. Like its predecessors, the Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps and the ESSA Corps, the NOAA Corps provides a source of technically skilled officers which can be incorporated into the United States Armed Forces in times of war, and in peacetime supports defense requirements in addition to its non-military scientific projects. ==History==

Early history The NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps traces its roots to the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, the oldest scientific agency of the federal government. The Coast and Geodetic Survey was founded as the United States Survey of the Coast under President Thomas Jefferson in 1807 and renamed the United States Coast Survey in 1836. Until the American Civil War (1861–1865), the Coast Survey was staffed by civilian personnel working with United States Army and United States Navy officers. During the American Civil War, Army officers were withdrawn from Coast Survey duty, never to return, while all but two Navy officers also were withdrawn from Coast Survey service for the duration of the war. Since most men of the Survey had Union sympathies, most stayed on with the Survey rather than resigning to serve the Confederate States of America; their work shifted in emphasis to support of the United States Navy and Union Army, and these Coast Surveyors are the professional ancestors of today's NOAA Corps. Those Coast Surveyors supporting the Union Army were given assimilated military rank while attached to a specific command, but those supporting the U.S. Navy operated as civilians and ran the risk of being executed as spies if captured by the Confederates while working in support of Union forces. After the war, U.S. Navy officers returned to duty with the Coast Survey, which was given authority over geodetic activities in the interior of the United States in 1871 and was subsequently renamed the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1878. With the outbreak of the Spanish–American War in April 1898, the U.S. Navy again withdrew all of its officers from Coast and Geodetic Survey assignments. They returned after the war ended in August 1898, but the system of U.S. Navy officers and men crewing the Surveys ships that had prevailed for most of the 19th century came to an end when the appropriation law approved on June 6, 1900, provided for "all necessary employees to man and equip the vessels," instead of U.S. Navy personnel. The law took effect on July 1, 1900; at that point, all U.S. Navy personnel assigned to the Surveys ships remained aboard until the first call at each ships home port, where they transferred off, with the Survey reimbursing the Navy for their pay accrued after July 1, 1900. From July 1900, the Coast and Geodetic Survey continued as an entirely civilian-run organization until after the United States entered World War I in April 1917. control of the corps was transferred from the Coast and Geodetic Survey to ESSA itself, and accordingly, the corps was redesignated the Environmental Science Services Administration Corps, known informally as the ESSA Corps. The ESSA Corps retained the responsibility of providing commissioned officers to operate Coast and Geodetic Survey ships and of providing a set of officers with technical skills in surveying for incorporation into the U.S. armed forces during wartime. Following the establishment of the ESSA, Rear Admiral H. Arnold Karo was promoted to vice admiral to help lead the agency. He served as the first Deputy Administrator of ESSA and was the first vice admiral, and at the time the highest-ranking officer, in the combined history of the Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps and ESSA Corps. Rear Admiral James C. Tison Jr. was the first director of the ESSA Corps. NOAA Corps The ESSA was replaced by the new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on October 3, 1970. As a result, the ESSA Corps was redesignated the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps, known informally as the NOAA Corps. Rear Admiral Harley D. Nygren was appointed as the first director of the new NOAA Corps. In 1972, the NOAA Corps became the first uniformed service of the United States to recruit women on the same basis as men, and in that year it commissioned Ensign Pamela Chelgren, making her the first female commissioned officer. In 1977, Chelgren became operations officer aboard the NOAA research ship , making her third-in-command and giving her the highest shipboard posting ever achieved by a woman in the Uniformed Services of the United States up to that time. On 2 January 2014, Michael S. Devany was promoted to vice admiral upon assuming duties as the deputy under secretary for operations at NOAA, becoming only the second vice admiral in the combined history of the Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps, ESSA Corps, and NOAA Corps, and the first since the promotion of Vice Admiral H. Arnold Karo in 1965. ==Director==

Ranks and insignia The NOAA Corps uses the same naval commissioned officer ranks as the United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. While the grade of admiral has been established as a rank in the NOAA Corps, the rank has not been authorized for use by the United States Congress. Current NOAA Corps ranks rise from ensign to vice admiral, at the United States Coast Guard Officer Candidate School at the United States Coast Guard Academy before entering active duty. NOAA Corps officers receive the same pay as other members of the U.S. uniformed services. They cannot hold a dual commission with another U.S. uniformed service, but inter-service transfers sometimes are permitted from other services via . Unlike their United States Armed Forces counterparts, NOAA Corps officers do not require their rank appointments and promotions to be confirmed by the United States Senate, and only require approval from the president. Rank flags NOAA Corps flag officers are authorized the use of rank flags. Militarization NOAA Corps officers can be militarized by the President of the United States under the provisions of , which states: ==Uniforms==

For formal service uniforms, the NOAA Corps wears the same Service Dress Blues and Service Dress Whites as the U.S. Navy, but with NOAA Corps insignia in place of U.S. Navy insignia. For daily work uniforms, the NOAA Corps wears the same Operational Dress Uniform (ODU) as the U.S. Coast Guard, but with NOAA Corps insignia in place of U.S. Coast Guard insignia. File:NOAA Corps Combination Cap device.png|NOAA Corps Combination Cap Device File:NOAA Corps Device.png|NOAA Corps Device File:ODU2.JPG|An ODU uniform ball cap, with lieutenant commander rank insignia File:Botc112 group.jpg|NOAA Corps officers wearing service dress blues ==Awards and decoration==

Although the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and ESSA had their own flags, neither the Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps nor the ESSA Corps did. The NOAA Corps adopted its flag on 7 March 2002, the last of the then-seven uniformed services of the United States to have its own distinctive flag. The flag has a navy blue background. ==Official song==

In 1988, the NOAA Corps adopted a march, "Forward with NOAA", as its first official service song. In 2017 it adopted a sea chanty, "Into the Oceans and the Air", as its new official service song. ==See also==