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Maritime-Related Youth Organizations |
The U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps is a Congressionally-chartered non-profit youth organization, established by the Navy League of the United
States in 1958. It is operated, with the support of the Navy and other sea services, "to create a favorable image of the Navy on the part of American youth."
The group conducts training and orientation programs to develop an interest in seamanship, inculcate strong values, and expose young people to the
variety of maritime-related career paths. Two cadet programs, differentiated by age, are conducted under the auspices of the USNSCC.
The Naval Sea Cadet Corps proper is for young people ages 13 to 17. Local NSCC units are named according to the focus of their training
programs--those focusing on surface seamanship are called "divisions," those focusing on aviation "squadrons," and those on construction
"battalions." Each unit carries a dark blue flag with a device in yellow showing an eagle perched on a horizontal anchor, with the name of
the corps in an arc of yellow letters along the top and the name of the unit along the bottom. (A slightly different pattern of eagle was
formerly used and can still be seen on some units' flags.)
Children between 11 and 13 may join the junior cadet program, called the Navy League Cadet
Corps. The basic local NLCC unit is the "training ship." The flag carried by an NLCC unit has the emblem of the Navy League on the center
in white, with the name of the corps in an arc of white letters along the top and the name of the "ship" at the bottom.
The Sea Scouts, established in 1912, are the nautically-oriented component of the Venturing program
offered by the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) for young
men and women ages 14 through 21. The basic Sea Scout unit is the "ship," which is sponsored by a local community organization such as a civic club, church,
parent-teacher organization, or business or labor group. Each ship has a number and may also adopt a name. The ship flag is a horizontal bi-color, red over blue,
with the Sea Scout badge in the center, the ship number at the top, and its geographic location at the bottom, all in white. The name of the sponsoring
organization and sometimes the parent BSA council are sometimes included as well. There is also a system of flags for upper-rank adult leaders of the
organization, taking the same basic form but with different inscriptions and from one to four white stars surrounding the badge, depending on rank.
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