Officer Quarters

Cartoon portrays a sailor requesting permission to remove

his finger from a hole in a sunken ship, highlighting the

struggles sailors had with the chain of command.

Cartoon of maneuvering room attache

whipping an unseen enlisted man,

revealing the abuse of power that

the enlisted men felt they suffered

at the hands of their officers.

Cartoon depicts a crewmember trying to put a voodoo curse on his commanding officer,

underscoring the crew's attempt to relieve pressure from their officers by imagining revenge.

The divide between enlisted sailors and officers stemming from the hierarchy of the Navy was a major theme throughout the cartoons. These types of cartoons would often focus on the absurdity of the hierarchical rules and on the officers being malicious and cruel.

The sailors during the Cold War were quick to point out the absurdity in the rules of the chain of command, satirizing the officers’ prerogative to both give and rescind orders as well as the enlisted sailors’ duty to follow them no matter how illogical. In addition the cartoons reveal deeper animosity between the crew and the officers, implying an us versus them mentality that would help build a collaborative culture amongst sailors.