Michelson's Navy Detachment

About 20 to 25 US Navy sailors comprised Oceanographic Detachment Three (OCDET3). The group’s commanding officer (CO) was a lieutenant commander. Reporting to him was the executive officer (XO), a junior officer. Both were from the navy reserve. A third officer, usually an ensign, served as electronics maintenance officer (EMO). Eligible enlisted men with good technical skills were sometimes commissioned as electronics officers. Officers promoted from enlisted ranks are called "mustangs". I don’t know why such a small group of navy men required three officers to run it. Perhaps some matters required multiple signatures.

Most enlisted men were technical types, electronics technicians (ET), interior comm electricians (IC) and sonarmen (SO). They were aboard to maintain the electronics that supported the survey mission. A yeoman (YN), hospital corpsman (HM), photographer (PH), a storekeeper (SK) and one or two quartermasters (QM) filled out the navy crew. All had recently completed training for the mission or had years of experience in their fields. Most were first, second or third class petty officers along with one or two chief petty officers.

Navy men aboard Michelson were treated as passengers, having nothing to do with operating the ship. That was the job of the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) merchant mariners.