As indicated on page xxvi of the new (25th) edition of The Bluejacket’s Manual (BJM), the Naval Institute has provided this website devoted to keeping the content of the book up to date and to provide supplementary materials that may be useful to readers.
Checking this site periodically will keep the information in your BJM current and accurate.
Readers are encouraged to submit their own proposed changes and/or supplementary information to BluejacketsManual@usni.org.
After verification, suggested modifications or corrections will be posted on this site. Please indicate in your email whether you prefer to have your name included on the posting or not.
Corrections and Changes
The following changes may or may not have been made to your Bluejacket’s Manual, depending upon which printing you have.[*]
Page 640
Earlier printings show Figure 16-A-33 captioned as a UH-1Y Venom. The photo is incorrect (shows an X-47B unmanned carrier based aircraft instead). Corrected printings have replaced the erroneous photo with this one, which is a Venom:
The original caption remains unchanged.
Page 548
Earlier printings of Tab 6-J Warfare and Qualification Insignia on page 548 erroneously shows the Surface Warfare Officer insignia as silver. It should be gold. Enlisted surface warfare devices are silver (with crossed cutlasses instead of swords). The corrected illustration appears below:
NOTE: Future reprints of the 25th edition will include the corrected illustration, so it is quite possible that your copy of the BJM will have the correct illustration. Only the first printing will have the incorrect version.
Supplemental Materials
Readers may find the first edition of The Bluejacket’s Manual of interest, so it is provided here. It was published by the U.S. Naval Institute in 1902 (authored by LT Ridley McLean) and was only 5¾ inches by 4 inches and a mere ¾-inch thick. Over the century-plus since, the U.S. Navy has become much larger and vastly more complex, and the BJM has consequently grown in size to its current proportions. Discerning readers will also note a considerable difference in tone between the two versions, reflecting the differences in today’s Bluejackets (volunteers with considerably more education) from those of LT McLean’s time.
[*] You can tell your printing by referring to the copyright page at the beginning of the book. At the bottom, you will see two series of numbers. The first series tells you the year of printing (the rightmost number); the second series tells which printing you have (the rightmost number).
For example, if you see these numbers:
25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
You have the third printing of the 25th edition.