United States Naval rate insignia with crossed rifles?

United States Naval rate insignia with crossed rifles?
Hello.
Brand new to this site. I’m trying to help a friend find some information about her grandfather.
He Served in the United States Navy in World War II.
They have a photo of him in uniform showing his rate patch.
The patch is clearly two crossed rifles. With an S above and a W below.
It is United States Navy uniform. He was not in the army.
We are trying to figure out what rate was two crossed rifles? I have not been able to find it in any of the Google images that I’ve searched so far.
Any information or even direction on where I should look would be greatly appreciated.

 

Just to add… I have looked through a lot of the images, and it is clearly a pair of rifles. It is not the symbol for a lithographer, or builder, or any other such thing. It looks just like the crossed flintlock rifle‘s on the United States Army infantry symbol. But on a navy patch, with S above and W below the rifles.
Thanks again for any information.

 

A photo would help, as I do not recall the USN using crossed rifles as a rate insignia.

Although, it might pertain to a boot camp rate.

 

Definitely not cannons. Although I hadn’t thought of a Boot Camp right. That might be what it is?

 

Gunners Mate rate.

 

But all of the gunners mate patches that I can find show cannons, not rifles.??

 

You are correct, this, sniper.

 

OK. I am not arguing. I have no idea what I’m talking about.
That being said...
That patch has the “S” above the guns, but the guns really don’t even look similar to the original patch. And did the Navy have snipers?

 

Not really, that I know of. I am sorry for not being able to help you.

 

Also, there are no Chevron’s, or Seamans stripes. So I’m starting to wonder if there is something to the “Boot Camp rate” idea?
Or did they even use the Seaman’s stripes in World War II? Or perhaps he was just An E1?

 

Please don’t be sorry. I appreciate the effort.

 

This, you can click on the ones highlighted in red,

USN WW2 Enlisted Ratings

 

Another question...

Are the "S" and "W" in diamonds...They should be, and would designate a Specialist in a given field.

"S" in a diamond, was a Specialist in entertainment or shore patrol & security.
"W" in a diamond was a Chaplain's Assistant.

 

I think it's a "strikers" mark. The sailor in question has qualified for his rating but as yet has not attained the rank of Petty Officer 3d class. These are not normally worn on non-rates uniforms, however, Navy personnel assigned to US Marine Corps units in WWII were authorized to wear them. Marine Corps engineer regiments had three battalions. The first was a USMC combat engineer battalion, the second was a USMC Pioneer battalion and the third was a US Navy Construction Battalion (SeaBee). The SW would indicate that the seaman was a member of the 19th Naval Construction Battalion. I've seen a 24 September,1942 requisition form for the 19th NCB assigned to MCB New River, North Carolina specifying the ratings insignia with the letters S and W. The 19 NCB was redesignated as 3d Battalion 17th Marines, 1st MarDiv

 

The S and W are not in diamonds.
Posted the pic above.
There is nothing even similar in the enlisted ratings link.
I mean, the pic isn’t a fake, so what the heck was he?
So a strikers mark? Interesting.
I’ll see if I can look into that more.
Maybe someone in the family can give us some more info... where he was deployed, on what ship. Something to help narrow it down.
Thank you all for the help!

 

I’m not sure. Did They have those programs in WWII?
The picture really reminds me of a standard bootcamp picture. Which makes the strikers patch idea make even more sense.

Then again, for my Boot Camp picture, they made us wear our dress blues and our Dixie cups. He’s not wearing headgear of any kind, and he’s in his whites. But his picture is from 1940 something, and mine was from 1994.

 

What's his full name and home of record? If it's what I think it is I bet I can find him on a muster roll.

 

I’ll get back to you on that tomorrow.
I’ll have to ask my friend if she minds me posting his name.
It’s her grandfather.
I think she will be fine with it. Just don’t want to overstep any boundaries