United States Navy Armed Guard

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The United States Navy Armed Guard (USNAG) were US Navy Gun crews consisting of Gunner's Mates, Coxswains and Boatswains, Radiomen, Signalmen, an occasional Pharmacist (Hospital Corpsman), and toward the end of the war a few radarmen serving at sea on Merchant Ships. Armed Guard crews served on ships in every theatre of the war. Typically the crew was led by a single commissioned officer, but earlier in the war chiefs and even petty officers had command.

The assignement as an Armed Guardsman was often dreaded because of the constant danger and because the merchant ships were among the slowest to receive updated equipment. Early on in the war some ships only had a few machine guns and painted telephone poles to replicate the barrels of larger guns. The most common armament to be installed on merchant ships during the war were the MK II 20mm machine gun and the 3"50 and 5"38 deckguns.

The US Merchant Marine ran the ships and the USNAG provided gunnery protection and communications services. The Merchant Marine occasionally served as loaders or ammunition handlers but very seldom manned a gun.