Navy and Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation — Military Decorations

Navy and Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation

Navy and Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation

Navy and Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation Medal and Ribbon Design Images

What is the Navy and Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation Decoration?

The Navy citation was established in early 1942. The Navy version has blue, yellow, and red horizontal stripes, and is the only Navy ribbon having horizontal stripes. To distinguish between the two versions of the Presidential Unit Citation, the Navy version is sometimes referred to as the "Navy and Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation," while the Army and Air Force refer to the decoration simply as the Presidential Unit Citation. These are only worn by persons who meet the criteria at the time it is awarded to the unit. Unlike the Army, those who later join the unit do not wear it on a temporary basis.

The United States military sorts decorations into categories called Classes and Types. The Navy and Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation medal is classified as a Unit Award of the type Presidential Unit Citation.

How Do You Earn the Navy and Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation?

The Presidential Unit Citation, originally called the Distinguished Unit Citation, is awarded to units of the Uniformed services of the United States, and those of allied countries, for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy on or after 7 December 1941, Pearl Harbor. The unit must display such gallantry, determination, and esprit de corps in accomplishing its mission under extremely difficult and hazardous conditions so as to set it apart from and above other units participating in the same campaign.

Displaying the Navy and Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation

The Order of Precedence of the Navy and Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation is 41, and this precedence is used when placing the associated service ribbon on your uniform ribbon rack. You can see a full list of decorations in the order of precedence on the Decorations homepage.

All members of the unit may wear the decoration, whether or not they personally participated in the acts for which the unit was cited. Only those assigned to the unit at the time of the action cited may wear the decoration as a permanent award.

The unit may use a pennant or 4 foot long ribbon to denote the award. Two special emblems have been approved for wear:

• To commemorate the first submerged voyage under the North Pole by the nuclear-powered submarine USS Nautilus (SSN-571) in 1958, all members of her crew who made that voyage were authorized to wear their Presidential Unit Citation ribbon with a special clasp in the form of a gold block letter N.



• As of 2014, the same device may be awarded for the Nuclear Deterrence Operations Service Medal for those personnel who work in direct support of ICBM operations who serve 179 non-consecutive days dispatched to a missile complex.



• To commemorate the first submerged circumnavigation of the world by the nuclear-powered submarine Triton during its shakedown cruise in 1960, all members of her crew who made that voyage were authorized to wear their Presidential Unit Citation ribbon with a special clasp in the form of a golden replica of the globe.

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