United States Navy Armed Guard

[1] The NAG was headquartered in New Orleans, and had three training centers, at Norfolk, Virginia; San Diego, California; and Gulfport, Mississippi.

[2] The United States Navy Armed Guard (USNAG) were U.S. Navy gun crews consisting of Gunner's Mates, Coxswains and Boatswains, Radiomen, Signalmen, an occasional Pharmacist's Mate serving at sea on merchant ships; toward the end of the war a few radar men joined the crews.

Merchant ships were slow, unwieldy, and because of their lack of armor, firepower, and the important cargoes they carried, priority targets of submarines and planes.

The Navy Armed Guardsmen would typically sail round trip on the same ship, occasionally they would get a different assignment upon reaching their destination depending on Allied convoy schedules.

The 1943 film Action in the North Atlantic, featuring Humphrey Bogart, Raymond Massey, and Alan Hale, illustrates the importance of the Naval Armed Guard and how it interfaced with the Merchant Marine officers and crew.