Lably
Skip to content

Navy Distinguished Service Medal

  • 9 min read
  • 4 chapters

Related on Lably

Through World War I

Navy Distinguished Service Medal is equivalent to the Army's Distinguished Service Medal, Air and Space Forces' Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, and the Coast Guard Distinguished Service Medal. The Navy Distinguished Service Medal was originally senior to the Navy Cross, until August 1942 when the precedence of the two decorations was reversed. Currently, it is worn after the Defense Distinguished Service Medal and before the Silver Star Medal.

History

At the start of World War I, the Department of the Navy had the Medal of Honor as the only decoration with which to recognize heroism. To recognize acts deserving recognition, but at a level below that required for the Medal of Honor, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal and the Navy Cross were created by Public Law 253 on 4 February 1919. The law made the award retroactive to 6 April 1917. The first award of the decoration was a posthumous presentation to Brigadier General Charles A. Doyen, USMC, on 13 March 1919. Originally senior in precedence to the Navy Cross, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal assumed its current place below the Navy Cross by Congressional action on 7 August 1942.

Sign in to keep reading

3 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

More in Revolutionaries and activists

Edward SnowdenAmerican whistleblower (born 1983)Marquis de LafayetteFrench military officer and politician (1757–1834)Samuel PepysEnglish writer and politician (1633–1703)William Tecumseh ShermanUnited States Army general (1820–1891)Colin PowellAmerican U.S. Army general and diplomat (1937–2021)Matthew C. PerryUnited States Navy officer (1794–1858)