First Integrated U.S. Navy Ship in World War II Led to Changes

Black and White Officers and Crew Served Together in 'Experiment'

When the United States entered World War II, the U.S. Navy pressed a number of private yachts into service for what were supposed to be non-combat roles, such as weather ships, lookout ships, and so forth.

Sea Cloud, the once private, luxury four-masted barque, owned by Post Cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, made military history of a very special kind during its service as IX-99 during the war: she was the first experimental vessel for racial integration in the U.S. Navy. The former opulent yacht served in the Atlantic mostly as a weather ship and lookout for U-Boats. The IX-99 designation was mostly used in official communications and messages. To the crew, and others, the ship was routinely spoken of by its civilian name.

Unfortunately, what follows is a little-known piece of American history. I came across it while researching information for various of my World War II books. At things turned out, I coincidentally handled public relations for Sea Cloud Cruises during a five year period in the 1990s, by which time the ship had been sold, refurbished and put into service as an elite passenger vessel.

At the beginning of the war only a small number of blacks with low ratings were assigned to U.S. Navy vessels. Sea Cloud's commanding Navy officer, Captain Carlton Skinner, calculated that in comparison to the 11 percent black population ashore at the time, only 2 percent of blacks made up a ship's complement. He figured, given the chance, they would serve their country equally effectively as white sailors. And he proved it. He wasn't a flaming liberal, or a do-gooder with a social agenda, he was just a practical naval officer who identified a large and productive source of needed manpower and took historic steps to prove his point.

Skinner initiated a program whereby Sea Cloud soon boasted a completely integrated crew with four black officers and some 50 black petty officers and seamen serving in the ship's 175-man company. As a private yacht, Sea Cloud was originally built to accommodate 80 guests and crew in comfort. But nobody ever said the Navy was concerned with comfort!