Uniform for Army-Navy game originally planned to revolve around Nuclear Power
There are only two types of ships in the navy; those which use nuclear power and those which do not
ANNAPOLIS - Yesterday, Navy Athletics and Under Armour unveiled the 2023 Army-Navy game uniform that will honor the Silent Service, the U.S. Submarine Force, its families and supporting personnel on Dec. 9 at the 124th playing of the Army-Navy Game presented by USAA at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. Kickoff is set for 3 PM Eastern and the game will be televised nationally by CBS. Dubbed the “Silent Service” uniforms, the helmets feature a hand-painted Virginia Class submarine, a sonar display, the ‘Dolphin’ insignia, and the crest of the PCU Massachusetts.
However, documents from early in the planning stage obtained by SUBPAR show that the uniform was originally planned to showcase the Navy Nuclear Propulsion Program.
Hearkening to the tradition of Navy Nuclear Propulsion, the jerseys were planned to be monochromatic Seafoam Green. However the Seafoam Green also had a practical purpose, primarily to “pacify the aggression of Army’s players, aiding the Midshipmen in dominating the trenches.”
Instead of names on the back of the jerseys, different position groups would be assigned a different watchstanding principle to display on the field. Quarterbacks and safeties would have been assigned Ownership, offensive and defensive linemen would have been assigned Level of Knowledge, and so on. Controversially, the captains of the Midshipmen would have had the honor of wearing the apocryphal watch standing principle, Anticipation.
The helmets were planned to be hand painted by current students enrolled at Navy Nuclear Power Training Command with the Neutron Life Cycle. Students would be required to write down accepted values for each component of the life cycle to get full credit. Similar to how the University of Notre Dame uses real gold in the paint for its helmets, the paint used for the life cycle would incorporate spent [REDACTED] from decommissioned reactor plants in a proprietary blend developed by Naval Reactors.
The documentation obtained by The Subpar Group included a preliminary mock up of the uniforms (shown below), tasked to a Naval Reactors Fleet Lieutenant at 1400 on a Friday as a liberty dependent item.
It is unclear at this time when and why the Naval Academy decided to alter course with its design choice. We reached out to both Naval Reactors and the Naval Academy for comment.
“We loved the opportunity we had with the Naval Academy to promote the watchstanding principles and celebrate the knowledge that our operators have throughout the fleet. We had so many great ideas we tried to incorporate,” LCDR Mark Bridges, a spokesman for Naval Reactors’ creative endeavors division, “Ultimately the Academy went a different direction, but we can’t wait to reengage next year for another opportunity.”
When reached for comment, Jackie Hicks, a spokesperson for the USNA’s athletics department stated, “We had some creative differences with Naval Reactors.”
This is a developing story. We will update as the situation develops.