The Navy's recent decision to do away with job titles, which have been in place for 241 years, has been met with widespread criticism.

The Navy announced late last week that, effective immediately, it is scrapping all enlisted ratings, the first step in a larger modernization plan, which officials say will provide sailors with increased career opportunities.

A sailor's rating corresponds with his or her job while a sailor's rank corresponds with his or her pay. A sailor who was previously addressed as yeoman second class, for example, is now being addressed as a second-class petty officer

Navy ratings had been around for 241 years.

The change has been the topic of conversation of late at the U.S. Submarine Veterans Groton Base.

The general response from both retiree and active-duty sailors has been "very negative," said Jeff Walsh, the commander of the veterans group.

Walsh, who got out of the Navy 10 years ago, says that for many veterans, a piece of Navy tradition is going away.

Sailors take a great deal of pride in their rating, which they see as being a large part of their identity, even after they leave the Navy. It's not uncommon to see sailors who've gotten the symbol associated with their rating tattooed on their bodies.

After he got out of the Navy, Mark Hillyer of Oakdale, a 67-year-old retired master chief, got a submarine propeller, known as a screw, tattooed on each of his elbows, to signify his work as a machinist's mate.

"It means a lot. I'm really disturbed that the Navy is bending over backwards to be politically correct," Hillyer said. "There's a lot of tradition and pride in ratings and (the Navy's decision) upsets a lot of people."

Getting rid of ratings will "take a lot of pride away from young sailors who are just lumped together," he added.

In place of ratings, the Navy is establishing a classification system—similar to what the other services use—of more than 160 job codes that will give sailors a broader range of experience and enable them to become certified in multiple specialties.

For each of the specialties, the Navy is planning to meet with the private sector to hear about their accreditation, certification and qualification processes, and to better parallel their processes with those of the private sector. The idea is to establish specialties that can be more readily translated to the civilian world.

It's unclear what will happen to sailors' ratings badges, which depict their rating symbols. Many other details also need to be worked out as well. Officials have said there will be no impact on security clearances.

A post about the change on the Naval Submarine Base's Facebook page has garnered 36 comments with many criticizing the decision. One commenter wrote "I'm an LS and always will be." LS was the abbreviation for the logistics specialist rating.

Another commenter, who posted a link to a White House petition calling for the ratings to be restored, changed his Facebook profile picture to the symbol for a data technician with the date "9/29/16," the date of the Navy announcement, and the words "Never Forget" around it.

Others indicated that they didn't find the change to be a big deal given they've always known sailors to be addressed by their rank as opposed to their rating.

The White House petition, started the same day as the Navy's announcement, had received 46,439 signatures by 5 p.m. Monday. The petition needs 100,000 signatures to get a response from the White House.

"The oldest rates such as Boatswain Mates, and Gunners Mate predate the founding of this country. Being known by your job title was a sense of pride. A sign of accomplishment," the petition says in part.

In January, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus directed the word "man" to be removed from all military job titles, a move that was said to be done in an effort to become more inclusive. A few months later, all jobs in the military became open to women, who continue to make up an increasing share of enlisted ranks.

j.bergman@theday.com