The Navy ended the 91 titles to identify enlisted personnel Thursday, overhauling a structure that has been in use since the Continental Navy that includes dispensing with most titles that include "man."
For instance, "Fire Controlman 1st Class Joe Sailor" would become "Petty Officer 1st Class Joe Sailor" effective immediately, The Navy Times reported.
The only title with "man" remaining is "seaman" — and that is solely for certain ranks.
"We're going to immediately do away with rating titles and address each other by just our rank as the other services do," Vice Adm. Robert Burke, chief of naval personnel, told the Times. "We recognize that's going to be a large cultural change.
"It's not going to happen overnight, but the direction is to start exercising that now," he said.
The overhaul is expected to usher in a move toward broadening sailors' lives and making their transition out of the Navy easier by expanding their employment skills, the Times reported.
Within four years, sailors would be able to retrain in related skills, which would increase their value to the Navy while improving their opportunities for better assignments, greater advancement and increased pay.
Since the Continental Navy was formed 241 years ago, more than 700 titles have been created or eliminated, the Times reported, with more than 400 titles changing immediately after World War II.
In this change, however, sailors would be reorganized into Navy Occupational Specialties, or NOS. Those define the peer group they compete with for promotion.
Under this new system, the Times reported, Gunner's mates would be identified as B320, while quartermasters would be B450.
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, approved the changes. Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Mike Stevens, who is now retired, has pushed for the changes.
Stevens encouraged the move to increase training opportunities for sailors and increase their employability after leaving the service, according to the report.
The Marine Corps took a similar step in June, eliminating "man" from 19 occupational titles, the Times reported.