Substantiated in 1916, Storekeepers are tasked with maintaining ship or companymilitary supply stores. Their responsibilities generally include purchasing and procurement, shipping and receiving, and issuing of equipment, tools, consumable items or anything else obtained through the Naval Supply System.
Chain of Command
Storekeepers that fall under the authority of a Naval supply officer are attached permanently or temporarily to a Supply Department, either ashore or afloat. There are exceptions to this practice as is the case of the Independent Storekeeper NEC which trains E-5 and above to operate independent of a Supply Officer, such as, or while deployed with surface or aviation units that operate in remote areas where no Supply Officer is present. Additionally, in Aviation Squadrons, the storekeeper falls under the chain of command of the Aircraft Maintenance Officer and his designate; the Maintenance Material Control Officer. The best example of this is the Storekeeper tasked with operating the Naval Air Station Sigonella Weapons Department in Sicily, Italy. The department, a semi-autonomous entity within NAS Sigonella, is headed by a weapons officer to whom the Storekeepers report. Since there is no Supply Officer within a weapons department either ashore, or afloat, the tasks of material control, inventory control, financial accounting, material custody, issuing, receiving and warehousing and disposition actions all fall within the storekeeper's scope of work, validating, initiating and signing requisitions falls upon the Independent Storekeeper.
Rank and Recognition
Storekeepers are referred to, as all other Navy rates, by rate and rank combined. If a sailor is a Petty Officer Third Class holding the rate of Storekeeper, he or she would be referred to as Storekeeper Third Class or more commonly, SK3. With the recent merger of Storekeepers and Aviation Storekeepers, Storekeepers can be found serving any Naval platform. For this reason, Storekeepers can be found with virtually every warfare pin offered by the Navy with only a few exceptions. Of the warfare qualification held by storekeepers, included are Aviation Warfare, Surface Warfare, Seabee Combat Warfare, Submarine Warfare Specialist. The SK rate is also a source rating for Explosive Ordnance Disposal, the Navy SEALS, Navy Divers and SWCC. Thus enabling Storekeepers to be stationed virtually anywhere and take on diverse duties.
