Original Item: One-of-a-kind. This is an original third type Navy Good Conduct Medal engraved on the reverse:



USS Pennsylvania (ACR-4):
The second USS Pennsylvania (ACR/CA-4), also referred to as Armored Cruiser No. 4, and later renamed Pittsburgh, was a United States Navy armored cruiser, the lead ship of her class. She was originally assigned the name Nebraska but was renamed Pennsylvania on 7 March 1901.

World War I
Recommissioning, Pittsburgh patrolled the west coast of Mexico, during the troubled times of insurrection that led to American involvement with the Veracruz landing in April 1914. Later she served as flagship for Admiral William B. Caperton—Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet—during South American patrols and visits during World War I. Cooperating with the British, she scouted German raiders and acted as a powerful deterrent against their penetration of the eastern Pacific.[4]

While at Rio de Janeiro, in October and November 1918, failure to implement quarantine procedures by Captain George Bradshaw, led to the spread of the deadly strain of Spanish influenza on ship, sickening 663 sailors (80% of the crew) and killing 58 of them.[4]

Future Rear Admiral Ellis M. Zacharias served as a line officer aboard Pittsburgh during World War I. Future Governor of American Samoa George Landenberger commanded the vessel.

USS Culgoa:
USS Culgoa (AF-3) was a refrigerated supply ship in the United States Navy. Culgoa was built in 1889 by J.L. Thompson and Sons, Ltd. of Sunderland, England and purchased at Cavite, Philippines on 4 June 1898. During the naval blockade of Manila, the vessel supplied the American squadron with ice and meat. Since she was not a commissioned naval vessel, Culgoa could purchase supplies while avoiding the neutrality laws that banned sales to the Navy.

Atlantic, Caribbean, 1909–1919
Returning to Hampton Roads 17 February 1909, Culgoa resumed her cruise along the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean until 1 December 1910, when she sailed to supply ships serving in European waters, visiting Brest and Cherbourg, France, and Weymouth, Dorset and Gravesend, Kent, England, before returning to New York on 20 January 1911.

She put out from New York 11 February 1911 for duty in the Caribbean, where she supplied stores for ships and shore detachments protecting American citizens and interests throughout this troubled area until February 1918.

Serving with the Naval Overseas Transportation Service during the remainder of World War I, Culgoa made seven transatlantic convoy voyages to bases in France and Britain between 19 February 1918 and 10 May 1919. On 10 July 1918 she assisted the SS Oosterdijk which sank after a collision with SS San Jacinto. Culgoa took aboard the passenger survivors and towed San Jacinto into Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Navy Good Conduct Medal
The Navy Good Conduct Medal is the oldest Good Conduct Medal, dating back to 26 April 1869. There have been a total of four versions of the Navy Good Conduct Medal, the first version of which was issued from 1870 to 1884. The original Navy Good Conduct Medal was also not worn on a uniform, but issued with discharge papers as a badge to present during reenlistment. A sailor in the Navy received a new Good Conduct Medal for each honorable enlistment completed.

The second version of the Navy Good Conduct Medal was issued between 1880 and 1884. The medal was considered a "transitional decoration" and was the first of the Good Conduct Medals to be worn on a uniform. The medal was phased out by 1885 and a new medal issued between 1885 and 1961. The new medal was a Good Conduct medallion suspended from an all red ribbon. Enlistment bars, denoting each honorable enlistment completed, were pinned on the ribbon as attachments.

There was slight oddity during the Spanish–American War when the Navy created the Specially Meritorious Service Medal which also had an all red suspension and service ribbon. There were recorded cases of Navy enlisted personnel who were awarded both the Good Conduct Medal and the Specially Meritorious Service Medal who wore two red service ribbons on their Navy service uniforms. This is one of the rare times in the history of U.S. military awards that two awards had identical ribbons.

In the 1950s bronze and silver 3/16 inch stars, with one silver star worn in lieu of five bronze stars (e.g., six awards), replaced the enlistment bars. Although the medal itself had not changed since 1884, in 1961 a ring suspension for the ribbon and medal combination was adopted, differentiating the suspension from its Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal counterpart and standardizing it with the majority of other service medals. It is this 1961 version of the Navy Good Conduct Medal that is still in use today.

The current Navy Good Conduct Medal is issued to every active duty enlisted sailor who completes three years of honorable and faithful service since 1 January 1996. For prior awards to personnel between 1 November 1963 and 1 January 1996, four years of service were required. The four year requirement also applies for award of the Navy Good Conduct Medal from its original establishment until 1 November 1963.

Additional awards of the Navy Good Conduct Medal are denoted by bronze and silver 3/16 inch stars; silver stars are worn in place of five bronze ones. The reverse side of the medal has three words, "FIDELITY ZEAL OBEDIENCE" superimposed in a semicircle. Upon 12 years of service, sailors are also allowed to wear gold-colored version of their petty officer insignia, something usually seen with those with the rate of chief petty officer or petty officer first class and above, but occasionally petty officer second class. Prior to June 2019, those 12 years had to be infraction-free. It is extremely rare in the contemporary U.S. Navy, but provisions do allow for sailors rated petty officer third class to wear gold rate insignia, provided they meet the same requirements.