dirt Navy n. a part of a naval military force that does not serve at sea. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Loretta in Shreveport, Louisiana, wants to know what lexical and dialectal clues linguists look for when guessing where someone is from. She also wonders: Do people with long careers in the military or who grew up in a military family have a...
To joner means to “bring bad luck to” or “jinx.” This term is a corruption of the name Jonah, the biblical figure who initially resisted a divine command. His presence on board a ship supposedly caused a great storm at sea...
This phrase has been around since I was active duty (1985-1989). As a mineman during that time period, we were called “Dirt Sailors” because we did not go to sea.
Thanks! Very useful. Do you have any written examples of the term from that period?
Nice to find myself cited! Yup, “Dirt Navy” was the phrase we always used for the ratings that did not serve on ships. Blue water, brown water, dirt or sand, I think I got to try all of them at one time or another.