te 16-65: Ltr, Chief, NavPers, to Cmdt, All
Continental Naval Dists, 17 Mar 50, Pers 42,
BuPersRecs; Memo, Under SecNav for Chmn, PPB, 22
Dec 49, PPB 291.2.]

[Footnote 16-66: Memo, Under SecNav for Chmn, PPB, 22
Dec 49, PPB 291.2.]

Despite these well-intentioned efforts, the Navy failed to increase
significantly the number of black officers or sailors in the next
decade (_Table 8_). The percentage of Negroes in the Navy increased so
slowly that not until 1955, in the wake of the great manpower buildup
during the Korean War, did it exceed the 1949 figure. Although the
percentage of black enlistments increased significantly at
times--approximately 12 percent of all enlistments in 1955 were black,
for example--the proportion of Negroes in the Navy's enlisted ranks
was only 0.4 percent higher in 1960 than in 1949. While the number of
black officers increased more than sevenfold in the same decade, it
was still considerably less than 1 percent of the total officer
strength, well below Army and Air Force percentages.

Table 8--Black Manpower, U.S. Navy

A. Enlisted Strength

_Percent
_Year_ _Total Strength_ _Black Strength_ Black_

1949 363,622 17,051 4.5
1950 329,114 14,858 3.7
1951 656,371 17,604 2.7
1952 728,511 23,010 3.2
1953 698,367 24,734 3.5
1954 635,103 24,236 3.8
1955 574,157 30,623 5.3
1956 586,782 37,308 6.3
1957 593,022 38,222 6.4
1958 558,955 30,978 5.7
1959 547,236 30,098 5.5
1960 544,323 26,760 4.9

B. Percentage of Blacks Enlisted in Steward's and Other Branches

_Year_ _Steward's Branch_ _Other Branches_

1949 65.12 34.88
1950 57.07 42.93
1951 55.27 44.73
1952 5