Chief warrant officer 2 (W-2)
Chief warrant officer 2 is a US Navy warrant officer rank, pay grade W-2. On khakis the insignia is a gold bar enamelled blue with two gold bands across it, so it shows three blue sections.
Easily confused with
- Chief warrant officer 4 (W-4)The same bar with three blue sections: gold for W-2, silver for W-4.
- Warrant officer 1 (W-1)Warrant officer 1 is the lowest US Navy warrant officer rank, pay grade W-1, brought back in 2018 for cyber warrant officers. On khakis the insignia is a gold bar enamelled blue with one gold band across the middle.
How to read it
The uniform regulations describe the insignia as blue with two gold breaks, the same pattern as a Chief warrant officer 4 (W-4) in gold instead of silver. Chief warrant officers wear it on the right collar point, with a staff insignia on the left. On the sleeve of the blue coat it is one 13 mm (½ in) gold stripe with three blue breaks. The Naval History and Heritage Command records the chief warrant officer’s place as ranking “with but after ensign”. The Department of Defense says warrant officers are specialists and experts, and that the lowest grade serves under a warrant but receives a commission from the president on promotion to chief warrant officer 2. The rank below is Warrant officer 1 (W-1) (W-1), and above it is Chief warrant officer 3 (W-3).
Also searched as: CWO2.
Ranks and insignia as the US Navy’s own uniform regulations and pages set them out. Pay grades are the Department of Defense’s.
Warrant officer 1 is back
The Navy stopped using W-1 in 1975. NAVADMIN 140/18, in June 2018, brought back the warrant officer 1 pay grade for cyber warrant officers, and the first selections were announced in NAVADMIN 293/18. Navy.com lists warrant officer ranks from W-1 to W-5; under the uniform regulations a W-1 wears the W-3 pattern in gold, one gold break across a blue bar.
Warrant bars in other services
Each service’s warrant bars look different. Army warrant officers have worn a silver bar with black enamel squares since 1972 (see Chief warrant officer 2 (W-2)); Navy bars are enamelled blue.
Gold or silver
Gold bars are the two lowest warrant grades (W-1 and W-2) and silver bars the higher ones.
More navy ranks
Browse symbols drawn with lines.
Sources
- Navy Uniform Regulations, article 4103: Shoulder insignia, United States Navy Uniform Regulations (NAVPERS 15665J), art. 4103, Navy Personnel Command (MyNavy HR), art. 4103.4a(8)(d); art. 4103.4a(8)(e)
- Navy Uniform Regulations, article 4101: Officer sleeve insignia, United States Navy Uniform Regulations (NAVPERS 15665J), art. 4101, Navy Personnel Command (MyNavy HR), art. 4101.3b(1)(d), 4101.3b(2)
- Navy Uniform Regulations, article 4104: Collar grade insignia, United States Navy Uniform Regulations (NAVPERS 15665J), art. 4104, Navy Personnel Command (MyNavy HR), art. 4104.2–3
- U.S. Military Rank Insignia, Resources: U.S. Military Rank Insignia (enlisted and officer insignia by paygrade), U.S. Department of Defense (defense.gov), Officer insignia, W-2; Officer insignia, warrant officers
- 37 U.S.C. § 201: Pay grades, 37 U.S. Code § 201, Pay grades: assignment to; general rules, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, § 201(b)
- U.S. Navy Ranks & Insignia, U.S. Navy Ranks & Insignia (navy.com), U.S. Navy Recruiting Command (navy.com), Warrant Officers: W-1 to W-5
- NAVADMIN 140/18: Modification of the Navy Cyber Warrant Officer Program, NAVADMIN 140/18 (4 June 2018), Chief of Naval Operations, via MyNavy HR, paras. 1–2; header
- NIOC Georgia Sailor Selected to Warrant Officer 1, Navy’s First Since 1975, Navy News Service story, December 2018, DVIDS (Defense Visual Information Distribution Service), paras. 1–3; para. 2
- Naval Traditions: Names of Rank, “Warrant Officer”, Naval Traditions: Names of Rank, Officer, “Warrant Officer”, Naval History and Heritage Command, para. on insignia
- History of Warrant Officers in the U.S. Navy, Naval Traditions: Names of Rank, “History of Warrant Officers in the U.S. Navy”, Naval History and Heritage Command, para. on commissioned warrants
Last reviewed September 29, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research