The ship number identifies the building they are in (they also have a name of a famous ship, but few refer to them by the name). It's the Division number that is the most important - they will write that on their sailor hat and it will be there forever, throughout their Navy career! But the ship number is important when you send them letters. There are 14 different "ships" (barracks), and about 12 divisions in each ship, and every one of them has a different address. The only difference that I know of in the divisions is the 900 divisions are performance divisions...singers, musicians, flag carriers and the 800's divisions...special ops, seals, etc TG stands for Training Groups (the number of groups or Divisions that graduate on the same day). A Division is approx 88 recruits who live and train together. Their Division number is important, for lots of reasons, but it will ALWAYS define them. They write that number on their lid (sailor hat, aka dixie cup) and that always stays with them, well after boot camp is over! Ship number just identifies the building their barracks are in (each building also has a name of a famous US ship). We won't know how many divisions are in this PIR (Pass-In-Review, aka graduation) group for about a week. It takes a while for them to fill up all the divisions. Those first 4-10 days they arrive are called Processing Days (P-days) and they are not assigned to Divisions until those are over. I hope this info helped! BTW, a great thing to do while your recruit is in bc is to change your User ID name (go to settings in right hand corner of your page). If others know your Division number and PIR group, they can identify you quicker. Ship 02 USS Ruben James, Ship 03: USS Hopper, Ship 04: USS Arleigh Burke, Ship 05: USS Theodore Roosevelt, Ship 06:USS Constitution, Ship 07: USS Chicago, Ship 09: USS John F. Kennedy, Ship 10:USS Enterprise, Ship11: USS Kearsarge, Ship 12:USS Triton, Ship 13:USS Marvin Shields, Ship 14:USS Arizona

• Comment by JessicaB-Sailor Mom on April 6, 2011 at 6:44pm
• This is an excerpt from Arwen-who is former Navy, Married to former Navy, has a son in the Navy and has a son who is in the process of enlisting in the Navy At this point, unless you're SpecOps/pre-BUDs, no one pays attention to what school the recruits are going to, whether they are nukes or undesignated. When a group of new arrivals comes in from the airport, they go through a simple sort - those with music or flag/drill experience are shunted off to a 900 division, those going into SpecOps are sent to the 800 division (they only do a dozen or so each year. The remaining recruits are assigned pretty randomly, mostly as they arrive. Once one is full, the start filling another, so divisions end up with groups of recruits from only a few areas. Sometimes a division fills, and there are only one or two recruits remaining from the arrival group. They are held as the first recruits for the next division. That's how random it can be. That is also how divisions are assigned to ships. There are 12 barracks per ship. They fill a ship with divisions as they arrive, and when full, move to the next ship. The ships are not filled in order, because they were not built in order.
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**NOTE** New info as of Fall 2011

• Ship 2houses the 900 DIV.
• Ship 4 is for SPECOP (800 Divisions) and Regular Divisions (Those going in consecutive order).

It is also used as the RCU-Recruit Convalescent Unit-where recruits who have been injured during Boot Camp go to heal and be cycled back into another TG. They are housed separately from the 800 and Regular Divisions

• Ship 5 is for those recruits in the process of being discharged from Boot Camp. It is also for THU-Temporary Holding Unit-where new graduated Sailors go if they are on hold for "A" school. (They are in separate quarters from those being discharged.)

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A little "blurb" by FTLW:

The SHIP number is the number of the Barracks the Recruits are housed in. The Ships at RTC are all named after real Naval Vessels. 14 is the USS Arizona. I hear that they have artifacts of the one from Pearl Harbor on the Quarterdeck (explains the term).

There are 14 different SHIPS on RTC. Each one can hold about 12 Divisions.

DIV is Division. The Division Number is the number for the Division your SR (Seaman Recruit) is in. Divisions have 88+ recruits to start with. They may lose some along the way due to illness or injury or other setbacks and gain some who are being recycled back into a Division. Most graduate with at least 75 + recruits.

Regular numbered Divisions go in Consecutive order starting with 001 at the beginning of the Military Fiscal Year (Oct 1). Regular Divisions are paired up in "Brother" divisions. They will train together and go through Battlestations together.

800's start with 801 at the beginning of the Fiscal Year and continue on consecutively when they have them. They do not have an 800 Division every PIR. 800 Divisions are for those with SPECOP (SPECial OPerations) contracts. If there is more than one then they will be Brother Divisions.

900's start with 901 at the beginning of the Fiscal Year and continue consecutively each TG/PIR (Training Group/Pass-in-Review=Graduation).900's are the "performance" division.

There are 3 types of 900 divisions. There are the Band/Bluejacket Choir/Drill team, otherwise known as Triple Threat (the musicians, singers, and drill team), the Sticks (those who carry the state flags), and the Ship Staff/Honor Guard (the body snatchers, those who guard various things...). Three 900 divisions perform their duties at each PIR, the 900 division(s) from that TG and if needed one to three 900 divisions from the next one or two TG's. Each 900 Division performs in their own PIR and in the PIR for one or two TGs ahead of their own. They may also have performances in the community--that happens mainly for the Triple Threat though.

Please see this link for more info on 900 Divisions: 900 Divisions

There is almost always a 900 Division every PIR. Last year they did not have one for the April 1, 2011 PIR. (Was that an April Fools?!) Sometimes there can be two or even three if RTC skips a week of PIR. One of them will usually reflect the TG number. If there is more than one then they will be Brother Divisions.