The Society of Naval Officers was distinguished among other Russian public naval organizations by its narrow specialization, i.e. its members studied exclusively domestic and foreign naval affairs. In 1908 at one of its meetings the members of the Society of Naval Officers considered the project of formation of a special service category in the ranks of the Russian Navy - ship officers. Ship officers were supposed to be recruited from conductors and non-commissioned officers of the Russian Navy. The new service category was to become an intermediate link between the lower ranks and the officer corps. It should be noted that the corps of ship officers in the early twentieth century proved its effectiveness and existed in a number of foreign fleets.