I believe the backlash from enlisted ranks, was akin to taking away an Army infantryman's identity as a "Rifleman," e.g. 11B or 11 bravo as it is commonly named.
With the Navy's ill conceived change, quickly reversed, it had the equivalent effect of making no distinction between an Army "rifleman" and "cook" and "clerk."
Something like that. Anybody can explain Navy jobs versus pay grades?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Navy_ratings
The linkage is even stronger in the Navy. In the Navy, enlisted are actually
addressed by a title that includes a reference to their rating (MOS), whereas enlisted elsewhere are referred to as "PFC" "Corporal", or "Sergeant", regardless of MOS. It was a real slap in the face to a lot of them to have that taken away.
"Paygrades" in the Navy most closely translate to "rates". So an E-5 (paygrade) is a "Petty Officer Second Class" (rate). The "rating" is "Boatswains Mate", or "Machinists Mate", etc.. It would be entirely proper -- even preferred -- to refer to such an individual as "Boatswain's Mate Jones" rather than "Petty Officer Jones". For E-1 through E-3, you'd call them "Fireman's Apprentice Smith" rather than, well something not rating-specific.
In the Marines, for example, we didn't do that. If you were a Corporal (paygrade equivalent of a Petty Officer Third Class), you'd be referred to as "Corporal Jones", not "Rifleman Jones" or "Fire Direction Controlman" Jones.
Navy has some pretty cool traditions.