That is interesting, thanks for posting. My guess about the rank stripes is that they were based on what was illustrated in the FJ Technical Manual, before things were clarified by the Jon Povill memo of Aug. 3 1978 that's included in TMoSTTMP.
Yeah, seems things were a bit in flux during these costume tests. Like with this version of the Class A, which was used in a lot of promotional photos:
) smacks of a belligerent admiral who has recently come into the position of being able to decide uniform policy and has resented the casual attire he's been forced to wear all these years so sets about "smartening up" the fleet.
