My thinking is that the apparently nonsensical nature of the inscription tends to speak against a fake.

So does the single period Charlie pointed out, which in proper English would mean that this is an abbreviation, not an acronym, and we have to look for a term or name starting with NOD.... Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get web searches for such terms or names to reveal even remotely promising candidates.

Of course, if these were inscribed at the same location and this is the creative mind of some individual armorer at work, it could mean Naval Ordnance or whatever.

The number is also unproductive. I suspected a ship, but all I’ve found was an Army LCU with the number 1543, and that wasn’t put into service until 1954.

Anyone able to produce this text would have had no trouble producing a red-lettered Navy text instead, a fake much more likely to be profitable.