Naval uniform

“ Surely, if it is sweet to die for one's country, it is honorable at all times to wear the uniform of that country, and that doubtless explains why our naval service is so popular nowadays, and is composed chiefly of native-born Americans. ”

“ Some few are in their company's service uniform, but most of us, misliking an array but grudgingly tolerated in naval company, wear longshore clothes and, in our style, affect soft felt hats and rainproof overcoats. Not very gallant raiment, it is true, but since brave tall hats and plain brass buttons and fancy waistcoats and Wellingtons went out with the lowering of the last single topsail, we have had no convention in our attire. In conference we come by better looks—bareheaded, and in stout blue serge, we sit a-row facing the blackboard on which our 'drills' are chalked. ”

“ A gun is fired at eight o’clock in the morning from the ship where it is to be held, and a union flag is displayed at the mizen peak. If the weather be fine, the ship is arranged with the greatest nicety; her decks are as white as snow—her hammocks are stowed with care—her ropes are taut—her yards square—her guns run out—and a guard of marines, under the orders of a lieutenant, prepared to receive every member of the court with the honour due to his rank. Before nine o’clock they are all assembled; the officers in their undress uniform, unless an admiral is to be tried. ”

“ The marines, who had originally been under the War Office, and had worn different facings in their different regiments, were, in 1755, formed into the present corps under the Admiralty and dressed in red with white facings, which were changed to blue in 1802 on the occasion of the distinction "Royal" being granted them, on the representations of Lord St. Vincent, as a recognition of their services both in action and in the suppression of various disorders in the fleet. One more change was made in the uniform of naval officers, by William IV, who instituted red facings. ”

“ This is a good idea, and should be adopted by Americans. The writer, however, would not advise the adoption of the naval blouse. This is the property of the U. S. Navy. Merchant officers, if they adopt any sort of uniform, should provide themselves with something having pockets, and a roll collar, and less on the order of a princess gown.
{183} Conclusion. The watch officers of a vessel should be as familiar as possible with the handling qualities of their vessel:
Her turning circle. ”

“ It is a familiar saying that every woman is in love with a uniform; to which I would add that every man is also. The naval officers look magnificent in their bright blue frock coats, their92 yellow buttons, and their shining epaulets. ”

“ The propeller was stopped after a few minutes, and the mechanicians shot up the sides of the craft, and punched oil and gasolene into the places where it was needed. Young officers in naval uniforms stood around the machine—all are usually interested in a departing seaplane. Not far from us were many immense sheds in which were some of the newest types of England's youngest branch of the Navy. ”

“ View it thus, and the Royal Navy becomes no more than a symbol, the expression of a peculiar national life. Science may think of it as the tough exterior hide, the armour, like that of the dinosaurus, with which nature in the process of evolution provides her mightiest creatures. It is in fact simply the glittering shaft on the string of a powerful bow, the power is in the bow and not the arrow. Any one can see that the mere possession of a fleet cannot bestow naval power. ”

“ The uniforms of both officers and enlisted men in the United States Navy follow rather closely in style, color and cut those worn in the British Navy, and some interesting traditions of the latter service may be seen even in our naval service. For instance, the black neckerchief worn alike by the British and American sailor was made black after Trafalgar as an emblem of mourning for the Great Nelson, and the three [Pg 16] white stripes around the edges of the collar were so placed to commemorate Nelson’s three great victories, Copenhagen, the Nile and Trafalgar. ”

“ Commissioned officers are provided with special full dress, full dress, undress, blue service, white service and white mess uniforms.
The special full dress uniform (gala dress) consists of a cocked hat of the same shape as the one worn in the United States Navy but having more gold braid on it; a short double-breasted frock coat with a standing collar; epaulets; dark blue trousers with gold stripes down the outer leg seams; a sash belt of black cloth with interwoven horizontal gilt stripes and a knot and tassels of gold on the right hip; and black shoes. ”

“ The highest grade of enlisted men in the U. S. Navy is that of Mate. Mates are rated by authority of the Secretary of the Navy from seamen of over two years’ service. They have no relative rank, but take precedence over all other enlisted men. They wear a uniform like that of warrant officers with a distinctive insignia as later described.
The classes of enlisted men in the Navy corresponding to the “noncommissioned officers” of the Army and Marine Corps are styled “Petty Officers.” ”

“ Warrant officers in the German Navy wear a dress uniform and a service uniform both blue and white similar in design to that worn by commissioned officers, with their distinctive rank stripes on the sleeves and on the shoulder straps. ”

“ From her peak flutters a white ensign, barred with red, the proud emblem of the Royal Navy.
On the first ship there is a muffled roll of drums, a brief hurrying of men about the decks, a period of well-ordered activity—then quiet. “Silent is the path of duty for every well-drilled man.” Up to her mastheads creep balls of bunting. These at a quiet word of command break out into strips of red and white, stars of white against a blue field—battle ensigns of the United States. Constitution and Guerriere have met. ”

“ By an order in council dated the 10th of February, 1747, established rank was first given to the officers in the Royal Navy, and a uniform clothing appointed to be worn by admirals, captains, lieutenants, and midshipmen. Hitherto they had dressed much as suited their fancy. The crew of a man-of-war must have looked more like a band of pirates than a well-ordered ship’s company of the present day. Even in later days midshipmen sometimes appeared on the deck of a man-of-war in rather extraordinary costume, as the following account, taken from the journal of an old admiral, will show. ”

“ Glancing for a moment in retrospect at the long line of naval progress, one sees it pass from the ancient row-galleys, to the sailing ship of the early Modern Age, and from thence to the steamships of to-day. The motive power has changed from human muscle to wind, and from wind to steam. Placed beside the iron-clad battleships, the light, wooden frigates of the Revolution look almost as antiquated as the Greek galley with its figured prow. Smart, trim, beautiful vessels were the Revolutionary craft, but how small, simple, and crude they now appear. ”

“ A Navy with an old and glorious tradition could not have surrendered itself, as did the German Navy, without having come out and made a fight—if hopeless fight—of it, as did the Spanish ships off Cuba and the Russians at Chemulpo, so saving the honour of their flag. ”

“ The old-fashioned jacket worn over the sailor blouse, and the conspicuous white lapels of the full-dress coat, are the principal peculiarities of the German navy. The Spanish naval officer has red lapels. A very marked peculiarity of the Austrian navy is that the officers, dressed in all other respects similarly to the naval officers of other countries, have the military tunic. The marines, where they exist, conform to the infantry of the respective land forces in most respects; the German marines, however, wear the Jäger shako, and navy-blue uniforms with white collars and cuffs. ”

“ They know navy life will fix that O. K. Just do setting up exercises for a few months and you'll gain a ton!
Then we were measured for our uniforms and they were handed out to us: two suits of winter underwear, two pair of woollen socks, a navy sweater, a blue dress uniform and two white undress uniforms, shoes, hairbrush, clothes, "kiyi," which, in plain English, is a clothes brush, shoe cleaning gear, needle and thread and thimble, six pocket handkerchiefs, a neckerchief, a pocket knife, two white hats, a watch cap and a flat hat. ”

“ Women are enrolled in the U. S. Naval Reserve Force in the ratings of Chief Yeoman, Yeoman, First, Second or Third Class, and Landsman for Training, and assigned clerical duties on shore. They are required to wear blue or white uniforms consisting of a Norfolk style coat and tailor-made skirt of blue navy serge or white drill, a white beach cloth shirt-waist and black navy neckerchief, black hose and shoes with blue skirt and white ones with white skirt, and a flat brimmed blue felt or white straw sailor hat with the regulation Naval Reserve cap ribbon. ”

“ Our ships yonder are materially new, the products almost of yesterday, but really they are old, centuries old; they are the expression of a naval soul working, fermenting, always growing through the centuries, always seeking to express itself in machinery. Naval war is an art, the art of men, and where in the world will one find men like ours, officers like ours? ”

“ The officers were given programmes at the starboard gangway by pages in bolero and plush breeches and silk stockings. An old naval custom was revived by having side boys with lanterns.
It was the old fashioned minstrel show, with end men and jokes and songs for the first part and stunts and sketches for the second. More than 1,600 men looked on. Imagine 1,600 men seated in comfort on a quarter deck! My, how the ships of the navy have grown! The 12-inch guns were tilted down and seats covered with flags built on them. ”

“ Officers in the army and navy never wear their uniforms except when they are compelled to do so, and after levees it is amusing to see the Briton crouching down at the back of his carriage, and driving to the nearest club, in order to get into mufti at the earliest possible moment. Almost the only time at which he indulges in a uniform is when he is on his private yacht, and free from the gaze of the crowd. ”

“ The enlisted men of the French Navy wear uniforms of dark blue cloth for cold weather and of white for hot weather, those for the chief petty officers consisting of a plain cap with black leather visor, a sack coat with gilt buttons and plain trousers, and those for enlisted men of lower ratings consisting of a flat sailor cap, overshirt and trousers of a design similar to those worn in the British Navy. ”

“ Whatever may be the case in the future, the Navy in pre-war days was so much more dependent on material than the Army as to make questions relating to naval material of far greater importance that was the case with military material. ”

“ I have said nothing of the uniforms worn by soldiers and sailors, and will now enter a little on the subject. If you were to see the paintings of the hearty old admirals in the Naval Gallery of 66Greenwich Hospital, they would surprise you. Some of these tough old tars look as though they would not alter a brass button of their coats, if it affected the honour of old England, to prevent the broadside of an enemy from sending them to the bottom of the ocean. Their dresses are so odd and so different one from another that you would hardly think they were all admirals. ”

“ A sailor has a peculiar cut to his clothes, and a way of wearing them which a green hand can never get. The trousers, tight round the hips, and thence hanging long and loose round the feet, a superabundance of checked shirt, a low-crowned, well-varnished black hat, worn on the back of the head, with half a fathom of black ribbon hanging over the left eye, and a slip-tie to the black silk neckerchief, with sundry other minutiae, are signs, the want of which betrays the beginner at once. ”

“ The British sailor's uniform is picturesque and characteristic, but certainly less attractive than ours. It is cut not of broadcloth or of serge, but of heavy blue worsted, and a detachable collar of blue linen falls back upon the blouse. Our sailors are forever washing the blouses to keep the white stripes of the collar clean; the Briton has only his collar to care for. ”

“ Ships of war now wear heavy coats-of-mail. The “great guns” and the “long guns” of the Revolution are neither great nor long beside modern cannon. A new type of sea officer has been trained to meet the new conditions of naval service. It would puzzle a modern officer to take a [Pg 143] schooner from Boston to Plymouth, for his seamanship is now fitted to steamships. ”

“ There are many traditions to which the Royal Navy still clings, and there are messes afloat and ashore where it is manifest that time has not withered impressive and picturesque features of the days of the wooden warships. For instance, no layman can help being struck by the British naval officers' toast to the King. And the other toasts are offered with such splendid solemnity and grace that it makes one wish that something of the sort could be done at even the minor affairs where civilians are gathered. ”

“ The officers’ uniforms are the same as those of the Royal Navy, with the exception of silver, for the most part, taking the place of gold. It is more expensive to join the naval than the military volunteers, and the class composing the corps are generally well-to-do young men, a large number of them employed in shipping offices, and mercantile pursuits connected with the sea.
The drills consist of practice with great guns, rifle, pistol, and cutlass exercises. ”

“ The Naval Reserve Force Device or insignia is of the same design as the device worn on the front of the cap by commissioned officers of the Navy. It is one inch in height, made of metal, the shield and eagle being of silver and the crossed anchors of gold. ”