Here Comes The Navy

Military Images, Jan/Feb 2004 by Anstine, C L

The U.S. sea services of World War One essentially wore the uniforms of today's navy

One of the lesser known patriot songs of World War II, Here Comes the Navy, was written by Lieutenant Commander Clarence P. Oakes, U.S.N.R., and sung to the tune of the Beer Barrel Polka. And you probably have never heard or sung it.

It seems fitting that the song is less well known than the many others that glorify the Army and the Air Corps because the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard are the smaller of the services. They are often overlooked or slighted. Images of the men and women of the sea services are generally passed over by the collector. That may be partly because sea service images are few and far between or, more likely, because the casual observer can't easily categorize the image. A sailor in the late 19th Century dressed essentially as sailors do today.

In the preface to his 1962 book The Uniforms of the United States Navy, Captain James C. Tily reflected on the difficulty that most collectors have in determining the rank of naval officers or the rating of an enlisted man in the Civil War era because of lax regulations and the informality of the life style existing under the rigors of primitive shipboard life: "The methods used to show rank, rate, specialty and corps bear little resemblance to those employed by the Navy today. While the devices used by the Army to show rank and rating were basically the same then as now, in the period from 1861 to 1865 the Navy employed three distinctive systems of gold lace to indicate an officer's rank! [see MI, Vol. XXI, No. 2]"

It was not until the later part of the 19th Century and the World War One era that Naval uniform regulations began to make it easier to recognize the ranks of sea service personnel.

One of the devices emblematic of World War One service was the much coveted gold stripe designating six months' service overseas. Naval personnel wore the stripe low on the left arm regardless of rank or rate. The image of the lieutenant commander on the previous page shows a dapper young man wearing a celluloid collar and handkerchief in his breast pocket. He also appears to wear a Spanish Campaign Medal. The overseas stripe appears just above the three stripes of tape on the cuff of the enlisted sailor's uniform.

Sailors have always liked to personalize their uniforms with non regulation gear sometimes purchased during foreign cruises. Whether it was skin-tight tailoring or the diameter of the top of their hats, sailors often pushed Navy regulations to the limit as the flat blue dress caps shown here or the white hats with the brim turned down. Top hats, however, were generally reserved for liberty wear after downing a few San Miguels.

Cap ribbons on the flat blue hat are a good indicator when researching the image of a sailor. The most common ribbon displays the words "U.S. NAVY." In the years between the wars it was quite common to see the name of the ship emblazoned on the ribbon. During the wars, sailors reverted to the generic ribbon for security reasons. The uniform regulations of 1913 required that members of the Naval Militia wear an anchor before and after the name of his ship.

When Change #11 to the naval uniform regulations was issued in June 1917 a special uniform for naval aviators was created. Early on, naval aviators adopted the Marine officer's khaki as a working uniform. Change #11 did little more than formalize that unofficial uniform. Then, in September of the same year, a winter working green uniform was authorized by Change #12. The warrant officer shown is wearing the green uniform authorized by Change #12. This order also authorized the uniform for use by non-aviators attached to aviation units.

Changes #15 and 16 made provisions for women who were recruited into the Naval Reserve Force. These women, classified as "Yoeman - F" ("F" for female), were more popularly referred to as "Yoemanettes." One colorful individual in the service was Naoma Parsons.

As opposed to the army, the Navy finds it essential to show the specialty of enlisted personnel directly on the uniform. There were three ways of doing that. The most commonly recognized method, which is still in use, is the petty officer rating badge that designates both specialty and relative rank. Up until World War Two petty officers in "command" specialties wore the rating badges on the right arm and were referred to as "right arm rates." This included boatswans, fire controlmen, gun-{\rtf1\ansi {\colortbl;\red0\green0\blue0;\red0\green0\blue255;\red0\green255\blue255;\red0\green255\blue0;\red255\green0\blue255;\red255\green0\blue0;\red255\green255\blue0;\red255\green255\blue255;}{\fonttbl{\f0\froman\cpg0\fcharset0 Times New Roman;}{\f1\froman\cpg1252\fcharset0 Times New Roman;}{\f2\froman\cpg1251\fcharset204 Times New Roman;}{\f3\froman\cpg1250\fcharset238 Times New Roman;}{\f4\froman\cpg1257\fcharset186 Times New Roman;}{\f5\froman\cpg1254\fcharset162 Times New Roman;}{\f6\froman\cpg1253\fcharset161 Times New Roman;}{\f7\froman\cpg1255\fcharset177 Times New Roman;}}\paperw11180\paperh16100 \sectd \sbknone \pard \plain \cbpat0 {\cf6\f1\lang1033\fs20 ner's\cf0 mates, quartermasters, and a\line few others.}\par \pard \plain \cbpat0 {\cf0\f1\lang1033\fs20 The artificer's branch, which\line was mainly those in technical\line specialties such as electricians,\line machinists' mates, and others,\line wore the badge on the left sleeve.\line For those enlisted men ranking\line below petty officer only the branch\line to which they were striking (i.e.,\line aspiring) was designated. The\line branch was shown by a narrow\line braid stripe sewn around the\line jumper sleeve at the shoulder.\line Seaman's branch sailors wore the\line stripe on the right sleeve, and the\line engine room force, known as "the\line black gang," wore a red stripe on\line the left sleeve at the same point.\line Wearing no stripe indicated that\line the seaman had either not yet been\line put in a track, or was striking in\line another technical direction.}\par \pard \plain \cbpat0 {\cf0\f1\lang1033\fs20 Stripes on cuffs were also a\line designator of relative ranking. \cf6 I\cf0 n}\par } {\rtf1\ansi {\colortbl;\red0\green0\blue0;\red0\green0\blue255;\red0\green255\blue255;\red0\green255\blue0;\red255\green0\blue255;\red255\green0\blue0;\red255\green255\blue0;\red255\green255\blue255;}{\fonttbl{\f0\froman\cpg0\fcharset0 Times New Roman;}{\f1\froman\cpg1252\fcharset0 Times New Roman;}{\f2\froman\cpg1251\fcharset204 Times New Roman;}{\f3\froman\cpg1250\fcharset238 Times New Roman;}{\f4\froman\cpg1257\fcharset186 Times New Roman;}{\f5\froman\cpg1254\fcharset162 Times New Roman;}{\f6\froman\cpg1253\fcharset161 Times New Roman;}{\f7\froman\cpg1255\fcharset177 Times New Roman;}}\paperw11180\paperh16100 \sectd \sbknone \pard \plain \cbpat0 {\cf0\f1\lang1033\fs20 the early \cf6 190\cf0 Os one stripe on the\line cuff designated an apprentice sea-\line man. Two stripes indicated a sea-\line man second class, and three, a sea-\line man first class. Currently the des-\line ignations are one (seaman recruit),\line two (seaman apprentice), and three\line (seaman) stripes mid-sleeve in\line color are used. Green marks the\line aviation branch, red for engine\line room sailors, and white for the\line rest. The specialty mark is worn\line above the stripes.}\par } {\rtf1\ansi {\colortbl;\red0\green0\blue0;\red0\green0\blue255;\red0\green255\blue255;\red0\green255\blue0;\red255\green0\blue255;\red255\green0\blue0;\red255\green255\blue0;\red255\green255\blue255;}{\fonttbl{\f0\froman\cpg0\fcharset0 Times New Roman;}{\f1\froman\cpg1252\fcharset0 Times New Roman;}{\f2\froman\cpg1251\fcharset204 Times New Roman;}{\f3\froman\cpg1250\fcharset238 Times New Roman;}{\f4\froman\cpg1257\fcharset186 Times New Roman;}{\f5\froman\cpg1254\fcharset162 Times New Roman;}{\f6\froman\cpg1253\fcharset161 Times New Roman;}{\f7\froman\cpg1255\fcharset177 Times New Roman;}}\paperw11180\paperh16100 \sectd \sbknone \pard \plain \cbpat0 {\cf0\f1\lang1033\fs20 As the Navy entered World\line War Two, two uniform items, the\line cocked hat worn by almost all offi-\line cers and full dress uniform frock\line coat that were common from the\line 1852 regulation on, disappeared.\line The cost of providing this distinc-\line tive uniform to thousands of offi-\line cers and the tastes of modern times\line saw the end of this uniform.\line Wearing the cocked hat was dis-\line continued on October 12, 1940.\line \hich\af0\loch\af0\dbch\f1 \'95}\par }