Royal Navy Enlisted Uniform Question

[cold steel]

Hello Gentlemen,

Please help me with a Royal Navy uniform question.  I assume the enlisted guys were issued a regulation overcoat or pea coat.  Did it have brass or wood buttons?  I read somewhere that officers and petty officers had gilt buttons.  It's hard to tell with period photos (e.g., www.ww1photos.org)  since they are in black and white.  It almost appears, in some photos, that the overcoat buttons are black.

 

Thanks you very much.

[seaJane]

I'm almost certain that junior and senior rates (despite the word, POs were senior rates, not officers) had brass buttons, and officers had gilt.

 

But I haven't checked my references, so am prepared to be proven wrong.

[ARABIS]

Junior rates buttons were of the same pattern as petty officers but were made of horn died black.

[seaJane]

Thanks for the correction Arabis.

[cold steel]

Thank you, seaJane and Arabis.  And my apologies, seaJane, for opening my question with a greeting to Gentlemen when I should've typed "Ladies and Gentlemen!" 

 

You'll have to forgive me.  I believe rates is short for ratings, and ratings was the RN term for enlisted personnel, correct?  Was an Able Seaman considered a junior rate, in otherwords?  And what about specialists like Telegraphist?

 

Thanks again.

 

[FROGSMILE]

The RN regulation ‘overcoat’ for service at sea had become a duffle coat before 1900, with wooden toggles easily fastened by gloved or numbed hands (see enclosed WW1 photo), although it had been a heavy Melton peacoat before that in the late Victorian era (eventually adopted and retained by the US Navy).  Greatcoats were issued for parade wear ashore.

[seaJane]

46 minutes ago, cold steel said:

  I believe rates is short for ratings, and ratings was the RN term for enlisted personnel, correct?  Was an Able Seaman considered a junior rate, in otherwords?  And what about specialists like Telegraphist?

 

Digging around a bit I find enlisted personnel used for ratings, although I haven't come across the term much - deeper buried in officialdom than I usually venture! I may just be suffering from terminological confusion...

 

Excuse me for spelling the rates out, but someone who doesn't know may come across this thread and find it useful:-

 

Junior rates: Boy (class I & II), Ordinary Seaman (OS), Able [Bodied] Seaman (AB), Leading Hand. 

Senior Rates: Petty Officer (PO), Chief Petty Officer (CPO), Warrant Officer (WO)

 

If I recall correctly, branches were added on, eg. Boy / Ordinary / Able / Leading Telegraphist, but PO Telegraphist, CPO Telegraphist.

And the medical branch was different again:

• 1st and 2nd Class Boys
• Sick Berth Attendant
• Sick Berth Steward 2nd Class
• Sick Berth Steward 1st Class
• Chief Sick Berth Steward

 

[FROGSMILE]

Bang on the nail Sea Jane.  The term ‘Enlisted Personnel/Men  was very rarely used by the British military, both RN and Army.  It was/is more commonly used in the USA.  The British usage was officers and ratings (RN) and officers and other ranks (Army).

Edited 11 April , 2019 by FROGSMILE

[seaJane]

Thank you for the corroboration Frogsmile