Matt Dixon Posted 16 November , 2003 Share Posted 16 November , 2003 Did the Royal Navy havie it's own cap badge during WW1, or were there different cap badges depending on which naval group a ship belonged to. I am specifically interested in HMS Hampshire, HMS New Zealand, HMS Queen Mary and HMS Invincible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hussar Posted 16 November , 2003 Share Posted 16 November , 2003 Matt, The Junior Rates of each Ships Company wear a Cap Tally with the name of their ship on it. Senior Rates and Officers wear a Cap Badge denoting their Rank/Rate but not Ship specific. The only difference to this was the Royal Naval Division whose Junior Rates wore Cap Badges denoting their Battalion (Hood, Drake, Benbow, Hawke, Collingwood, Nelson and Howe.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 18 November , 2003 Share Posted 18 November , 2003 Just to expand a little on one aspect of Hussar's reply above Before the RND received their own battalions' badges for their service caps they wore the standard RN cap with a tally reading firstly Royal Naval Division (eg as seen on early photographs of men at the Crystal Palace) then later, the name of their battalion eg. Hood Eventually with the introduction of the khaki uniform's service cap to the RND, the metal cap badge made its appearance, each one distinctive to its own battalion Re cap tallys in general, I seem to remember that my father's from WWII showed only the letters HMS while I think that in WWI the full name of the ship also appeared Regards Michael D.R. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hussar Posted 18 November , 2003 Share Posted 18 November , 2003 Re cap tallys in general, I seem to remember that my father's from WWII showed only the letters HMS while I think that in WWI the full name of the ship also appeared Regards Michael D.R. Michael, You are correct about the WW2 Tallies. This was to foil the dastardly 5th Columnists as they would not be able to tell which Ships were 'In' purely by going down to 'Pompey', doing 'Rounds Route Alpha' and skegging the Cap Tallies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 18 November , 2003 Share Posted 18 November , 2003 Hussar, many thanks for that confirmation the 'former naval person' previously referred to is celebrating his 82nd birthday today so I had better look sharp and get him to translate the slang before we splice the main brace All the best Michael D.R. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted 18 November , 2003 Share Posted 18 November , 2003 I don't if its still the same, but in my day submariners used to wear cap tallies with HM SUBMARINES on them. Presumably this was also to prevent people knowing which boat they were on. This illusion was ruined by the 'HMS Oberon Rugby Team' t-shirts that they wore ashore. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 18 November , 2003 Share Posted 18 November , 2003 translate the slang memo to self Shouldn't that read 'translate the Jack Speak?' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest paddy Posted 22 November , 2003 Share Posted 22 November , 2003 G'day Mick Belay the last pipe! Keep this up & I'll dig out a couple of photos of crew from HMAS Oberon playing their natural game Aussie Rules. I know, I know we always get hand-me-downs ooRoo Paddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roger Posted 22 November , 2003 Share Posted 22 November , 2003 Could be talking out of my transom but didn't some senior rates ( depending on which branch.) still wear square rig up to and including WW 2 ? Roger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 29 November , 2003 Share Posted 29 November , 2003 Roger, I don't know how much further forward this takes you, if at all, But I have just been able to raise your point with my father whose explanation for his own square rig was "the war ended too soon"; apparently he had to complete six months before the new rate was confirmed and only after that confirmation was he to have been allowed to ditch the square rig Regards Michael D.R. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roger Posted 29 November , 2003 Share Posted 29 November , 2003 Michael I understand what your Father told you about waiting to be confimed before getting a new rig and also think that up to some point Petty Officers "dressed as Seaman" wore square rig and Chief Petty officers wore fore and aft rig. I don't have much info on this but I think PO's in certain branches ie Tiffs, wore fore and aft rig too. I joined up in '81 so it's well before my time Roger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 30 November , 2003 Share Posted 30 November , 2003 also think that up to some point Petty Officers "dressed as Seaman" wore square rig and Chief Petty officers wore fore and aft rig. Roger, That explanation would also fit as my father ended the war as a Yeoman of Signals and not as a Chief Yeoman of Signals Regards Michael D.R. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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