A look back to the first badges used on ratings uniforms dating from the mid 19th century. Many of these branches disappeared in the 20th century and of course, all have now gone in the 21st century.

  We start our story off with 'badges', and just to confuse you, although the Royal Navy has lockers full of them with many different shapes, sizes, names and colours, we only refer to one of them as a BADGE. To further complicate things, in reality it is a 'stripe' but we don't call it such: we leave that for our buddies in the marines, the army and the air force to use that expression. Whilst not part of my story on this page, in the navy, a 'stripe' is worn by an officer to denote his rank, for example, a lieutenant has two stripes and a captain, four stripes.

  We assessed men in the navy in two ways, and from those assessment an immediate picture came to mind about the overall quality of the man. The first assessment was the CHARACTER of the man which was a measure of his morals, his self discipline and thus his CONDUCT in the Service. The assessments were Very Good (VG); Good, Fair, Indifferent and Bad. The vast majority of sailors (in excess of 95%) were assessed as VG. Thus being assessed as only Good meant that one was not up to the norm which was adjudged to be Very Good, and being less than Good usually meant that one was well below par and your future was bleak. As a reward, a man with a continuous VG Conduct record measured over a specific period was given a 'badge' which rather strangely was called a Good Conduct Badge, a GCB. In reality it should have been called a VGCB because been assessed as only Good continuously over the same specific period would have denied a man getting this 'badge'. With the 'badge' came a small money allowance* and badgemen had certain privileges denied to non-badgemen. In order to encourage the man to maintain his VG status, there was always the threat of it been taken off him for any wrong doing, and a mandatory wait period before he got it back given that he mended his ways.

*Badge pay stopped on the 1st April 1970.

  Before continuing with GCB's, let me tidy away the other assessment mentioned above. The second assessment was EFFICIENCY at his job at his rate. These were Inferior; Moderate; Satisfactory; Superior and Exceptional and to be marked as Satisfactory (SAT) was good enough. To be 'VG SAT' meant that you were a trusted a well rounded sailor, quite adequate and most suitable for promotion when it came your way. At a guess, I would reckon that at least 65% of the navy were assessed as SAT with only a few percentage-wise below SAT, the other 33% or so in the higher assessment groups.

Back to the GCB story.

  GCB's were first introduced in 1849, just 44 years after the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. They were of gold lace and chevron in design and were worn on the left arm. Below the rank of chief petty officer, the left and right arms show two types of badges, on the left arm SUBSTANTIVE badges and on the right arm NON-SUBSTANTIVE badges. Substantive badges show naval rank (petty officer; leading hand; instructor boy; petty officer boy and leading boy) and the GCB's, whilst unlike the marines, army and air force have absolutely nothing to do with rank, are to do with good conduct, reliability, experience and if necessary, responsibility. Non-substantive badges reflect the branch you are in and the level of expertise you have reached in professional examinations.

  The first GCB was awarded after five years service, the second after ten years service and the third after fifteen years service, all times dating from the sailors eighteenth birthday or later if he joined after the age of eighteen. Time served before eighteen did not count. Before 1860, a Royal Navy sailor could claim time spent in the Merchant Navy towards his qualifying time. In 1860, after a major rethink on 'Conditions of Service' in the light of the Crimean War, the time periods for GCB's were altered to three years for the first, the second after eight years and the third after thirteen years. It remained that way for 90 long years until 1950, when common sense prevailed and the awards were made every four years after four, eight and twelve years service respectively. The reason for three only badges was that a man's fourth 'badge' would have been (prior to 1860) due after twenty years service and that was the time he would have left the navy in those days. After 1860, he had the opportunity of going for a pension to serve twenty two years, and after his third GCB (after thirteen years service when aged thirty two) his next "reward" was a Long Service and Good Conduct Medal and a small cash gratuity negating the need for a fourth 'badge'. And so it has always been a maximum of three GCB's. For the second half of the twentieth century sailors joining on or before their eighteenth birthday wore three GCB's on their left arm from the age of thirty. CPO's wore GCB's when they were introduced at a time when they wore square rig, but ceased doing so when in fore and aft rig. Today, a sailor serving a pensionable career, has, after his third GCB, the award of a Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (LSGC) plus a cash gratuity after fifteen years service, followed by a pension when aged forty after twenty two years service. It is possible to serve to a much greater age than forty, and that could bring a clasp award for his LSGC. This clasp was introduced on the 24th January 1945.

  From the first introduction of GCB's, while the gold lace badges were sold as such for wear on blue cloth jackets and blue serge frocks, badges of blue serge had to be made up by the tailors to go on white duck frocks. In 1860, red badges were instituted for blue serge frocks, gold being worn on jackets only, and thereafter gold, red and blue GCB's could be purchased made up in ones, twos, or threes with the badge of a petty officer or leading seaman attached to them. After the blue jacket was abolished in 1891, gold badges were worn on the number one frock which had replaced it as best, and when that also went out in 1906, on the number 1 jumper. It may be convenient to explain here that the frock was a rather loose garment which was tucked into the top of the trousers while the jumper was slimmer fitting and was worn outside them.

  Thinking on that left arm business mentioned above (the substantive side) 1958 heralded in a most unfortunate and grossly unpopular badge which was to be worn on the jumper/jacket left arm cuff by all ratings serving in submarines. The badge could hardly be considered to be SUBSTANTIVE (certainly less so than GCB's) and was called the 'pregnant sausage' or other less attractive names by all submariners including me, and although it was a SLOPS item until 1964, it was rarely seen on a uniform it being considered ridiculous. In my picture below I have shown it in line drawing, but it did come in all the normal colours namely red, white and gold, being a sewn image on normal badge-cloth.

  Now for Non-Substantive badges which follow below. But first a bit of history about them to help you understand more fully. Please do not rush ahead to the badges themselves for the history of them is as important and the badges themselves.

  From the earliest of times the various duties that have to be performed in a ship of war have required the allocation of a number of separate men for their performance, so that everyone knew what his particular job would be and what jobs would be done by other men. According to the importance of his duties so a man was graded and paid. Some jobs might carry a petty officer's rate, some would not.

  In the year after the Battle of Trafalgar there were as many as forty eight different ratings to be found in a ship of the line. By 1st April 1853, when the rating of chief petty officer was first introduced, this number had swollen to seventy nine. Thirteen of this total had been added in 1847 when eleven other ratings which had become obsolete were abolished.

  There was no special arrangements for the training of men in special duties, and ratings were given or taken away at the discretion of the captain. In 1830 there was a new department. A Gunnery School was set up at Portsmouth in HMS Excellent and was later moved ashore. The products of this school were rated as seamen gunners. In 1860 gunnery instructors were also introduced and in this year the gunnery ratings were given embroidered badges to wear on their sleeve. These consisted of a gun superimposed on a crossed rifle and cutlass with a crown above for gunnery instructors and a single gun with or without crown above it, for seamen gunners of the first or second class respectively.

  By 1885, the invention of the torpedo had led to the introduction of a new family of ratings. Men were trained in both weapons, and this led to both guns and torpedoes appearing on their badges, the arm for which they were principally trained being placed in front of the other on the badge. In the new set of badges, four had the gun in front of the torpedo, two the torpedo in front of the gun. In the same year sick berth ratings shipped the Red Cross as their badge.

  These (the gunnery) badges lasted only five years and they were modified in 1890 when some badges with a single gun also appeared. At the same time badges were introduced for stokers, signalmen, artisans, gymnastic instructors and naval police.

  In 1903, the gunnery and torpedo badges were all reorganised, each branch becoming completely independent of the other and wearing devices showing the one weapon only. New badges for other branches followed, for wireless telegraphy ratings in 1909, for officer's stewards and cooks in 1916, for range-takers in 1918, for divers in 1919, for surveying recorders in 1921, for photographers, telegraphist air gunners and the new anti submarine branch in 1930.

  1932 saw sail-makers having their turn and the various ratings that came under the jurisdiction of the accountant branch had some variety introduced into their badges.

  In 1933, the signal and wireless telegraphy branches were reorganised with changed titles, and this led to changes in their badges in the following year.

  One year before WW2 started (1938) the gunnery branch followed and also reorganised. It had been found that with the complexity of weapons it was no longer possible to give every man such a wide training as had hitherto been attempted, and in consequence men were now to specialise in one of four branches - gun-laying, quarters, control or anti-aircraft. Many of the older gunnery and range-taker ratings were replaced and in 1939 came a new series of badges in which a man's particular sub-specialisation was indicated by distinguishing letters below the badge.

  This same opening of war year saw the introduction of air mechanics, organised into three sections - airframes, electrical and engines.

  WW2 gave rise to some additional badges, such as those for boom defence in 1941 and for combined operations in 1942. In 1944 responsibility for electrical matters was taken away from the torpedo branch who had held it since its introduction into the Navy in the last century, and was given to a new independent department. Two new branches thus emerged from the old, each with its own basic badge. These were the electrical badge, and the torpedo-anti-submarine branch which was formed by the amalgamation of these two disciplines. The new badges did not appear until 1947.

  Up to this time, each branch had developed its own badges in its own fashion and the crowns and stars of one had not necessarily the same meaning as they had for another. There were branches in which the same basic badge was worn without addition by all members of the branch. In 1948, an attempt was made to rationalise the meaning of these additional crowns and stars throughout the Navy. The original scheme had to be modified in 1951 when a new pay structure caused the chief petty officer of most branches to adopt two grades of badges according to their two grades of pay. To the onlooker it seems strange that at a period when differences between officers' dress for the various branches were being obliterated so many additional badges should be introduced to show minor changes between the same status of ratings. Nevertheless frequent changes in non-substantive badges continued.

  In 1956. it was decided that the title 'boy' was no longer appropriate and these were re-designated to be 'juniors'. At the same time it was decided that it was no longer desirable that a new entrant should delay specialisation until he had been some time at sea and this lead to some reorganisation of the meaning of badges in the lower categories. Before 1956, boy's had communication branch badges but those training for the seaman branch had none.

  Badges are made in red for wear on blue uniforms and in blue for wear on white uniforms. On No1 uniforms the badges are of gold.

  So, what follows are the badges of the Royal Navy from the 19th century until the mid to late 20th century, sixty six basic badges in all with variants not shown. The badges are arranged in the chronological order of the first introduction of each basic design. THEY ARE TAKEN FROM OFFICIAL ADMIRALTY FILES. Some of them appear alien to our more recent understanding of badges and at first glance you might question a badge for a rate. Some of them tell of great and profound changes none more so than this badge on the left below, which in the period 1945-1948 was the badge of a Rating Pilot (Completed Flying Training) and in the period 1948-1961, the badge of a 3rd class Photographer.

  Finally a note on the naval STAR of which there are forty listed in the pictures above and of course many more in Column Four.
  Badges were worn on uniforms and much was made about the naval uniform to a new recruit. For example the lines on a collar, why a lanyard and why a silk and tapes ? Bell bottom trousers and their unique waist fastening involving a fabric cross-over, integral to the trousers, around the waist fastened by a row of three vertical buttons, over which a front flap of material about six inches deep was pulled up over this cross-over and buttoned by a row of four horizontal buttons which was used as a fly and hid the vertical buttons on the cross-over ; no zips in those days ! Kit had to be stowed in a limited space onboard a ship and items of kit had to be folded in a certain way to maximise the use of the space available without damaging the article of kit. Bell bottom trousers were folded concertina-wise with two gauges available. The first was seven creases ironed-in (or steamed-in) at regular and uniform distances from the bottom of the leg to the upper thigh, across the leg (thwartships), and the other option was five creases. Clearly, the 'seven' option resulted in a tighter fold and this was used in HMS Ganges at all times. The 'five' option was often preferred by sailors in the fleet once out of basic training, but for ceremonial occasions (as opposed to liberty) this was dictated by the commander/first lieutenant of the ship or shore establishment. The seven and five options came from nautical antiquity at a time when there were FIVE recognised OCEANS (Pacific 60,060,868 square miles and the deepest/ Atlantic 29,637,961 square miles and the second deepest/ Indian 26,469,608 square miles and third deepest/ Southern 7,848,295 square miles depth still being argued about/ Arctic 5,427,049 square miles and the fourth deepest - today we only recognise four namely Pacific, Atlantic, Indian and Arctic. The word 'seven' in antiquity meant 'several' and the "Seven Seas of antiquity" were known as the Red, Mediterranean, Persian Gulf, Black, Adriatic, Caspian and Indian Sea. Today, we know of many more and the North Sea, for many years called the German Sea, is considered to be our very own. The number of seas is so great now that as a reminder only, if we were to enter the Mediterranean through the Straits of Gibraltar, we would be given access to no fewer than five seas without exiting the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal enter the Red Sea. These are the Aegean, Adriatic, Black, Marmara, Tyrrherian and the Ionian. Sailors who wore bell bottoms could tell you why they had creases in their trousers but many could not name the oceans/seas involved in the custom/tradition !
  Apart from bell bottoms which were stretched to make them larger (when wet, pulled hard down on an up-turned dhoby bucket and allowed to dry); the heavily bent Blancoed white cap with its tiddly bow slewed as near as possible to be positioned over the left eye (as opposed to the side of the head/cap where it should have been) putting the name of the ship further back towards the rear of the cap (e.g., H.M.S. Knaresborough Castle); the "can't do without bottle of bleach" for the white front and the blue jean collar; the jumper, so tight that one was knackered when struggling to get into it and which took your oppo to pull the darn thing off when returning from a run ashore, and that much cherished addition of a white silk scarf, centre stage in literally thousands of wedding photographs of "jolly jack".
  In actual fact, white scarf's were worn by senior rates only whether onboard with night clothing or anytime when ashore with or without Burberry's or great coats, but junior rates were only allowed to wear them when on LONG LEAVE only, never on night or week end leave. Thus, by implication, they were never seen on the person of a junior rate when in a naval port or town. When worn by junior rates, they were invariably tucked down behind the black silk. All these uniform points were well understood by royal sailors and moreover, regularly abused, sometimes to the point where adding a badge to which they were not entitled or qualified to wear, elevated them (at least in their eyes) towards the status of "sea dad's" !
  However, and countless thousands will have been worn on naval uniforms, there will be very few indeed who will know of the ubiquitous naval ratings STAR - NOTE, senior naval officers wear stars on their shoulder straps which are eight-pointed stars. The army wear variants of five-points, seven-points and eight-points whilst the RAF seem not to bother with stars at all !
  The naval ratings star has six-points and as we have seen from the table above, it can signify many things. Above all else, in varying degree, it is about competency or seniority, and a senior rate with two stars below his badge (RCI for example - see Telegraphist badge above, column four, No 3 entry) depicts his high achievement within his branch - a proper Sparker as it were.
  Stars on naval uniforms are relatively new dating from the late 19th century. At that time it was decided to use a symbol with a nautical connotation, and the one chosen was the original nautical compass rose used by the Romans. They used 12-points to 'box their compass' as we today 'box the compass' using 32-points or higher depending upon the degree of accuracy required. If you study a naval ratings star more carefully,

  You will note that from the centre point, the inner circle, there are twelve lines drawn out to fixed points on the outside of the star. The vertical lines point to NORTH and SOUTH respectively while the horizontal lines point to EAST and WEST respectively. The other lines, moving from NORTH clockwise, are each at 30?? distance from the preceding point and thus overall, the rose covers 000??, 030??, 060??, 090??, 120??, 150??, 180??, 210??, 240??, 270??, 300??, 330??.
  For some inexplicable reason, the vast majority of naval ratings were never taught this and yet it is clearly documented in naval archives. Now you know !