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Admiralty references: C.E.60005/48, N.L.2925/52 SECTION I. UNIFORM AND DRESS 1101. The officers, men and boys of Her Majesty's fleet and the Royal Marines shall wear such uniforms as the Admiralty in persuance of Her Majesty's pleasure shall from time to time direct. The uniforms directed to be worn are specified and described in B.R. 81 and 82 Uniform Regulations and are published in the Appendix to the Navy List. The prescribed patterns are to be adhered to strictly. 2. The numbers of articles authorised for ratings by the Uniform Regulations may be exceeded provided that they are of the authorised pattern and can be stowed conveniently. 3. All officers and ratings are to be in possession of, and wear, the proper ribbons for the medals which have been awarded to them. 4. Q.R. 1/54. 1102. Officers. Every officer, from the time of his joining the fleet, squadron, ship or unit to which he has been appointed, to that of his being removed from it, is to wear the uniform established for his rank, except when he has leave from the Admiralty or Senior Officer to be absent from his duty, or as hereinafter provided. 2. At reviews, public balls or entertainments given by naval, military or air authorities, civil functionaries, or by military or air force messes at ports at which their ships may be lying, officers are to wear the uniform of their rank as prescribed for the various occasions specified in the Uniform Regulations; and no deviations are to be authorised without special authority previously obtained from the Admiralty. 3. Regulation uniform is not to be worn at fancy dress balls but there is no objection to naval uniform anterior to 1850 being worn on such occasions. 4. Officers may wear plain clothes on ordinary leave. 1103. Officers not on full pay, or retired. Except by special direction of the Admiralty, officers on the active list not holding an effective appointment on full pay, and officers on the retired list whose names appear in the Navy List, are permitted to wear the uniform of their respective ranks within the British Commonwealth on State and other occasions of ceremony only. 1104. In foreign countries. In foreign countries, generally, officers and ratings are not, in the absence of agreement by the local authorities, to wear uniform when on shore except in a port at which their ship is lying. When it is uncertain whether there is any prohibition on the wearing of uniform when travelling inland, enquiry is to be made of the local authorities and such permission as is necessary obtained. 1105. Growth of hair. The Captain is to permit all naval officers and men to wear beards and moustaches if they so desire. When permission to grow a beard is given the use of the razor is to be discontinued entirely, as moustaches are not to be worn without the beard, nor the beard without moustaches, except by non-continuous service Officers' Steward, Officers' Cook and Cook (O) ratings (excluding Maltese), who may wear their beards and moustaches, or moustaches only, or be clean-shaven as each may elect. This concession applies also to R.N. Special Reservists and II. ORDERS, DECORATIONS AND MEDALS 1131 Royal Fleet Reservists performing short periods of training, but not to National Service men doing whole time service nor to Royal Fleet Reservists recalled or retained in an emergency. 2. Officers and men of the Royal Marines ashore or afloat may wear moustaches or be entirely clean-shaven, as each may elect. If the moustache is grown no part of the upper lip is to be shaven. Commanding Officers may give permission for officers and men of the Royal Marines to wear beards ashore or afloat in circumstances of extreme climatic conditions, and for special duties, or if ordered for medical reasons. 3. Hair, beards, moustaches and whiskers are to be neatly cut and trimmed and, so far as is practicable, uniformity in length is to be established. 1106. Emblems. Officers and ratings, according to nationality, may wear the national flower or emblem on St. George's Day, St. Andrew's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and St. David's Day and a poppy on Remembrance Sunday. See Uniform Regulations (Appendix to Navy List) on wearing ship's colours. 1107. Mourning. Court Mourning will not be observed by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. 2. In the event of " Service Mourning " being ordered special instructions will be issued regarding its application and duration. During Service Mourning black ties are to be worn by officers and ratings when on duty in plain clothes. 3. Mourning bands are to be worn by officers in uniform when attending Service funerals and associated memorial services held on the same day. They are not to be worn at any other memorial services or ceremonies such as the unveiling of memorials and Remembrance Sunday celebrations (Appendix 19). 4. An officer or rating in private mourning may wear a mourning band if he so desires. Officers in private mourning should not wear a mourning band at Court unless the Court is also in mourning. 1108. Wearing of plain clothes by ratings and other ranks. Plain clothes may be worn on short leave in the United Kingdom by all men of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines except those under training. " Men under training " includes all those undergoing disciplinary and technical training on first entry, and men undergoing initial technical training on transfer to another branch. All men may wear plain clothes when on leave in the United Kingdom for a period over 24 hours. 2. In Commonwealth countries, plain clothes maybe worn as in Clause 1 at the discretion of Commanders-in-Chief. See 1104 as to foreign countries. 3. Men wearing plain clothes must wear no visible item of uniform clothing. 4. No man is permitted to proceed on leave from, or return to, any of Her Majesty's ships, or proceed in a Service boat, including a dockyard launch, in plain clothes. 5. Chief petty officers, petty officers, and non-commissioned officers of the rank of Sergeant and above, may wear plain clothes on proceeding out of or into naval shore establishments in the United Kingdom. Other ratings or ranks are not permitted to do so, and this regulation applies equally to them when they are serving in Army or Royal Air Force establishments. (See Appendix 18 on wearing plain clothes when on passage to certain countries.) SECTION II. ORDERS, DECORATIONS AND MEDALS 1131. Qualifications for awards. Members of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines are eligible for the following Honours, Decorations and awards:
1132 UNIFORMS, DECORATIONS AND MEDALS
The regulations governing such appointments and awards are published regularly in the Appendix to the Navy List. 2. Naval officers and ratings are eligible for the Distinguished Flying Cross and Distinguished Flying Medal, respectively, for operational service with the Royal Air Force; and for the Air Force Cross and the Air Force Medal, respectively, for outstanding services in non-operational flying. These awards are made only on the recommendation of the Royal Air Force authority. 3. Officers of the Royal Marines may lie awarded the Military Cross and other ranks the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the Military Medal, on the recommendation of the Army authorities Similarly, naval ratings may be awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for distinguished Conduct in the field while serving with the Army. 4. A monetary award, on the same conditions as for the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal or Distinguished Service Medal, may be made to a recipient of the Distinguished Conduct Medal, the Military Medal or the Distinguished Flying Medal. 1132. Recommendation for awards. A recommendation for an immediate award for bravery should be made as soon as possible after the action for which the award is proposed. Acts of gallantry by civilians (both State servants and others) which come to the notice of naval authorities should also be reported if deserving recognition. The awards for which civilians are eligible are stated in the Appendix to the Navy List. 2. Awards for good service over a period are made half-yearly in the Queen's Birthday and New Year Honours Lists. Recommendations for officers and ratings are to reach the Secretary of the Admiralty by 1st March and 1st October, and for civilians by 31st January and 31st July. 3. Each recommendation is to be accompanied by a full statement of the services for which an award is proposed, care being taken that the recommendation conforms strictly to the spirit of the regulations for the award. 4. All recommendations for an award, including a Mention in Despatches or Queen's Commendation, are to be regarded as strictly confidential and no officer is under any circumstances to inform either the person he is recommending, or his relatives or any other interested person, that such a recommendation is being made. 5. Extraordinary merit in saving life which, in the Captain's opinion, deserves the Albert Medal (posthumous) or the rewards of the Royal Humane Society, is to be represented through the proper channels to the Admiralty on the special form of which copies are held by Commanders-in-Chief. 1133. Wearing of decorations. The regulations respecting the manner of wearing Orders, Decorations and Medals, and the order in which they are to be worn are laid down in the Uniform Regulations and are also published in the Appendix to the Navy List. See 4715 on replacement of lost medals. SECTION III. FOREIGN DECORATIONS 1151. Foreign Orders and decorations. No person in the service of the Crown shall accept or wear the insignia of any foreign Order without having previously obtained Her Majesty's permission to do so, signified either:
2. When permission is given by Warrant under the Royal Sign-Manual, the insignia of the foreign Order may be worn at all times and without any restriction. When restricted permission is given, III. FOREIGN DECORATIONS 1152 the insignia may only be worn on the occasion specified in the terms of the letter from the Keeper of Her Majesty's Privy Purse conveying the Royal sanction. 3. Full and unrestricted permission by Warrant under the Royal Sign-Manual is contemplated for a decoration conferred in the following cases:-
4. Restricted permission is particularly contemplated for decorations which have been conferred in recognition of personal attention to a foreign Sovereign, the Head of a foreign State, or a member of a foreign Royal Family on the occasion of State or official visits by such personages. 5. Restricted permission will also be given for decorations conferred in the following cases:-
Note:-A State visit is defined as one on which the Queen is accompanied by a Minister or high official in attendance. 6. Restricted permission will not be given to:-
7. In the case both of full and of restricted permission the matter will be submitted to the Queen by Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who shall be under no obligation to consider applications for permission unless the desire of the Head of a foreign State to confer upon a British subject the insignia of an Order is notified to him before the Order is conferred, either through the British Diplomatic representative accredited to the Head of the foreign state, or through the Diplomatic representative of the latter at the Court of St. James. 8. No application can be considered in respect of decorations conferred more than five years previously or offered in connection with services or events so long prior to the nomination. 9. When Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs shall have taken the Queen's pleasure on any such application, and shall have obtained Her Majesty's permission for the person in whose favour it has been made to wear the insignia of a foreign Order, he shall signify the same to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department, in order that he may cause a Warrant, if it be a case for the issue of a `''arrant as defined in Clause 2, to be prepared for the Royal Sign-Manual. When such Warrant shall have been signed by the Queen, a notification thereof shall be inserted in the " Gazette." Persons in whose favour such Warrants are issued will be required to pay to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department a stamp duty of 10s. 10. The Warrant signifying Her Majesty's permission may, at the request and at the expense of the person who has obtained it, be registered in the College of Arms. Every such Warrant as aforesaid shall contain a Clause providing that Her Majesty's licence and permission does not authorise the assumption of any style, appellation, rank, precedence, or privilege appertaining to a Knight Bachelor of Her Majesty's Realms. 1152. Foreign medals. Medals, with the exceptions specified below, and State decorations not carrying membership of an Order of Chivalry, are subject to the regulations in the same manner as Orders, but permission is given by letter and not by Royal Warrant. 1153 UNIFORMS, DECORATIONS AND MEDALS 2. Medals for saving or attempting to save life at sea or on land, whether conferred on behalf of the Head or Government of a foreign State or by private life-saving societies or institutions, may be accepted and worn without restriction; subject, however, in the case of members of Her Majesty's Naval, Military or air forces, to any restrictions imposed by the Queen's Regulations for those ser ices as to the wearing of such medals with uniform. 3. Applications for Her Majesty's permission to wear other medals conferred by private societies or institutions and commemorative medals cannot be entertained. 4. The Queen's unrestricted permission to accept and wear a foreign war medal will only be given to:
1153. Allied decorations granted for war service. Provided the Admiralty- concurs in each case, Her Majesty's unrestricted permission is given for the acceptance and wearing of the insignia of the Orders of Allies or Allied decorations or medals, when granted for war services. 1154. Women are subject to these regulations in all respects in the same manner as men. ^ back to top ^ |