Royal Navy Uniforms

This sheet charts a brief history of British naval uniform from 1250 to 1950. Although England's first navy was established in the 9th century by Alfred the Great, there are no records of naval dress/uniforms until the mid 13th century.

1250 - Seamen wore leather hoods, jerkins and carried slings for throwing stones.

1550 - In Henry VIII's time men wore short jackets, full breeches, and hairy caps provided by Crown. In 1548 the King created the Navy Board to handle all dockyard ordnance and victualling.

1588 - An officer s dress, in the time of Elizabeth I, was half-armour richly inlaid, with scarlet trunk hose and stockings.

1655 - At the time of the English Civil War, Commanders wore dress similar to civilians of their station, but added sashes and badges.

1705 - During the reign of Queen Anne, regulation dress was introduced for ratings, but they had to buy it out of their pay.

1748 - In 1748, a uniform was first established for naval officers of executive rank.George II chose the colours.

1805 - During Nelson s time, a ship s captain was often responsible for the designing of his men s uniform, and the seamen were showing a great pride in the dress of their service.

1855 - Shown is a 1st Class Petty Officer of 1855. Clothing had undergone a considerable number of changes, but by 1857, seamen s dress was becoming more standardized.

1898 - On the ninth label is a signalman of 1898 with his slate he would use for taking down semaphore messages.

1945 - The petty officer and two seamen are shown here in more recent uniforms (1940s/1950s).