Traditional uniforms were replaced with suits and ties that were more in line with CPO and officer regulations. Many sailors in leadership roles, including many senior petty officers, wanted their uniforms to appear more distinguished. Major changes to the uniform took place in 1973. These ribbons used to feature a sailor's unit name on the flat of the hat, but these distinctions eventually were shifted to the shoulder for security reasons. However, there is no evidence to suggest that this is the origin of the practice.Īmong a few traditional aspects of the uniform to change in the 1940s was the removal of the hat-band ribbon in 1941.
There are many claims that this is a nod to the Greek myth of deceased individuals needing a coin for the ferryman on the river Styx to take them to the underworld. It was common to use a coin to keep the neckerchief's shape while rolling it. They were useful enough that the Navy codified a standard-issue neckerchief with a square knot in 1817. Neckerchiefs were common at the time among men working on ships since they were convenient sweat rags. They were rolled easily above the knee to keep legs dry and allowed sailors to remove them quickly while still wearing their shoes in case they were tossed overboard. Perhaps unintentionally, bell-bottoms proved extremely useful. Eventually, string reappeared at the back of the waist to help sailors whose pants needed an extra cinch when the buttons failed.īell-bottoms, another iconic aspect of classic Navy uniforms, supposedly were implemented in the 1800s to distinguish sailors from civilian fashion. In 1894, the flap was lengthened, and six more buttons were added. In 1864, a flap at the front of the trousers was implemented that required seven buttons to hold up. While the original uniforms used string to holds pants at the waist, buttons soon took over.
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