Army and Navy Uniforms and Insignia / How to Know Rank, Corps and Service in the Military and Naval Forces of the United States and Foreign Countries

by Dion Williams

Uniforms of the Austrian Navy

The uniforms of the officers and enlisted men of the Austrian Navy are of dark blue cloth for winter wear and of white duck for hot weather and are generally similar to those worn in the British Navy.

Commissioned officers are provided with special full dress, full dress, undress, blue service, white service and white mess uniforms.

The special full dress uniform (gala dress) consists of a cocked hat of the same shape as the one worn in the United States Navy but having more gold braid on it; a short double-breasted frock coat with a standing collar; epaulets; dark blue trousers with gold stripes down the outer leg seams; a sash belt of black cloth with interwoven horizontal gilt stripes and a knot and tassels of gold on the right hip; and black shoes. The collar of the coat and the cuffs are trimmed with gold lace braid, the sword is worn suspended by slings from a belt worn beneath the coat, and the rank of the officer is indicated by insignia worn upon the collar and upon the tops of the epaulets.

The full dress consists of the cocked hat; a double-breasted frock coat with turn-down collar and notched lapels; epaulets; trousers the same as for the special full dress; and black shoes. The sash belt is also worn with this uniform.

The undress uniform consists of a bell-crowned cap of dark blue cloth with a black mohair braid band, sloping visor of black patent leather, gold chin strap above the visor and the rank indicated by narrow gold stripes around the black band; the frock coat worn without epaulets; plain dark blue trousers and black shoes. White trousers and a cap with the upper portion of the crown white are some times worn with this uniform. The sash belt is not worn with this uniform, the sword being suspended by slings from a belt worn beneath the coat.

The blue service dress consists of the blue or white cap; a square cut double-breasted sack coat similar to that worn in the British Navy; plain trousers of dark blue cloth or white duck, and black shoes. When on duty with troops ashore the sword belt is worn outside of this coat.

The white service uniform consists of a white cap or white helmet; a white coat with shoulder straps of the same design as the white service coat worn by the United States naval officer except that there is a patch pocket with flap and button on each side below the waist. When under arms the sword is worn suspended by slings from a belt beneath the coat and the gold and black sash belt is worn outside of the coat.

The mess uniform consists of a white mess jacket upon which the shoulder straps are worn; a white waistcoat; dark blue plain trousers, and black shoes. There is no blue mess jacket and no evening dress coat.

Austrian Navy. Officers’ sleeve decorations indicating rank

1. Admiral	2. Vice Admiral	3. Rear Admiral
4. Captain	5. Commander	6. Senior Lieutenant
7. Lieutenant	8. Sub Lieutenant	9. Midshipman
10. Naval Cadet 11. Surgeon General
12. Staff Officer with rank of Rear Admiral

With the frock coat uniforms a plain black silk necktie is worn tied in a flat double-bow knot.

The rank is indicated on the frock coat and upon the blue service coat by stripes of gold lace upon the sleeves above the cuff. In the case of officers of flag rank a gold Austrian Imperial crown is worn above the stripes. These stripes for the different grades of rank are shown in the accompanying [illustration].

On the white service coat the rank is indicated by stripes upon the shoulder straps in the same manner as in the United States Navy, these stripes being of the same number, widths and arrangements as upon the sleeves of the frock and service coats.

The corps or branch of the service to which an officer belongs is indicated by the “curl” in the upper stripe of the rank stripes upon the sleeve and shoulder strap, and by stripes of colored silk between the gold rank stripes for the different Staff corps. These distinctive colors for the different corps or branches are:—

Engineers	Gray.
Medical officers	Black.
Naval Constructors	Crimson.
Paymasters	Light blue.
Professors	Dark blue.
White gloves are prescribed for all uniforms.

Medical officers of flag rank wear an eight-pointed gold star above the rank stripes on the sleeves, other Staff officers of flag rank wear a four-circle rosette there, and Medical officers wear as a distinctive device on the shoulder strap over the rank stripes the rod of Esculapius entwined with a serpent in silver.

Midshipmen at the Naval Academy wear a dark blue double-breasted round-about jacket with a turn-down collar and two rows of gilt buttons down the front, a straight visored blue cap, dark blue trousers and black shoes, for dress and a uniform similar to that worn by the seamen, for work and drills.

Chief Warrant officers and Warrant officers wear dress and service uniforms like those of commissioned officers, and Chief Petty officers wear similar uniforms to those of Warrant officers except that the specialty or branch marks are worn on the sleeves between the elbow and the shoulder. The rank of Chief Warrant officers, Warrant officers and Chief Petty officers is indicated by gold stripes upon the sleeves above the cuffs as follows:—

Chief Warrant officer	Three one-half inch stripes.
Warrant officer	Two one-half inch stripes.
Chief Petty officer	One stripe three-sixteenths of an inch wide.

The uniforms of the enlisted men are of the usual sailor cut common to the navies of most naval powers. The blue uniform consists of a dark blue flat cap with the name of the ship in gilt upon a cap ribbon around the band; a loose jumper worn over a tight jersey, and trousers of the sailor cut with wide spring at the bottoms of the legs. The white uniforms consist of a white flat cap, white duck jumper and white trousers.

The rating is indicated by stars in the corners of the wide collar. These stars are of a material resembling celluloid and first class petty officers wear three such stars in each corner of the collar, second class petty officers two stars and first class seamen one star.

The branch of the service or the special duty detail of an enlisted man is indicated by a specialty mark worn on the left sleeve midway between the elbow and the shoulder, petty officers wearing a crown above the specialty mark, these marks being as follows:—

Deck force	A vertical foul anchor.
Engineroom and Fireroom force	A three-bladed propeller.
Quartermasters (Wheelmen)	An anchor with a steering wheel on the shank.
Writers	Two swords crossed.
Torpedomen	An anchor with a bursting bomb on the shank.
Gunnery force	An anchor with two cannon crossed on the shank.
Radio men	An anchor with bars of zig-zag lightning across the shank.
Mining force	A ship’s anchor with a mine anchor crossing it.
Band musicians	A lyre.
Hospital attendants	A Geneva cross.
Cooks and stewards	Two blades of wheat crossed.

For Chief Petty officers these specialty marks are in gold embroidery and for others in yellow for blue coats and jumper shirts and for all ratings they are in black for white coats and jumpers.

Aviation pilots, both officers and men, wear the aviation insignia on the right breast. This insignia is of silver and consists of a wreath of leaves surmounted by an Imperial crown with a spread eagle across the wreath.