Uniforms of the French Navy
The uniforms of the officers and men of the French Navy, while following in general the usual naval style present some variations as to the combination of garments, the decorations, the number and arrangements of the rank stripes on the sleeves and the designs of the insignia of rank and corps.
Commissioned officers are provided with five separate uniforms, full dress, No. 1 dress, No. 2 dress, No. 3 dress blue, and No. 3 dress white.
The full dress corresponds to the United States naval officer’s special full dress uniform, and consists of a cocked hat, a dark blue double breasted cutaway frock coat, gilt epaulets, dark blue cloth trousers decorated with gold lace stripes down the outer seams.
No. 1 dress corresponds to the United States naval officer’s full dress uniform and consists of a cocked hat, blue cap or white cap, a dark blue double-breasted frock coat with epaulets, and plain dark blue or white trousers.
No. 2 dress corresponds to the undress uniform of the United States naval officer and consists of the blue or white cap, the dark blue frock coat or the white tunic and dark blue or white trousers.
No. 3 dress, blue, corresponds to the blue service dress of the United States naval officer and consists of the dark blue cap, dark blue frock coat or dark blue tunic (sack coat) and dark blue or white trousers.
No. 3 dress, white, corresponds to the white service dress of the United States naval officer and consists of the white cap, white tunic and white trousers.
Black shoes are worn with all except white uniforms, with which white shoes are worn.
The rank of commissioned officers is shown by means of insignia on the tops of the epaulets, with uniforms of which epaulets form a part, and by decorations on the cuffs of the sleeves of the frock coat and service sack coat. These sleeve decorations are as shown by the illustrations:—
| Admiral of France | Two batons crossed in gold embroidery. |
| Vice Admiral | Three silver stars. |
| Rear Admiral | Two silver stars. |
| Captain | Five stripes of gold braid. |
| Commander | Five stripes of braid, the second and fourth being silver and the other three gold. |
| Lieutenant Commander | Four stripes of gold braid. |
| Lieutenant | Three stripes of gold braid. |
| Lieutenant, Junior Grade | Two stripes of gold braid. |
| Ensign | One stripe of gold braid. |
| Midshipman | One stripe of gold braid broken by interwoven stripes of blue silk. |
The officers of the Line or Command branch wear the rank insignia on the dark blue cloth of the coat sleeve; while the officers of the Staff Corps have cuffs of distinctive color beneath the stripes, these colors being for:—
| Engineer officers | violet velvet. |
| Medical officers | red velvet. |
| Constructors and Ordnance officers | black velvet. |
| Paymasters | brown velvet. |
On the white service tunic or coat the rank is indicated by stripes upon shoulder straps, these stripes being similar to those worn on the sleeves of the blue frock coat and tunic.
French Navy.
Officers’ sleeve decorations indicating rank
All of the stripes are gold with the exception of those for Commander, in which case the second and fourth stripes are silver
| 1. Vice Admiral | 2. Rear Admiral | 3. Captain |
| 4. Commander | 5. Lieutenant Commander | 6. Lieutenant |
| 7. Lieutenant, Junior Grade | 8. Ensign | 9. Midshipman |
The cap for Flag Officers is of blue cloth with a patent leather visor and a band of gold embroidery, and it has an insignia on the front consisting of a gold anchor with various decorations of leaves for the different grades and corps.
The cap for officers below the rank of Rear Admiral is of the same design, with narrow stripes of gold braid around the band to indicate the rank of the wearer. On ordinary service aboard ship a cap of the same design with a band of black silk ribbon is worn. The device worn on the front of the cap by these officers is a gold foul anchor placed vertical.
Warrant officers wear dress uniforms similar to those worn by commissioned officers; their cap has one narrow gold stripe around the band and a gold anchor on the front, and their sleeves have three narrow stripes, the upper one of gold one-quarter of an inch wide, the middle one a twisted silver rope one-eighth of an inch wide and the lower one of gold of the same rope design.
The enlisted men of the French Navy wear uniforms of dark blue cloth for cold weather and of white for hot weather, those for the chief petty officers consisting of a plain cap with black leather visor, a sack coat with gilt buttons and plain trousers, and those for enlisted men of lower ratings consisting of a flat sailor cap, overshirt and trousers of a design similar to those worn in the British Navy. A prominent feature of their uniform cap is a red pompon in the center of the top of the crown.
The overcoats are of dark blue cloth of the design commonly styled “pea jackets.”
The rating or rank of the petty officers is indicated by distinguishing marks worn upon the sleeves; some of the principal ones being:—
| Chief Petty Officers. | |
| Seaman Branch | Two narrow gold stripes on each sleeve above the cuff, and on the cap a gold anchor and a narrow gold stripe around the band. |
| Commissary Branch | The same except that the sleeve stripes are silver. |
| Musicians | Two twisted gold stripes on the cuff and a gold lyre on each side of the collar. |
| Petty Officers, First Class. | |
| Seaman Branch | One gold stripe on each sleeve above the cuff, and a gold anchor on the cap. |
| Commissary Branch | The same except that the sleeve stripe is silver. |
| Buglers and Drummers | One gold stripe on each sleeve, worn diagonally. |
| Musicians | One twisted gold stripe on each sleeve and a gold anchor on each side of the collar. |
| Petty Officers, Second Class. | |
| Seaman Branch | Two stripes of red cloth on each sleeve between the elbow and the cuff. |
| Yeoman Branch | One broken gold stripe on each sleeve between the elbow and the shoulder. |
| Musicians | Two stripes of red cloth on each sleeve between the elbow and the cuff. |
| Stewards | Two stripes of orange colored cloth on each sleeve between the elbow and the cuff. |
| Buglers and Drummers | One diagonal gold stripe on each sleeve. |
All petty officers of the second class and also seamen wear two anchors crossed on the upper part of the right sleeve.
There are also a number of specialty marks for such special ratings as cook, tailor, shoemaker and armorer.
The distinctive mark of band musicians is a gold lyre worn on each side of the collar, and that of the hospital corps is the red Geneva cross.