The insignia worn upon the cap for commissioned officers is a gold wreath surrounding a circular emblem made up of concentric circles of red, white and black (from the center out) and surmounted by the German Imperial crown. This medallion is also worn upon the center of the front of the enlisted men’s flat caps.
These distinctive corps colors are also worn as the “facings” on the full dress uniforms, that is on the lapels of the coat and on the three-pointed straps on the cuffs, and around the band of the service cap, blue and white, except that pilots wear a gold band on the cap.
Warrant officers in the German Navy wear a dress uniform and a service uniform both blue and white similar in design to that worn by commissioned officers, with their distinctive rank stripes on the sleeves and on the shoulder straps.
German Navy. Officers’ sleeve decorations indicating rank
| 1. Grand Admiral | 2. Admiral | 3. Vice Admiral |
| 4. Rear Admiral | 5. Captain | 6. Commander |
| 7. Senior Lieutenant | 8. Junior Lieutenant | 9. Sub Lieutenant |
In the German Navy there is a rank intermediate between that of Warrant officers and Chief Petty officers which has no counterpart in the American Navy. This is called Feldwebel. His dress uniform is a blue cap; a short dark blue jacket with rolling lapel collar and a row of small gilt buttons down each side of the front; a blue waistcoat with gilt buttons, and plain dark blue trousers; and his service uniforms, both blue and white, are similar to those of other officers. On the cuffs of the dress jacket he has three narrow gold stripes around the sleeve close together and below them three similar stripes around the sleeve and continuing down the outer seam to the bottom edge of the sleeve, with a vertical strap of dark blue cloth across the stripes with six small gilt buttons on it.
The Bandmaster is a Warrant officer and the distinctive mark of his rank is a gold lyre on the center of his shoulder straps.
The uniforms of the enlisted men are the dress or “parade” uniform, the service uniform and the white uniform.