S. F. D.—Special Full dress.
S. boys.—Side boys who stand at either side of the head of the gangway or ladder by which the official comes aboard of the ship.
When a ship of the Navy is in a port of a foreign country upon the National holiday of that country a salute of twenty-one guns is fired at noon on that day.
In accordance with established military courtesy salutes are exchanged between officers and between officers and enlisted men not in a military formation, nor at drills, at work, engaged in playing athletic games or at meals, on every occasion of their meeting or passing or being addressed by a senior, the officer who is junior in rank or the enlisted man saluting first, and the officer senior in rank returning the salute.
When the officer or enlisted man is not bearing arms of any kind in his hands he salutes with the right hand by bringing the hand smartly up to the visor of the cap above the right eye, fingers closed, hand, wrist and forearm straight, palm of the hand to the left and right forearm at an angle of forty-five degrees, and then dropping the arms to the side.
The distance within which salutes are required is that within which recognition is easy, usually considered to be about thirty paces (twenty-five yards).
When troops of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps are reviewed by the President of the United States or by any official or officer entitled to review them, they march past the reviewing officer with the bands playing a suitable march, the colors and standards saluting, officers and enlisted men rendering the marching salute and the drummers and buglers sounding the ruffles and flourishes appropriate to the rank of the reviewing officer.
The salute with the colors and standards is made by drooping them to the front. The marching salute for officers and enlisted men is made by turning the head and eyes toward the person to be saluted and is known as “eyes right” or “eyes left,” depending upon whether the position of the reviewing officer is to the right or left of the column as it passes in review, officers also salute with the sword by bringing it up and to the front until the hand grasping the hilt is opposite the chin and then sweeping the hand and sword down and to the right.
Many of the regiments of the Army have distinctive marches which are played when passing in review but no distinctive march has ever been adopted for the Army as a whole.
The march usually played by the bands of the sailor regiments of the Navy when passing in review is “A Life on the Ocean Wave,” and that played by the bands of the Marine Corps under the same circumstances is “Semper Fidelis,” the title of the march being the motto of the Marine Corps.