Description
Object description
jacket, No 1 or 2 Service Dress, Chief Petty Officer, Royal Navy
Physical description
Double-breasted jacket of dark blue serge featuring an open peaked collar, two rows of three buttons to the front, left breast horizontal slash pocket, horizontal slash waist pockets with rectangular flaps and and three buttons horizontally fitted to the cuffs. All buttons are gilt Royal Navy Chief Petty Officer/Petty Officer (Queen's Crown) pattern. Internally, the jacket is fully lined and there is a inside right breast slash pocket.
Label
The double-breasted jacket worn by Class I and III Ratings could be worn as No's 1, 2, 4 and 5 Dress, and in some case No. 3 Dress if a single-breasted jacket was not available. No's 1 and 2 Dress jackets were usually made of cloth with gold-wire badges, while No's 4 and 5 were of serge with red badges.
During the First World War and part of the interwar period, the front fastening consisted of two rows of four buttons, until this was reduced to three in 1932. Prior to 1925, Chief Petty Officers wore two vertically arranged gilt cuff buttons, with an exception being made to Masters at-Arms, Chief Engine Room Artificers, Chief Electrical Artificers, Chief Ordnance Artificers and chief Shipwrights, who wore larger gilt cuff buttons arranged as a horizontal row of three. This arrangement was extended to all Chief Petty Officers in 1925 as a result of Admiralty Fleet Order (AFO) 2713 and is still in place today.
At the outbreak of the Second World War, the double-breasted jacket was replaced by the single-breasted jacket as the authorised jacket for all Dress No's 1 to 5, however they continued to be worn by those that already possessed them, and in some cases continued to be purchased. Similarly, the wear of gold-wire badges were suspended for the duration of the war, as well as No. 1 Dress altogether.