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Bell-bottom effect is to stay as new rig is given go-ahead
THE WIDEST EVER range of changes in Naval uniform has been approved by the Navy Board - including a new cut to improve traditional square-rig uniform, standardised clothing for officers and senior rates, and development of a "crewsuit" as the core garment of a new action clothing system. But the last vestiges of the bell-bottom are to stay after all. There
vas
i
change
of heart
after
Navy News revealed in 1994 the plans
to dispense with flared trousers in - the junior rates' square-rig uniform traditional and best-known sailor's tzarh worn now for ceremonial.
been
It has decided o retain some flare in the trousers for aesthetic reasons - the uniform siniplv looks wrong without it. There will. be more substantial changes to the square- rig jacket or "jumper'' with the aim of easing production and improving the garment without offending tradition.
however.
Unisex uniform . . the new square rig, with shallower vee-neck, modelled by LW(PHOT) Penny Taylor of FOSF Photographic Unit and SA Neil Moms of HMS Marlborough. Picture: LA(PHOT) Steve Wood.
For the first time square-rig uniform will be worn by all junior ratings - including female sailors and, from 1997. artificer apprentices and technicians who at present wear ('lass Ill urnform, a rig originally worn 1w petty officers. Also for the first time the kilt has gained the - regulations are Navy's official recognition being amended to formalise the practice by "several officers of ('chic ancestry' who have worn kilts with mess undress. The Navy Board agrees that the practice is ia rmless, colourful and supported by several Very senior officers. Now the rules will allow entitled officers to wear Scottish. Irish. Welsh, Cornish or Manx kilts with mess undress although they will not be provided at public expense (and there are no regulations hat 01 fieers must wear beneath their kilts).
dictating
\ in the casualties of t lie shake-up are the lie;is ieanung hoots'' ss hose unyielding char.ILieristics are familiar to generations of sailors. Replacement footwear is under development. At the other end of the scale there is to be a nat of synthetic material to replace the gold in officers' sleeve lace and on their caps. The advantage of cotton viscose on sleeves and snthetic gold wire on caps is that the material does not fade and is less expensive than the current cloth which has two per cent gold content. The changes are embodied in the Review of RN Clothing - or The I Iobbs Report - compiled 1w Cdr David I lobbs. project officer at the
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PRIVATISATION of most of the tasks of the Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service will reduce Its strength from over 1,200 to fewer than 200 personnel.
Following market testing of the Marine Armed Forces Services Organisation, Minister Nicholas Soames announced in a Parliamentary answer that the DenholmSERCO consortium had successfully bid for the bulk of the RMAS's responsibilities - the provision of port services in the Naval
bases of Portsmouth, Plymouth and Clyde. The take-over, set for July 8, would entail an overall reduction of 500 jobs - 45 per cent of the RMAS's current strength - and a cut of just over a third in the Service's 350-vessel fleet. would remain About 180 people employed by the RMAS, and the rest of those not being made redundant would have the option to transfer to the new operators. RMAS vessels required by the consortium would be leased to them.
The move is expected to save ÂŁ105 million over ten years. The RMAS, whose bid for the ports contract failed, will continue to operate the much smaller moorings and buoys task, as well as armaments freighting, with a total of just six vessels. A spokesman for the RMAS told Navy News that the greatly reduced organisation is now likely to move its headquarters from Bath to Pembroke Dock.