Royal Navy Reserve Officer Rank Insignia, WW1

The reserve components of the Royal Navy made a vast contribution to the war effort. The Royal Naval Reserve was composed of personnel from the merchant marine, and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve from other civilian backgrounds. The Trawler Section of the RNR was comprised of commercial fishing vessels and conducted operations such as patrol, minesweeping, maintenance of anti-submarine defenses and other activities in coastal waters. The trawlers in service were commanded by an officer with the warrant rank of Skipper, RNR.

Royal Naval Reserve and Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve officers were distinguished from those of the regular Royal Navy by variations in their rank stripes. When the war began, officers of both organizations wore stripes of quarter-inch gold braid. Those of the RNR were in intersecting waved pairs, and the RNVR in single waved lines. Colored branch distinctions were in straight quarter-inch lines. Cap badges were similar to those of the regular Royal Navy, but with the addition of the letters "RNR" or "RNV."

Because they used stripes of the same pattern as on the sleeves, shoulder straps are not illustrated in the table below.

Buttons:

Royal Naval Reserve	Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve

Royal Naval Reserve, 1914

Commodore 2nd Class	Captain	Commander	Lieutenant-Commander	Lieutenant	Sub-Lieutenant	Skipper, Warrant Telegraphist, 10 years seniority	Skipper, Warrant Telegraphist	Midshipman (collar)

		Chief Engineer	Senior Engineer	Engineer	Assistant Engineer	Warrant Engineer, 10 years seniority	Warrant Engineer
			Staff Paymaster	Paymaster	Assistant Paymaster
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, 1914

		Commander	Lieutenant-Commander	Lieutenant	Sub-Lieutenant			Midshipman (collar)

			Staff Surgeon	Surgeon	Surgeon Probationer
			Staff Paymaster	Paymaster	Assistant Paymaster

Wartime experience showed that the gold braid did not wear well under active service conditions,¹ and in 1916 the braid was ordered to be replaced by flatter gold lace.² RNR officers' stripes were the same basic pattern as before, with quarter-inch lace replacing the braid. RNVR officers changed to gold lace ⅜ inch wide, arranged in waved rows with a squarish curl. The "half stripe" for lieutenant commanders would now be ⅛ inch and straight in both cases. RNVR branch colors were to fill the space between stripes, or follow in a waved line below a single stripe. In January 1915, as in the regular Royal Navy, engineer officers had begun to wear the curl of the military branch.

Royal Naval Reserve, 1916

Commodore 2nd Class	Captain	Commander	Lieutenant-Commander	Lieutenant	Sub-Lieutenant	Skipper, Warrant Telegraphist, 10 years seniority	Skipper, Warrant Telegraphist	Midshipman (collar)
		Engineer Commander	Engineer Lieutenant-Commander	Engineer Lieutenant	Engineer Sub-Lieutenant	Warrant Engineer, 10 years seniority	Warrant Engineer, under 10 years

			Staff Paymaster	Paymaster	Assistant Paymaster
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, 1916

		Commander	Lieutenant-Commander	Lieutenant	Sub-Lieutenant			Midshipman (collar)

			Staff Surgeon	Surgeon, Dental Surgeon	Surgeon Probationer
			Staff Paymaster	Paymaster	Assistant Paymaster

In October 1918, the reserve forces modified their uniforms in the same way as the regular Royal Navy had: The curl was adopted for all branches, oak leaf cap peaks became standard for senior officers, and warrant officers discarded their cuff buttons. Dental surgeons had been appointed to the RNVR since 1915 and had worn the same scarlet distinction cloth as other surgeons, but in September 1918 they were given orange as their own distinctive color.³ See also Admiralty Weekly Orders 2945/18 and 3224/18.

Royal Naval Reserve, October 1918

Commodore 2nd Class	Captain	Commander	Lieutenant-Commander	Lieutenant	Sub-Lieutenant, Chief Skipper	Skipper, Warrant Telegraphist	Midshipman (collar)
		Engineer Commander	Engineer Lieutenant-Commander	Engineer Lieutenant	Engineer Sub-Lieutenant, Chief Warrant Engineer	Warrant Engineer
			Paymaster Lieutenant-Commander	Paymaster Lieutenant	Paymaster Sub-Lieutenant
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, October 1918

	Captain	Commander	Lieutenant-Commander	Lieutenant	Sub-Lieutenant		Midshipman (collar)
			Surgeon Lieutenant-Commander	Surgeon Lieutenant	Surgeon Sub-Lieutenant
				Surgeon Lieutenant (D)
			Paymaster Lieutenant-Commander	Paymaster Lieutenant	Paymaster Sub-Lieutenant

RN, RNR and RNVR insignia compared (1916-1918)

RN
RNR
RNVR

RN
RNR
RNVR

Notes:

1. W. Y. Carman, Badges and Insignia of the British Armed Services, London, A & C Black Ltd, 1974.
2. The Navy List, January 1916, page 838a.
3. The London Gazette, Issue 30898, September 13, 1918, page 10784.

The information on this page is based primarily on the Royal Navy Uniform Regulations published quarterly in the Navy List. Please see Quarterly Navy Lists, 1913-1919 on the National Library of Scotland website.

Royal Naval Reserve and Volunteer Reserve Officer Insignia of World War I

RN, RNR and RNVR insignia compared (1916-1918)