Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1918-08-06
VICE ADMIRAL SIMS
ON NAVAL UNIFORM
Head OF Navy Does Not Favor
The "Kinona" Blouse.
It's Advantages
OFFICERS UNIFORM S

decided there shall be no material
change in the uniform of the navy
personeI during the present war.
Vice Admiral Sims writes as fol-
lows:
ropean Waters,
u. S. S. Melville, Flagship,
May 18th, 1918.
For a considerable time there has
been considerable agitation for the
adoption of a new service uniform for
the officers of the Navy If my mem
DRY serves me, it was proposed that,
in place of the present so called
blouse. we should adopt a blue kimona,
alleged advantages being that:
(1) II win discourage putting hands
in the trouser pockets.
(2) II is more comfortable even in
any abnormal position of the body.
81 There is no band around the
neck
(D 1t permits better ventilation.
go Anything can be worn under it,
including a fur overcoat.
90 1t is more serviceable, as there
is no braid or anything to wear out.
CD 1t requires no tailoring skill
any lady can make one.
go 1t is very much cheaper than
the blouse.
(9) 1t has no shape so that it there
fore holds its shape better.
(10) 1t can be made without lining
or can be lined in any color to suit the
taste
On second thought, / believe / am
mistaken as to its being a kimona that
was proposed. 1t was a sack coat,
practically the same as that worn by
the British. excep, that they want
three buttons instead of four. The adj
vantage is that it does not take so
long to button it.
You will note, however, that the adj
vantages claimed for the kimona are
identical with those claimed for the
proposed sack coat. They are prac-
tically all based upon conveniences
and comfort, apparently without
thought as to the serious considera-
items which govern the nature of the
uniform adopted by a country for its
military services.
I believe that, in view of all the
comfy advantages enumerated, the ma
jority of the officers in the service are
in favor of adopting this new uniform.
There is more than a suspicion that
they have reached this decision with
out consideration of some rather inn
portant facts concerning what uni
forms are for and the function they
are intended to perform. In. order
therefore to test the fact as to wheth-
er this decision has been reached with
out sufficient thought of important
considerations, proposed the follow
ing questions. and asked three expert
enced CAPTIONS of the Navy to answer
them:
O. l. AS all nations, since time out
of mind, have put the officers of their
armies and navies in uniform, instead
of in citizen clothes it may be assumed
that, in the opinion of the world, the
reasons for doing so are considered
sound. What are these reasons?
O. 2. In all services officers are pro-
vided with certain uniforms that are
by various means-by col
ors, brass buttons, gold braid, en-
broidery, plumes. etc.
(a) What is the reason for this
establishment?
(b) Why does the degree of en-
bellishment vary with the grade?
Q. 3. Is there any good reason why |
all uniforms should be at least |
smart? If so, why?
@. T. Is there any good reason why
all uniforms should at least be mill |
tary in appearance? If so, why?
@. s. The uniform of the officers OF
the armies of the various nations are
different. The same is true to an even |
greater degree of the Navies.
(a) Is this necessary or desir-
able?
OBJ If so, why?
@. 6. If itsis desirable that a uni
form should indicate the nation and |
service TO which an officer belongs, /
should not the uniform be such that
the nation and service of the wearer
should be recognizable at a consider
able distance-say, across a street?
Q. I. When a uniform has been
worn for many years and consequently
both at home and abroad,
the wearer's nation, in much the same
way that the national flag does, should
there not be reasons much more
urgent than convenience. position of
pockets, etc, for changing it?
O. S. Assuming that the reasons
for changing our uniform are so
urgent as to render a change impera-
tive, should not the new uniform be
distinctive? That is, should it not be
such as to be at once recognizable as
that of an American Naval officer. seen
at a considerable distance?
@. 9. The Photographic records of
this war. already made and to be
made. will become historical 1t is de-
sirable that the final records of our
Navy be confused by changing the uni
form to one so nearly identical with
that of the British, as to be practically
in such records?
The answers to these questions
brought out the fact that uniforms are
essential to the elevation of morale;
that they are essential to the elevation
of the officer as a source of authority;
that they should be different from
those of other services and distinctive