Customs and traditions of the Royal Navy There are many customs and traditions associated with the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom . These include formal customs including separate crests associated with ships , ensigns and fleet reviews . There are also several less formal customs and traditions including Naval slang commonly referred to as Jack Speak and the traditional games of Uckers and Euchre . Heraldry . Ensigns . Commissioned ships and submarines wear the White Ensign at the stern whilst alongside during daylight hours and at the main - mast whilst under way . When alongside , the " Union Jack " as distinct from the Union Flag , is flown from the jackstaff at the bow , but can only be flown underway on special circumstances i . e . : when dressed with masthead flags , to signal a court - martial is in progress or to indicate the presence of an Admiral of the Fleet on - board ( including the Lord High Admiral or the Monarch ) . Ships badges . The Royal Navy assigns badges to every ship , submarine , squadron and shore establishment . Prior to the age of steam ships , ships were identified by their figurehead . With the removal of the figurehead , ships badges and mottoes were created to graphically represent the ships . The official process for creating the badge was initiated by Charles ffoulkes after World War I who was appointed as the Admiralty Advisor on Heraldry . Soon after his appointment The Ships ' Badges Committee was established . This was amalgamated in 1983 with the Ships ' Names Committee ( founded in 1913 ) to create the Ships ' Names and Badges Committee . The Naval Crown adorns the top of all the badges . The frame is gold rope . Originally , different classes of ships had different shapes , but currently all ships and submarines have a circular design . Shore establishments have an offset square design . Fleet reviews . The Fleet Review is an irregular tradition of assembling the fleet before the monarch . For example , at the most recent Review on 28 June 2005 to mark the bi - centenary of the Battle of Trafalgar , 167 ships of the RN , and 30 other nations , were present . The fleet review in 2005 showed the marked contrast between the size of the Navy in 2005 compared to the last review in 1977 . In total the Royal Navy had 67 ships on display , with the largest ship present being the French carrier " Charles De Gaulle " at over 200 feet longer than HMS " Invincible " . Service nicknames . Nicknames for the service include " The Andrew " or " Andrew Miller " ( of uncertain origin , possibly after a zealous press ganger ) and " The Senior Service " . It is also referred to as the " Grey Funnel Line " : ship owning companies , or lines , painted their steam ship ' s funnels in distinctive colours such as Cunard ' s red and black or the eponymous Blue Funnel Line , and the Royal Navy ' s funnels are plain grey . Naval salute . Originally subordinates would remove their headgear to a superior . In a book called " New Art of War " , printed in 1740 , it is stated that ; Queen Victoria instituted the hand salute in the Navy to replace uncovering when she sent for certain officers and men to Osborne House to thank them for rendering help to a distressed German ship , and did not like to see men in uniform without headress . During the age of sail , ships ' officers were always worried about mutiny and it therefore became custom that whenever an officer approached , the rating would prove that he was not armed . This was done by knuckling the forehead and later evolved into the modern Navy salute with the hand at 45 degrees palm facing in . The reason that the palm faces in is because sailors ' hands were covered in tar from the sheets and rigging and it was considered unseemly to show an officer or a member of the Royal family a dirty palm . Toasts . The Toasts of the Royal Navy are a set of traditional drinking toasts . In June 2013 the Tuesday and Saturday toasts were changed under orders from the Second Sea Lord , Vice - Admiral David Steel , to reflect the fact that women have been at sea in the Royal Navy for nearly two decades . The Tuesday toast used to be " Our Men " and the Saturday toast was " Sweethearts and Wives ( may they never meet ) " . The words in brackets are understood but unspoken , though often those not toasting will say them in response . By tradition , these toasts were proposed immediately after the loyal toast , on the relevant day of the week . While most of these toasts are self - explanatory , " a bloody war or a sickly season " refers to the desire and likelihood of being promoted when many people die : during war or sickness . The Navy traditionally makes the loyal toast seated , due to the evident danger of low deckheads on wooden sailing ships . Affiliation . Ships will engage in a number of affiliations . It is often misunderstood that ships are named after places when normally they are associated with the local lord e . g . the Duke of Marlborough . There were however a number of vessels named after places during World War II after schools , cadet units and charities . At one time every Sea Cadet unit in the UK had an affiliated ship ( with the exception of Kettering , which is affiliated with 800 Naval Air Squadron ; Yeovilton , now disbanded ; and Yeovil unit which , due to its location on RNAS " Yeovilton " ( HMS " Heron " ) , is affiliated with 848 Helicopter Squadron ) . However , now that Sea Cadet units outnumber Royal Navy vessels , this is no longer possible . Naval slang . The RN has evolved a rich volume of slang , known as " Jack - speak " . Nowadays the British sailor is usually " Jack " ( or " Jenny " ) rather than the more historical " Jack Tar " , which is an allusion to either the former requirement to tar long hair or the tar - stained hands of sailors . Nicknames for a British sailor , applied by others , include " Matelot " ( pronounced " matlow " , and derived from the French for sailor ) , and " Limey " , from the Lime - juice given to British sailors to combat scurvy - mainly redundant in use within the Royal Navy . Royal Marines are fondly known as " Bootnecks " or often just as " Royals " . Uckers and Euchre . Uckers is a two player board game similar to Ludo that is traditionally played in the Royal Navy . It is fiercely competitive and rules differ between ships and stations ( and between other services ) . Euchre , pronounced you - ker , is a card game also played on board ships , in naval establishments and also in pubs in Devon . It is similar to Trumps , is highly competitive . Euchre involves nominated partners , is played only with the nine card and higher , apart from the two of spades - called the " Benny " - ( making 25 cards in all ) and uses the eight and seven cards as a score board . The winner is the first team to score 15 . Songs and marches . There are several songs that are commonly associated with the Royal Navy including " Heart of Oak " ( the official quick march ) and " Rule , Britannia ! . "