Uniforms of the Menghean Navy

The uniforms of the Menghean Navy developed independently from those used by the Menghean Army, and use black, blue, and white as their dominant colors. The current service uniforms were modeled after those used by the Imperial Menghean Navy during the Pan-Septentrion War, with some updates to fit modern and traditional styles. All uniforms save for the working coveralls differ by rank, with flag officers, regular commissioned officers, and non-commissioned ranks wearing different uniforms at each level of formality.

Standard uniforms

Overview

Most personnel in the Menghean Navy wear the Navy Standard Uniform, a family of uniforms for shipboard personnel and coastal workers. As with military ranks, uniforms differ between three broad ranking groups: flag officers, commissioned officers below flag ranks, and enlisted personnel.

Within each group, standard uniforms come at four levels of formality. Durable, flame-resistant Working Coveralls are worn by all ranks when assigned to manual work ashore or at sea, or when the warship is in a combat zone. Daily Wear is the uniform worn for general duties on ship or shore, particularly when assigned to office work. The Dress Uniform is worn on formal occasions, and for all ranks uses a new shirt or tunic with the same trousers. Parade Uniform is the highest level of formality, and in the Navy is similar to Dress Uniform except that full medals are worn in place of ribbons.

Like Army uniforms, the Navy's uniforms come in Summer and Winter variations at each level. Because the climate varies considerably over the Navy's areas of patrol, regulations on Summer and Winter uniforms differ by region. In the East Menghe Sea, the boundary between Summer and Winter is set at December 1st and April 1st, while in the North Menghe Sea and beyond it is set at October 1st and May 1st. In the South Menghe Sea, the Summer Uniform is worn year-round. By tradition, submarine crews wear the winter uniform year-round.

Special-purpose uniforms

The foul weather jacket is the shipboard counterpart to the Navy's dress overcoat. With a thicker waterproof material and a hood that rolls down into the collar, it provides much better protection from the elements, but is also rather less attractive, and is not to be worn on land or with the Dress or Parade uniform. By itself, the foul weather jacket is light enough to wear in the summer months, but it can also be fitted with a thick fleece liner that allows it to double as a shipboard winter coat. Foul weather jackets are generally part of the ship's supplies, not the property of crew members, and they bear neither name tags nor rank insignia. They are also identical across sexes and rank groupings, though they do come in three sizes.

Crew members don anti-flash gear when the ship is at maximum threat readiness, or when a fire breaks out on board. At lower readiness states they may also be worn by engineers, damage control teams, and seamen handling explosive ordnance. The anti-flash gear consists of a wide-base hood with a single eye slit and elbow-length gloves, both made of a durable Nomex composite, and it is worn on top of the flame-resistant working coveralls. Like the foul-weather jacket, it comes in three sizes but does not come in different versions for men and women or for officers and enlisted personnel.

Special personnel

Submarine crews

Enlisted submarine crew members in the Menghean Navy use the winter Daily Wear uniform year-round, even when operating in the tropics. Commissioned officers wear a special Daily Wear uniform with a blue shirt and black trousers. Dress and Parade uniforms for both rank groups use the same black-and-blue color scheme, though they are otherwise similar to the uniforms of warship crews and regular Navy personnel. The Vice Fleet Admiral of the Submarine Forces wears a blue tunic with white trousers in summer, and a blue tunic with black trousers in winter. Working coveralls and anti-flash gear are identical across surface and sub-surface uniforms.

The tradition of having submarine crews wear the black-and-blue daily wear began in the 1970s, after the Democratic People's Republic of Menghe commissioned its first nuclear-powered submarine. Crews on these ships, who had to endure long patrols without surfacing to see sunlight, referred to the ordeal as a "three-month winter;" officers endorsed the variant uniform practice, as part of a broader effort to improve the standing of the submarine forces by setting them apart from surface crews. In the 1990s, the Navy updated its guidelines to mandate year-round winter uniforms for diesel-electric submarine crews, and issued new dress uniforms in the same color scheme.

See also

• Military ranks of Menghe