Uniforms of the Menghean Navy
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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.
History
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 Protective 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. Unlike Army uniforms, the Winter variation of the dress uniform consists of a matching set of clothes in a different color (black for regular Navy personnel) with thicker fabric, rather than the dress uniform with an overcoat worn on top. 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.
Navy practice differs from Army practice in that personnel are issued an All-Weather Overcoat in place of separate winter and rain coats. This coat has a water-resistant exterior and a removable fleece liner on the inside. At formal outdoor events, the winter uniform is worn alone by default, with the all-weather overcoat worn over it in especially cold weather.
Prior to 2005, protective coveralls were only worn by damage control teams and personnel in certain engineering divisions. New regulations adopted as part of the 2005 Menghean military reforms mandated that all Navy personnel, including officers, wear coveralls while aboard a warship in a combat zone. Though less comfortable in sunny, humid conditions, the coveralls offer much better protection from fire, especially when combined with special anti-flash gear.
Flag officers
This set of uniforms is worn by Admirals and Admirals-of-the-Fleet, which in the Menghean Navy's rank system follow ranks OF-6 through OF-11. As with Army uniforms for Generals and Marshals, Admirals' uniforms have two rows of buttons, but in closer spacing and with a Western-style suit collar. The protective coveralls, worn only during combat-ready conditions by an admiral aboard ship, imitate this button spacing with the placement of the zipper seam. Note that aiguilletes are not worn on the parade uniform for this rank grouping.
The ranks of flag officers are denoted by both shoulder-boards and striped sleeve cuffs, though the latter only appear on the dress uniform and parade uniform. On the protective coveralls, a single shoulder-board is worn upright on the upper right sleeve, because the shoulders are completely covered when donning protective gear.
Commissioned officers
This set of uniforms is worn by Commissioned Officers of ranks OF-1 through OF-5, as well as officer cadets in the Menghean Naval Academy. The dress uniform has a single row of buttons, and resembles the olive green tunic worn by enlisted personnel in the Menghean Army. The winter dress uniform is also marked by a white Western-style shirt collar, with a matching white band around the base of the tunic; along with the white peaked cap, both serve to distinguish it from the all-black uniform of the Internal Intelligence Agency. Daily-wear uniforms for Menghean Navy officers are unique in using a short-base tunic which is not tucked into the trousers.
Rank insignia display for commissioned officers resemble those for flag officers, with shoulder-boards on all uniforms and sleeve cuff stripes on the dress uniforms.
Enlisted seamen
This set of uniforms is worn by enlisted ranks and non-commissioned officers, including personnel holding the ranks OR-7 through OR-9, who operate like warrant officers in other militaries. The daily wear uniforms most closely resemble those worn by Imperial Menghean Navy personnel during the Pan-Septentrion War, while the dress uniforms were adopted after 1964. These are marked by a rimless cap bearing the Gomun characters 大孟海軍 (Dae Meng Haegun), or "Menghean Navy," and with two short ribbons at the back. Other distinct features include a large collar which folds back into a faux neckerchief and a shirt which is tucked into the trousers in place of the usual tunic. The number of white stripes on the neckerchief and the sleeve cuffs is always three, regardless of rank.
On the dress uniforms and the protective coveralls, shoulder rank markers are replaced by a rank insignia on the upper right sleeve. On the dress uniforms, this is because the shoulders are partially covered by the collar-neckerchief, which would make certain ranks indistinguishable. On the protective coveralls, this is because the protective anti-flash gear covers the shoulders entirely.
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
Marine Infantry
Submarine crews
Submarine crews in the Menghean Navy use a special variant uniform with a bold blue shirt and cover and black trousers. This uniform is worn year-round, even when operating in the tropics, as submarine crews operate below deck except when entering port and docking. As on the winter dress uniforms for surface forces, rank insignia use reversed colors, with white insignia on the bold blue base for higher contrast. The service badges worn on dress and parade uniforms substitute a submarine at periscope depth for the gold anchor.
Parade uniforms for commissioned officers (not pictured) consist of the dress uniform with a white-and-gold patterned belt, aiguilletes, and medals in place of ribbons. Dress uniforms for enlisted personnel and NCOs (not pictured) consist of the parade uniform with ribbons in place of medals, aiguilletes removed, and a black belt in place of the white one. The Vice Fleet Admiral of the Submarine Forces (not pictured) wears a blue tunic with white trousers in summer, and a blue tunic with black trousers in winter, but admirals assigned to command submarine formations wear the standard flag officer uniform for surface forces. Working coveralls and anti-flash gear are identical across surface and sub-surface uniforms for all ranks.
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 the special daily-wear uniforms for diesel-electric submarine crews, and issued new dress uniforms in the same color scheme.
This set of uniform variants is worn by personnel in Menghean Naval Aviation, including both land-based aviation and shipboard aviation. Across all ranks, the white and black trousers are switched out for bold blue ones. The bands around caps and hats are also changed to bold blue, as are the shoulder-boards and collar insignia, though the rank insignia themselves remain the same. The gold anchor pin on the dress and parade uniforms is traded out for a gold anchor with wings, as is the special cap badge.
The set of uniforms for commissioned officers is worn by both commanding officers and pilots with commissioned ranks. As among other Navy personnel, it is only worn by ranks below OF-6: flag officer ranks commanding aviation units still wear the regular set of Navy uniforms. Note that as trouser colors do not differ seasonally in Naval Aviation, the daily-wear uniform is identical for summer and winter.
This set of uniforms is worn by enlisted ranks in Naval Aviation, including both non-commissioned pilots and non-flying ground crews. On Naval Aviation enlisted parade and dress uniforms, the characters running around the cap read 大孟海軍航空隊 (Dae Meng Haegun Hanggongdae), or "Menghean Naval Aviation Force."