U.S. Navy Tailor-Made Dress Blues, Liberty Cuffs and Sailor Folk Art

by Daniel D. Smith Sr. Author

A military history reference book for the USN enlisted man’s dress uniforms and other USN collectibles.

The earliest Navy enlisted man’s uniforms were not regulation controlled. The United States Navy was established in 1798, and enlisted men's clothing was what was worn by civilian sailors and what uniform items U.S. enlisted men had observed in British sailors. It was not until 1817 that a regulation was directed to describe what enlisted men should wear. Enlisted men were not issued a uniform, they were given a stipend toward a uniform and either made their own uniforms, paid a fellow sailor to sew one for them or bought something from a shop owner.

With the start of the American Civil War and with the management of a vastly increased number of naval personnel, it dawned upon those in charge that the Navy’s uniform regulations truly needed to dictate a standard uniform for all officers and enlisted personnel as had previously been done for officer’s uniforms.

A sailor’s desire to stand out from the crowd led some to add small personalized touches to their uniforms. The personal tailoring of uniforms could be quite extreme or very subtle in its variety. Sometimes it was just a hidden silk stitch; however, there are stories of whole uniforms being pulled apart and re-stitched with the cut slightly altered, perhaps with wider trouser “bell” bottoms.

In 1897 the Navy Uniform Regulations were changed specifically forbidding fancy stitching and other decorations.

The Navy made its most drastic change to the uniform regulations in 1973. They dropped the classic dress blue jumper/bell bottom trousers uniform and white hat and had all enlisted male sailors wear a suit-style dress uniform. As early as 1977 a decision was made to change back to the classic jumper/bell bottom trousers and white hat design. In 1980 sailors attending Navy boot camp were issued the “new material” Navy dress blue uniform. The fleet continued wearing the suit style uniform for approximately three more years while a “wear out” period was observed.

Liberty is a naval term meaning permission to be absent from a ship or station for a period of usually 16 hours and up to 72 hours (if a holiday weekend is included).

As a young third-class petty officer, the author once had a set of Navy dress blues tailor-made in San Francisco. Ever since then, he has had a fascination with liberty cuffs. Liberty cuffs are those embroidered patches sewn inside the cuffs of Navy dress blue uniforms worn by Navy enlisted men below the grade of chief petty officer. Sometimes, the enlisted men and women in this group are collectively referred to as “white hats.” The embroidered patches were non-regulation, meaning "illegal," and often resulted in sailors having their liberty card canceled and being immediately sent back to their ship or shore station if they were caught. Some ships and shore station commands were more tolerant than others of uniform modifications like liberty cuffs.