An old Navy Yarn arrr

KevinBoatang · Post by **KevinBoatang** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 8:58 am

I was talking to my Dad last week, as you do, and he spun me a tale about his Navy days.

He joined the Royal Navy when he was 14 back in the early 60s for some bizarre reason and he didn't shave until he was about 18 or so.

However, despite being a wee slip o' lad and baby soft from ear to ear, they issued him with a razor (I can only presume a DE), soap, brush etc. Not needing to shave he didn't use it...

Until his CO caught him not shaving one morning and went mental.

Apparently, shaving was not an option. Regulations stipulated that every man and boy be shaved clean each morning, unless they submitted a request via old regulations (I can talk about this if you want, quite a funny story).

So he had to shave, every morning, blade and brush, even though he had no whiskers for 4 more years.

When he left in the 70s he grew a beard until about 5 years ago.

Post by **drmoss_ca** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 9:28 am

Quite true, you nee the captain's permission to grow a beard, which must be a 'full set'.

Chris

Trumperman · Post by **Trumperman** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 9:34 am

Your post brought up a memory I have of my father relating a similar situation when he was in service during WWII. Some of the lads were of the beardless type and he told me of one who was having difficulty shaving everyday as it he was just running a blade across his unstubbled skin. My father told him that yes, it was a regulation to shave every day but if the chap would remove the blade it would make his life much easier and the Master Sergeant would be none the wiser. It seemed to have worked and the lesson was passed on to quite a few lads.

I for one would like to hear about the exclusion via the "old regulations"!

Regards,

Bill

Post by **ichabod** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 10:28 am

As I was told the story by my Dad, it had to be a full set, and you had a limited time to grow it. If, after that time, your beard was not full enough (and therefore still looked scruffy) you had to go back to shaving.

I vaguely remember some member of the royal family (Charles, I think?) grew himself a 'tache during his time in the navy. He was granted some exception on the grounds that his mother was the queen and he was in fact in the Royal Navy.

swarden43 · Post by **swarden43** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 10:45 am

Reminds me of my TI (Training Instructor. They're DIs, Drill Instructors, in the Army) back at Air Force Basic Training, July, 1980.

"I DON'T CARE IF YOU'VE NEVER SHAVED A DAY IN YOUR LIFE!!! YOU WILL SHAVE EVERY DAY!!!"

I'd been shaving about 2-3 times a week so it was nothing new to me. The guy next to me, though, first day at the sink... I noticed he didn't have any shaving cream. "Wanna use some of mine?", I asked. "Nah. I've got nothing to shave anyway so just water will be okay." "Okay", I say with a shrug (poor guy had an acne problem, to boot). The guy came out looking like the mummy, he had so much toilet paper stuck to his face.

We were expected to get our own razor and cream at the BX. Fortunately my recruiter had filled me in most excellently on what to take and what to expect, so I had my own.

desertbadger · Post by **desertbadger** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 11:59 am

Yup, that's the way it was. In boot camp, they had us shave twice a day! I was one of the few that actually had something to shave.
Since I was in the Navy (River Rat, Mekong Delta) we could grow full beards only.
Somehow I think back fondly of the boot camp days.
Best,
David

yayavarman · Post by **yayavarman** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:06 pm

I am really wondering what kind of shaving soaps and brushes the soldiers used back when canned shaving foam wasnt yet invented. I kind of want to use the same equipment is them. If I look at pictures of old soldiers they all look extremely neat and well shaved.

Post by **drmoss_ca** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:12 pm

ichabod wrote:I vaguely remember some member of the royal family (Charles, I think?) grew himself a 'tache during his time in the navy. He was granted some exception on the grounds that his mother was the queen and he was in fact in the Royal Navy.

This kind of moustache?

Chris

desertbadger · Post by **desertbadger** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:17 pm

Hell, he looks better with the beard! Well done Doc!
Best,
David

Post by **ichabod** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:35 pm

drmoss_ca wrote:
ichabod wrote:I vaguely remember some member of the royal family (Charles, I think?) grew himself a 'tache during his time in the navy. He was granted some exception on the grounds that his mother was the queen and he was in fact in the Royal Navy.
This kind of moustache?

Chris

He looks good with that full set. Also he's concentrating really hard and his eyes are crossing.

Anyway the whole story has been covered up by MI6 - they now claim he had a moustache when he was inaugurated as master of the royal order of the bath, according to The Lady Magazine - "The Order of the Bath ceremony took place in Westminster Abbey. Visitors to the exhibition will be interested to see that the prince had a moustache – the only day in his life when he appeared with one. He had been in the Arctic on naval duties, and it had been impossible to shave, so he had grown a beard. But, traditionally, a beard is not acceptable to a soldier and, under his Bath robes, Prince Charles wore the uniform of Colonel of Welsh Guards. So, that morning he had shaved off his beard, leaving only the moustache, but in the evening, before returning to the Navy, he had to shave off his moustache, too – since they are not permitted in the Navy without the accompanying beard.'

Meanwhile, you can sign this petition for the good of personkind.

Gawd bless 'em they do a wonderful job and string 'em up from the lamp posts to boot.

joe mcclaine · Post by **joe mcclaine** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 2:08 pm

I lost count of the times I heard:

"Oi! Did you shave this morning?"
"Yes, Sar'nt!"
"Well go and do it again! This time, stand closer to the razor!"

Another one (not shaving related):

"Did you iron that shirt Private?"
"Yes Sar'nt!"
"What with? A brick?"

And:

"Am I hurting you private?"
"No Sar'nt"
"Well I should be! I'm standing on your hair!

I could go on, and on, and on . . . .

razorburned · Post by **razorburned** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 5:03 pm

Semi related....When I went through US Army basic, there were several guys in my platoon that swore by either using toothpaste as a shave cream or an aftershave. Has anyone else ever heard of this or tried it?

Norsk · Post by **Norsk** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 5:29 pm

April, 1969...we were lined up outside the Armed Forces Induction Center in Oakland, California. A group of us Navy boots were waiting for a bus to take us to the airport for our flight to Recruit Training Depot, San Diego.

Some very nice ladies from the Salvation Army handed us a small packet containing shaving kit, stationary & pen, and a pocket size New Testament. When we walked through the gate into boot camp the Petty Officer yelled at us, "You can keep those baby Bibles, but dump the rest of that s**t in the dumpster over there."

The next day we were issued our gear & uniforms and a shaving kit. Payment for that stuff was docked from our pay, so our first couple of paydays totaled about 67 cents. The shaving cream was lime scented. Lime scented soap still takes me back to boot camp in San Diego.

Yes, we had to shave every morning. I remember the Chief telling those of us with "peach fuzz" beards to dry shave, use no lather. After shaving and marching around and getting yelled at we had breakfast. Son of a gun, it was still dark outside! Those were long days.

desertbadger · Post by **desertbadger** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 5:51 pm

Norsk wrote: Lime scented soap still takes me back to boot camp in San Diego..

We got Barbasol!..........

I mean how cheap can you get?......

Best,
David

Norsk · Post by **Norsk** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 7:02 pm

desertbadger; you were a river rat? Wow! Talk about hazardous duty...

I was a corpsman.

Racso_MS · Post by **Racso_MS** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 7:12 pm

1970, Parris Island, South Carolina, USMC Boot Camp...

One each DE razor with blades and shaving cream in a can. Shave whether you needed to or not.

Lessons learned... DE razors with blades in them cut the hell out of toothpaste tubes... What a mess... (No One Cared; Go figure)...

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 8:25 pm

My word! With the full beard one can see the resemblance to his great grandad, George V.
Regards,
Gordon

desertbadger · Post by **desertbadger** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 8:43 pm

Norsk wrote:desertbadger; you were a river rat? Wow! Talk about hazardous duty...

I was a corpsman.

Hi, shipmate! Don't want to get off topic here, but yes, Gunners Mate served mainly on PBR's (inserted and extracted SEALS) Swifts, and some on a Monitor. Been up in a helicopter (SeaWolf) twice as a gunner.
It wasn't a job, it was an adventure!

desertbadger · Post by **desertbadger** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 8:46 pm

Racso_MS wrote:1970, Parris Island, South Carolina, USMC Boot Camp...

Why OSCAR!

You were.....are.......a Jar Head?

That's Okay, though, once a Marine, always Navy!

Best to ya ship mate!
David

KevinBoatang · Post by **KevinBoatang** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:49 am

Gordon, I was going to mention George V as well.

Well, the Royal Navy being rather old has all kinds of very very old regs and rules that relate to seriously old things; like peg legs and eye patches etc.

My Dad had a friend in the Navy who was a bit of a character and used to study the rule book as bed time reading, simply to do things that annoyed the officers.

One such thing was the full beard that was mentioned except he went further. It states that any beard over x inches must be platted...oh yes indeed.

He then added an earring, which under RN regs is allowed, but must be a big brass ring (thing Captain Jack here). He did.

But he added to it (this was the late 60s) and decided he wanted long hair. So, the story goes, he went to the Lieutenant and gave him his request form for having long hair under rule xyz sub para etc etc.

the officer was worried and took it to the Captain. To his surprise he gave a wry grin and heartily agreed to sign it off. Victory he thought.

A slight oversight however. The rule stated that any hair that fell below the ears (or something like that) must be scrapped back into a pony tail at all times. Ok he thought, I'll do that and when on shore at Hong Kong I'll whip it out.

Nonono, said the man. If you read it carefully you will find that said pony tail must be tied with a proper, full on 18th century satin bow.

And tarred.

Unable to back out, having requested and approved, He had to go through with it. So they scrapped his hair back, put a lovely big bow in it and tarred the bundle.

So there he is, full beard platted under his chin, massive brass ring in his ear and scrapped back hair with a dandy bow and a lump of tar at the end.

All he needed was pretty polly! Being stubborn he kept it for months until it started to stink and the others made him cut it off.

My Dad recalls this every couple of years (and a seemingly endless amount of others) that always has us all in stitches.