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Board of Ordnance: Naval Ordnance (Britain)
Last modified: 2004-11-06 by rob raeside
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by Martin Grieve
On 21st October 1891 Naval Ordnance, which was still part of the War Office
Ordnance Department, was made into a separate Naval Ordnance Department.
Proposals for the badge on the Naval Ordnance Blue Ensign were:
- The same badge as War Office Ordnance with red border removed, blue balls
on white, blue cannon on red (see below)
- War Office Ordnance badge with a yellow rope border replacing the red one,
and a vertical yellow foul anchor above the shield.
- War Office Ordnance badge, with, in lower hoist canton, a crown above a
vertical yellow foul anchor.
- As 2 but with anchor in lower hoist instead of above the shield.
Some thought it unnecessary to introduce another flag, and contended that all
vessels
employed by Admiralty Dockyards and Victualling Yards should fly the same flag.
However
DAS (Director Armament Supply ?) was in favour of a special flag and his view
prevailed.
Proposal 4 was chosen and inserted into the Admiralty Flag Book 1889 edition as
'Ensign
for vessels belonging to Naval Ordnance Department, Admiralty' [Errata 3, 28th
March 1892].
The use on a flag, of a foul anchor, rather than a plain anchor, was unusual.
William
Perrin, who wrote "British Flags", was Admiralty Librarian at the time. He
thought that
the difference in pattern was probably accidental; the anchor perhaps having
been copied
from the Admiralty Seal. The plain anchor on the B