In late 1974 a new piece of uniform started to be issued to the Royal Navy, one that would become ubiquitous and remain in service until the present day, the dark blue woollen pullover, known to one and all as the ‘wooly pully’:

The wooly pully is a tight fitting garment that comes down below the waist band of the trousers and was traditionally worn outside of British Summer Time as part of the No8 and later No4 working dress uniform. It is still seen today as part of the No3 dress uniform.

The jumper is cut with a round neck:

When it is worn with a white No3 shirt it is to be worn with a tie by officers and without for ratings. The jumper has cloth patches over each shoulder, with velcroed shoulder straps to allow rank slides to be worn:

Further cloth patches are sewn to the underside of the forearms:

A white label is sewn into the back of the neck with the usual sizing and stores information:

One sailor recalls their introduction:

I was on the Bulwark when woolley pulleys and berets came in, think I got mine in 1975. If memory serves officers got them first, SR’s a couple of months later and us.

Here we see HRH Prince Charles sporting the newly introduced wooly pully back in 1976: