At one time the different branches of the Royal Navy all had different coloured bands worn on officer’s rank insignia between each line of braid. With one exception, all these coloured stripes have now been dropped from uniform regulations. The one exception is the medical branch which continues to have bright red backing to its rank braid and today we are looking at two different medical branch officer’s rank slides:

These two slides are different patterns and for different ranks. Firstly we have a set of slip on rank slides for a medical lieutenant from the Royal Naval Reserve, with the ‘R’ within the curl being a distinction of the Reserves for many years until quite recently:

The rank slide is secured on the back by a pair of enamelled press studs:

The other rank board is for a lieutenant commander and is a stiff board to be worn on the shoulder:

A button is attached to one end of the board and has the crowned anchor used by Royal Navy officers:

A cord is sewn to the back of the board to allow it to be attached to an officer’s tunic. Naval tropical tunics being provided with two eyelets on their epaulettes to allow the boards to be attached:

The boards can be seen being worn both aboard ship and when officers deploy ashore whilst overseas to support overseas communities that need medical aid: