Tally (cap)

The tally on a

sailor's cap A sailor cap is a round, flat visorless hat worn by sailors in many of the world's navies. A tally, an inscribed black silk ribbon, is tied around the base which usually bears the name of a ship or a navy. Many navies (e.g. Germany) tie the tal ...

is a ribbon usually bearing the name of a ship or some other establishment to which they belong. Practice varies with each navy, though a conventional tally is black, with a gold or yellow inscription. The inscription may be simply a ship's name (e.g. "H.M.A.S. ARRERNTE"), the name of the navy ("MARINE NATIONALE") or a longer name such as "Red Banner Baltic Fleet" ({{lang, ru, "КРАСНОЗНАМЕН. БАЛТ. ФЛОТ"). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the ship's name would often be omitted from the tall—leaving just "H.M.A.S", for example—as a precautionary measure against

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...

. Likewise, the manner a tally is fastened onto the cap varies with each navy. For example, the British tie it into a bow on the left side; the Germans and Russians tie it at the back, leaving behind a pair of streamers; while the French stitch it onto the cap like an ordinary cap band. Occasionally, the tally's colour may vary from the usual black, such as the

Ribbon of Saint George The ribbon of Saint George (also known as Saint George's ribbon, the Georgian ribbon; russian: Георгиевская ленточка, Georgiyevskaya lentochka; and the Guards ribbon in Soviet context: see Terminology for further information) ...

tallies used in the Soviet and Russian navies to denote

Guards unit Guards units (russian: Гвардия, translit=Gvardiya) were elite units and formations in the Soviet Armed Forces that continue to exist in the Russian Armed Forces and other post-Soviet states. These units were awarded Guards status after di ...

s. Military uniforms