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In Ocean Fleets/BF, it was rigorously observed. Notices on the bulletin board, and woe betide you if you didn't see the notice.
If you showed up in the bar/saloon without uniform or the wrong one, you were sent to change.
Europe - Blues/Mediterranean, depending on season.
Mediterranean - "medium" uniform (blues/whites), short sleeved shirt or wooly pully but blues pants.
Passing Aden (more or less) - Whites.
Japan/Pacific transit - Blues/Mediterranean, depending on season.
North America (West Coast) - Blues/Mediterranean, depending on season.
Panama/Venezuela - Whites
US (Gulf) -Mediterranean.
US (East Coast) - Blues/Mediterranean, depending on season.
If you were relieved on watch (engineers), you had to buy a beer or soft drink from the door of the bar and retire to the Duty Mess - NO boiler suits in the bar.
It never changed. Uniform was described in a company list and, also, in the orders of dress posted on the notice board.
I never liked the crew-necked wooly pullys. I managed to find a Dutch Navy vee neck (which I still have) which was far more comfortable. The first time I wore it, the Master had to decide if it was "accepted" uniform. I showed him the label and he deemed it "unusual" but "acceptable"!
Deck work (Deck) was khakis (tropical) or boiler suits (orange). Ro Ros were all orange boiler suits, although I was allowed to wear my white ER boiler suit even though I covered the RoRo engineers in port. The only other person who occasionally wore a white boiler suit on deckwork was the Mate.
Once, arriving to NY, there was a Barber Blue Sea "fling" on the ship and we had to wear full blues and white gloves! It was novel, but purely a one off!
Rgds.
Dave
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