The introduction of ship's badges into the Royal Navy corresponds with the replacement of wooden ships powered by wind,, with iron and steel ships powered by steam, during the mid- 19th Century. Prior to this, the figure-head was the symbol of a man-of-war and an expression of the personality of the ships, with regard to her name.

Such emblems were considered very important to the morale of the crew, helping them to identify themselves with their ship, and the figure-head was a focal point of pride for the ship's company. Their replacement was a gradual process and in fact, the last R.N. warship to carry a figure-head, in commission, was H.M.S. Odin and she served until 1920.

As figure-heads were phased out they were replaced by very ornate scrolls carried on the stem and stern of the ship, and within these scrolls were carried various emblems, with the most common being the Royal Arms, which was used emphasise that the man-of-war carrying it was one of Her Majesty's ships. Many Admirals and Commanding Officers were entitled to bear Arms, and some portion of these Arms were carried within the scrolls on their flagship or on the ship they commanded. Other designs featured a representation of the ship's name and some designs were carried, as they are today, on gun tompions and ship's boats. In many cases a die was made by printers to emboss the ship's stationery with the same emblem.

In the last decade of the 19th Century, these scrolls were gradually discontinued and ships started to adopt a simple badge or emblem instead. For ships in service, they were usually designed by the ship's Officers; for new ships, by the ship-builder and the quality of the designs varied considerably. Some were very simple indeed, one example being the first letter of the ship's name set in a circle. Some were taken from the crest of the Captain's or Admiral's Arms, and some were very effective and clever designs that were later adopted as the official badge of the ship after slight modification and are still in use today.

It can be readily seen that where a ship wore a badge featuring the design of the Captain's or Admiral's Arms when they changed command, the badge design in many cases, would go with them. It was not unusual for a single ship to have several different designs during her service, and it was also common for different ships to have the same or a very similar badge.

There also appeared , especially on the 'new' Torpedo Boat Destroyers, designs that were extremely irreverent, and of course, some that were quite humorous. Although many of these designs survive today in various museum, no records were kept of them and, in fact, with no system of design, it would not have been possible to have kept an accurate record.

It was felt in many quarters that a system should be established that would regulate the whole subject of ship's badges, and that a warship should retain a single design for the whole of her service, with the design to be passed on to the next ship of the same name commissioned. After all, an Army Regiment did not change its cap badge every time it had a new C.O., so why should a ship change its badge?

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