Things as they are, 1917. Things as they were, 1887 (caricature)

This gently humorous image observes some of the changes that had taken place in the Royal Navy over the turn of the 20th century. The image appears to be an updated version of similar images produced in 1823 and 1827. The changes the image highlights include the building of the new all-big-gun battleships and cruisers, typified by HMS ‘Dreadnought’, launched in 1906. As to the officers themselves, it highlights the rather drab brown coat appropriate to operations in the North Sea and north Atlantic oceans, and the use of binoculars (in the leather case worn by the 1917 officer) instead of the more traditional telescope held by the officer in the rather smarter uniform of the 1880s.