This statuette sat atop the pennant flagpole at the rear of the submarine HMS Tiptoe. It is based on the badge of the submarine. The badges helped identify the submarine, and were often kept by crewmembers as mementoes.
British submarines were originally given numbers, not names. In 1926 Winston Churchill realised that submariners would find it hard to foster a sense of pride towards a number, and promptly ordered that all submarines should be named. He put forward several suggestions, including ‘Tiptoe’.
Churchill also suggested the idea for the badge. It depicts Marie Taglioni, prima ballerina of 1832, one of the first dancers to excel at the ‘pointe’ technique in the romantic ballet era.
You will notice that the skirt on the badge and statuette are different lengths. The statuette shows the original design of the ballerina. It was deemed too raunchy by Winston Churchill and the skirt was lengthened in later versions!
HMS Tiptoe was launched in 1944 and saw action in the Far East during the Second World War. When she was decommissioned in 1969, she was the oldest submarine at the time in Royal Navy.
The submarine’s naming committee were unanimously against the name ‘Tiptoe’ believing it to be derogatory to one of His Majesty’s ships. Churchill apparently meant to imply that she could slink silently by the enemy, as if on tiptoe – but few other people saw it in these warlike terms. Nevertheless, Churchill got his way.
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