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An anchor on a decoration or badge, marking naval service.
Also known as: Anchor on a medal, Naval anchor motif, Fouled anchor
An anchor on an award identifies the naval service rather than saying anything about the recipient. Worth separating from the anchor as an emblem of hope on a monument and from the fouled anchor as a specific naval device, all three of which look similar.
An anchor worked into a decoration, badge or cap device to identify naval or maritime service.
Contexts: History
The fouled anchor — cable twisted about the shank — is a specific and widely used naval device rather than a depiction of a mistake, appearing in the insignia of several navies and their petty-officer rates.
Distinct from the anchor as an emblem of hope on a monument, which draws on a scriptural passage rather than on naval service. On a grave the two readings genuinely compete; on a uniform they do not.
Context settles it: an anchor on a uniform is occupational, on a gravestone it may not be.
An anchor with a ring at the top, a horizontal crossbar, a straight shank and two curved arms ending in pointed flukes, sometimes with a rope twisted around it.
The same object marks naval service on a uniform and may mean hope on a monument.