The origin of the cap tally starts nearly 400 years ago. Going back to the year 1623 in England naval sailors got parts of a uniform for the first time. Between 1649 and 1660 Cromwell insisted on a standardized outer appearance and good manners. Now the former triangular hat is changed into a high, round hat of leather, tarred or varnished canvas or straw. The hats of different ships looked nearly similar. To be able to catch the right hat after a carouse they wrote the ship's name onto the hat using chalk or paint. Until 1780 sailors had long hair in one to three plaits. This plaits were stiffened with thread or sometimes even tar and hung "down to the sternpost" - down to the backside. In 1808 a so-called "hairorder" forbid long plaits. 

In 1675 the "Große Kurfürst" (Great Elector) established the "brandenburgisch-preußische Marine" (Brandenburg-Prussian Navy), at first without a uniform. At that time sailors wore a hat of felt. Friedrich II "der Große" ("the great", 1740 - 1786) standardized the clothes, until then chosen by practicality: the navy gets a black beret! By royal order (27th April, 1849) "...on a parade should be worn a low sailors hat with a black silk ribbon, on which the name of the warship or "königliche Marine" is printed in golden letters." Being not practical this hat was replaced by a blue hat made of cloth. The emperor Wilhelm I (1871-1880) ordered that this hat has to be a cap of canvas with a 116 cm long (45,67 inch) and 3,2 cm wide (1,26 inch) cap tally having embroidered "Kaiserliche Marine" (imperial navy). Following the plaits the ends had to be forked like a swallow's tail. Since 27th June, 1890, the abbreviation "S.M.S." meaning "Seine Majestät Schiff" (same as HMS - Her Majesty's Ship) had to be added in front of the ship's name. In 1929 the font "Fraktur" is introduced, 1956 the font "Beton-Antiqua". 

In the course of time there were made tallies with different colored stitches of metal, e.g. red for training ships, silver for technical staff or with black-white-red edges. Today soldiers of the German navy wear with their white cap a 1,26 inches wide and 59 inches long ribbon of synthetic silk with the name of the unit or the ship's name in golden versal letters (font: Beton-Antiqua) and sometimes Arabic or Roman figures. On the whole world there are very different kinds of colors, fonts and sometimes even decorative embroidery. Usually one can find naval cap tallys but sometimes one of the merchant navy, too.