the hose when wearing a kilt. Naval dirk A thrusting weapon, the naval dirk originally functioned as a boarding weapon and as a functional fighting dagger. During the days of sail, midshipmen and officers wore dirks; the daggers gradually evolved into ceremonial weapons and badges of office. In the Royal Navy, the naval dirk is still presented to junior officers; the basic design of the weapon has changed little in the last 500 years. The naval dirk (Polish: kordzik, Russian: кортик) became part of the uniform of naval officers and civilian officials in the Navy Ministry of the Russian Empire, and in the Soviet navy an element of the dress uniform of officers. Later, it became an element of other uniforms as well, e.g. of officers in the Russian and Polish army and air force and of the police forces in some countries. In the US, the dirk was introduced by Scottish immigrants in the 1700s. This was originally a single-edged weapon, but by 1745 more commonly had a double-edged blade making the dirk more or less synonymous with the dagger. Dirks were often made from old sword blades. In the nineteenth centuries dirks started to be made with a curved blade, but returned to a straight blade by the end of the century. Some were long enough to be considered a short sword. See also Kindjal Knife fight List of blade materials References External links Spotlight: The Scottish Dirk (myArmoury.com article) Blade weapons Daggers Weapons of Scotland