10:13am UK, Friday February 04, 2005

Pin ups - including posters of Page Three girls - will once again grace the walls of sailor's cabins after the Navy lifted a ban on the pictures.

Images of topless girls - a unwritten tradition on Britain's warships - had been banned in case they offended staff.

180 HMS Ocean Navy Warship

Pictures allowed

But the UK's Naval head honcho Admiral Sir Alan West has reversed the rules that caused waves when they were made in December.

He told The Sun seamen would be "permitted in the privacy of their own quarters" to display the images.

The pictures will be allowed in bunks and lockers on ships and the newspaper has hailed the decision with a Page Three "salute".

But it is not just for the lads - Navy wrens also get the benefit and can now plaster images of their favourite hunks all over their bunks.

The ban was brought in two months ago as part of a code of conduct issued to 40,000 sailors, submariners and Royal Marines.

The 20-pages of rules included no "sexually suggestive" pictures or posters.

At the time, a senior officer told The Sun: "We don't want to offend anyone, especially members of the fairer sex in the Royal Navy."