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WASHINGTON — Now hear this: The U.S. Navy has opened vast new stretches of skin to needles and ink.

Essentially erasing a previous rule that no more than 25 percent of a particular body part could be tattooed, the brass has now deemed virtually the entire chest, back, belly and behind to be acceptable canvasses for artistic decoration or personal expression. Gone, too, is the prohibition against wearing more than five tats.

About the only restrictions remaining are that such tattoos neither be visible through a white uniform nor racist, obscene, gang-related or otherwise "prejudicial to good order, discipline and morale," according to an April ruling by the chief of naval operations.

Sailors — for whom tattoos have been a matter of lifestyle and lore for more than 200 years — also may continue to adorn their hands with the images, and sport them on arms and legs, so long as they are no larger than the size of the sailor's hand, with fingers extended.

(Though it could not be officially confirmed, it appears that the anchors on Popeye's bulging forearms would qualify.)

Still taboo, though, are tattoos on the neck, face or head, as is permanent eyeliner and other such cosmetic applications. This positions the Navy to the starboard of the Army, which last month decided to allow body art on the nape of the neck and endorsed "conservative" indelible makeup.

But the Navy said its surveys showed that head, neck and face tattoos aren't very popular. Besides, said Robert Carroll, head of the Navy's task force on uniforms, such decoration does not fit with the image the Navy wants to present.

"We are keeping our tattoos in line with who we are as sailors and as ambassadors for the United States," said Carroll, a submariner who sports none. "The American people expect their military personnel to look professional."

No tattoos in West without sailors?

But, almost from the Navy's birth during the Revolutionary War, tattoos have been part of its culture. In fact, according to an expert on the history of tattoos, it was sailors who first brought the art of etching the skin with ink to the United States.

"I think you could make a persuasive case that we would not even have tattooing in the West without sailors," said Vince Hemington, a writer who filmed a documentary on the history of tattooing.

It all started in 1769, when the legendary British explorer Capt. James Cook and his crew visited Tahiti. There, and on nearby South Pacific islands, they found people adorned with elaborate designs on their skin. Some of the sailors got their own exotic tattoos, which were the talk of the docks back home. Over time, tattoos served as a sort of postcard, marking the travels of the wearer.

The golden age of tattooed U.S. sailors came at the turn of the 20th century. During the Spanish-American War, an estimated 80 percent of Americans in the Navy boasted them.