A cap made of dark blue melton and without a visor. The crown shall be cut in one piece and shall be attached with a cord seam to the quarters, which shall be joined to the band with a lap seam that shall form the upper edge of recess to contain the cap ribbon, the lower edge of recess being formed by welt near bottom of band. A bow made from 1½-inch silk shall be attached to band in center of left side. The cap shall be lined with black Venetian and shall have leather sweatband. A piece of oiled silk or similar material shall be sewed to crown lining to protect it from being soiled by contact with hair of wearer. The front of the cap shall be so constructed to produce required rake in the crown and the sides shall be so padded to give required flare, and no grommet shall be used to shape cap. Cap ribbon of black silk 1½ inches wide shall be worn around the band of the cap marked "U.S. NAVY", or "U.S. NAVAL RESERVE".
ENLISTED MEN (Below the rank of Chief Petty Officer): The Blue Cloth Cap was worn with the following uniforms;
- Dress, Blue, A.
- Full Dress, Blue, A.
- Undress, Blue, A.
- Working Dress, Blue, A.
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1833 - A simple description of the Blue Cloth Cap appears in the Navy Uniform Regulations for the first time (Article 601).
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1 September 1933 - Uniform Regulations Change No. 10 dated 16 February 1933 becomes effective, which introduced a new design that would remain in use throughout the WW2 era.
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1939 - Specification 73-C-1C; Caps, Blue, Cloth.
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January 1941 - Names of ships and stations removed from ribbon.
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25 July 1946 - Specification 55-C-43; name changed to Caps, Blue.
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15 December 1950 - Specification
MIL-C-16111; Caps, Blue.
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18 October 1951 - Specification
MIL-C-16111A; Caps, Blue.
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20 March 1959 - Uniform regulations no longer lists the blue cap as a regular uniform article for enlisted men.
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1 April 1963 - Retired from service.
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WW2 era: Navy Purchasing Office, New York, NY. (Station No. N140s).
Contracts issued from approximately 1939 to 1945.
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Beginning in 1947: Clothing Supply Office, Naval Clothing Depot, Brooklyn, NY. (Station No. N140-62236s).
Contracts issued from approximately 1947 to 1956.
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Naval Clothing Factory, Brooklyn, NY. (Manufactured cap components to be shipped to contractors for assembly).
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Bernard Greenberg Co., New York, NY.
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Philadelphia Uniform Co., Conshohocken, PA.
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The WW2 era US Navy Blue Cloth Cap exhibited the following key features:
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Raked crown.
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Front riser.
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Venetian lining.
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Oiled silk sweat proctector attached to lining.
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No contract label attached to cap.
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Ribbon marking limited to "U.S. NAVY" or "U.S. NAVAL RESERVE".
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Fabrics:
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Outside: Navy Standard, Cloth, Blue, Dark, Melton, 16-ounce.
(Specification 27-M-10C 1943).
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Lining: Venetian, Black
(Specification 27-V-2A 1936).
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Ribbon: Black Silk.
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Size Label:
Paper label glued to the sweatband at the rear of the cap.
Contractor Label:
None on cap. Contractor's name and contract number can be found ink stamped to the carton used to ship and store individual caps.
Inspector Labels: None observed.
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Caps worn between 1933 and 1941 were to have a cap ribbon with the name of the vessel of the wearer preceded by "U.S.S." Enlisted men attached to shore stations were to wear one of the following designations on their cap ribbons:
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Navy Recruiting Service
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U.S. Naval Training Station
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U.S. Naval Hospital
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Submarine Base
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Receiving Ship
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U.S. Navy Yard
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Naval Communication Service
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Naval Ordnance Plant
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U.S. Naval Torpedo Station
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U.S. Naval Air Station
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U.S. Naval Academy
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Caps worn 1941 and later had a ribbon marked "U.S. NAVY" or "U.S. NAVAL RESERVE".
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Equipment:
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Stowage Box - A cardboard box used by the manufacturer to ship the cap and could be used for stowage once issued.
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Stencil or indelible marker - used to mark name and service number on clothing in a specific location prescribed by the Navy.
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Cap Ribbon - 1½ wide worn around the band of the cap, fastened to the cap by tacking the ends snugly under the silk ribbon bow. The ribbon shall have "U.S. NAVY" woven in yellow block letters ¾ inch in height.
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Preceded By:
WWI & 1920's era types exhibiting the following features:
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A noticeably larger crown.
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No front riser.
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Inside lining made of Blue Cotton Checks cloth.
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No sweat protector on crown lining.
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Ribbon often shows name of ship, station, etc.
Superseded By:
Immediate post-war type (1947) with external features nearly identical to the WW2 version. The only discernible differences being that a contract label can be found on the inside sweatband, the sweat protector was changed to plastic, and the size tariff was sometimes printed on the sweatband.
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US Coast Guard:
Cap, Cloth, Blue - issued identical to US Navy cap except for ribbon marked
"U.S. COAST GUARD".
US Maritime Service:
Cap, Cloth, Blue - issued identical to US Navy cap except for ribbon marked "U.S.M.S."
United States Coast And Geodetic Survey:
Cap, Cloth, Blue - issued identical to US Navy cap except for ribbon marked
"U.S.C. & G. SURVEY".
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ENLISTED MEN:
Initial Basic Allowance (1941-47):
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Quantity (1) Cap, Cloth, Blue.
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In northern areas, the blue cap was issued during basic training as part of the enlisted man's initial clothing allowance. In warmer areas it was withheld from issue until final assignment when the initial clothing allowance was to be made complete. Since the cap's main purpose was to be worn with the blue dress and full dress A uniforms, its use was mostly limited to formations and other formal occasions. Though it could be worn with the undress blue uniform, this was seldom the case outside of basic training stations in cold areas. The undress blue uniform was typically worn with either the white hat, or when cold, the knit watch cap. Because of its dress status, blue caps typically stayed stowed in the seabags of men assigned to sea in a theater of operations. In the post-war years, use of the cap became even more infrequent until it was finally abolished in 1963.
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The history of the blue cloth cap is a long and storied one. Seldom in writing about WW2 clothing does one encounter a subject with as long a history as the blue cap. This history stretches from at least 1833 until 1963, occurs in conjunction with some the most significant events in US history, and was marked with almost constant change beginning in the 1860s. In contrast, many WW2 clothing items have a very short history, sometimes only lasting months. In writing this article specifically about the WW2 era, regrettably much of cap's rich history had to be left out. Frankly, to justly cover the history of this cap, an entire book could be dedicated to it. It is unknown if such a book already exists, but if not, it remains an opportunity to fill in an important piece of US Naval uniform history.
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Since few blue caps survive intact with an original dated shipping container, it is impossible to know when a particular cap was contracted. As a result, when examining a cap, one must rely on the presence or absence of certain physical characteristics to determine the general time period it was produced. Caps made during the 1930's and 40's are immediately distinguishable from caps made in the 1920's because of their smaller crowns, front riser, and flared sides. One of the best ways to distinguish 30's and 40's caps from similar looking post-war caps is by the type of sweat protector found on the inside lining. Caps manufactured in the 30's and 40's have a very distinctive diamond shaped sweat protector that was made from a fabric called oiled silk, which was a thin silk fabric impregnated with drying oil. These sweat protectors have a unique look being reddish-brown or light-brownish with a semitransparent or translucent appearance, whereas post war sweat protectors were made of plastic. Additionally, post-war caps will have a contract label on the reverse side of the leather sweatband that is located toward the rear of the cap.
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Navy Department, Bureau of Navigation. United States Navy Uniform Regulations 1941. Washington D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1941.
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Navy Department. United States Navy Uniform Regulations 1947. Washington D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1947.
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Navy Department. United States Navy Uniform Regulations 1922. Washington D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1923.
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Department Of The Navy, Bureau of Naval Personnel, Washington, D.C. United States Navy Uniform Regulations 1959. (Including changes No. 1 dated 31 October 1961, No. 2 dated 25 January 1963, and No. 3 dated 1 April 1964). U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1959.
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Navy Department. Uniform Regulations United States Navy Together With Uniform Regulations Common To Both Navy And Marine Corps 1913. Washington D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1913.
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Navy Department, Bureau Of Supplies And Accounts. Selling To The Navy: For The Information Of Those Desiring Business Relationship With The Navy. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1940.
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United States Department of Commerce & National Bureau of Standards. National Directory of Commodity Specifications. National Bureau of Standards Publication M178. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1945.
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Civilian Production Administration, Industrial Statistics Division, Alphabetical Listing of Major War Supply Contracts, (Culmulative June 1940 Through September 1945), 1946.
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According to the publication Selling To The Navy (1940), the Naval Clothing Factory, located in Brooklyn, New York, procured services from local garment makers to fabricate blue caps from material that it supplied to them. Before the material was sent for final assembling, the fabric was pre-shrunk and patterns were cut out at the Naval Clothing Factory. This had been a long established practice for the enlisted man's white hat and blue cloth cap and was still standard protocol according to the 1940 publication mentioned above. The first specification for the blue cap that appeared in common trade publications was listed as 73-C-1C and dated 1939. This specification number stayed constant until it was changed in the summer of 1946. War-time contract numbers found on shipping boxes and in publications listing war supply contracts show that by early 1942, the Navy's New York Purchasing Office was issuing contracts to well established military uniform makers to manufacture the blue cap. This appears to have remained the practice until the demise of the cap in 1963 and is supported by the appearance of a contract label that appeared on the reverse side the sweatband on post-war caps.
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Navy publications that referenced the blue cap in regards to clothing allowances, procurement, and stock management typically used the official name of Cap, Blue, Cloth. However, other publications when referring to it informally often used the term "Flat Hat". By the time of WW2, this appears to have been an archaic reference because the blue cap was neither flat nor was it classified as a hat. Amongst the public, the blue cap was and still is often referred to as the "Donald Duck Hat". This was in obvious reference to the famous Disney cartoon character's tendency to wear the cap during his on-screen exploits.
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In the early part of WW2, the blue cap was being shipped from the manufacturer in a cardboard box that was used to help keep the form of the cap. The manufacturer's name and contract number appeared on this box and it is known from surviving examples that multiple manufacturer's shipped caps in this manner. Relatively few of these boxes have survived and as of the writing of this feature (July 2020) only boxes dated 1942 have been observed. It is unknown to what extent these boxes were produced or how long the practice of shipping in this way persisted. It seems that boxes would not be practical or economical in a time of war. Thus, the limited number of surviving shipping boxes suggests that this may have been a short-lived practice. However, it is unknown for certain the extent of their use.
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The WW2 era blue cap was made using natural materials such as wool, leather, and silk. After 75 years, caps should be handled with care and respect due to the tendency of these materials to become fragile over time. Wool and silk fabrics can easily become damaged by hungry moths and other bugs if not protected and kept in a clean, safe environment. Likewise, the leather sweatband and sweat protector can easily become cracked or broken if handled roughly or stored in hot, dry conditions. Additionally, depending how much a cap was worn, it may have accumulated enough perspiration to render the internal cap components extremely fragile to the touch, especially the sweatband, sweat protector, size label, and decorative bow.
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Navy Department, United States of America. Index of Specifications and Standards Used By Department Of The Navy Military, Index Volume III, Specifications Cancelled Or Suspended Since 1 January 1947. (NAVSANDA Publication No. 62, 1 April 1960, Revised to 24 February 1960). Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1960.
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BOLO, et al. Navy Flat Hat "Donald Duck" Hat. The US Militaria Forum, 11 July 2008 to 12 August 2008. usmilitariaforum.com/forums/
index.php?/topic/22959-navy-flat-hat-donald-duck-hat/
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SammyT, et al. Navy Hat (WWII??). U.S. Militaria Forum, 21 July 2011 to 31 December 2018. usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/
topic/116394-navy-hat-wwii/
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VetCollector. An Old Bluejacket Tradition Long Gone: Tar Hats to Flat Hats. The Veteran's Collection, (13 September 2018), veteranscollection.org/2018/09/13/a-old-bluejacket-tradition-long-gone-tar-hats-to-flat-hats/
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United States Navy, Bureau of Personnel. All Hands, The Bureau OF Naval Personnel Information Bulletin (September 1955, NavPers-0 Number 463) The Word (Sleeve Marks) P. 9. Bureau of Naval Personnel. September 1955.
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