New Navy Uniform

[rampant]

Do you think this one looks better?

View attachment 563264

Yep, but they look better made of wool

 

[medwaymud]

Were they the old green ones with the kapok outer and green pile inner with a large detachable wired hood? They were the warmest parka's that I have ever come across. Introduced during the Korean war copying an American design. They were replaced in the late seventies with a DPM version similar to the Arctic smock and with the same crappy Chinese fighting suit liner.

They weren't a patch on the old version. I would have loved to get hold of one but they must be rare collectors items now as I have never seen one advertised on the net. I don't think that they were ever issued individualy but held centrally and only issued when circumstances demanded it.

Exactly that design.
I was standing outside a LR , shouting readings to a bloke inside ( engine running, heater going full blast to keep his fingers functioning )
Anyone who has used a Watts Microptic 1" Theodolite in sub -zero temps with added wind chill will understand this scenario.

 

[GreyArea]

Do you think this one looks better?

View attachment 563264

Steady now,

you'll end up here if you're not careful...

 

[par avion]

Back in the '80s I was put in charge of my section's foul weather kit. It was unbelievable - like the costume department from The Cruel Sea. It was all new... and well out of date. It desperately needed to be exchanged for something more suitable. I pitched up at stores with a barrow full of oilskins, blanket liners, leather jerkins and duffel coats which had been stashed away since the war and had never been issued. Baffled as to precisely what he was looking at, the stacker eventually exchanged the lot for shiny new DPM parkas and recently arrived Goretex, as the items were still on ticket. I bet it all got skipped.

Bit of thread drift again, but a story told to me in the mis nineties by a WO2 NRPS in 10 Para who was ex 3 Para was that the QM 3 Para came across a stock of original WW2 Dennison smocks, I can't remember the exact amount, but it was something like 200 hundred or more. Even then these were worth a fortune with collectors but he insisted in going by the book and had them all shredded. I am sure he could have found a way to legally give some to museums and sell the rest with the profit going to service charities, but it seems that this option was too much trouble. Apparently they weren't even on the books anywhere they had just been sitting around in some wharehouse since the forties.

 

[Ian525]

Steady now,

you'll end up here if you're not careful...

View attachment 563274

Persec!!!

 

[GreyArea]

It's ok, I've shaved the 'tache off now.

Errrrmmmm I mean my mate's shaved his 'tache off now...!!

(Phew, that was close...)

 

[Ravers]

Were they the old green ones with the kapok outer and green pile inner with a large detachable wired hood? They were the warmest parka's that I have ever come across. Introduced during the Korean war copying an American design. They were replaced in the late seventies with a DPM version similar to the Arctic smock and with the same crappy Chinese fighting suit liner.

They weren't a patch on the old version. I would have loved to get hold of one but they must be rare collectors items now as I have never seen one advertised on the net. I don't think that they were ever issued individualy but held centrally and only issued when circumstances demanded it.

My dad had one of those parkas.

His cousin had been down south in 82 and gave him his coat as a souvenir.

I recall dressing up in it as a kid. It was ******* massive. Even on a 6’1” bloke like my dad it came down past his knees.

It’s probably still knocking around somewhere. I imagine very moth eaten by now and covered in paint, motor oil etc. as it was worn as a general work coat by both the old man and his brother.

And that’s after it being worn in an actual war.

 

[Mattb]

"Where would I be on that list?" asks Lt Jrwlynch RNR. "Hypothetically. Asking for a friend..."

Ravers gives the officer one of those pitying looks. "Well, sir, if you look at the bottom of the list, and look down a bit..."

"That's... off the paper? Wouldn't that put me on the floor?"

"No, sir, I'm afraid not. We'd have to lift the carpet tiles to find where you'd be. Sir, the Wrens wouldn't be scraping the bottom of the barrel, they would have had to move the barrel and dig up the floor before you looked like a good option to them..."

Could be worse.




Could still be a mid.

 

[BuckFelize]

I used to know an old boy who wore an old WW1 Kaiserliche Marine U boat coat to the pub - the Three Tuns in Needham. He's probably long gone now... as is the coat. It was a beautiful bit if kit with the imperial stamping inside.

 

[Dashing_Chap]

Is the woolly pully still issued? If not why not? It was the best bit of kit ever.

 

[Hohenidoom]

Somewhat fittingly for this thread, upon discovering I was fresh out of beer I raided the cellar. Promptly found we were fresh out of everything bar a very vintage bottle of Pussers and some angostura dated '97.

Grog, I am finding, is quite a pleasurable thing.

 

[Dashing_Chap]

Yep, but they look better made of wool

USN pea coat looks cool. I guess they want something flame retardant and cheap nowadays though.

The RN WW2 coat looked cool too, Ted Briggs from Hood.

I much prefer the black cap too.

 

[par avion]

Throw in Black Caps and you've got the epitome of RN Ally

View attachment 563232

He has just heard that there are snorkers for scran in the wardroom.

 

[par avion]

View attachment 563281


USN pea coat looks cool. I guess they want something flame retardant and cheap nowadays though.

The RN WW2 coat looked cool too, Ted Briggs from Hood.

View attachment 563283

I much prefer the black cap too.

Was this Ted after his dunking in the Denmark sea?

 

[Dashing_Chap]

Was this Ted after his dunking in the Denmark sea?

Yes afaik.

 

[Dashing_Chap]

He has just heard that there are snorkers for scan in the wardroom.

Snorkers? Good oh!

 

[GingerNavs]

JRs? As an XO I led an underground movement to wear green softies all the time.

Turns out after 3 years, I didn’t spontaneously combust, nor was I unable to take it off before responding to an incident.

Ditto. For both my tours as XO I was very much in favour of my sailors being comfortable at sea... Too hot? Just wear the t-shirt. Too cold? Wear a Pusser's jumper or other warm gear. I was often asked "Are you cold, Sir?" To which my reply would be "No, I'm wearing a jumper..."

 

[Daxx]

Steady now,

you'll end up here if you're not careful...

View attachment 563274

You're mistaken. That's the new Royal Marines uniform

 

[Daxx]

View attachment 563281


USN pea coat looks cool. I guess they want something flame retardant and cheap nowadays though.

The RN WW2 coat looked cool too, Ted Briggs from Hood.

View attachment 563283

I much prefer the black cap too.

Ted Briggs was my brother's Godfather and a family friend. I went to his funeral at HMS Collingwood where the Royal Navy gave him a fitting send off with full military honours.

 

[philc]

When at Dolphin for my Polaris induction we used to get O Boat crews dock and head home for the weekend, they came ashore Ovies, Steaming bats, rugby shirt, beard and carrying a cheap plastic bag with face towel, bar of soap, toothbrush and paste plus 2 pairs of socks & pants, soiled and a slight whiff downwind.

Time I had a few years in I could replicate that sailing out of HK, shorts, old No 8 shirt, sandal's, leather Seamans rigging kit with knife, small adjustable and long red as all faults can be fixed with that combination of tools. We lived in the block at Tamar so washing kit and that was it.

Looks like todays Navy is over complicating clothing when practical hard wearing kit and common sense is needed.