US Navy Hat

[douglas2496]

Hello, I have this US Navy cap and am wondering if there is any way to date it? I know that this type was used over many years.

Many thanks,

Doug

[gel65]

Did you try checking behind the leather, going off of what I see I would say that this one is most likely ww2

[Wagriff]

The "Cracker Jack or Donald Duck" hat came in the year 1852 and normally carried the ship's name or base on them until this practice was dropped in 1941 and simply carried the US Navy ribbon on them from then on and continued on pretty much unchanged until 1 April 1963. As far as I've ever known, there is no real way to definitively date a flat top hat to any particular year as there were no noticeable differences from year to year. So, 1941-1963....that's about as narrowed down as you can feasibly get.

[Walkwolf]

Providing the tape/ribbon is original to the cap,
it's definitely WWII era.........

[Eric Zentner]

Hi Steve. What makes this style tally WW2 only?

Eric

[gunnerjohn]

hi, i think this is a wwII cap, the style of the size numerals are 4o's type usage, the caps in the 50's had a bit less of a flourish.

[Walkwolf]

During peace-time, a tally would show the name of the ship
the sailor served on and during the war they had only
'U.S. NAVY' on them. This was the practice of most
Navies - England and Germany come to mind.

I also thought that it could be WWI era, but to me it's
construction seems to be that of a WWII type.


William kinda beat me to it........

[Wagriff]

Looking up on the internet, I came up with this document that might be a Little bit of help, but not all that much. It says that the "Lee Uniform Cap Manufacturing Company" of Baltimore, Maryland filed for dissolving April 30,1982. It was stated that the age of the company at that time was 31 years and 9 months. So that would compute to their having began business in 1950 sometime around July-August. This would make the Oldest age possible for this nice flat top to be around 64 years old-or sometime in the Korean War era. But, of course, it could be relatively younger as well.

But, at least it narrows it down to 13 years possible-from 1950 to 1963....and you might be able to do abit further too. The flat tops were pretty much issued but unworn in the early 60's, so it's probable that this cap could be dated pretty much exclusive to the 50's decade, as it's obviously been Worn.

[Walkwolf]

Nice detective work William.........!

[douglas2496]

Thanks very much for the replies.