WWII NAZI GERMAN KRIEGSMARINE DONALD DUCK HAT WW2

Private purchase, deep navy blue doeskin wool construction "Donald Duck" style sailor’s cap features a non-removable, one piece, circular crown and two piece side panels with machine stitched vertical seams to each side. Double ventilation grommets under each side. The front center of the cap has a separate, fire gilted, stamped alloy, national eagle with out-stretched wings and a three piece national tri-color cockade. Insignia is sewn to the cap. The cap has a black rayon cap talley with machine woven Gothic script, "SCHLACHTSCHIFF SCHARNHORST", in gilt threads. The cap talley is secured to the cap by dual vertical and diagonally angled threads at the reverse center. The cap talley has long, extended, "tails" with diagonally cut ends creating the "swallow tail" effect. The interior of the cap is fully lined with blue brushed rayon. The interior of the cap also has a used complete leatherette sweatband. The cap is roughly size 54. Excellent. The German EM/NCO’s "Donald Duck" style sailor’s cap was based on a traditional design that dates back to the creation of the Prussian Navy in 1848. During the Imperial German Navy, the Reichsmarine and the early Third Reich eras these Donald Duck style sailor’s caps were issued with a named cap talley to identify the ship, flotilla or land unit the individual was serving with. On November 1ST 1938 the Navy mobilization order introduced the "Kriegsmarine" cap talley to replace the named cap tallies as a security measure in the case of active mobilization. Personnel who had no possible contact with the outside world retained the privilege to wear the named tallies until mid-1940 when additional orders restricted wear of all named cap tallies excluding personnel of the NCO’s Preparatory Schools. Originally the script on the cap tallies was worked in gilt wire but due to the potential tarnish discoloration of the wire, regulations of October 29TH 1936 dictated that the manufacture of the gilt script on the cap tallies was to be discontinued and replaced with golden yellow celleon threads although the directive was not strictly adhered to. As was common practice during the Third Reich, capital ships were quite often named after earlier German heroes and the Battleship Scharnhorst was named in honor of the Imperial Prussian General Gerhard Johann David von Scharnhorst, (1755-1813), who had assisted in reorganizing the Imperial Prussian army, along with Gneisenau, in the early 1800's restoring morale and resulting in the defeat of Napoleon I at Leipzig in 1813. The Schlachtschiff Scharnhorst, (Battleship Scharnhorst), was launched on October 3RD 1936 and was one of the most fortunate of Hitler’s high seas surface fleet, having survived the Norwegian campaign in 1940, two extended forays in the Atlantic, a year of bombing by the RCAF at Brest, the daring channel dash from Brest to Wilhelmshaven in February 1942, and the British attack at Alten Fjord in September 1943. On December 26TH 1943 the Scharnhorst was sunk by a British battle group off of the North Cape of Norway with a loss of one thousand thirty-two men of the total one thousand sixty-eight crew members.