Original German WWII Kriegsmarine Navy 1942 Dated NCO White M38 Overseas Cap by Heinrich Balke - Size 57

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a nice "salty" service worn example of a German WWII Kriegsmarine Navy White M38 Overseas cap (Schiffchen), as worn NCO ranks. The overseas cap, nicknamed in German military slang as Schiffchen, or literally "little ship" as it resembled an up-turned row-boat, was standard issue for Warrant and Petty officer NCO ranks. The kriegsmarine utilized several different colors of uniforms, and had caps and insignia specifically for the color uniform in use.

The cap is constructed of a white canvas exterior, and features machine BeVo embroidered blue eagle and tri-color cockade emblems sewn to the front. The interior is white canvas of a slightly different weave, and still has the original maker information easily legible:

57
Heinrich Balke
Mützenfabrik
B R E M E N
1942

The cap definitely looks to have seen long service during the war. It shows overall staining consistent with exposure to the moist sea air, which shows up far more on the white fabric than it would Navy Blue or Tan. The insignia on the front of the cap show wear and staining, particularly the cockade, which shows a lot of fraying. We can also see that one of the bottom stitches that holds the liner in the shell is pulling on the lower left side of the cap.

A great salty example of a white Kriegsmarine EM/NCO overseas cap, possibly the first that we have had! Ready to display!

The Kriegsmarine was the navy of NSDAP Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war Reichsmarine (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches, along with the Heer and the Luftwaffe, of the Wehrmacht, the German armed forces from 1935 to 1945.

In violation of the Treaty of Versailles, the Kriegsmarine grew rapidly during German naval rearmament in the 1930s. The 1919 treaty had limited the size of the German navy and prohibited the building of submarines.

Kriegsmarine ships were deployed to the waters around Spain during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) under the guise of enforcing non-intervention, but in reality supported the Nationalists against the Spanish Republicans.

In January 1939, Plan Z, a massive shipbuilding program, was ordered, calling for surface naval parity with the British Royal Navy by 1944. When World War II broke out in September 1939, Plan Z was shelved in favor of a crash building program for submarines (U-boats) instead of capital surface warships, and land and air forces were given priority of strategic resources.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine (as for all branches of armed forces during the period of absolute NSDAP power) was Adolf H, who exercised his authority through the Oberkommando der Marine ("High Command of the Navy").

The Kriegsmarine's most significant ships were the U-boats, most of which were constructed after Plan Z was abandoned at the beginning of World War II. Wolfpacks were rapidly assembled groups of submarines which attacked British convoys during the first half of the Battle of the Atlantic but this tactic was largely abandoned by May 1943 when U-boat losses mounted. Along with the U-boats, surface commerce raiders (including auxiliary cruisers) were used to disrupt Allied shipping in the early years of the war, the most famous of these being the heavy cruisers Admiral Graf Spee and Admiral Scheer and the battleship Bismarck. However, the adoption of convoy escorts, especially in the Atlantic, greatly reduced the effectiveness of surface commerce raiders against convoys.

Following the end of World War II in 1945, the Kriegsmarine's remaining ships were divided up among the Allied powers and were used for various purposes including minesweeping. Some were loaded with superfluous chemical weapons and scuttled.