Original U.S. WWII Navy Painted Damage Control or Supply Battalion Rear Seam Swivel Bale M1 Helmet with Westinghouse Liner

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice example of a late WWII Produced M1 Helmet, with a rear seam swivel bale shell by McCord, and a "High Pressure" liner by Westinghouse. This example was worn by a sailor of the U.S. Navy and painted in a pattern that we believe to either indicate Damage Control or Supply Battalion. We have had examples of each in the past, but the paint was oriented differently, although there certainly wouldn’t have been exact parameters for either of these. We are leaning more towards Damage Control. The helmet was first painted in the lighter Navy Gray, with a yellow stripe around the bottom of the helmet and a red stripe painted above that. The paint is certainly period given its heavy wear.

Damage control units were the front line against damage sustained while in combat, with brightly colored helmets so they could be easily seen in the smoke resulting from damage. Before repairs could be made, fires had to be put out to mitigate damage to the ship. They often operated during combat, and therefore needed combat helmets, as they could not shelter below decks. U.S. Navy damage control unit items are very sought after.

The U.S. WWII M-1 helmet was only produced from 1941 to 1945. The first production batch resulted with over 323,510 M-1 helmets before the start of the American involvement in the war. This helmet is heat-lot stamped 1018E, which indicates a very late-war manufacture date.

The Ordnance Department selected McCord Radiator and Manufacturing Company of Detroit Michigan to produce the steel M1 helmet bodies. These bodies were made from a single piece of Hadfield Manganese steel that was produced by the Carnegie-Illinois & Sharon Steel Corporations. Each completed raw M-1 helmet shell weighed 2.25 lbs each.

The early M-1 helmet shells had a set of fixed (static) chinstrap loops called "bales" and a stainless steel rim. These rims were both rust resistant and had "non-magnetic qualities" that reduced the chance of error readings when placed around certain sensitive equipment (such as a compass). In October 1943, issues with the fixed bales breaking off resulted in a change to the "swivel bales" that this helmet has. In 1944, to deal with paint wearing off the very shiny stainless steel rim, the material was changed to manganese steel in October, and then the seam moved to the rear in November, as is on this helmet.

This helmet is a fine example and still retains all of its original WWII parts and the shell has "corked" grain paint with rear seam and swivel bails. The helmet only retains the smaller half of the chinstrap, and the other half is almost entirely gone.

The liner is correct "high pressure" WWII issue and embossed with a W for manufacture by the Westinghouse Electric Co of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. These "high pressure" manufactured M-1 helmet liners are identified by an embossed "W" in the crown (which is still Westinghouse's logo to this day). Westinghouse was the largest M-1 helmet liner producer and had two production divisions; Micarta and Bryant Electric. The Micarta Division produced about 13,000,000 M-1 helmet liners and the Bryant Electric Division about 10,000,000. Westinghouse Electric Company started M-1 helmet liner delivery in May 1942.

This true US WWII M-1 helmet liner can be identified through the frontal eyelet hole. Other correct WWII features include OD Green #3 cotton herringbone twill (HBT) cloth suspension liner, with the webbing in good condition. This HBT suspension is held tightly within the M-1 helmet liner by rivets and a series of triangular "A" washers. The three upper suspension bands are joined together with the correct OD green string. This way the wearer could adjust the fit. The sweatband is missing entirely from this liner, as is the leather liner chinstrap. The exterior is painted in a darker Navy Gray paint, and complements the helmet nicely.

A very nice late WWII issue helmet with a very interesting paint job, perfect for any collection! Ready to display!