Kaiserliche Marine

SkipperJohn

SkipperJohn

Well-known member
I know these are not popular on this site, but I couldn't resist. This is one of my favorites.
Complete parade dress uniform of an Ober-Matrose in the Werft Division of the SMS Bluecher. The Werft Division worked below decks and were technicians, mechanics, craftsmen, or stokers, but were not deck hands. Deck hands trim was gold and Werft Division was silver. All pieces are ID'ed to a sailor named FISCHER and all are dated 1913, except the cap which is not dated. The SMS Bluecher was commissioned in 1909 and sunk at the battle of Dogger Bank in 1915. I did not lay this uniform out for photos because it is so difficult to set up for display, requiring many, many, MANY binder clips to hold it in place. Notice that there is only the national cockade on the cap. Navy and Marine units were considered national assets and were not dedicated to a state.

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SMS Bluecher:

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Dogger Bank 1915:

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John :)
 
It is not that they are unpopular, it is that most of us just do not have one.

Great stuff, keep it coming.

James
 
I wish I knew why I have this uniform. What made Ober-Matrose Fischer miss movement on that fateful cruise in 1915? By all rights this uniform should be at the bottom of the sea.
John
 
SkipperJohn said:
I wish I knew why I have this uniform. What made Ober-Matrose Fischer miss movement on that fateful cruise in 1915? By all rights this uniform should be at the bottom of the sea.
John
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It is most likely that this uniform as kept at home for dress ocasions, or perhaps it was out grown and replaced by a larger uniform at some point.
Kaiserliche Marine uniforms are not easy to find, about the only Navy uniforms taht can be found easily are the US Navy ones.
Here is mine.

Most likely a put together ensemble, the tally is to the SMS Lothringen
 
Nice uniform. Is that a Model 88 Commission Rifle? I have one of those. Be careful with that. I assume you know that it cannot fire standard 8mm Mauser ammunition unless the barrel has been stamped with an "S". The 88 has a bore of .321 and a standard 8mm Mauser is .323.
John
 
Kaiserliche-Marine cruisers and battle ships were made for combat, not living on. Unlike British ships which were meant to be lived on 24/7 by the crew, German ships did not have extensive living quarters. German crews slept on the Marine bases in quarters. As a result, German ships had typically much more armour which proved its worth at Jutland in 1916.

So unless there was a review (parade), as Gus indicated, the dress jacket would be left on base, crews went on sortie with only a duffel bag of work clothing such as that superb jumper set that Gus posted. So many of these Kaiserliche-Marine dress jackets have survived, as they were not on-board lost ships, and were useless to wear after the war as a coat.

They are by far (in my opinion) the most colourful and attractive German tunics. I have several and love them.You have a wonderful set.
 
SkipperJohn said:
Nice uniform. Is that a Model 88 Commission Rifle? I have one of those. Be careful with that. I assume you know that it cannot fire standard 8mm Mauser ammunition unless the barrel has been stamped with an "S". The 88 has a bore of .321 and a standard 8mm Mauser is .323.
John
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It is an 88 that has been updated for the Spitzer ammo, although I have not shot it and will probably never shoot it. Just to ease the fears of those who think firearms should be deactivate, this one has been deactivated by Idaho standards, and has been used for presentations in area schools. (We deactivate firearms around here by removing the ammo from the magazine and chamber)
 
The rarest part of these uniforms is the neck tie, most groupings I have seen lack it and I have never seen one offered alone.
 
The neckerchief came with the uniform. I was, and still am, confused about how these were tied. They do not appear to use a square knot like the US Navy. I researched several photos, like the one I posted, and then just tied it in a single Windsor. If anybody knows the official knot I could use the advice.
In Arizona a weapon is considered disabled if you leave it in the truck when you go inside a Walmart. :eek:
 
Mine came tied, I will try to study it to see if I can figure out how, but I do not plan on untying it:)
bset
Gsu
 
Definitely don't untie it. They are larger than they look. I got a link on Tony's website to a website that had colonial and naval uniforms. I sent him an e-mail asking how these were tied but I never heard back. Mine looks the same, so it must be close.
 
I looked at mine, and it does look like a standard neck tie knot, but it is more bulbous in shape rather than angular. I was told that the blue line is supposed to run diagonally across the front of the knot, I don't know if this is so, but mine does.
 
Looking at the original photo, the strip does run on a diagonal. As to the rifle 88; after the war there was a large number of these imported into the US, that had their firing pins cut.
 
I don't think I can get the blue stripe to run that way. Right now the blue stripe is twisted in the back. I'll just leave it alone. Thanks for the info.
I don't remember where I got my 88, but I did find some proper ammo for it at a gun show and I have fired it. NOT the best shooting rifle I've ever had. I have a couple of GEW 98's and they are much better.
John
 
Thanks Glenn, the second link is most interesting, it even explains a bit about nearlyt eveyu Navy with the bit about the three white stripes that are found on most navy uniforms.
 
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