This archive of information is from July 2000 to August 2000.
August 27, 2000:Does President Clinton's visit to Nigeria with promises to bolster their military somewhat confirm the news ot Nigerian sub badges? We'll have to wait and see. Remember, you heard it here first!
As for new badges, I always wondered why the subdued sub badges never were available in SSBN patrol pins and a few others. Well now, thanks to the ingenuity of a few people and the folks who make US Navy insignia, there are now subdued badges for the following:
SSBN Patrol
Combat Patrol
DSRV
These will not be available in the Navy Exchange uniform shops soon but they are available for trade or purchase from Bill Crosby. You can contact him at crosone@aol.com.
Don Palen at icbm.com had some nice Russian sub sets that he just sold (not to me- I'm not into multiple pins that are all the same. The Komsomolets (Communist Youth League) issued a series of pins which Don had gotten a bunch of (including one of the Indoa SSA). The others commemorate subs on a nice blue background. Take a look. Komsomolets Blue sub pinsAugust 14, 2000:Some new insignia and some news. First up, Steve smith reports that he saw the tool used to make Bolivian submarine badges. So you might be asking yourself, What kind of news does Jones put here? First Nigerian sub badges, now Bolivians." Well, I am just a faithful reporter of news. Steve was visiting an insignia company and he stumbled across a sub badge for Bolivians. It seems that they have placed men on Argentinian and Chilean subs and there is an award for them specially made in Bolivia. I asked Steve to investigate some more on his next trip. No picture on that one.
New US cloth are being sold at the NEX in Great Lakes.
Click for new cloth US badges.
I got two SNA Saphir lapel pins from a contact in France. SNA is SSN (Submarine Nuclear Atomic en Anglais).
Click to see Saphir pins. Next is the Greek velcro-backed sub insignia patch. This one say Lieutenant A. Simsirikis H.N. (Hellenic Navy).
Click for Greek patch.
Lastly, I made a montage of Peruvian metal sub badges. There are two older types (regular and large dolphins) and a newer type that looks cast. The mess dress may only come in the old version with smaller dolphins. Click to see the Peruvians.August 4, 2000:I acquired an old Chilean sub badge. It is made with a die, has a pin back (broken latch) and is depicted here.
Next is a repeat of sorts. Pennsylvania anthracite coal dolphins are still in production and I got a few sets of them. Write to me for a trade! Click here for coal dolphins.
Lastly, Bill Crosby recently got a WWII German U-Boat Flotilla badge from the First U-Boat Flotilla.
The First U-Flottilla began in Kiel and then moved to Brest in June 1941 when France fell. This was a major Flotilla with some outstanding skippers and boats. Flotilla Commanders were KK Eckermann (the former Skipper of U-A) from January 1940 through October 1940, KK Cohausz until February 1942, KPLT Bucholz until July 1942 and finally KK Werner Winter until September 1944. Thanks to Harry Cooper from Sharkhunters for the information on the Flotilla.
July 4, 2000:Happy 4th. of July! I'm having a lazy day here watching the tallships in NY harbor on television, so why not update my insignia news and watch TV at the same time?
First off, here is some strange insignia news. Nigeria has placed orders for a number of new insignia with a US firm, including command at sea, divers and submarine insignia. There is no known Nigerian orders for submarines or even midget submarines. People associated with the United States Naval Institute Proceedings and Janes Fighting Ships have been queried and they are just as incredulous as I am. Nigeria's Navy is small and their country has economic problems, so the likelihood of them doing a major buildup is small. You will see it here first when more is learned about this. Thanks to Eric Swendsboe for passing that on.
Eric also mentioned that a new version of the US dolphins is being produced by a Vanguard subcontractor that will have an SSN 21 Seawolf class submarine replacing the traditional fleet boat. This will be authorized to wear on uniforms since the Navy regs governing the design of dolphins only specify that the submarine shows a narrow starboard aspect, which this badge will. The SSN dolphins of a few years back would have been legal if the sub had been turned 5 to 10 degrees, showing a bit of the starboard side of the ship. Vanguard, along with Hilborne Hamburger, produce (or sub-contract out) the production of most US Navy insignia. When these are available I'll let you know here.
I have a few new jpegs for review. I uploaded 13 jpegs this morning and they follow.
First I have a quiz for you. The following picture is of two Spanish submarine insignia from the Juan Carlos era with plain (non-painted) crowns. They are the same but different. Can you tell how? The answer is below. Spanish Juan Carlos era badges.
Bill Crosby reported that he got a Soviet sub badge with a hammer and sickle. Soviet submarine badges come in several makes and models. Pete Pritchard's book (and Bill Crosby's recent find) show there are two basic styles of the same official badge- one with a red star and one with a red star with a hammer and sickle superimposed on the badge. Within those two major types, now called the 1942 and 1943 versions, there are several manufacturing variations, both officially and perhaps commercially made. The most "official" type I can determine are the cliche' versions, made with a die and pusher. They look crisp and clean on the lines on the badge. One was manufactured by Podeba in Moscow, the badge has space between the tops of the periscope and antenna and under the barrel of the forward gun. The second was made by Leningrad Mint. The spaces are not there (metal fill between the masts and under the forward gun). This is also purported to be made with a cliche' method. I believe the 1943 version by Podeba was originally made with a pin back and later versions were made with a screw back. I am not sure that the Leningrad version was ever made with a pin back. I think that version was only made with a screw back. The never Podeba badges have a smooth surface under the semi-transparent red star; the Leningrad (and perhaps the older Podeba) has lines emanating from the center of the star. Pritchard's book also shows a Hunt of Red October version of a badge. It is a cast version (or poorly struck), voided between the masts and under both gun barrels fore and aft. It has clutch backs. The red star is very thick and glassy looking. Made for the movie, copies of it appear all over the place. I bought one (gold finish) in Union Station (the train station in Washington DC) at a Soviet product Kiosk between 1990 and 1992. There is also a Paramount Pictures version of the badge that I found in a small plastic wrapper stapled to a card celebrating the video release of the movie (1990). There appear to be many cast copies of the Podeba and Leningrad badges now. There are also perhaps poorly made die-struck badges coming out of Russia, too. I had a source for the Podeba style badges, probably a cast version, with a pin back. They ran out but I recently got one more of the silver version. If anyone needs it, I'd be happy to trade it. The newer badges have a smear of red paint on the red star while the older ones appear to have a thick glassy star on them. As for the 1942 version, I am working to find out who manufactured them. It was probably Podeba. I'll let you know what I find out. If anyone has any good information, please send it to me. Thanks! The scan of Bill's badge follows: 1942 Soviet Badge.
Next is a scan of the prototype US DSRV badges. I never scanned them before and the one I grabbed off the net and put on my US page is upside down. The gold badge was proposed for the DSRV pilots (drivers) and silver (actually pewter color) were for the crew. These badges were never used. DSRV Prototypes.
Another obsolete Canadian cloth embroidered badge follows. It is the "puffy" kind, on the very dark green cloth (almost black) worn by the Canadian military and filled with some sort of batting to make it stand out. Obsolete Canadian embroidered badge.
France comes next. The French SSNs each have a lapel pin for their subs. I think these are already included far below but I scanned them for someone so I uploaded them. The second French scan is a stick pin of the French superior sub badge. French lapel pins for subs Amethyste and Casabianca. French superior stickpin.
A miniature Italian officer pin is next. This pin is of the type with no crown. It is very small and has blue paint on the outer ring with the "Sommergibili" in gold. I believe it is an unofficial lapel pin. Italian miniature officer pin.
A Taiwanese mess dress-sized officer badge is the next scan. The sun is painted. The back is a single clutch and there is no grabber to keep the pin in place (prevent rotating). I believe these are unofficial. Taiwan Mess Dress Officer Badge.
Iranian badges come in a red painted Islamic emblem version and one with baked-on color in the Islamic emblem. This next badge is like the painted version, but it has more than just red paint on it and some stripes painted on the sail. I don't know why. Take a look. Iranian painted variant.
Australia made some lapel pins for their Oberon class boats a few years ago. This is one of them. Oberon lapel pin.
Bill Ball, a former Navy UDT (predecessors of the Seals) and good friend of mine, brought me an SSBN profile tie tack from his recent trip to Norfolk (along with a British sub badge he got on another trip in Portugal). SSBN Tie Tack.
The answer to the Spanish badge quiz follows. The upper badge in the scan is a pin while the lower is a tie bar. The Pin has a dual clutch pin back and the traditional stick pin on the crown. The lower badge has an open clasp on the back that can slip horozontally over a tie. Okay, so it was sort of a trick question.
