Navy Uniform change in 1943 ...Blue Sailor Jumper to Green Tunic/pants

[FightenIrish35]

Greetings all,
While looking threw some of my naval pictures I got to thinking about the Uniform transfer the Navy did from the Classic blue sailor two piece jumper to the "late war" green tunics (pleated and non pleated pockets) that was introduced in around 1943 or later 43 I believe.
My curiosity got to me as I do have pictures of Navy seaman as well as pilots in the "early" blue sailors uniform but the pictures are dated very late in 1945.

Does anybody know if at the time of the uniform transfer if they were told they could only wear there new green pants and jackets? Or were they aloud to wear the blue uniform even after the uniform change occured? Or maybe were they aloud to wear the blue early unfirom later in the war for certain occasions?

Hopefuly this can stir up some constructive thinking on this topic as well as some good information about the uniform change in 1943ish.
Thanks everyone and enjoy your weekend!!!

[Jareth]

I agree with above theory that blues were worn for certain occasions. The Japanese continued to use white/blue uniforms right up to wars end. The transition to all year green wasn't set in stone. You can see this from photos. Many pictures of land based navy troops will show a wide mixture of uniform types & colors. the Japanese manufacturing system was strange. Once a company was given a contract for a quantity of a certain type/model they continued to make these items even if they were out dated or discontinued.

[FightenIrish35]

much appreciated Jareth !! I guess with this uniform transfer theres alot of things that cant be answered positively unless we discover something written in stone.

[zachb]

I noted the following in Admiral Matome Ugaki's diary (by the way the book is a good read):

"Wednesday, 10 June 1942. Fine. Changed into summer uniform from today. Officers and men in summer shorts looked cool, but I still wear my winter uniform. Officers of captain and above seemingly hesitate to put on such summer uniforms."

&

"Friday, 23 June 1944. Cloudy... A northeast gale blew fairly strong and it became cooler. We changed to summer uniform."

I presume he is talking about the blue wool uniform, i.e, "winter". Maybe at least for officers and staff they perceived the blue uniform as more traditional. It could have been a seasonal thing as well as for more formal occasions as Jareth alludes to.

Zach