UBoat Hat Pins

[Aldwyn]

Hey guys! Newbie here... just started collecting KM badges, and am going to try and focus on UBoats.

Picked up these two hat tradition pins recently... I bought them assuming they were fake. I can't place either, though... one looks like U404 (and is made of sheet metal so could be in-boat manufacture if real) but the Viking Longboat Bow is facing the wrong direction for U404.

The man riding the torpedo, I know I have seen before someplace.. .but I cant place it. Uboat.net doesnt have a listing for this insignia, either.

Anyone know if there is A) any possibility they are real and B) What boats they came from?





Any help would be appericated!

Thanks!

[Ludwig]

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Looks OK, but these are hard to classify. Not much to go on.

[Aldwyn]

Thanks! Know what you mean, too... info on these things is so few and far between. And some seem so arbitrary.

I mean... how many hometown hat pins are out there that submariners used vs/ personal insignia, vs boat insignia, vs captians insignia, etc... What sells for a uboat hat pin could be just a civilian pin. etc... tough area I chose to start collecting!

[John R.]

hat pins

Very hard to tell if one of these pins is wartime or not. I think you would have to get it from the sailor himself to know for sure. Without provenance, it is very murky to say the least.

That said, "U-boat Emblems of World War II 1939-1945" by Georg Hogel is about as good as it gets for the correlation of emblems to pins. While the reference may not be 100%, it is as good as it gets and I would recommend that you get a copy if you intend to pursue this area of collecting.

John

[Aldwyn]

Very hard to tell if one of these pins is wartime or not. I think you would have to get it from the sailor himself to know for sure. Without provenance, it is very murky to say the least.

That said, "U-boat Emblems of World War II 1939-1945" by Georg Hogel is about as good as it gets for the correlation of emblems to pins. While the reference may not be 100%, it is as good as it gets and I would recommend that you get a copy if you intend to pursue this area of collecting.

John

Thanks! Ordered the book a week ago... still waiting for it to come in!

[Eric JB]

Aldwyn,

I checked the book and the supplement, but can not find the Bow facing this way, neither your "Torpedo-rider".

Maybe the pin on your Viking Longboat Bow is misplaced ?

But as you ordered the book, even without your emblems in it - it still is a great book.!!!

yours
Eric-Jan Bakker

[Tiger 1]

Part of the problem with identification is that not just U-Boat crews used badges such as these. Surface ships also used them on occasion, especially smaller craft such as minesweepers and the smaller torpedo boats.

Neat pins.

The torpedo rider may be a variant of the one used by U-773. It is described as a gnome riding a torpedo.

Similarly the bow of a Viking ship may be a variant of the emblem used by the U-404 as you mentioned. The bow faced forward so the design would by necessity be different for each side.

Hope this helps some.


Tony

[Aldwyn]

Good point about the bow. I suppose the crews didnt have to wear them on the left side of the hat, though that is were I remember seeing them in pics.

But true nuff on other ships using these pins, not to mention the Heer.

Getting an edelwiss pin. Mountian troop, or uboat? Or the town the troop came from... etc...

I'm going to collect them all the same.

- Aldwyn