Flowing ribbons on submarine?

[partisan]

Hi,
I have a question for historians of this forum:
an important Italian collector told me that the cap with the ribbons fluttering was not very appropriate for the submarines during the war and sailors, sometimes, put a short ribbons without the tails ... can be true?
Actually I have been viewing many photos and in some of this the tails of ribbon are missing ...
Do you have some information?

Thank you very much

Partisan

[JAndrew]

Partisan,
What you heard was true. Long tally tails were often trimmed so they would not get tangled in equipment in the close quarters of a U-boat. As soon as it was permitted the Tellermutze was abandoned in favor of the bordmutze.
JAndrew

[John R.]

Regulation length tallies were not flowing at any time. They were supposed to be cut to the collar, that is all.

The long swept over the shoulder tallies were for photos in studios usually, but never for actual wear out and about.

If you were caught with the long tallies, they were often cut off by a petty officer.

The other issue on a submarine is storage. There just was no place and no reason to have the tellermutze onboard.

John

[heyst56]

Hans

[John R.]

Nice photos Hans. They look like they have returned from patrol, went to their barracks and cleaned up, shaved, haircuts, and switched to a nice uniform and cap for the ceremony/photo op.

In regards to their tallies, interesting how you do not see the collar length tallies at all. They might be tucked up under the ribbon though and not cut at all. Hard to tell. The tucking under was a trick sailors would use on big ships for the inspection prior to being allowed to leave the ship. Then they could just tug on the ends of the tally and pull it down to the long flowing look.

With a U-boat, I think the crew did what they wanted to do.

John

[partisan]

Hi,
here is just a few of the many photos where the sailors didn't have flowing tallies. An italian collector say me that many sailors of submarine cut its tallies...


























What do you think?

Partisan

[John R.]

Those are great photos and thanks for posting them. As I said, the flowing tallies were for studio shots only.

John

[partisan]

Thanks John!

Partisan

[Woolgar]

Excellent images

Nick