Original German WWII Kriegsmarine Signals Enlisted Man’s Evening Dress Reefer Jacket – Signalobergefreiter Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. German Naval uniforms and headgear were based on traditional designs that date back to the creation of the Prussian Navy in 1848, and although uniforms and headgear did evolve during the interim years many items used during the Third Reich would still have been quite recognizable to the Imperial sailor. Officers and certain senior NCO ranks were responsible for purchasing their own uniforms and headgear and as a result were allotted a clothing allowance through the OKK, Offizier Kleiderkasse der Kriegsmarine (Officer’s Clothing Account of the Navy).

Although enlisted personnel were issued their uniforms and headgear from government supplies they were also permitted to purchase privately tailored items although the price may have been restrictive. Generally speaking officers bought nice quality, private purchase, uniform items but they could also choose to buy their uniforms directly from the military clothing depots. The Kriegsmarine parade jacket was a standard issue item for all enlisted and junior NCO personnel and closely followed the design of the Imperial German Navy and Reichsmarine era parade jackets with minor modifications. Regulations of September 6 1939 prohibited wear of the parade jacket, except on special occasions as ordered, until the successful conclusion of the war.

This is a tailor made German WWII evening dress Kriegsmarine reefer jacket for the Mannschaften (Enlisted Man) rank of Signalobergefreiter (Signals man equivalent to U.S. Navy Seaman 2nd Class). This example is of nice quality, navy blue doeskin wool construction, waist length, Bolero/Spencer style, simulated double breasted, parade jacket with opened, upswept, peak lapels and a small lay down collar. The short jacket for evening dress is constructed of fine blue wool with gold Kriegsmarine buttons, and a wonderful stitched yellow eagle to the right chest. The left sleeve has the Signalgast (Signalman) trade badge over two gold rank chevrons, for an Obergefreiter. The jacket is an impressive double breasted 9 button front. This is a high quality WW2 German Naval NCO evening dress uniform jacket offered in wonderful condition.

The interior still bear depot and size stamps, with 42 92 62 inside one of the pockets, and the depot stamp reading:

B.A.V.
9.10.35

For a date of October 9th, 1935. The jacket features all original button and vest “button chain” for securing the front, and shows only light wear.

This is truly a lovely example that comes ready to display!

The Kriegsmarine was the navy of NSDAP Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war Reichsmarine (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches, along with the Heer and the Luftwaffe, of the Wehrmacht, the German armed forces from 1935 to 1945.

In violation of the Treaty of Versailles, the Kriegsmarine grew rapidly during German naval rearmament in the 1930s. The 1919 treaty had limited the size of the German navy and prohibited the building of submarines.

Kriegsmarine ships were deployed to the waters around Spain during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) under the guise of enforcing non-intervention, but in reality supported the Nationalists against the Spanish Republicans.

In January 1939, Plan Z, a massive shipbuilding program, was ordered, calling for surface naval parity with the British Royal Navy by 1944. When World War II broke out in September 1939, Plan Z was shelved in favor of a crash building program for submarines (U-boats) instead of capital surface warships, and land and air forces were given priority of strategic resources.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine (as for all branches of armed forces during the period of absolute NSDAP power) was Adolf H, who exercised his authority through the Oberkommando der Marine (“High Command of the Navy”).

The Kriegsmarine’s most significant ships were the U-boats, most of which were constructed after Plan Z was abandoned at the beginning of World War II. Wolfpacks were rapidly assembled groups of submarines which attacked British convoys during the first half of the Battle of the Atlantic but this tactic was largely abandoned by May 1943 when U-boat losses mounted. Along with the U-boats, surface commerce raiders (including auxiliary cruisers) were used to disrupt Allied shipping in the early years of the war, the most famous of these being the heavy cruisers Admiral Graf Spee and Admiral Scheer and the battleship Bismarck. However, the adoption of convoy escorts, especially in the Atlantic, greatly reduced the effectiveness of surface commerce raiders against convoys.

Following the end of World War II in 1945, the Kriegsmarine’s remaining ships were divided up among the Allied powers and were used for various purposes including minesweeping. Some were loaded with superfluous chemical weapons and scuttled.