The dress and service dress blue uniforms of today’s Kings Pointer are in essence the same as those worn by their antecedents in the late 1940s. And, these uniforms themselves were identical to those worn by midshipmen at Annapolis. This was not a coincidence, rather a move on the part of the U.S. War Shipping Administration and Maritime Service have cadet-midshipmen at the United States Merchant Marine Academy look like their naval peers, and thus encourage professionalism among the cadet-midshipmen and to garner the public’s respect.
Studying period U.S. Merchant Marine Academy uniforms is oftentimes difficult. Day-to-day uniforms are few and far between. What often survives the vicissitudes of time intact are ceremonial uniforms; other uniforms are often recycled or worn by graduates in the early days of their careers. Rare are Service Blue coats with underclass rank stripes; each year stripes are added with the progression of Kings Pointers from class to class. The same is true for shoulder boards. Among officers, tradition held that there was a passing of Battalion or Regiment staff officer rank boards from incumbents to their successors.
Below please find examples and discussions of Cadet Corps uniforms from the 1940s through the 1980s.
- 1944-1946 Uniform set (ex Upham – Deck)
- 1945 Whites (ex Hellerman – Graduation)
- 1946-1952 Service Dress Blue (Deck)
- 1947-1951 Dress Blue (ex Pfleging – Engine)
- 1960-1970 Service Dress Khaki
- 1969-1973 Uniform set (ex Strenkert – Engine)
- 1971 Dress Blue (Deck)
- 1970s Dress Blue (ex Sage – Dualie)
- 1980s Service Dress Blue (ex Barrett – Deck)
