dress blues, 1947-1951
The Cadet Corps did not start wearing round coats with double rows of buttons until July 1943 several months ahead of the dedication of Kings Point in September 1943. This same style of uniform was worn by midshipmen at Annapolis since at least the 1890s; the cut of which was standardized in the 1930s. Rationing and mass-production of uniforms took away some of the exquisite detail as found in round coats manufactured prior to the Second World War as is evident in this immediate post-war example (by comparison, see a 1940 Annapolis example).
The white belt with the polished brass buckle is from late war; the buckle’s style has remained the same for decades after its creation. It was worn over the waist, between the seventh and eighth buttons.
This uniform was once owned by Edward F. Pfleging ’51 (Engine). He later became a Professor and Chief Engineer at State University of New York Maritime College at Fort Schuyler, in The Bronx, New York.
The absence of ribbons or decorations on the coat – with the noted exception of the U.S.N.R. badge – is not unexpected for the period. Kings Point was no longer a wartime school, rather an institution training mariners for a career in the U.S. commercial fleet along with a U.S. Naval Reserve service obligation.
