service dress khaki, 1960-1970
This uniform coat was put together by a collector not so much to deceive but as a display item. The thought was to represent the working, shipboard uniform of a radio technician from the early Second World War. The buttons, lack of service ribbons, and U.S.N.R. badge are correct for the period; the coat is not.
One of the first clues to determine the date of a uniform from Kings Point is to take a look at the clothing tags. This tag was in use from the late 1940s through the 1960s with little variation. Wartime tags were those of Naval supply depots and local tailors; the Academy did not have a “uniform shop” until peacetime. The next hint is the coat’s material. It is a wool-cotton blend; this is discernable by the slight shiny appearance of the coat and the tight warp and weft of the cloth. Coats with this material were issued to the fleet through the Vietnam War era. Service dress khakis were an innovation during the Second World War since they did not require specialized dry-cleaning facilities – being cotton they could be washed and pressed without issue (as a comparison, see a United States Maritime Service service dress khaki coat from the 1940s). The expedience factor of laundering the service dress khakis was lost in the decades following the Second World War.
If this were a midshipman or ex-midshipman coat, an area of concern is the placement of the U.S.N.R. badge. Cadet-midshipmen received a healthy dose of demerits for improper wear of insignia. The badge slightly covers the leading edge of the pocket. From 1942 onward, the badge was always 1½” above the pocket opening.
