Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very good service used Genuine WWII German Kriegsmarine sailor's Tellermütze (Flat Cap), usually referred to as a Donald Duck hat. This basic design was popular worldwide, and used by many countries. These caps were worn by all Junior NCO's and enlisted men. It is made of Dark navy blue wool, and is fitted with a black silk cap tally machine embroidered with the title Kriegsmarine in brass bullion thread. This would normally be held in place by stitched loops in the rear, however those look to have torn through, and the tally is secured by two black rubber coated paperclips. The front of the cap bears a gold national eagle insignia on the top, over a metal tri-color cockade with painted central insert.

The interior is lined with black rayon, and we can see that there was originally a celluloid sweat shield "diamond" attached to the crown, but now only some stitching remains. The cap has a beige finished leather sweatband, which has degraded due to use and age, and is now cracked and torn, with about 25% of the leather having torn away. The size seems to be about a 54cm, per our hat sizer, but with the missing leather it's not really possible to tell.

Condition shows that it saw moderate to heavy use in service, but was well cared for. The exterior shows some soiling but no real mothing, and there is just a bit of staining from the metal insignia on the front. A lovely service used Kriegsmarine Sailor's cap, with a great look! Ready to display!

WWII Kriegsmarine
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 ship-building 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 favour 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 AH, 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.