Original Item: Only One Available. Captain Finnigan served in the United States Navy sometime from 1936 up until after WW2. During the Pre War years and during the war, he served aboard various types of ships ranging from Battleships to Omaha-Class Cruisers. He had a long Naval service, and served aboard some well known ships.

We have not been able to fully research Captain Finnigan, but we were able to find most of the ships he served on:

USS West Virginia in 1936 as an Ensign
USS Talbot in 1937, 1938 and 1939 as a Lieutenant Junior Grade
USS Trenton in 1939 and 1940 as a Lieutenant Junior Grade
In 1942 he attended a Post Graduate School as a Lieutenant.

His United States Navy cover comes in a size 7 ¼ and was manufactured by the famed Bancroft Uniform and Headwear company, a well known maker of Military headgear. It features a wicker frame and Naval blue wool construction with a leather visor. The visor insignia is a silver American eagle cap badge with a gold bullion chinstrap. The leather sweatband does not feature the Bancroft label embossed as we normally see. The condition is excellent with minor fading. His name tag was found tucked inside of the leather sweatband and has CAPT O. D. FINNIGAN typed on it.

This is a wonderful example of a named US Naval Officers Blue Service Cover and comes ready to be researched and displayed!

USS West Virginia
USS West Virginia (BB-48) was the fourth dreadnought battleship of the Colorado class, though because Washington was canceled, she was the third and final member of the class to be completed. The Colorado class proved to be the culmination of the standard-type battleship series built for the United States Navy in the 1910s and 1920s; the ships were essentially repeats of the earlier Tennessee design, but with a significantly more powerful main battery of eight 16-inch (406 mm) guns in twin-gun turrets. West Virginia was built between her keel laying in 1920 and her commissioning into the Navy in 1923. The ship spent the 1920s and 1930s conducting routine training exercises, including the typically-annual Fleet Problems, which provided invaluable experience for the coming war in the Pacific.

West Virginia was moored in Battleship Row on the morning of 7 December 1941 when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, bringing the United States into World War II. Badly damaged by torpedoes, the ship sank in the shallow water but was later refloated and extensively rebuilt over the course of 1943 and into mid-1944. She returned to service in time for the Philippines Campaign, where she led the American line of battle at the Battle of Surigao Strait on the night of 24–25 October. There, she was one of the few American battleships to use her radar to acquire a target in the darkness, allowing her to engage a Japanese squadron in what was the final action between battleships in naval history.

After Surigao Strait, the ship remained in the Philippines to support troops fighting during the Battle of Leyte in 1944 and then supported the invasion of Lingayen Gulf in early 1945. The ship also took part in the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa later that year, providing extensive fire support to the ground forces invading those islands. During the latter operation, she was hit by a kamikaze that did little damage. Following the surrender of Japan, West Virginia took part in the initial occupation and thereafter participated in Operation Magic Carpet, carrying soldiers and sailors from Hawaii to the mainland United States before being deactivated in 1946. She was decommissioned in 1947 and assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet, where she remained until 1959 when she was sold to ship breakers and dismantled.

USS Talbot (DD-114)
USS Talbot (DD-114) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I and later designated APD-7 in World War II. She was the first ship named in honor of Silas Talbot.

The day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Talbot got underway in the screen of the aircraft carrier Saratoga and headed for Hawaii. She arrived at Pearl Harbor exactly a week after the Japanese raid, patrolled off the islands for ten days, and returned to San Diego. In February 1942, the ship joined the Patrol Force of the 12th Naval District and escorted convoys along the Pacific coast.
 
USS Trenton (CL-11)
USS Trenton (CL-11) was an Omaha-class light cruiser, originally classified as a scout cruiser, of the United States Navy. She was the second Navy ship named for the city of Trenton, New Jersey. She spent most of her pre-war career moving between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Trenton joined the Special Service Squadron in 1934, for a good-will tour of Latin America. In May 1939, she would join Squadron 40-T in protecting American interests during the Spanish Civil War and not return to the US until July 1940, when she carried the royal family of Luxembourg, fleeing from the NSDAP occupation of their country.