Third Reich Naval Ratings Cap to Battleship Scharnhorst – Item 112528

Rare white top summer issue Naval ratings cap worn by a crew member of the famous battleship Scharnhorst. White top cap complete with its correct period worn naval eagle and cockade. Full length Scharnhorst cap tally. Original leather sweatband to inside of cap showing minor service wear and date 1938. A nice issued cap to this rare ship.

Note:  Sharnhorst and Gneisenau operated together for much of the early poriton of WWII. including sortie into the Atlantic to raid British merchant shipping. During operations off Norway, the two ships engaged the battlecruier HMS Renown and sank the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious as well as her escort destroyers Acasta and Ardent. In the engagement Scharnhorst achieved on of the longest range naval gunfire hits in history. During the Battle of the North Cap (26 December 1943), the Royal Navy battleship HMS Duke of York and her escorts sand Scharnhorst. Only 36 men survived, out of a crew of 1968.