U.S. Navy bridge coats

[Peacoat]

Naval officers obtain their bridge coats in various ways, depending on their route to a commission. Those from the Naval Academy obtain them while at the Academy. Those going through ROTC will have a salesman come for a visit shortly before graduation. It would be the same for OCS, if the Navy has an OCS program. As the officer needs a replacement coat, and for CPOs, when they make Chief, there is probably a way to obtain one through the base exchange. The BX may have them in stock or they may be special order items. We have some Navy officers, and at least one Chief, here on the board; maybe one will chip in with a definitive answer. My experience is strictly Army.

Edit Note: I logged in to Army/Air Force Exchange to see if I could access Navy Uniforms. I could not. Plenty of Army/Air Force uniforms, but not much on the Navy/Marine Corps side of the Army/AF exchange. Might be another way to do it, but doubt my credentials will work on the Navy/Marine Corps exchange.

 

[triple-d]

Naval officers obtain their bridge coats in various ways, depending on their route to a commission. Those from the Naval Academy obtain them while at the Academy. Those going through ROTC will have a salesman come for a visit shortly before graduation. It would be the same for OCS, if the Navy has an OCS program. As the officer needs a replacement coat, and for CPOs, when they make Chief, there is probably a way to obtain one through the base exchange. The BX may have them in stock or they may be special order items. We have some Navy officers, and at least one Chief, here on the board; maybe one will chip in with a definitive answer. My experience is strictly Army.

Edit Note: I logged in to Army/Air Force Exchange to see if I could access Navy Uniforms. I could not. Plenty of Army/Air Force uniforms, but not much on the Navy/Marine Corps side of the Army/AF exchange. Might be another way to do it, but doubt my credentials will work on the Navy/Marine Corps exchange.

Good info Peacoat....thanks !

 

[Peacoat]

My credentials didn't work on the Navy exchange, but I may be able to join that exchange using the same credentials I used for the Army/AF exchange. I will try to join later this afternoon. But I may be limited to my service related exchange, which is Army.

 

[buler]

Browning King of New York version:

Has all features mentioned except for zip in liner. Never had one as far as I can tell. Great fabric on this coat. Not as heavy as peacoat wool and has a softer, smoother hand.

B

 

[thor]

Naval officers obtain their bridge coats in various ways, depending on their route to a commission. Those from the Naval Academy obtain them while at the Academy. Those going through ROTC will have a salesman come for a visit shortly before graduation. It would be the same for OCS, if the Navy has an OCS program. As the officer needs a replacement coat, and for CPOs, when they make Chief, there is probably a way to obtain one through the base exchange. The BX may have them in stock or they may be special order items. We have some Navy officers, and at least one Chief, here on the board; maybe one will chip in with a definitive answer. My experience is strictly Army.

Edit Note: I logged in to Army/Air Force Exchange to see if I could access Navy Uniforms. I could not. Plenty of Army/Air Force uniforms, but not much on the Navy/Marine Corps side of the Army/AF exchange. Might be another way to do it, but doubt my credentials will work on the Navy/Marine Corps exchange.

I just came across this post (sorry I’m late to the party!) and I’d like to put in my two cents. As a retired Senior Chief, I can say that the way it works for us is that you get a one-time uniform allowance stipend upon promotion to Chief Petty Officer. It is enough to pay for the bulk of your new CPO uniform items but the Officer’s Bridge Coat is optional for Chiefs. It’s an expensive article of clothing that only gets worn occasionally so most new Chiefs simply change the black plastic buttons on their pea coat to brass ones and remove the sewn-on rating badge (a cloth rank patch on the sleeve) that junior Petty Officers wear. Thus the pea coat is transformed to a CPO “reefer jacket” (as it’s officially called). The bridge coat can be purchased by Chiefs and Officers through the local base uniform shop or the online uniform site.
Hope this info helps.

 

[Doctor Damage]

POST #2 WITH UPDATED PHOTO LINKS

Now for some real-world photos. The easiest source of bridge coat photos is the annual Army-Navy football game. If you look closely at these photos, you will see some interesting variations in materials, although the design of all of these coats, irrespective of rank, is almost identical. Here’s some admirals and senior USN officers with Army officers. You can see that these coats are made of wool but it’s pretty thin, much thinner than standard pea coats and more akin to the sort of wool used in civilian overcoats.

 

[Doctor Damage]

POST #3 WITH UPDATED PHOTO LINKS

Here’s a bunch of younger officers and midshipmen cheering. These photos are interesting because they show different types of materials in use. Wool is predominant and the basic coat design is the same as above, but also prevalent is a thin cotton or nylon version which shows up and is easy to spot because it apparently wrinkles easily. Note also that the cotton/nylon versions have slightly different hip pockets than the wool versions (which can be seen in the photo of the midshipman jumping above his fellows. The small black-and-white photo shows collars up and buttons fastened. The women’s version of the bridge coat is slightly different and I comment further on it below.

 

[Doctor Damage]

POST #3 WITH UPDATED PHOTO LINKS

There’s a women’s version of the bridge coat and it buttons the other side (naturally) and has either 6 or 8 gold buttons on the front (see photos above), and differently shaped collar point (see photo below). This army guy looks like he’s trying to score... good luck buddy, lol



Here’s a scene from the famous Steve McQueen movie "The Sand Pebbles", showing the captain of the San Pueblo speaking to his crew. This coat was sold at auction and had two stripes on the sleeve, which as Peacoat and others have pointed out, was normal practice for officer’s coats until it was discontinued in the early 1950s. I have some photos from e-Bay of old coats with rank stripes and will post them in following posts.




Here’s a great photo: “Frank McNamara presenting Al Jentzsch with the bridge coat he borrowed from him 38 years ago when Al left the Navy”.

 

[Doctor Damage]

POST #4 WITH UPDATED PHOTO LINKS

Here’s several standard bridge coats listed on e-Bay over the past year. The design of these things is more or less standard, but the labels seem to be different with each manufacturer or retailer.

On this coat note the buttons to close the rear vent. The large label say it’s a “regular US Navy uniform” item, although this type of label isn’t always present.



This coat has a USN different label and a name tag which states the material is “blue 16 oz Covert” cloth.

 

[Doctor Damage]

POST #5 WITH UPDATED PHOTO LINKS

This coat has another label. The bottom button is missing on the front. These images are useful since they illustrate the thick shoulder padding used in these coats and how the rear half-belt helps drape the cloth. This coat seems particularly well cut.



Here’s a standard coat but in a much heavier wool than usual.

 

[Doctor Damage]

POST #6 WITH UPDATED PHOTO LINKS

Let’s go back in time for a moment. Here’s where these coats came from, the old “watch coat” worn by USN officers. Unlike the old watch coats, the modern bridge coats are not meant to be worn on day-to-day shipboard duty so they have become thinner, lighter garments for occasional use only.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

I guess I better check out peacoats next time I'm at a surplus store. I haven't seen one in a long time. I'm surprised to hear they're thicker. My Midshipman bridge coat that I mentioned in the other thread was HEAVY. Easily the heaviest jacket I've ever tried on and owned, and the wool was as thick as any cruiser or double mackinaw wool coat I've ever seen. I've seen and owned quite a few of those too.

 

[freakazoid]

Nice to see the pictures back up. I wonder how the black stripes were put on the sleeves. Sewn on top like how the gold ones now are done or some other way. I ask because on the one I have I don't believe it's sewn on top. I'm assuming that the one on mine, a single thin stripe, is for an ensign. I'm also guessing that bridge coats for chiefs back then didn't have anything on the sleeve? Were the one for chiefs and different at all from the officers?
Also, in the old pictures like the one from 1913, are the buttons on the bridge coat black? They look like the flat peacoat buttons.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Nice to see the pictures back up. I wonder how the black stripes were put on the sleeves. Sewn on top like how the gold ones now are done or some other way. I ask because on the one I have I don't believe it's sewn on top. I'm assuming that the one on mine, a single thin stripe, is for an ensign. I'm also guessing that bridge coats for chiefs back then didn't have anything on the sleeve? Were the one for chiefs and different at all from the officers?

I have never run across a guide to the black cuff stripes for officers on bridge coats (and in the Army, greatcoats) so if someone has a guide please post a link. I think generals/admirals had a wide stripe, and other officers had thin stripes, but in what combination I personally don't know. Those sorts of stripes were for officers only and I doubt at the time chiefs were allowed to wear bridge coats (as they are allowed today).

Here's something relevant, though:
https://www.history.navy.mil/browse...rms-and-personal-equipment/uniforms-1941.html

quote:
The captain’s overcoat is basically that of the 1922 order, which in turn was a modification of the World War I bridge coat. The 1913 outer coat had been worn completely buttoned, using black buttons. Gilt buttons were first permitted in November 1919 when the style of the overcoat was modified to bring it in closer agreement with the newly introduced double-breasted sack service coat. The first mention of an overcoat for officers appeared in the 1841 uniform instructions. In 1941, as in 1913, rank was shown on the sleeves with black braid with shoulder marks indicating both rank and corps.

This suggests that on WW2 era bridge coats the black cuff stripes showed rank the same as the epaulets and cuff stripes on service coats. That might explain why we see vintage bridge coats on e-bay and whatnot with weird combinations of cuff stripes.

Here's links to download the US Navy Uniform Regulations for 1913, 1922, and 1941:
https://archive.org/details/cu31924030896363/page/n6
https://archive.org/details/uniformregulatio00unit
https://media.defense.gov/2018/May/31/2001925044/-1/-1/0/1941-USN-UNIFORMREGS.PDF

Also, in the old pictures like the one from 1913, are the buttons on the bridge coat black? They look like the flat peacoat buttons.

I've got one of those Japanese vintage clothing books and it has several pages of vintage bridge coats and peacoats. The old bridge coats had peacoat buttons or something similar, and some even had handwarmer pockets like peacoats (someone posted a coat like that earlier in this thread). It's clear that for a period in the past, it would appear WW1 and inter-war, that there was a lot of crossover between bridge coats and peacoats, leading to in WW2 a distinct differentiation between the two. I believe the very oldest, most vintage bridge coats, like in those scratchy old photos I posted, the bridge coats were unique items (custom made of course) and would have had a variety of details and probably didn't match any particular garment specifications.

 

[Doctor Damage]

POST #7 WITH UPDATED PHOTO LINKS

Sample labels. I could post the coats to which they’re attached, but they’re all virtually identical and you can’t really tell differences as you can with pea coats. In this series the last two labels are from the same coat. It’s quite evident that a wide variety of private manufacturers have made these coats over the years.

 

[Doctor Damage]

POST #8 WITH UPDATED PHOTO LINKS

More sample labels.

 

[Doctor Damage]

POST #9 WITH UPDATED PHOTO LINKS

Now for the two types of liners which these coats seem to have:
(1) normal, non-removable liner, much like you’d see in any civilian overcoat; or
(2) removable warm liner, usually zippered.

I suspect the cotton/nylon bridge coats likely have a removable liner since otherwise they’d be useless in cold weather, but I’ve never seen one on e-Bay over the past year so I have nothing to confirm that suspicion.

Here’s a bridge coat with the normal liner. Note the removable throat flap buttoned inside the front skirt. Note also the corduroy pockets—incidentally this is the only bridge coat I’ve seen with anything other than white canvas/cotton pockets.



This coat has a removable warm liner.

 

[Doctor Damage]

POST #10 WITH UPDATED PHOTO LINKS

Here’s another coat with a removable liner, which zippers in and out obviously. These photos show nicely the buttons which close the lapels up to the neck and the small black buttons which fasten the rear vent. Interesting that the size is an 'odd' size (35R).

 

[Doctor Damage]

POST #11 WITH UPDATED PHOTO LINKS

Vintage coats with rank stripes on the sleeve cuffs. According to Peacoat and others, these distinctions were discontinued in the early 1950s (1953?), although it’s possible some officers never bothered to remove the stripes. It’s important to note that these vintage coats often have black flat buttons instead of the gold USN buttons (which every modern bridge coat is required to have).

Coat with one cuff stripe... Ensign or 2nd Lt?



Coat with three cuff stripes for a Commander.

 

[Doctor Damage]

POST #12 WITH UPDATED PHOTO LINKS

Coat with 1 thick, 1 thin cuff stripes, presumably for a Lt. What’s interesting to me about these vintage coats is that their condition is often excellent, which I think demonstrates that many of these coats never got much use.