Saturday, April 4, 2009

U.S. Navy M1 Assault Boat Coxswain Helmet

Away all Boats!

As a kid I became enamored with the idea of being an assault boat coxswain. this was after reading the book, and seeing the Jeff Chandler movie Away all Boats. Years later the Navy, in its wisdom, would assign my non-technically-minded self to radioman school. Nonetheless I did manage to secure this M1 shell from a colleague on an Attack transport.


Finished in haze-gray with the assault boat coxswain logo stenciled on the front, this is a particularly nice example of a Navy M1 from the early 1960s.


Contrasted against the sky one can readily see the thinking behind haze-gray for Navy ships.


Close-up of the swivel bail and fastener for the T-1 chinstrap assembly.


The front seam in the rim indicates that this helmet was produced in the first half of WWII.
Like most M1s this on would see decades of service.

The assault boat coxswain logo is comprised of crossed anchors and a harpoon point.  This version has unusually textured, or "alligatored" paint.

This chinstrap appears to have been a late replacement in the working career of this lid.


Nearly all of my Navy M1s are Schleuters, this one however is a McCord shell, above is the "heat of the steel" number.


The M1, always a handsome helmet.



provenance:
accession number: MOAhmar 37.13.6
United States Navy assault boat coxswain M1 Helmet
Acquired 1974, Naval Station Long Beach, California
Condition: good