Refurbishment > The Rest > WW2 Royal Navy Chief Petty Officer Cap - Refurbishment
WW2 Royal Navy CPO Peaked Cap - Refurbishment:
This cap was supplied by a customer. Her father (Albert Ernest Young) served in the Royal Navy during WW2. His story is detailed below and the repair information follows immediately below:
The owners daughter recently inherited his cap. Unfortunately her mothers dog (wife of the original owner), had decided to have a little meal out of the cap and the cap was left in this state generally deteriorating over time.
We were asked to repair the cap as historically accurate as possible and not to remove parts of the cap unnecessarily. The list below details the work carried out:
1. Reinforced from behind the left side of chinstrap.
2. Repaired with leather the right hand of chinstrap.
3. Re-lacquered the chinstrap.
4. Made up a replacement button (cloth covered) and reattached the existing button.
5. Removed inner liner and re-adjusted padding to original position (this is why the cap was all lumpy!)
6. Strengthened the front retailing burlap - this gives the cap its height when viewing from the front.
7. Hand stitched the inner leather headband and reformed, strengthened and then conditioned!
8. Repaired front peak using original materials and used replacement pieces where necessary I left some of the dogs 'bite marks' - to keep that part of its history alive!
9. Added faux front peak leather to match as much as possible existing peak edging.
10. Re-lacquered upper peak.
11. Painted under green peak to blend in with existing colour. matt varnished underside.
12. Re gilded with gilding lacquer silver and gold on badge. Treated with museum wax.
13. Cleaned inside and outside of cap as best as possible and re-shaped into correct position sprayed with wax preservative
14. Added a cap ring to the inside in order to maintain its 'round' shape.
This work in total took 3 hours over a period of one and a half weeks.
Customer Quote:
"The cap has been delivered. It looks fantastic! I can’t thank you enough for the work you have done. I didn’t think it was possible to repair Dad’s cap without replacing the peak. I used to feel so incredibly sad when I would see his CPO cap and the state it was in but now I can look at it and see my Dad when he was 21 and newly enlisted."
WW2 Royal Navy CPO Peaked Cap - Refurbishment
Albert Ernest Young RN - CPO wearing his cap with summer cover.
WW2 Naval Ship History of - Albert Ernest Young - CPO:
HMS Victory Assigned - 2 Apr 1940 – 31 May 1940 HMS VICTORY, Nelson's old flagship, was a holding name for men who were posted into the Portsmouth area. Every man in the RN had to be assigned to a vessel because of the naval discipline regulations. Many RN sailors were posted to HMS Victory during WW2 as a holding shore based establishment whilst waiting for assignment to another ship.
HMS Resource – Repair Ship – Assigned - 1 st June 1940 – 3 December 1941 Served with the Mediterranean Fleet in 1939-1944 apart from a brief spell at Freetown in 1940. Went to the Eastern Fleet in 1944. Scrapped at Inverkeithing in February 1954.
HMS Woolwich – Assigned - 4December 1941 – 31 December 1941 The ship was ordered on 4 April 1933[6] as part of the 1932 Naval Construction Programme. She was laid down by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Govan on the River Clyde on 24 May 1933. Woolwich was launched on 20 September 1934 and completed on 28 June 1935.[4] She was deployed to the Mediterranean after completion and was in Alexandria at the beginning of World War II in September 1939. The ship returned home and was based at Scapa Flow supporting destroyers of the Home Fleet by mid-1940. Woolwich sailed again for the Mediterranean in September; while circumnavigating Africa, she had to put into Mombasa, Kenya for repairs to her boilers before she arrived in Alexandria in November.
In mid-June 1942, Vice-Admiral Henry Harwood, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, ordered all non-essential ships to leave Alexandria as he was preparing to demolish the port facilities there to prevent their capture by the advancing Panzer Army Africa. HMS Woolwich and the repair ship, HMS Resource, escorted by six destroyers, were transferred south of the Suez Canal until the victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein in October allowed them to return to Alexandria. She remained there until late 1943 when she was assigned to the Eastern Fleet and based at Trincomalee for the rest of the war.
HMS Woolwich sailed back to England in 1946, but rejoined the Mediterranean Fleet the following year where she served as flagship for the Flag Officer, Mediterranean Fleet Destroyers. The ship sailed from Valletta, Malta on 7 February 1948 for Harwich where she served as a maintenance and accommodation ship for reserve ships based there. HMS Woolwich was refitted in Rosyth in 1952 and then transferred to Gare Loch to perform similar duties there. She was refitted again in Rosyth five years later and served as an accommodation ship in Devonport from 1958–1962. HMS Woolwich was sold to Arnott Young in 1962 for scrap and arrived at Dalmuir, Scotland, on 18 October to be broken up.
HMS ASSEGAI – Assigned - 12 August 1942 – 18 September 1942 Near Durban, South Africa. Commissioned 1 Oct 1942 and paid off 15 May 1944. Established as Combined Operations training establishment, transit pool and General Drafting Office for Eastern and Med Fleets and South Atlantic Station. Believed to include Mechanical Training Centre Pietermaritzburg - an RN camp under canvas in a field called 'Hay-Paddock' 1943, and which was placed to Care & Maintenance 18 Feb 1944. Torpedo School ex-Alexandria (PHAROS) at ASSEGAI by Jan 1944.
HMS Victory Assigned - 19 Sept 1942 - 24 Jan 1943
HMS Dunluce Castle – Scapa Flow – Three entries for service 1 st – 25 Jan 1943 – 4 May 1943 2 nd – 5 May 1943 – 26 May 1944 3 rd – 27 May 1944 – 8 June 1945 In Scapa Flow the Base ship was a mail ship that handled mail and food generally speaking, it was called DUNLUCE CASTLE.
HMS Victory – 9 June 1945 - 22 March 1946 RELEASED IN CLASS “A”.
HMS Victory Assigned - 2 Apr 1940 – 31 May 1940 HMS VICTORY, Nelson's old flagship, was a holding name for men who were posted into the Portsmouth area. Every man in the RN had to be assigned to a vessel because of the naval discipline regulations. Many RN sailors were posted to HMS Victory during WW2 as a holding shore based establishment whilst waiting for assignment to another ship.
HMS Resource – Repair Ship – Assigned - 1 st June 1940 – 3 December 1941 Served with the Mediterranean Fleet in 1939-1944 apart from a brief spell at Freetown in 1940. Went to the Eastern Fleet in 1944. Scrapped at Inverkeithing in February 1954.
HMS Woolwich – Assigned - 4December 1941 – 31 December 1941 The ship was ordered on 4 April 1933[6] as part of the 1932 Naval Construction Programme. She was laid down by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Govan on the River Clyde on 24 May 1933. Woolwich was launched on 20 September 1934 and completed on 28 June 1935.[4] She was deployed to the Mediterranean after completion and was in Alexandria at the beginning of World War II in September 1939. The ship returned home and was based at Scapa Flow supporting destroyers of the Home Fleet by mid-1940. Woolwich sailed again for the Mediterranean in September; while circumnavigating Africa, she had to put into Mombasa, Kenya for repairs to her boilers before she arrived in Alexandria in November.
In mid-June 1942, Vice-Admiral Henry Harwood, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, ordered all non-essential ships to leave Alexandria as he was preparing to demolish the port facilities there to prevent their capture by the advancing Panzer Army Africa. HMS Woolwich and the repair ship, HMS Resource, escorted by six destroyers, were transferred south of the Suez Canal until the victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein in October allowed them to return to Alexandria. She remained there until late 1943 when she was assigned to the Eastern Fleet and based at Trincomalee for the rest of the war.
HMS Woolwich sailed back to England in 1946, but rejoined the Mediterranean Fleet the following year where she served as flagship for the Flag Officer, Mediterranean Fleet Destroyers. The ship sailed from Valletta, Malta on 7 February 1948 for Harwich where she served as a maintenance and accommodation ship for reserve ships based there. HMS Woolwich was refitted in Rosyth in 1952 and then transferred to Gare Loch to perform similar duties there. She was refitted again in Rosyth five years later and served as an accommodation ship in Devonport from 1958–1962. HMS Woolwich was sold to Arnott Young in 1962 for scrap and arrived at Dalmuir, Scotland, on 18 October to be broken up.
HMS ASSEGAI – Assigned - 12 August 1942 – 18 September 1942 Near Durban, South Africa. Commissioned 1 Oct 1942 and paid off 15 May 1944. Established as Combined Operations training establishment, transit pool and General Drafting Office for Eastern and Med Fleets and South Atlantic Station. Believed to include Mechanical Training Centre Pietermaritzburg - an RN camp under canvas in a field called 'Hay-Paddock' 1943, and which was placed to Care & Maintenance 18 Feb 1944. Torpedo School ex-Alexandria (PHAROS) at ASSEGAI by Jan 1944.
HMS Victory Assigned - 19 Sept 1942 - 24 Jan 1943
HMS Dunluce Castle – Scapa Flow – Three entries for service 1 st – 25 Jan 1943 – 4 May 1943 2 nd – 5 May 1943 – 26 May 1944 3 rd – 27 May 1944 – 8 June 1945 In Scapa Flow the Base ship was a mail ship that handled mail and food generally speaking, it was called DUNLUCE CASTLE.
HMS Victory – 9 June 1945 - 22 March 1946 RELEASED IN CLASS “A”.
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