R.N. COMMANDO shoulder title: real, fake, or fantasy?
 

Good evening

A friend gave me this R.N. COMMANDO shoulder title some years ago, is it real, fake, or fantasy? It measures 5 inches (12.7cm) across.

It will be up for swap or sale if genuine.

Thanks for looking

Graham

R.N. COMMANDO
 

I have one somewhere that belonged to my old boss which looks similar, so I will say it's OK, others may say different.

Rob

Is this an early title? the ones i have seen were 'Royal Navy Commando' on two lines? Regards Mark

Hi,
I don't think this title is an original one. You can make a burn test to confirm if this is a reproductions. Does the the embroidery thread burn and produce ashes or just melt ?
Normandie18

It looks OK to me - standard British manufacture. Unsure of exact date of issue. Veteran Ken Oakley of the attached attributed examples was serving in 1944 according to the notes I have. Although the colour of the reverse is different this is not always significant. However it may indicate a slightly later manufacture. Issue dates for this design would be useful.

Here is the reverse - and image of title in wear.

RN Commando
 

The photo shown of the man wearing Battledress is similar to the one my old boss showed me of him with he said wearing Khaki battledress jacket and the rest naval issue clothing.

He also said people wondered whatever unit he was with as RN Commando's were not often seen.

Rob

Thank you for your comments Rob, greatly appreciated.

Graham

Thank you Mark, I don't know myself but from the photos shown further on it appears to be earlyish (if genuine).

Graham

Thank you for the suggestion, I will try that (carefully!) later on and report back the result.

Graham

Thank you for your comments and especially the photos Mike, very useful and greatly appreciated. It appears that this is genuine but probably post-WWII. I'll try a careful burn test and report back.

Thanks again

Graham

By the mid-1970s, and possibly earlier, the issue titles were "Royal Navy Commando".

R.N. COMMANDO shoulder title
 

Some information on the insignia of wartime R.N. Commando units which may be of interest.

The Royal Navy Commando was formed in 1941 for beach parties and changed its name to RN Commando in late 1941. In the spring of 1942 the RN Beach Head Commando began to be formed. Each unit was made up of two officers and twenty-two men. One officer was the Beach Master who wore a title BEACHMASTER instead of RN Commando. By 1943 there were twenty-two RN Commando units.

The first shoulder title was ROYAL NAVY, white on black, and in the spring of 1942 was changed to R.N. COMMANDO, white on black in woven and printed examples. This title was worn by members of the RN Commando units until 1945, when they were disbanded. However the title continued to be worn by Royal Navy personnel attached to Royal Marines units who had undergone commando training.

Then on 1st May 1968 shoulder titles lettered COMMANDO were introduced for wear by naval ratings appointed for service with Royal Marines units. These are only worn on RN uniforms while serving with Royal Marines unit.

In addition to the white on black ROYAL NAVY title worn by the original RN Commando units, there was also a ROYAL NAVY title printed in white on blue. This was worn by Combined Operations Pilotage Parties.

Pete

R.N. COMMANDO shoulder title
 

To complete the story I should have added that between 1976 and 1995, commando qualified RN personnel attached to RM units wore a white-on-blue ROYAL NAVY COMMANDO shoulder title. This was worn on the khaki heavy wool jersey only. In 1995 this was changed to subdued black-on-olive.

Pete

R.N. COMMANDO shoulder title burn test
 

I tried burning a loose thread as suggested and it melted leaving a hard blob, so manmade thread then.

However reading Pete (Guzzman)'s posts it is possible that it is a genuine title used post-war into the late 1960's?

There is currently one for sale on ebay which looks much the same with the little 'accent' at the top of the second "M":
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WW-Should...MAAOSwYNRcXGmZ

Graham