USN 'Avalanche' Coat.

[asiamiles]

I've seen this kind of coat referred to as an 'Avalanche' and I think 'Coast Guard' coat but imagine those were just casual terms for a style of coat we are mostly familiar with. Now the fact we can see in this photo 3 what I assume to be USN personnel - though I suppose they could be civilians on board a USN vessel for some reason - wearing seemingly identical coats makes me wonder if these were actual issued items and if so is there a proper name and some documentation for them?

 

[Thomas Koehle]

Good point!

i saw this photo a couple of times before but never noticed the jackets/coats

 

[asiamiles]

And still no word from any of the experts on here as to whether these were issued garments.

 

[Thomas Koehle]

And still no word from any of the experts on here as to whether these were issued garments.

Sorry I do not have the historical background about USN gear per say but in none of the standard books I own those jackets/coats are mentioned

 

[B-Man2]

Would like to help out but I’ve never seen this coat before. Maybe if someone could identify the period or year the photo was taken it might be a start . WWII or Korean War period ?

 

[asiamiles]

I've been sent links to two issued jackets, the NXs 16279...

WWII USN Rubberized Shearling Deck Coat Navy Contract NXs 16279

and the NXS 8138...

WWII US NAVY Deck Coat NXS 8139

Can't be 100% sure those worn in the pic are one of these. I'd imagined from looking at the photo that the coats were made from Jungle Cloth, which is what the likes of Buzz and TRM use for most of their 'Avalanche'/'Coast Guard' coats.

 

[Thomas Koehle]

I've been sent links to two issued jackets, the NXs 16279...

WWII USN Rubberized Shearling Deck Coat Navy Contract NXs 16279

and the NXS 8138...

WWII US NAVY Deck Coat NXS 8139

Can't be 100% sure those worn in the pic are one of these. I'd imagined from looking at the photo that the coats were made from Jungle Cloth, which is what the likes of Buzz and TRM use for most of their 'Avalanche'/'Coast Guard' coats.

like you "said" - the garment shown on the period-pics does not look like "rubberized" at all ...

 

[asiamiles]

It seems there are lots of USN jackets that we know very little about.

I'm assuming that the jacket worn by the chap looking through the binoculars is a Zip Deck, and what looks like a throat strap is actually from the hat he's wearing? It could be the 'Special Winter Version' or he might have a few layers beneath a regular one.

 

[Lowden025]

Not sure when the photo was taken, but the Coast Guard was incorporated into the USN during WW2 so there may be some overlap in issued equipment.