USL straddled the line for how it used cap badges to denote shipboard position. In the United States, an eagle over the central device might suggest command responsibilities – but not always. In the United Kingdom, for example, a licensed officer in the Merchant Navy would have laurels flanking a central device, and a rating would not. It is safe to assume the more elaborate a cap badge, the greater one’s responsibility. Captain Herbert Harley, Spring 1923 Cap badges & maritime fashionīefore discussing USL’s cap badges, a brief sketch of maritime fashion trends and cap badge design is useful.įunctionally, cap badges offer a means to instantly identify a person’s role aboard a ship. NB.: Please click on the bold text for external links or additional images. This essay will trace cap badges from United States Lines’ 1921 inception up until the 1951 launching of the SS United States it is primarily concerned with the stylistic changes in cap badges of United States Lines (USL) licensed officers, and Boatswains and Able Bodied Seamen. For a student of any shipping line identifying which cap badge was in use at any specific period of a shipping line’s existence is a challenge due to the overall lack of corporate documentation United States Lines cap badge identification is particularly daunting as with each change in the line’s ownership and corporate identity, so too changed the badge – in effect echoing corporate livery. Luckily, United States Lines throughout its existence has left behind a clutch of clues in the form of photographs and ephemera which informed this essay. A few years later, the cap badge changed again. This initial design lasted a few months, only to radically change in the summer before the SS Leviathan’s maiden cruise. The badge’s design was novel for the era whereas most passenger lines opted for a flag flanked by laurels, United States Lines (USL) used an eagle’s bust in profile ringed in stars for its cap badge. Upon taking command of the SS Leviathan in the Spring of 1923, Captain Herbert Hartley wore the earliest known cap badge of United States Lines.
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