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The Sand Pebbles question, China Fleet Marines uniforms


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I always wondered if a detail of Marines would have been assigned on that ship what would there uniform would have been? would you say during morning colors it would have been the dress blues?  

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Marines wore the blue wool service coat (I will not say tunic as at least one forum member gets all upset) 1922 pattern with ega's on collar during that time frame. They may have worn the summer khaki coat (not tunic!) also during that time with standing collar until 1926 then lapels after that. I believe there were regs that allowed just the khaki shirt to be worn with tan cotton chino style pants as well. I don't have the regs handy however. 

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Salvage Sailor

tu·nic
/ˈt(y)o͞onik/
1.  a loose garment, typically sleeveless and reaching to the wearer's knees, as worn in ancient Greece and Rome.

 

2.  a close-fitting short coat as part of a uniform, especially a police or military uniform.
Definitions from Oxford Languages
 

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Salvage Sailor

From the China Marines website (and thanks for making that site) shipboard USMC contingent from the USS CINCINNATI 

 

DET.jpg

 

 

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Salvage Sailor
5 minutes ago, themick said:

I don't believe Marines were assigned to gunboats.  

 

Steve

 

True Steve,

 

This is a 'what if' querry, but the gist of it is, what would a seagoing China Marine have worn on duty during the 1920's-1930's.

 

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Marines were permanently on some gunboats such as larger “station ships” like the Wilmington Class and the Tulsa/ Asheville. There were times Marines were detailed to some of the smaller gunboats as needed, like if there was serious unrest upriver etc and the YangPat commander thought it was needed,  but not normal practice. These Marines could be drawn from the 4th in Shanghai or pulled from the Fleet Marine Force or the station ships. A ship supposedly of the San Pablos (a Hollywood mishmash of various classes of gunboat features) size would not have Marines on board.

 

McKenna’s novel is absolutely superb, but when you read it vice the movie you see it’s a compilation of just about every event that could have happened to  gunboat sailors of a 20 year period before he arrived in China. Also the movies crew size was even more reduced then the actual crews even on these little ex-Spanish ships.

 

As for uniforms white prior to 1912, and later summer khakis. Winter Service pattern from October-November through April and blues as needed. Not all Marines had blues (think 4th Marines or 3rd Brigade), but seagoing Marines did...if they were serving  upriver as ship guards (a small detachment of marines placed on civilian steamers to protect the ships from pirates) they really would not need blues 

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1 hour ago, Salvage Sailor said:

tu·nic
/ˈt(y)o͞onik/
1.  a loose garment, typically sleeveless and reaching to the wearer's knees, as worn in ancient Greece and Rome.

 

2.  a close-fitting short coat as part of a uniform, especially a police or military uniform.
Definitions from Oxford Languages
 

Thanks Sailor, it is like calling a Marine “cover” a hat. Some people are just so serious! 

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Blacksmith

They are tunics.
 

If a member doesn’t like the term, so be it - they don’t get to “cancel” it.

 

If we want to start critiquing vocabulary, we’ll need an entire new forum just for that.

 

#Tunics4Life

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  • 1 month later...
Salvage Sailor

Meanwhile back at the topic.....Honolulu Harbor, 1924

 

USMC MP 1924 Honolulu T.H. HMS RENOWN 002.jpg

 

Seagoing Royal Marine M.P on the left, U.S. Marine M.P. from Camp Very, T.H. on the right in tropical uniform, 1924

 

USMC MP 1924 Honolulu T.H. HMS RENOWN 001.jpg

 

Royal Marine MP & USMC MP pier detail during visit of HMS RENOWN to Honolulu, Harbor in 1924

 

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