Cap of a high official of the Austro-Hungarian Navy

Exhibit of the month 8 / 2022

Dating: end of the 19th century

A simple cap made of dark blue woolen fabric with a leather stiff visor and leather chin strap. An embroidered Austrian eagle is placed on the front, above which is the imperial crown. The cap is trimmed with a wide black silk braid, on which are placed two metal braids of gold color. The cap has a silk insole with an indistinct company mark (only the word Wien/Vienna is legible). The cap has only undergone basic conservation, prior to restoration.

According to the designation, this is a cap of a high Austro-Hungarian naval official.  Unlike the cap of a naval officer, it is adorned with the state emblem (Austrian eagle) instead of the anchor symbol designated for active naval officers. The Austrian crown is a type intended for higher officials and officers.  The braids indicate staff rank (officers) or affiliation with the official rank of chief commissioner /Ober.Comissär of 1st and 2nd class, or engineer of 1st and 2nd class. The status of naval officials was also reserved for educators of the Military Naval Real School in Pula. The engineering degree was reserved for technical and professional occupations such as meteorologists, cartographers, hydrographers, etc.

The k. u. k. naval section of the Ministry of War (K.u.K Marinesektion) in Vienna was the official department of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, responsible for the official agenda concerning administrative, economic, technical, and scientific matters of the Austro-Hungarian naval warfare. Interestingly, especially in the technical and scientific section of the naval section, a large part of the officials were from the population (Czech and German speaking) of the Kingdom of Bohemia.  The reason was the high expertise and excellent technical education provided by industrial schools and universities in Bohemia and Moravia.

Text/Photo: Jiří Šlajsna