Sterling Silver & Gold Cap Badge: US Naval Special Warfare

Hand Cast 925 Sterling Silver Commemorative US Naval Special Warfare Bag Pipers Crest Cap Badge

Badge is 92.5 Sterling Silver with 14K Gold Plated Eagle with Trident.

Measures: 1-3/4″ W X 2-1/4″H
Weight: 28.34 grams

Scottish Style Belted Crest Badge worn by Scottish American US Naval Special Warfare Veterans, Bag Pipers and Active Duty.

Belt Reads US Naval Special Warfare and within the belt is a depiction of the The U.S. Navy’s Special Warfare insignia, also known as a “SEAL Trident”, worn by U.S. Navy SEALs.

The United States Navy’s “Sea, Air, and Land” Teams, commonly abbreviated as the Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy’s primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs’ main functions are conducting small-unit maritime military operations that originate from, and return to, a river, ocean, swamp, delta, or coastline. The SEALs are trained to operate in all environments (Sea, Air, and Land) for which they are named. The SEALs are widely considered one of the most effective special forces units in the world, if not the most effective.

Today’s Naval Special Warfare operators can trace their origins to the Scouts and Raiders, Naval Combat Demolition Units, Office of Strategic Services Operational Swimmers, Underwater Demolition Teams, and Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons of World War II. In the Vietnam era, the Navy drew most of its SEALs from the Underwater Demolition Teams; from the early 1960s up until 1983 the SEAL Teams and UDTs coexisted. Navy SEALs typically traced their origin to the Scouts and Raiders while the Underwater Demolition Teams traced theirs to the Navy Combat Demolition Units (the Navy drew its UDTs from NCDUs). However, in 1983 the Underwater Demolition Teams were merged with the SEAL Teams. This, in turn, merged their ancestry. While none of those early organizations have survived to present, their pioneering efforts in unconventional warfare are mirrored in the missions and professionalism of the present Naval Special Warfare warriors.

To meet the need for a beach reconnaissance force, selected Army and Marine Corps personnel assembled at Amphibious Training Base Little Creek, Virginia, on 15 August 1942 to begin Amphibious Scouts and Raiders (Joint) training. The Scouts and Raiders mission was to identify and reconnoiter the objective beach, maintain a position on the designated beach prior to a landing and guide the assault waves to the landing beach.

An extensive history of Naval Special Warfare, written by men who actually served in the various units, is available at the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum website, with a matchless collection of artifacts from that era on display at the facility.