what sidearm was carried by Sub Captians in WW2?

[andrawsslc]

I was curious if anyone can tell me what kind of sidearm (if any) my grandfather would have carried as a Submarine Commander (?) during the end of World War 2. I'm trying to track it down? Thanks for any direction.

 

[cyclopsshooter]

either a 1911 colt, ithica, remington rand, singer, union swith and signal or a 38 revolver made by colt or an S&w victory model

 

[NG VI]

Yeah we basically had two issue handguns, a 1911 built by whoever or a .38 (or possibly .45 in some cases) revolver made by either S&W or Colt. I don't think his role as a sub commander would have much impact on his sidearm issue. Maybe it would tilt towards a less common round like the .38 because of the lack of probability of a gunfight for him.

 

[dafitch]

Not sure why a submariner would carry a sidearm, as he would be unlikely to engage enemies at pistol distance while at sea.

I'm a sub vet, and sidearms were only carried by the topside watch when in port.

 

[Nasty]

And here I was going to ask..."Sub Cmdr for which Navy?"

 

[XavierBreath]

Another Navy guy here (but not a bubblehead). Chances are, the sidearm was a S&W Victory Model M&P, although I agree with dafitch. If a sidearm was carried, it was likely carried as Officer of the Deck in port.

There is a small chance it was a M1911. If so, I would expect it was in the boat's armory prior to 1941. Surprisingly, most M1911A1s did not see WWII service, being produced late in the war.

 

[andrawsslc]

I'm trying to find photos of him from the war and see if he's wearing a sidearm in any of them.

Thanks to all!

 

[Damon555]

I was a submariner back in the late '80s / early '90's....I know it wasn't WWII but I would guess it would have been a 1911. We had 3 different weapons in the small arms locker.....1911's, Winchester 12 gauge pump shotguns and M14's. The 1911's were original Colt models. They still functioned flawlessly.

No one carried a gun while we were underway.....Unless we had a drill that required it, of course that was wartime.



This was my boat....The USS George C Marshall

 

[rcmodel]

I'm gonna say he didn't carry any sidearm on a submarine, unless he went and got it out of his Captains quarters Safe to quell a mutiny of his crew, or an enemy boarding party.

In that case, as already noted, it would have been a 1911A1 .45 ACP, or a .38 Spl. S&W or Colt revolver.

rc

 

[Al LaVodka]

Officers don't have, nor carry, sidearms primarily to fight battles.
Al

 

[W.E.G.]

I'm thinking the commander of a naval vessel can carry whatever he darn well pleases.

What compact pistol was popular with gentlemen of that era?

 

[oweno]

I was on two WW-II boats in the late 1950s...in our gun locker we had one BAR, a couple of Thompsons, a couple of M-1s, and 4 or 5 1911A-1s. Never saw anybody carry when we were underway - anything hanging off your belt would get hung up on any number of pipes, valves, knobs, switches, etc. Not a good thing. As said above, the topside watch carried a 1911, empty magazine in the piece, two full mags in an ammo pouch on the guard belt.

Also, I've read medical reports from all of our WW-II war patrols, there were indeed cases of combat fatigue - both officers and enlisted - but the captain never had to use a firearm to control the poor guy who broke down.

If anybody is interested in a link to these medical reports, PM me and I'll send it along.

Now during WW-II, many times our boats searched/destroyed Japanese fishing boats...the boats had radios which would be used to report our positions and American airplane raids. Everybody was armed while doing this with small arms, plus, of course, the deck guns were manned and ready. Lots of WW-II film of these events. I've been told that if the fishing boat had a 2-way radio, it was burned/sunk. If is was just a simple fishing boat, it was left to go on its way.

 

[barneyrw]

<<"Officers don't have, nor carry, sidearms primarily to fight battles.
Al ">>

On board ships in the Navy maybe but certainly not true in the infantry. I speak from experience.