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Peaked caps
A combination cap or peaked cap is a form of
headgear worn by the armed forces of many nations and also by many uniformed civilian
organizations. In the British Army these are called Forage Caps (or more fully "Cap,
Forage, Peaked"). In the Canadian military, they are known as forage
caps. In the United States military, they are commonly known as service caps,
wheel caps, or combination covers in the Naval services.
The cap has a crown, a band and a peak (in British English; visor in
American English). The crown is one colour, often white for navies, light blue for air
forces, and green for armies, and may be piped around the edge in a different colour. The band
can be one colour, often black, or can be striped, vertically
or horizontally. Most caps have some form of cap device (or cap badge). In the British Army,
each regiment and corps has a different badge. In the American
armed forces, the cap device is uniform throughout the branch of service. The peak or visor is
short, historically made of leather, or in newer caps may be a
shiny plastic. Sometimes it is covered in fabric.
Royal Navy officers and Petty officers today wear a cap with a white cover
in No. 1, 2 and 3 Dress, originally only worn in tropical climes
the white cover
was adopted for all areas after the Second World War.
Royal Marines wear a white topped cap with Blues. The Royal Marines Band Service also wear this
cap with the Lovat Uniform and Barrack Dress.
Most Regiments and corps of the British Army wear a forage cap in Numbers 1
and 2 Dress, the exceptions being:
- The Royal Tank Regiment, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, Army Air Corps, Parachute Regiment,
SAS and Intelligence Corps who wear berets.
- The Royal Regiment of Scotland who wear a regimental Glengarry with cock feathers taken
from the former ceremonial uniform of the Royal Scots;
- The Royal Irish Regiment who wear the Caubeen;
- The Brigade of Ghurkhas who wear a round Kilmarnock cap in No 1 dress and the Slouch hat
in No 2 Dress
- The Queen's Royal Hussars who wear their tent hat in No 2 Dress.
It has a cap band which may be coloured (red for all Royal Regiments and
Corps) a crown which may have coloured piping or a regimental/corps
colour and a patent leather peak and chinstrap. The chinstrap is usually secured above and
across the peak and secured at each end by a small button of the
appropriate Regimental or Corps pattern.
Officers in some regiments are also required to wear a Khaki version of the
Cap, often called the "Service Dress Cap" with Service
Dress (the Officers' No 2 Dress) and/or Barrack Dress the design of this dates back to the cap
worn in the field until replaced by the steel helmet during the
First World War.
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