This year’s Army/Navy game is now less than three weeks away, which means it’s time for the two service academies to roll out their uniforms. First up this year is Navy, which has unveiled a new design inspired by the “Silent Service” — the U.S. Submarine Force.
Let’s go one element at a time:
The Helmet
According to the press release:
Each helmet is hand-painted with the right side depicting a Virginia Class Submarine underwater and the left side depicting Navy’s customary Navy anchor with the submariner pin integrated into it with color-changing pragmatic paint. The front flex panel depicts a color-changing radar, which is used on submarines to find their target. The front decal of the helmet says “Navy,” while the back decal says “Silent Service.”
Here are some additional pics:
The Jersey
Quoting again from the school:
The design elements of the font are in contrasting white to mimic classification numbers of a submarine hull. These elements were strategically selected to only highlight elements that require on-field legibility like the player numbers, player names, the NAVY wordmark, the USMC globe and the Under Armour logo.
Just to clarify that: They chose the font because of its legibility. Wow, groundbreaking!
More from the school:
The gloves and sleeve patch feature the Naval Academy Athletics anchor locked-up with the Submarine Warfare insignia or “dolphins/fish.” The hard-earned badge distinguishes and identifies the members of the submarine community and has become a source of pride for the silent service.
The Chest Patch
Quoting once again from the school:
Selected to honor the USS MASSACHUSETTS (SSN 798) — the ninth ship of that name in service of the United States, dating back to the earliest days of the Continental Navy. The USS Massachusetts will be the 25th Virginia-class nuclear submarine to enter U.S. Navy service and will reside in Groton, Conn., after commissioning.
The Pants
The Shoes
Quoting once again from the school:
The cleats are crafted with a pattern reflecting waves and movement of the sea. As with the pant details, the cleats also feature the use of Under Armour’s darkest shade of navy blue alongside the white vertical NAVY wordmark.
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And there you have it. Here are some additional photos:
The Army/Navy game will take place on Dec. 9. We’ll presumably see Army’s uniform unveiling soon.
This is one time when I think storytelling is essential. Army/Navy always comes up with amazing one-offs.
Agreed.
Love it from the neck-down…especially the hip numbers!
The helmet? Terrible.
My thoughts exactly. Very lame helmet, but lots of amazing details otherwise.
This goes against all of my aesthetic preferences, but I really like it!
The helmet and Uni both capture the deep sea. I love the numbers! The only thing I don’t like is the textured and insignia on the sleeves. I had a really hard time seeing what it was.
Bill the Goat should be somewhere on this uniform. Unique mascot.
“Just to clarify that: They chose the font because of its legibility. Wow, groundbreaking!”
Yes. If only all fonts were chosen for this reason.
I agree with others that the uni itself is pretty good, other than the anchor patch on the sleeve, but I don’t like the helmet. That might look better on the field than it does underwater, though.
How labor intensive were those helmets to do?????? Once again, not a fan of the mono uniforms. But, I can let this one slide. I kinda dig the number placement on the pants. Has that ever been done before?
This is awesome
I’m amazed you didn’t catch this part of the quote, Paul:
“These elements were strategically selected to ONLY highlight elements that require on-field legibility like the player numbers [and names], the NAVY word mark, the USMC Globe, AND THE UNDER ARMOUR LOGO.”
The maker’s mark is REQUIRED for on-field legibility?? That or the Naval Academy expected people to just gloss over that in their release.
Under Armour thinks it’s required!
They shoulda BFBS’ed that UA logo….
Oh, I caught it. I just decided to let it speak for itself, along the most of the other silliness.
I think it is funny every new uniform has to have a “story” behind every element. What ever happened to “that looks pretty cool, let’s roll with it”? I doubt your average consumers are as “in touch” with all the intricacies all of your fans/members of this page are. But, it keeps a marketing person (or many) employed. :) Always enjoy reading the comments.
As a submariner, it’s funny to me that they have a radar on the crown of the helmet. Submarines don’t even use radar as their primary sensor when searching for an adversary; they hunt from the depths where SONAR is used to search. And sonar screens don’t even look like that (so they can’t claim “oh sorry we meant SONAR, not radar…it’s a SONAR screen!”) so that’s pretty insulting too. Almost like UA did their research from an old Tom Clancy SSN computer game.
Also, it doesn’t make sense that they have silver dolphin insignia all over the kit…they’re all going to be officers, and officers wear gold dolphins, not silver. Why not give them the insignia that some of them could eventually wear??
Thanks for your expert assessment, Mike! Appreciate your perspective.
I’m just guessing but since the uniform is a tribute to The Silent Service, this tribute would include all personnel, including enlisted, not just officers (or future officers)….
So, it makes sense that the insignia is silver, which is a nod to enlisted Submariners, and matches the uniform, as well….
“Pragmatic paint”? Autocorrect strikes again!
(It’s supposed to be paramagnetic.)
link
I was also going to echo the comment about the radar but you beat me to it…
Wow! Big oversight on that detail!
The over usage of storytelling with uniforms has me worn out, but the service uniforms do such a great job of putting out good looking uniforms that the story is easier to digest.
I’ll blame NAVY for that one. Sometimes you need to proofread your homework before you turn it in.
Well, it’s a nice color of blue, I guess.
Probably best not to acknowledge the submarine on the helmet.
Well, it’s a nice color of blue, I guess.
Probably best not to acknowledge the submarine on the helmet.
Have we ever discussed how these yearly costumes are funded? With nearly constant concerns of government spending, I’m curious what the rationale is. Especially for a one-off. Maybe the merch income covers the expense (and more)?
The outfitters (in this case, UA) pay the school for the privilege, not the other way around. So…no taxpayer expense involved here.
Oh, that’s interesting, Phil! Thanks for answering so quickly, too.
I know this is all about recruiting, but the problem seems like those who would actually go to the academies wouldn’t be swayed by swaggy unis, and those who would enlist probably wouldn’t be watching Navy in the first place
Disagree.
Uniforms in general? Absolutely they play a part. But the A/N game unis are all about exposure. You have one of the most famous games, played as a standalone game, on national tv.
The uni makers know the announcers and fans will be talking about the unis, probably even mentioning their names a couple times. There’s usually a short segment on the uniforms prior to (or even during) the game. And there will always be closeups where both academies jerseys/pants are shown, and you can be sure the UA or swoosh will be highly visible.
There are definitely schools (sometimes not even individual schools) for whom unis play a huge part in recruiting. “They’re an adidas school? I’m not going there…”
Oregon built an entire football program based on the unis and athletic facilities Phil Knight has provided, and the recruits quickly followed.
It’s a big business for sure. But I’m not positive cadets and mids choose those academies because of the A/N unis.
Go Army! Beat Navy!
The number font is based on the standard Navy font used on ships and submarines, minus any shadowing….not a regular football block font, for sure…
link
But the reason, legibility, is the same…Love it all…
Submarines once
Submarines twice…