There seem to be a lot of 'submarine insignia' now available, but one must be careful because many of these insignia are not official issue. Most of the badges coming out of the old USSR were never issued during the Soviet era, and many were never issued to serving submariners - vanity badges. (a good rule of thumb is that if it is enamelled or coloured it was never issued!)

There is a very good book, albeit now somewhat out of date, which lists the official (and sometimes unofficial) insignia of the world wide submarine fleet (SUBMARINE INSIGNIA by LtCdr WM Thornton MBE RNR) which should be consulted by any serious collector of submarine insignia before making a purchase.

If anyone is in any doubt of the validity of any submarine insignia they can contact me at my ebay address of killicksparker and I will try to guide them in the right direction

I am an ex-submariner, National Secretary of the International Submariners Association, and have a collection of over 100 official submarine insignia (and some unofficial ones) from around the world. I am not saying that I am infallible, having paid for a WWII German U-boat badge which turned out to be a fake (from e-bay), but that was my own enthusiasm and naivity when starting my collection 5 years ago.

Good Hunting for these official badges, which were worn by the bravest of the brave, serving in the various submarine forces around the world.