Baseball cap : Petty Officer Daniels, HMAS Kanimbla

Well worn faded cotton grey baseball style hat with embroidered red tiger and yellow inscription 'HMAS KANIMBLA - CRY HAVOC' on the front of the crown. On the left hand side of the crown is an embroidered axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) amphibious fish holding an F-88 Austeyr rifle with the words 'THE AMPHIBIANS' in red embroidery underneath. On the size adjusting band on rear of the hat is a small rectangular metal buckle. The brim of the hat is very worn and the plastic visor is visible through the worn cotton. The hat has various coloured stains all over. There is a small white nylon manufacturers instructions tag on the inside of the hat which is badly deteriorated.

This object is an example of a standard issue Royal Australian Navy baseball style cap. Many crew of HMAS Kanimbla are very proud to serve onboard an amphibious landing ship, and consequently adopted the Mexican axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) amphibious fish as an unofficial mascot. The rifle carried by the axolotl is the standard issue rifle of the Australian Defence Force, the F-88 Austeyr rifle. This cap was worn by Petty Officer 'Jack' Daniels while serving in HMAS Kanimbla. HMAS Kanimbla (LPA-51) was built for the United States Navy as USS Saginaw and was launched on 7 February 1970. Kanimbla was commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy in August 1994. Kanimbla was heavily involved in Operation Slipper conducting a variety of tasks such as patrol, mine recovery, compliant boardings and non-compliant boardings in the Persian Gulf in 2001-2.