Flight deck jacket : USS Lake Champlain, United States Navy

Green coloured cotton drill flight deck jacket with silver coloured reflective material stripes on front, shoulders and rear. Inside the jacket is numerous hand written black ink signatures with messages of support and good luck from crew onboard the USS Lake Champlain (CG57). 'CG 57' is stenciled on the rear of the jacket with black ink. The jacket also has fittings for an inflatable flotation device to be worn with the jacket, though this is not present in this example. The right hand side of the vest has a pocket flap, which closes by three press studs aligned on the right, and is designed for fitting the floatation device. A bright orange plastic whistle attached to nylon string is fitted inside this pocket. On the front of this pocket is a white sewn tag which reads - 'WARNING! / AUTOMATIC INFLATION / ASSEMBLY INSTALLED / DO NOT USE / ABOARD AIRCRAFT'. Below this pocket in black ink is stenciled the number - '01'. On the left hand side of the jacket there is a small breast pocket and a larger pocket at the waist, both close with single press studs. Around the back at the waist there are two sets of nylon straps with plastic buckles for size adjustment. The vest closes by four press studs at the front. The tag inside the collar reads - 'LIFE PRESERVER VEST TYPE, / MARK I / DLA760-93-F-0545 / SIZE: LARGE / LIONS VOLUNTEER BLIND IND. INC.'.

This vest was signed and presented to crew members aboard HMAS Kanimbla by crew members from the USS Lake Champlain. The USS Lake Champlain (CG 57) is a Ticonderoga class guided-missile cruiser which operated in the Northern Persian Gulf during 2001 and 2002.