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Diesel Boats Forever! DBF Pins

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Solid Pewter Diesel Boats Forever Insignia Pins

DBF! Exactly when and exactly how the Diesel Boat Forever pins came to be is still debated. Who gets the credit for the design of the DBF pin is a little less of a mystery. One story tells of a 1967 WestPac trip by the USS Barbel SS 580 and a crew member, ETR3 Leon Siguerito, who had been a commercial artist before joining the Navy. Leon came up with five designs for a pin to lament the retiring of the old smoke boats which were slowly being replaced by the nuclear powered Navy. The design selected included a Tang Class submarine with two mermaids and the letters DBF. One version of the origination of the Diesel Boats Forever pin.

The second story puts their origin at about mid year 1969. As this story goes, the Barbel was in route to relieve a nuke boat which was unable to complete it's own WestPac run. The skipper, Cdr. Jack Renard decided it was about time that the diesel boats were recognized for the great job they had been doing. A contest was held on board and ETR3 Siguerito came up with the winning design for a Diesel Boats Forever insignia as described above. The holes in the banner at the bottom of the pin were for inserting stars to designate that you were part of the crew that had to replace a floundering SSN in the Western Pacific.

Whichever story is true, the DBF pins were originally manufactured by those handy little craftsmen in "Thieves Alley" in Yokosuka, Japan. You had to have been there to understand, those guys could do anything, starting with nothing at all!! Unfortunately, when the crew members went back to pick up the pins, they left the dies at the factory. Consequently, the pins have been manufactured by the thousands and are being sold in Japan. So, what started out to be an exclusive pin for the crew of the USS Barbel, turned into a Pacific wide emblem. The Diesel Boats Forever pins later found their way to the East Coast. The crew of the USS Tigrone SS 419 is given credit for introducing the DBF pin to the Atlantic Fleet around 1971.

Now you know the rest of the story.

Diesel Boats Forever Solid Pewter DBF Pin
Sold elsewhere for $11.25 + S&H
Price - $10.00 Includes S&H

DBF Dolphin Lapel Pin
$7.50
Price Includes S&H

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