Were the 4" .38 Spl Navy marked Victory Models used by the military police?

Best,
Charles

I believe most went to Navy and Marine Corps aviators.

__________________
John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

If so it was the Shore Patrol.

__________________
Mike
S&WCA #3065

They were used for a variety of purposes, but ultimately as Muley says most seem to have served in aviation. In fact, rather than just being supplementary, according to Charles Pate by 1944 the Navy pulled in Victorys from non-flying duty, for example naval gun crews on cargo ships, and replaced them with .45's in order to have sufficient revolvers on hand for flight personnel, for whom they had become standard equipment.

The Navy did not use them specifically for police duty, although an abortive attempt at such actually appears to be responsible for the US Victory variant in .38 Special being a 4" gun rather than the standard 5" of the BSR. The Navy ordered 3000 (pre-Victory) M&P's with 4" barrels and lanyard swivels for the USNCPC in 1941, a planned civilian naval police that appears to have never "gone live". This appears to have been the first large-scale order of a US martial revolver with a 4" barrel and likely set the pattern for the Victory.

Yes. And interestingly, the USNCPC was stamped on the backstrap at the factory.

Company records reveal that all of the requested guns were delivered in ten shipments beginning on March 14 and ending on May 10, 1941.

__________________
Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318