06-03-2013, 01:53 PM
Legitimate or not, this is of course not a VLKSM badge - it's a commemorative badge - or collectible pin - commemorating the ship "Novosibirskiy Komsomolets" ("Komsomol member of Novosibirsk"). There were many ships holding the name of e.g. "Komsomolets Tadzhikistana" or "Russkiy Komsomolets". I have once heard, that the names came from the fact, that those ships were build for the money raised by the KOMSOMOL mambers of a specific republic, but don't know if it's true. Here in Poland these badges were rarely seen and I haven't seen any in ~5 years. Anyway, I was told that those were collectible pins - issued by the Navy, but meant for sale.
