Although the kitbag was falling from favour by the 1980s as holdalls became more popular, the Royal Navy still issued traditional kitbags to its men. By the 1980s the webbing kitbags of the 1940s (such as this example) had been updated to canvas examples which were lighter in weight, but darker in colour:

The central hand loop on the base of the kit bag was a traditional naval feature. A further pair of hand loops are sewn to the main body of the kit bag:

The neck of the kitbag has a weather flap and is secured by a draw cord passing through a series of brass eyelets:

The kitbag has a large black ink stamp inside which includes the NSN number and the date of manufacture:

By the end of the twentieth century the traditional naval kitbag had pretty much disappeared from service, with more modern items like the large black ‘grip’ holdall finally replacing the traditional design.