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First Navy Jack
First navy jack of the United States, currently flown only by the oldest warship in the U.S. Navy

The First Navy Jack was the naval jack of the United States from 1975 to 1976 and again from 2002 to 2019. It was authorized by the U.S. Navy and was flown from the jackstaff of commissioned vessels of the U.S. Navy while moored pierside or at anchor. Since then, it is used only as a naval jack by the oldest active warship in the U.S. Navy. The design is purported to be that of the first U.S. naval jack, flown soon after independence, although this is apocryphal.

The First Navy Jack was replaced as the U.S. naval jack by the U.S. Union Jack (consisting of white stars on a blue field, not to be confused with the flag of the United Kingdom, also commonly called "the Union Jack") on June 4, 2019, by order of the Chief of Naval Operations.

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History

In late 1775, as the first ships of the Continental Navy readied in the Delaware River, Commodore Esek Hopkins issued an instruction directing his vessels to fly a "striped" jack and ensign. The exact design of these flags is unknown. But, since about 1880, this jack has traditionally been depicted as consisting of thirteen red and white stripes charged with an uncoiled rattlesnake and the motto "Dont Tread on Me" [sic]; this design appeared in a color plate in Admiral George Henry Preble's influential History of the Flag of the United States. Recent scholarship, however, has demonstrated that this design never existed but "was a 19th-century mistake based on an erroneous 1776 engraving".5

In 1778, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sicily, thanking him for allowing entry of revolutionary ships into Sicilian ports. The letter describes the new flag of the colonies according to the 1777 Flag Resolution, but also describes a flag of "South Carolina, a rattlesnake, in the middle of the thirteen stripes."6

The rattlesnake had long been a symbol in the colonies of resistance and defiance to the Crown. The phrase "Don't Tread on Me" may have been coined during the American Revolutionary War, a variant perhaps of an earlier image. A snake severed in segments and labelled with the names of the colonies and the legend "Join, or Die", had first been published in Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette in 1754, as a political cartoon reflecting on the Albany Congress.

The rattlesnake (specifically, the Timber Rattlesnake) is especially significant and symbolic to the American Revolution. The rattle has thirteen layers, signifying the original Thirteen Colonies. Additionally, the snake does not strike until provoked, a characteristic expressed by the phrase "Don't tread on me" (see Gadsden flag).

Typically the flag's rattlesnake is depicted with red scales on its back,7 but some have depicted the snake as all-gold.8910

Modern use

Shipboard

Modern use of the flag is usually traced to 1976, when the United States celebrated its Bicentennial. All commissioned naval vessels were directed to fly the First Navy Jack for that calendar year while moored or anchored, and their commanding officers were authorized to retain and fly it thereafter.

The flag that had been used before, and afterward was the standard, was the fifty-star Union Jack. In 1980, Secretary of the Navy Edward Hidalgo directed that the warship or fleet auxiliary (e.g. a vessel designated as a "United States Ship" or "USS") with the longest active status shall display the First Navy Jack until decommissioned or transferred to inactive service.11

The status of the flag was changed on May 31, 2002. Navy Secretary Gordon England issued SECNAV Instruction 10520.6, directing all warships and auxiliaries of the U.S. Navy to fly the First Naval Jack as a "temporary substitution" for the Jack of the United States "during the Global War on Terrorism".12 The idea was based on a post-9/11 suggestion from retired Captain Brayton Harris, who in 1975 and 1976 had been Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy for the bicentennial. Most vessels made the symbolic switch on September 11, 2002 during the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Not all US vessels flew the flag while moored or at anchor. Those that did not included commissioned vessels of the U.S. Coast Guard designated as "United States Coast Guard Cutter" ("USCGC"), USCG patrol boats, vessels of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, and predominantly civilian-crewed vessels of the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command.

On February 21, 2019, the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral John Richardson, announced the blue Union Jack would be returned to nearly all commissioned warships of the U.S. Navy. He restored the 1980 practice of reserving the First Navy Jack to the longest active status warship. This order disregards the USS Constitution, which technically is the oldest in the Navy but is used only for ceremonial purposes, and the USS Pueblo, which was captured by North Korea in 1968 and is currently a museum ship though is still commissioned in the U.S. Navy.13 The honor of "oldest ship" in the Fleet14 was conferred on the following U.S. Navy vessels:

Ship nameTypeCommission dateDecommission dateYears as oldestAge15HomeportFate
USS Dixie (AD-14)Destroyer tenderApril 25, 1940June 15, 19821981–198242Subic Bay, PhilippinesScrapped
USS Prairie (AD-15)Destroyer tenderAugust 5, 1940March 26, 19931982–199352—Scrapped
USS Orion (AS-18)Submarine tenderSeptember 30, 1943September 3, 1993199350Newport, Rhode IslandScrapped
USS Sierra (AD-18)Destroyer tenderMarch 20, 1944October 15, 1993199349Charleston, South CarolinaScrapped
USS Jason (AR-8)Repair shipJune 19, 1944June 24, 1995161993-199551Pearl Harbor, HawaiiSan Diego, CaliforniaScrapped
USS Mauna Kea (AE-22)Ammunition shipMarch 30, 1957June 30, 1995199538Concord, CaliforniaSunk as target
USS Independence (CV-62)Aircraft carrierJanuary 10, 1959September 30, 19981995–199839Naval Station Norfolk, VirginiaSan Diego, CaliforniaYokosuka, JapanScrapped
USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63)Aircraft carrierApril 29, 1961May 12, 20091998–200948Bremerton, WashingtonUndergoing scrapping
USS Enterprise (CVN-65)Aircraft carrierNovember 25, 1961December 1, 20122009–201251Naval Station Norfolk, VirginiaAwaiting scrapping
USS Denver (LPD-9)Amphibious transport dockOctober 26, 1968August 14, 20142012–201445Sasebo, JapanSunk as target
USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19)Amphibious command shipNovember 14, 1970—2014–present53Yokosuka, JapanActive

Other U.S. Navy uses

Since September 11, 2002, U.S. Navy installations and facilities ashore have been allowed but not required to fly the First Navy Jack from multi-halyard gaff-rigged flagpoles when the United States ensign is also flown.

The First Navy Jack has also been authorized for wear as a patch by sailors and naval officers on flight suits and certain versions of the Navy Working Uniform (NWU), including sailors and naval officers wearing the Army Combat Uniform (ACU) while assigned to and serving with Army units, at the discretion of the local Army commander.1718 For the NWU and ACU, the patch is typically worn on the opposite sleeve as the U.S. flag.

This First Navy Jack, along with the Serapis flag, is also featured on the crest of the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones.19

During the War in Afghanistan, U.S. Navy sailors and officers assigned to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were authorized to wear the First Navy Jack on their MultiCam-patterned Army Combat Uniform (ACU) on the right sleeve, below the U.S. flag. 20

Non-military uses

Like other snake flags, the First Navy Jack has been used by non-Navy people in protest or commemoration. For example, opponents to a smoking ban in Franklin, Indiana, flew Navy Jacks outside their homes and businesses.21 A First Navy Jack flag was also placed at a makeshift memorial on Boylston Street after the Boston Marathon bombing.2223

See also

Notes

Wikisource has original text related to this article: SECNAV Instruction 10520.6 Wikimedia Commons has media related to First Navy Jack.

References

  1. USS Constitution, technically in active service, is excluded. /wiki/USS_Constitution ↩

  2. Affairs, This story was written by Chief of Naval Operations Public. "Navy Returns to Flying Union Jack". www.navy.mil. Retrieved 2019-02-22. https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/Press-Releases/display-pressreleases/Article/2239000/navy-returns-to-flying-union-jack/ ↩

  3. "The Colors of a Navy and Nation". The Sextant. Archived from the original on 2019-02-26. Retrieved 2019-03-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20190226143442/http://usnhistory.navylive.dodlive.mil/2014/09/12/the-colors-of-a-navy-and-nation/ ↩

  4. [1][dead link] https://www.stripes.com/news/navy-returning ↩

  5. Ansoff, Peter. (2004). "The First Navy Jack." Raven: A Journal of Vexillology, 11, ISSN 1071-0043, LCCN 94-642220. /wiki/ISSN_(identifier) ↩

  6. The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States, Volume 2 Available [2] http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DOCID+@lit(dc002578)) ↩

  7. "Navy.mil - View Image". www.navy.mil. Archived from the original on June 5, 2017. Retrieved Jun 6, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20170605224439/http://www.navy.mil/view_image.asp?id=2636 ↩

  8. Faram, Mark D. (Jun 5, 2019). "Why the Union Jack is back and here to stay". Navy Times. Retrieved Jun 6, 2019. https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/06/04/why-the-union-jack-is-back-and-here-to-stay/ ↩

  9. "Legati ad Defendendam Libertatem - USS John Warner Commissioned | Naval Historical Foundation". Jun 2, 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-06-02. Retrieved Jun 6, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190602173212/https://www.navyhistory.org/2015/08/legati-ad-defendendam-libertatem-uss-john-warner-commissioned/ ↩

  10. "Navy returning to traditional blue-and-white flag after 17 years of flying First Navy Jack". Stars and Stripes. Retrieved Jun 6, 2019. https://www.stripes.com/news/navy-returning-to-traditional-blue-and-white-flag-after-17-years-of-flying-first-navy-jack-1.569720 ↩

  11. "The U.S. Navy's First Jack". Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2006-10-01. http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20121004082423/http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq122-1.htm ↩

  12. "The U.S. Navy's First Jack". Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2006-10-01. http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20121004082423/http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq122-1.htm ↩

  13. Harkins, Gina (February 21, 2019). "Navy Ships Will Again Fly the Union Jack as US Enters Great Power Competition". Military.com. Retrieved June 11, 2019. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/02/21/navy-ships-will-again-fly-union-jack-us-enters-great-power-competition.html ↩

  14. In modern times (post-1980 in this case). ↩

  15. This column reflects the ship's age at the given decommissioning date ↩

  16. USS Jason was the last remaining U.S. naval commissioned ship to serve in World War II. /wiki/World_War_II ↩

  17. office of the Chief of Naval Operations. "SPECIAL UNIFORM SITUATIONS FOR NAVY PERSONNEL ASSIGNED TO AND SERVING WITH AN ARMY UNIT". VADM MARK FERGUSON. Archived from the original on 2014-05-17. Retrieved 2013-07-31. /wiki/Chief_of_Naval_Operations ↩

  18. David Tomiyama. "Deployed USS Sampson FC2 earns award in Afghanistan". Provincial Reconstruction Team Khost Public Affairs. Archived from the original on October 5, 2012. Retrieved 2012-02-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20121005222808/http://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/ddg102/Pages/DeployedUSSSampsonFC2earnsawardinAfghanistan.aspx ↩

  19. See the patch and description on the official website at http://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/ddg53/Pages/ourShip.aspx Archived 2011-06-15 at the Wayback Machine http://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/ddg53/Pages/ourShip.aspx ↩

  20. US National Support Element. "US National Standards, HQ, International Security Assistance Force" (PDF). Headquarters, International Security Assistance Force. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-02-21. Retrieved 2013-07-31. https://web.archive.org/web/20130221174903/http://www.isaf.nato.int/images/stories/File/CSM%20Hill%20Docs/us%20national%20standards%20hq%20isaf%2018%20jul%2012.pdf ↩

  21. "Red, White, Rattlesnake – Opponents Fight Smoking Ban – Indiana News Story – WRTV Indianapolis". Theindychannel.com. 2006-04-28. Archived from the original on 2012-02-23. Retrieved 2011-05-30. https://web.archive.org/web/20120223141236/http://www.theindychannel.com/news/9070060/detail.html ↩

  22. "Boylston Street Marathon Memorial" (JPG). Sarahfit.com. Retrieved 2015-08-11. http://sarahfit.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Boylston-Street-Marathon-Memorial.jpg ↩

  23. "Boylston Memorial" (JPG). S3.amazonnaws.com. Retrieved 2015-08-11. http://s3.amazonaws.com/media.wbur.org/wordpress/11/files/2013/04/0417_boylston-memorial.jpg ↩