First Navy Jack
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. It is now only used as a naval jack by the oldest active warship in the U.S. Navy. The design is traditionally regarded as that of the first U.S. naval jack flown in the earliest years of the United States' existence, though this is disputed by the historical record.
The First Navy Jack was replaced as the U.S. naval jack by the U.S. Union Jack on June 4, 2019, by order of the Chief of Naval Operations.
History
In late 1775, as the first ships of the Continental Navy readied in the Delaware River, Commodore Esek Hopkins issued, in a set of fleet signals, an instruction directing his vessels to fly a "striped" jack and ensign. The exact design of these flags is unknown. 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" ; this tradition dates at least back to 1880, when 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 inferred design never actually existed but "was a 19th-century mistake based on an erroneous 1776 engraving".In 1778, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sicily, thanking him for allowing entry of U.S. ships into Sicilian ports. The letter describes the U.S. flag according to the 1777 Flag Resolution, but also describes a flag of "South Carolina, a rattlesnake, in the middle of the thirteen stripes."
The rattlesnake had long been a symbol of resistance and defiance to the Crown in the thirteen American Colonies. The phrase "Don't Tread on Me" may have been coined during the American Revolutionary War, a variant perhaps of the snake severed in segments labelled with the names of the colonies and the legend "Join, or Die" which had appeared first in Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette in 1754, as a political cartoon reflecting on the Albany Congress.
The 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 quality echoed by the phrase "Don't tread on me." For more on the origin of the rattlesnake emblem, see the Gadsden flag.
Typically the flag's rattlesnake is depicted with red scales on its back, but some have depicted the snake as all-gold.
Modern use
Shipboard
Modern use of the flag is usually traced back to 1976, when the United States celebrated its Bicentennial. All commissioned naval vessels were directed to fly the First Navy Jack for this 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 afterwards was the standard fifty-star Union Jack. In 1980, Secretary of the Navy Edward Hidalgo directed that the warship or fleet auxiliary with the longest active status shall display the First Navy Jack until decommissioned or transferred to inactive service.
The status of the flag changed on May 31, 2002 when Navy Secretary Gordon England issued, 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". 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 vessels flew the flag while moored or at anchor, these included commissioned vessels of the U.S. Coast Guard designated as "United States Coast Guard Cutter", USCG patrol boats, vessels of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, and predominantly civilian-manned 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 return to nearly all commissioned warships of the U.S. Navy, restoring the 1980 practice of reserving the First Navy Jack to the longest active status warship. This order disregards, which technically is the oldest in the Navy but is used for ceremonial purposes. The honor of "oldest ship" in the Fleet was conferred on the following U.S. Navy vessels:
| Ship name | Type | Commission date | Decommission date | Years as oldest | Age | Homeport | Fate |
| Destroyer tender | April 25, 1940 | June 15, 1982 | 1981–1982 | 42 | Subic Bay, Philippines | Scrapped | |
| Destroyer tender | August 5, 1940 | March 26, 1993 | 1982–1993 | 52 | Scrapped | ||
| Submarine tender | September 30, 1943 | September 03, 1993 | 1993 | 50 | Newport, Rhode Island | Scrapped | |
| Destroyer tender | March 20, 1944 | October 15, 1993 | 1993 | 49 | Charleston, South Carolina | Scrapped | |
| Repair ship | June 19, 1944 | June 24, 1995 | 1995 | 51 | Pearl Harbor, Hawaii San Diego, California | Scrapped | |
| Ammunition ship | March 30, 1957 | June 30, 1995 | 1995 | 38 | Concord, California | Sunk as target | |
| Aircraft carrier | January 10, 1959 | September 30, 1998 | 1995–1998 | 39 | Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia San Diego, California Yokosuka, Japan | Scrapped | |
| Aircraft carrier | April 29, 1961 | May 12, 2009 | 1998–2009 | 48 | Bremerton, Washington | Awaiting scrapping | |
| Aircraft carrier | November 25, 1961 | December 1, 2012 | 2009–2012 | 51 | Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia | Awaiting scrapping | |
| Amphibious transport dock | October 26, 1968 | August 14, 2014 | 2012–2014 | 45 | Sasebo, Japan | Decommissioned | |
| Amphibious command ship | November 14, 1970 | 2014–present | 48 | Yokosuka, Japan | Active |
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, including sailors and naval officers wearing the Army Combat Uniform while assigned to and serving with Army units, at the discretion of the local Army commander. 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 guided missile destroyer.
During the War in Afghanistan, U.S. Navy sailors and officers assigned to the International Security Assistance Force were authorized to wear the First Navy Jack on their MultiCam-patterned Army Combat Uniform on the right sleeve, below the U.S. flag.