Naval Aviation squadrons have used the name and insignia of the Jolly Roger: VF-61 (originally VF-17), VF-84, and VFA-103. The Jolly Roger is now the emblem of the Royal Navy Submarine Service.Ī US Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet aircraft assigned to the ' Jolly Rogers' of Strike Fighter Squadron 103 (VFA-103), prepares to launch from the flight deck of the Nimitz-class Aircraft Carrier USS Dwight D. In World War II it became common practice for the submarines of the Royal Navy to fly the Jolly Roger on completion of a successful combat mission where some action had taken place, but as an indicator of bravado and stealth rather than of lawlessness.

and hang all crews.' In response, Lieutenant Commander (later Admiral Sir) Max Horton first flew the Jolly Roger on return to port after sinking the German cruiser SMS Hela and the destroyer SMS S-116 in 1914 while in command of the E class submarine HMS E9. treat all submarines as pirates in wartime. Since the decline of piracy, various military units have used the Jolly Roger, usually in skull-and-crossbones design, as a unit identification insignia or a victory flag to ascribe to themselves the proverbial ferocity and toughness of pirates.Ħ February 1942 Members of the crew of HMS Utmost with their 'Jolly Roger' success flag, photographed alongside submarine depot ship HMS FORTH in Holy Loch, on their return from a year's service in the MediterraneanĪdmiral Sir Arthur Wilson VC, the Controller of the Royal Navy, summed up the opinion of the many in the Admiralty at the time when in 1901 he said submarines were 'underhand, unfair, and damned un-English. The Jolly Roger is the name given to any of various flags flown to identify a ship's crew as pirates.

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