This insignia, along with symbols denoting kills and distinctive accomplishments, became a sort of a “living history” of the sub’s career. This practice soon evolved into the creation of larger, more elaborate flags, which included the submarine’s insignia in the center. Occasionally, these flags were also painted on the sail. A Japanese flag denoted each ship sunk, with a solid red circle on a white background, also known as the “meatball flags,” for merchant ships and a rising sun for warships. In 1944, pennants were added to the brooms to indicate the number of kills. During late 1942 or early 1943, however, it became a tradition to lash a broom to the periscope shears when returning from a successful patrol, indicating they had made a “clean sweep,” or sunk everything possible. The origin of the submarine battle flag in WWII is a bit of a mystery, because before 1942, U.S. The insignia also appeared throughout the submarine and on the ship’s battle flag. The designs were meant to send a “don’t mess with us” warning to the enemy and included famous sayings such as “Don’t give up the ship” and "Live free or die.” Battle insignia were considered good omens and were placed on letterheads, jackets and painted on sails when the submarines were not on patrol. The tougher the creatures looked, the more the submariners liked them. Their patches depicted fighting fish, mermaids riding or holding a torpedo, or exploding torpedoes and Japanese flags. Many of the submarines named after the “denizens of the deep” not only had fierce names, but fierce insignia as well. The Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company hired a local artist, Ray Young, to create insignia for the last 10 submarines as gifts to the submarine crews. In all, the studio designed more than 30 fish insignia for submarines, which included the first 18 submarines launched by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company. In 1940, Walt Disney studios in California began designing insignia using animal caricatures. Prior to WWII, battle insignia were designed in a solemn manner. Watch Video: 99-year-old woman finally receives love letter sent during WWII Most modern-day submarines are still named for states, but none is named Wisconsin nor Manitowoc yet. Rickover, who was “the father of the nuclear navy.” The Ohio Class followed with submarines named after states. cities, with the exception of USS Hyman G. The next class, the Los Angeles Class submarines, were named for U.S. In 1959, the Navy began building ballistic nuclear submarines and named the “41 for Freedom” after famous Americans and those who contributed to the growth of democracy, the first of which was USS George Washington. But in the 1930s, the Navy began naming submarines after various ocean fish and “denizens of the deep.” After WWII, names were recycled to honor former boats with good war records, such as USS Wahoo and USS Barb. The following submarines were given alpha-numeric designations A through S, such as A-1, L-11 or S-33. Navy submarine, USS Holland, was named after her designer and builder, John Holland. But, to understand the changes in insignia over the years, we need to understand how submarines got their names. During World War II, they were also sewn onto battle flags to show a ship’s unofficial war record.įor this article, I’m just going to focus on submarine insignia since Manitowoc built 28 submarines for World War II. Insignia are proudly worn on hats and shirts, used on letterheads, flags, plaques, and around the ship in mess and crew areas. Ship insignia have changed over the years, depending on the ship’s name and the type of vessel. When a new ship is commissioned into the United States Navy, it is given a name, a hull number and an insignia. The creation of battle insignia has long been a tradition of the American armed forces. View Gallery: Wisconsin Maritime Museum shares US Navy submarine battle insignia
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