battle flag symbols

[runningdeer]

Hi all.

I am working on some memorial skins for the American fleet boats. After googling for battle flags I liked these symbols the best. I got these from an Asian site that I could not translate.

I need to know the exact meaning of the symbols. It seems to me that the ones with red stripes would be battle ships and the others different types of merchants?

I am skinning my boat (Balao) that I am currently using in a campaign. The boat was the USS KETE. Not an outstanding kill record, but had sunk 3 Maru's.

I would like to know for sure which merchant symbol symbolizes the Maru's that were sunk. If you look really close, the merchants have differences. Also would the parachute symbolize rescuing survivors?

Thank you all for your time & help.

http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/2109/battleflagsymbols.png

[Stealhead]

Good luck with that each sub had a diffrent system of symbols for some odd reason there where several diffrent ones most used a full jap ensign or full jap national falg for a destroyed warship or merchant( the "rising sun" flag is the Ensign or the naval flag warship) and an unfilled sun to show a damaged vessel.This one looks a little made up to me as they usualy did not show anymore than a flag and if they included a ship outline they did not alter them like this one has just a generic one for marus and warships.You say it sunk 3 merchants but they have 10 merchants with broken backs here looks like they are trying to show what type of ship it was as one looks like a tanker while others look like a standard split decker.Unless you are trying to make a kill flag for your Kete using this style. Id take a look at the Barbs kill flag or another good one was the Halibut hers had fish and they had either a ensign or a regular Jap flag. Some ships had an ensign and the national flag on either side of thier subs kill flag and under the respective falg there went an outline of the type of vessel sunk. The parachute must stand for a completed lfeguard mission many subs used a life ring to show this type of mission.There where diffrent ways to design these flags unless you really like this one Id do a little more looking around there are better designs than this one out there.

[Peto]

Yep. The Kete got 3 marus all on the same day (April 10, 45). Most battle flags I've seen just use a Rising Sun for warships and the generic Japanese flag for merchants. There are a couple I've seen which add a CV(E) silhouette to indicate a carrier though...

Interesting choice in boat :06:. Why did you select the Kete?

[runningdeer]

Yep. The Kete got 3 marus all on the same day (April 10, 45). Most battle flags I've seen just use a Rising Sun for warships and the generic Japanese flag for merchants. There are a couple I've seen which add a CV(E) silhouette to indicate a carrier though...

Interesting choice in boat :06:. Why did you select the Kete?

Well...until recently I didn't know much of anything about the American fleet boats other than the role they played in WWII. When I started skinning I wanted to be somewhat accurate. So I googled Balao boats, because I'm in one, and had to start somewhere. I saw that the KETE was built in my home town area...also respected the fact that 87 men were lost going back to Midway for rearming, etc., and the more info & images I found the more I kinda got stuck on it. I realize that there were more famous or successful boats but just wanted to get off the ground with any one of them really. I don't recall seeing any mention of the KETE on subsim, just the more well known ones.

Wikipedia has been very helpful, leading me to other links & resources.

I am trying to make my own battle flag for the KETE. After only finding insignias for it. Also, just for my own use, I thought I might add my own kills as I progress through my career(s).

I come from an Army family, my Mother & Father served in the army during the Korean and Vietnamese wars. I've always been interested in WWII. But before SH4 I mostly followed the ground forces and the ground war. Even after playing SH4 for some time...I have much to learn.

Thank you for your time n stuff :yep:.

[snakeyez]

Take a look here:

http://usssealion.com/sealion/battle_flags.htm

I'd say very few used special symbols, most used just meatballs for merchants, rising suns for warships.

[runningdeer]

Take a look here:

http://usssealion.com/sealion/battle_flags.htm

I'd say very few used special symbols, most used just meatballs for merchants, rising suns for warships.
Thank you vm...excellent link, it somehow slipped by me in my googling.

Also, I read about your grandfather at the site you created about him. Excellent memorial. He was a great man.

[Peto]

I saw that the KETE was built in my home town area...

So :hmmm:... Does that mean you're a Packer fan? ;)

[runningdeer]

So :hmmm:... Does that mean you're a Packer fan? ;)
"Go pack" :yeah:.

[Akula4745]

I used the USN_Kill_Flag_Kit to setup my conning tower. Dang if I can remember where I downloaded it tho... (PSD format). The end results are below:

http://img229.imagevenue.com/loc533/th_22955_towerinsignia2_122_533lo.jpg (http://img229.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=22955_towerinsignia2_122_533lo.jpg)

Akula4745

[runningdeer]

:know:I used the USN_Kill_Flag_Kit to setup my conning tower. Dang if I can remember where I downloaded it tho... (PSD format). The end results are below:

http://img229.imagevenue.com/loc533/th_22955_towerinsignia2_122_533lo.jpg (http://img229.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=22955_towerinsignia2_122_533lo.jpg)

Akula4745
Wow Akula...that looks fantastic. I'll google for the kit.

Thanx, I think this is it: http://battleflags.net/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=1301 .

I really like the look of your tower...thanx for showing it to me. And at the above site I saw how some guys just keep applying kills, one tower was just covered. Maybe I'll do something like that too.

[runningdeer]

I play American campaigns. Using TMO 1.7 and RSRD.

Is it possible for me to make my way to European waters to hunt for German targets? Or would I make the voyage for nothing?

I thought it would be great to get a German destroyer or merchant so i could add a Kriegsmarine kill flag to my tower.

Thanx.

[Akula4745]

runningdeer - you need to get the PSD file for Adobe Photoshop (if you have it) - it makes it so much easier. If you cannot find it I could email it to ya... plus I have a template for positioning of the insignia too. :)

Just PM me your email addy if you want it.

Akula4745

[Stealhead]

You can always get the Barbs kill flag mod for your sub at some point eariler in the war before Fluckey was in command she sank a German tanker I belive at any rate the Barb did sink a german merchant and had a Nazi flag. I am sure a few other subs also sank some German ships but very few US Navy subs did youd have to have a Brit sub they got many more.What would be nice is if you could have the small kill flags for each seprate ship that where flown from the sheers when coming into home port those often had the ensign of meatball with a ship siloute on the other side.Seeing as the subs obviously would not have had a kill flag painted on the ship when in actual use unless at the end of the war. The killflag mod is nice and all I just dont want that huge thing on my tower personaly, also I find the rate that one can sink ships in SH4 to be too easy when compared to real life. You can pull off what the very best subs did in thier entire service in just a few patrols.That being said I do like runningdeers idea to make his own kill flag lets you make your own personal touch if you want something done the way you like may as well do it yourself.On a side note since we are talking about kills has anyone else noticed with TMO 1.7 that sometimes when you get the raido messages from other subs kills or statius that the sub you are in will show up? That is always funny to me when I will still be heading my patrol zone and suddenly I get a message that we sank x ships returing to base! Once I even got a raido message that my sub was missing and presumed lost. I guess the game dose not remove those messages when they relate to the same name sub.

[Akula4745]

runningdeer - an email is on its way to you now! :)

Akula4745

[snakeyez]

Thank you vm...excellent link, it somehow slipped by me in my googling.

Also, I read about your grandfather at the site you created about him. Excellent memorial. He was a great man.

Thank you for the kind words.

That link is something relatively new. A sub vet is/was compiling an online collection of battle flags for as many submarines as he can find.

[Stealhead]

All this about the kill flags got me thinking of the ship mascots/patch(most of the time a cartton of the fish ect. that the sub was named after.I have a pretty good book my wife bought a few months back;United States Submarines by the Naval Submarine Leauge. It covers the entire history of Subs in the US Navy from the first Holland Boat to the Virginia class and all the history between and 90% of the chapters are written by former sub commanders. It has inside the covers and also in various parts of the book the ship patches Fromm WWII up to modern times pretty neat the ones they show. Alot better than the ones most none flight crew squadrons have in the Air Force we had some lame patches for sure. And seemed like every squadron i was in had to have a bulldog as mascot which was very lame to me being from Florida I aint no Bulldogs fan.For WWII subs Barb had the best a standing "barb" fish with a belt full of TNT sticks and one lit in his fin he also has the sailors hat on and he looks pretty damn mean to boot.

snakeyez nice picture of you and grand pa where you where 14 or so I used be super lanky like that too at that age funny. you are very lucky both my grandfathers died just before I was born and both only a few months between them one was in O.S.S in Europe in WWII the other was too old for WWII he was born in 1908.I only know a few good tales from the O.S.S from my mother but not much he mainly spoke of those days to other vets and he had no sons to really tell most of the stories to so sadly most of his time in the O.S.S is lost forever.I do know that when my grandfather and grandmother and my mother moved to Florida in 1951 when he got hired as a minister down in Winter Haven there where alot of vets down there some who had been very badly injured. there was one Navy vet who had very bad burns scars on his face and he came by the house once by suprise and my gradmother upset as she thought my mother who was only about 3 at the time would be scared or even scream when she saw this mans face she did not want to upset the navy vet either but my mother did not cry even she came up and sat on the mans lap as though he was just like any other person and it just shocked this man and he cried he was used to people rejecting him little kids most of all. I wonder what ever happened to that man I know his wife stayed with him at least and that my mothers not crying gave him the courage to come to church with his wife he had not before that.