[walsh2509]

The origin of the submarine battle flag in World War II is a matter of some speculation, because before 1942, U.S. submarines did not own or display them. During late 1942 or early 1943, however, it became customary for a broom to be tied to the shears of a submarine returning from a successful patrol, indicating that it had made a “clean sweep” or sunk everything possible. In 1944, pennants were added to the brooms to indicate the number of kills. A Japanese flag denoted each ship sunk, with a solid orange circle on a white background for merchant ships and a rising sun for warships. Occasionally, these flags were also painted on the conning tower. This spontaneous and informal practice soon evolved into the creation of larger, more elaborate pennants, which included the submarine’s particular insignia, often borrowed from a crewmember’s “Submarine Jacket.” This emblem was sewn into the pennant, along with symbols denoting additional kills and distinctive accomplishments, as sort of a “living history” of the sub’s career. During 1944, Disney Studios, already involved in designing military insignia for both the United States and its allies, also designed submarine insignia. In all, the studio designed more than 30 fish insignia, which were assigned to submarines. Thus, on the Submarine Battle Flag – of which Barb’s is such a great example – was born.




I had another look on the web and about Disney designing Battle flag , looks like the flew them off the 2nd scope.


Archer-Fish proudly flies the
Presidential Unit Citation Pennant from #2 Scope