While Sweet Pea was giving a violin lesson yesterday, I headed out to run some errands........... I stopped by "Waste Not, Want Not", our local used building material and misc. store to see if there was anything I couldn't live without. There was! I picked up a vintage, 48 star, Union Jack Flag! They had no idea what they had.
The US Union Jack flag is flown by the US Navy, US Coast Guard, and other US Government ships. The Union Jack is flown from the bow of the ship while it is anchored or moored. The Jack is removed when the ship gets underway. Since 2002, the US Navy started using the old "Don't Tread On Me" Union Jack from the 1770's instead of the traditional field of stars jack.
Here is a good article on the US Union Jacks: Union Jack
The Union Jack that I picked up has 48 stars. The 48 star flags were used from July 4, 1912 to July 3, 1959. This puts this flag in the WW1, WW2, and Korean War time periods. The Jack is large, about 2' x 3' (I forgot to measure it exactly), and has four steel grommets. The fabric is a blue wool with sewn on, white linen stars. Based on the size and fabric type, I would guess that this was used on a large ship, not a smaller patrol type boat. There is a very faded, printed label near one of the corner grommets, but it is too faint to read.
There are a few spots of gray paint and a few moth holes on the fabric and the steel grommets have a fair bit of corrosion. Based on the overall condition, I would guess that this jack dates to the WW2 time period. A rare flag no matter what!
Here are the photos:
A few great archive photos:
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