Why did one of the U.S. Navy’s most advanced subs return to port with a pirate flag?

WaPo ^ | 9/13/17 | Thomas Gibbons-Neff

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

International Talk Like a Pirate Day?

I thought that was tomorrow.

[rlmorel]

I don’t mind it. I can’t stand they named it after Carter, but...the sailors don’t get to choose where they serve.

I don’t have much of a problem with a pirate flag on a return to port or something like that. The Jolly Rogers (VF-84) had them permanently painted on the plane and it looked great.

Sub Drivers like (and need) some esprit de corps, let em do what they want.

On an associated note, I find the weird romantic obsession with 17th-18th century pirates bizzare. They weren’t nice or honorable people, and there was a reason they were ground out without remorse by civilized countries around the world and had their tarred corpses hung at harbor entrances.

[lacrew]

I must be blind - can’t find the broom.

[rx]

Why pirate, when the other possibility is a Yale Skull and Bones?   It is known the CIA--that GHWB "once" led--has commandeered the activities of such craft. Every bit as good as numerology, this could be seen as a claim to power.

I think it the most likely explanation.

[Jonah Hex]

Silent Service. WaPo don't need to know.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I’ve seen older photos on line of US subs with the (gasp!) Confederate Battle Flag on them!

[ßuddaßudd]

its a symbolic dog-whistle,,
they just dont know it yet..

[mewzilla]

In the series ender there was a Jolly Roger, revealed right at the end....

[Afterguard]

Read the article

[mewzilla]

They weren’t nice or honorable people

No, they were not. In my case, it's a pox on all their houses, the pirates, various monarchs. That said, I still loved Black Sails .

[PGR88]

Ummm, it was a joke.

[CrazyIvan]

First thing I noticed. I’m sure the sail is a composite material. Looks like a slight side impact. I don’t think we’d be seeing it if it was important.

[Afterguard]

Not a wrinkle. A little piece of the anechoic coating has sloughed off.

[petro45acp]

Unless there is a better snap than the one published in the compost, hard to say what kind of flag it is.

KYPD

[Fantasywriter]

There isn’t a broom. The poster was just pointing out that IF a sub displays a broom as it’s returning, it has a well known and standard meaning.

[rlmorel]

LOL, don’t get me wrong, I love the concept of honorable, lovable pirates as a movie thing, but as you and I agree, in real life...not nice!

[dila813]

I can’t remember, but there was some exercise where one of the ships won the right to fly it.

I was in so many I can’t remember which one it was, but I remember it was one of the scenarios where a few ships played aggressor with everyone else trying to hunt it down.

If one of the aggressors accomplished the objective, they won the flag.

[petro45acp]

“DOWN PERISCOPE” with Kelsey Grammer........classic Saturday movie fare!

KYPD

[dila813]

He served on subs, he was a former president, but he was an idiot.

I wouldn’t have named a sub after him, but I have seen worse picks.

[AlaskaErik]

What’s with all the civilian radar and comm gear? This is obviously not a U S Navy sub.