Patuxent River Naval Air Museum Flags - Lexington Park MD
N 38° 16.593 W 076° 27.784
18S E 372027 N 4237511
A single-masted nautical flagpole stands at a naval museum in Maryland.
Waymark Code: WMDNMY
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 02/05/2012
Views: 4
A single-masted flagpole on the grounds of the
Patuxent River Naval Air Museum
flies the American flag at the top and a Perry flag and the first U.S. Navy Jack from the yardarm. There is no gaff.
The Perry flag has the words DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP on a blue field. During the War of 1812, Captain James Lawrence was mortally wounded during the engagement between his ship, the Chesapeake and the HMS Shannon. Some of his last words were "Don't give up the ship". Lawrence's friend, Oliver Hazard Perry, had those words stitched on a battle flag which he flew during the Battle of Erie in 1813.
The first U.S. Navy Jack had a rattlesnake and the motto DON'T TREAD ON ME superimposed on 13 red and white stripes. The flag with the symbolic rattlesnake signifying resistance against British oppression in colonial America was first flown by the Continental Navy. After 1777, the U.S. Navy adopted the Union Jack which is a field of white stars on blue. The stars represent the states similar to the American flag. The use of the first Navy Jack was revived in 1975 and 1976 for the bicentennial celebration of the U.S. and the Navy. In 1980 (some sources say 1977), the Secretary of the Navy decreed that the oldest active ship in commission display the first Navy Jack as opposed to the Union Jack. In 2002, the U.S. Navy declared that all ships fly the first Navy Jack during the duration of the Global War on Terrorism.
The museum is located on Three Notch Rd. in Lexington Park, MD. It is housed in a WWII-era USO canteen building.
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