Uncommon US Flags #2: Commissioning Pennant
A Commissioning Pennant is a flag flown from the masthead of a warship from the moment the ship is placed in service until the moment it is decommissioned. The only time the pennant is not displayed on a US warship is when a civilian official (such as the Speaker of the House or the Secretary of the Interior) is aboard, in which case the flag representing their office is flown in place of the pennant; or when a flag officer is embarked, in which case the flag representing the rank of the admiral or general is flown in its place. In monarchies such as the United Kingdom, Canada, or Japan, royal standards displace the commissioning pennant when a member of the royal family or representatives (such as a governor general) are aboard.
In the United States, the US Coast Guard uses a different commissioning pennant, reflecting the Coast Guardās flag.
Commissioning pennants usually carry a symbol which is historic to the nationās ship flying such a pennant. For example, the Royal Navyās commissioning pennant is white with a St. Georgeās Cross (representing England) at the hoist; the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force pennant is white with the old Imperial Navy Rising Sun symbol at the hoist, and the Canadian Royal Navy is white with that nationās stylized maple leaf at the hoist.
Some nations do not use a pennant per se, but a long, narrow rectangular flag, such as India (a long white rectangle with a St. Georgeās Cross and Ashoka Chakra symbol at the hoist), or the Greek Navy with a somewhat unusual pennant (long narrow white rectangle, with a blue isosceles triangle [a pennant] with the Hellenic Cross in white at the hoist).
The commissioning pennant does not represent a national flag of character as defined by international maritime law, thus the ensign for a nationās warships is also flown (such as the US Flag or the United Kingdom White Ensign).
Commissioning pennants are a leftover of the Age of Chivalry. They are attested to in histories as far back as the XIII Century. In those days, it was frequent that a knight or squire affixed a streamer to their lance, so when the lance was couched, the arms of the knight would be displayed correctly. When a ship was commandeered or captured by a knight or squire, the streamer from the lance was hoisted to the top of the mainmast to show who was in command of the ship.
A variant of the commissioning pennant is the Paying-Off Pennant. From ancient times until the XX Century, crews were not paid until a ship returned to its homeport (this was to prevent a crew from taking a powder in the middle of a voyage). The paying-off pennant is an extreme version of a commissioning pennant, which is not usually more than 1.5 metres in length. Paying-off pennants are normally the length of the ship.
The use of paying-off pennants has declined to where only two nations still use them. The United States uses the pennant as a āhomeward boundā pennant (reflecting its traditional use), while in the United Kingdom the pennant is only used now for decommissioning ceremonies.