15 June 2005

The Converse (DD-509)

The National Association of Destroyer Veterans website and a story about an absentee pennant.
Posted by at

2 comments:

Ramblin' Ed said...

I knew you'd go find out the answer.

Excerpt from the article:
Obviously the ensign had guessed wrong and gotten his sequence of pennants backwards. (Or does the writer have the sequence backwards?) With foul-ups like that, how did we ever win the war?

Yes, the young Ensign was wrong.
The pennant is the 3rd sub, which is used by the signalmen if they are missing a flag (or have used them already) and the 1st and 2nd sub are already being used. So, as a comm flag it is not used very often, is what I'm saying. It is a white pennant with a horizontal black bar. When you walk by a commissioned ship in port, if you look up at the mast and see this pennant waving in the breeze it means the CO is not onboard. The Quarterdeck protocol goes something like this:

Bong Bong (ships bell rung twice)
Antietam*, departing
Bong (final bell, or "stinger" as his first foot touches the brow. Simutaneous to the stinger, the absentee pennant wil be hoisted)

This whole thing is repeated, in reverse, upon his return. Unless it's before reville, but that's a whole other story for another day.

*This is the name of the ship. Never use "The" or "USS" as these denote the ship itself. Just the name, ie, New Jersey, or Antietam, or Kitty Hawk is used to announce the Captian.

Nautically yours,
Travelin' Ed

8:42 PM
Gun Trash said...

What's all this got to do with the Astros never winning a pennant?




Nah... just funning you Nautical Ed. Now I too know about absentee pennants and any other folks that stop by can also find out about 'em, if so inclined.

Now, about this poop deck thing...

10:34 PM

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