High End Replica Items: Only One Lot of 2 Available. These are very well constructed and hand painted replica canvas / cotton wall hangers/flags “attributed” to the US Navy Gato-Class Submarines, USS Silversides (SS/AGSS-236) and USS Bluefish (SS-222).

USS SIlversides Flag: The flag features a ray-finned fish known as Atheriniformes (aka Silverfish) with a torpedo tucked under a fin and smoking a cigar. All black background with small Japanese flags used as tallies for sunk vessels.

USS Bluefish Flag: The flag features a bluefish wearing a red cape, pirate hat and a bloody boarding cutlass in its mouth. All black background with small Japanese flags used as tallies for sunk vessels.

These are not Disney animation studio images, but they were heavily influenced by them.

By the time America entered WWII, Disney animations had proven themselves as true feature-length films with box-office toppers like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Dumbo. Disney’s animated shorts had already gained immense popularity to the point where Mickey Mouse was depicted on the patch of a Naval Reserve Squadron.

Although unsanctioned by Disney, the pre-war patch started a trend that exploded across the military during WWII. In fact, Disney had to dedicate five artists to the full-time task of filling requests for military insignias.

The Navy in particular had a fondness for incorporating Disney characters into its insignias.

These are incredible, museum quality replicas that would display wonderfully in any WWII US Navy collections. Comes more than ready for display!

The tradition of submarine battle flags began during WWII when subs returning from
patrol would fly flags representing ships sunk, total tonnage, or a broom indicating a “clean sweep” (meaning that every target engaged was destroyed). Toward the end of the war the crews started making flags specific to their boat with a logo and sewn patches indicating ships sunk, the number of patrols, pilots rescued, citations received, etc.

Battle flags in World War II kept an unofficial record of the number of ships a submarine sank. Warships were represented by the rising sun version of the Japanese flag, while the merchant vessels were represented by the "meatball" flags. The submarine's logo was also featured on the flag. The difficulties in assessing actual damage from attacks on the enemy led many submarines to overestimate their successes. After the war, an Allied naval review board discovered inaccuracies as great as thirty percent during an examination of Japanese losses credited to American submarines.

USS Silversides (SS-236)
USS Silversides (SS/AGSS-236) is a Gato-class submarine, the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the silversides.

Silversides was one of the most successful submarines in the Pacific Theater of World War II, with 23 confirmed sinkings, totalling more than 90,000 long tons (91,444 t) of shipping. She received a Presidential Unit Citation for cumulative action over four patrols, and twelve battle stars. She presently serves as a museum ship in Muskegon, Michigan, and is a National Historic Landmark.

USS Bluefish (SS-222)
USS Bluefish (SS-222), a Gato-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the bluefish. Between 9 September 1943 and 29 July 1945 she completed nine war patrols. Her operating area extended from the Netherlands East Indies to the waters south of Honshū. According to the notoriously unreliable JANAC accounting, Bluefish sank 12 Japanese ships totaling 50,839 tons.