Question: What is the only ship in the U.S. Navy authorized to fly the Jolly Roger pirate flag?
Answer: The USS Kidd, a destroyer named for Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd. Kidd was killed aboard the battleship USS Arizona during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the first American flag officer to die in World War II. He had picked up the nickname “Cap” while attending the U.S. Naval Academy, a reference to the infamous pirate Captain Kidd, who was executed for piracy in 1701. When a Fletcher-class destroyer was named for Rear Adm. Kidd in 1943, its crew immediately adopted the pirate theme, with the blessing of Isaac Kidd’s widow, Inez. Inez Kidd even convinced the Navy to formally give the USS Kidd express permission to fly the pirate flag.
That initial USS Kidd, which served the U.S. Navy off and on until 1964, is now a museum ship. The latest USS Kidd, commissioned in 2007, flies the pirate flag not only when entering and leaving port, but when the vessel makes its way between the U.S. coasts and during multinational exercises. The skull and crossbones can also be seen on the rear of the Kidd’s five-inch guns, on its internal doors, and probably tattooed on a fair number of its sailors.
