A US Navy destroyer just sailed into port flying the Jolly Roger — here’s why the USS Kidd flies a pirate flag

• The US Navy destroyer USS Kidd was spotted, first by The War Zone, flying the skull and crossbones as it returned to its homeport this week.
• The Kidd is named after an admiral who was killed at Pearl Harbor, but the infamous pirate Captain Kidd has long been its mascot.
• Three ships have been named Kidd, and they have been the only US Navy ships authorized to fly the Jolly Roger.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

The US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd (DDG 100) hoisted the Jolly Roger —  a black banner adorned with a white skull and crossbones that is commonly associated with piracy —  as it returned to its homeport this week.

A Navy photo, one first spotted by The War Zone, shows the unusual flag flying alongside the American flag as the destroyer sailed into port at Naval Station Everett in Washington following a deployment to the 4th Fleet area of operations, which includes the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean.

While the skull and crossbones were initially associated with piracy, submariners adopted the fearsome flag during World War I, when the British submarine HMS E-9 hoisted the Jolly Roger after sinking the German battle cruiser Hela.

It became a tradition, one that spread beyond the Royal Navy and came to mark a successful patrol, not necessarily the sinking of an enemy vessel.

In 2017, the Navy released a photo of the Seawolf-class fast-attack submarine USS Jimmy Carter transiting the Hood Canal as it returned to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor. In the Navy photo, a black flag that appears to be the Jolly Roger can be seen.

The USS Kidd, despite an early COVID-19 setback shortly after the start of its deployment in April, had a relatively successful deployment, supporting counternarcotics operations and at one point assisting the Coast Guard intercept 805 kilograms of cocaine worth roughly $30 million, the Navy announced.

But, that's not why the ship flies its pirate flag.

The first USS Kidd (DD 661) was a Fletcher-class destroyer named after Rear Adm. Isaac Kidd, who was killed aboard the battleship USS Arizona during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

The rear admiral had the nickname "Cap" — a reference to the Scottish pirate Captain William Kidd — when he went through the US Naval Academy.

The crew of the USS Kidd, which was commissioned in 1943, adopted the pirate as their mascot. On the USS Kidd's first voyage, the crew flew the Jolly Roger with the permission of the admiral's widow, Inez Kidd, who convinced Navy leaders to officially permit it. The crew of the USS Kidd became known as the "Pirates of the Pacific."

The USS Kidd is the only surface ship in the US Navy permitted to fly the flag of piracy.

The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Kidd (DDG 100), commissioned in 2007, is the third ship to bear this name, and it "continues the tradition of this legacy and flies the Jolly Roger proudly and with distinction," according to the Navy.

As Task & Purpose notes, this week's photo of the USS Kidd flying the Jolly Roger comes just a few months after the Pentagon issued a memo placing restrictions on the flying of certain types of flags.

A Third Fleet spokesman explained to Insider that "the Jolly Roger serves as the unit flag for the USS Kidd (DDG 100)," noting that it is "specifically allowed by the memo."

Other Navy vessels have also been known to fly non-standard flags, such as the amphibious assault ship USS America that was spotted earlier this year flying a blue battle flag with the iconic Captain America shield on it.