48 Star US Ensign of submarine USS Jallao,1944
This 48 Star United States Ensign was used by the USS Jallao (SS-368) in the Pacific in 1944 and 1945. The flag is a commercially made cotton flag with wartime grommets. It was likely acquired by private purchase by the Jallao for use when entering or leaving port as it is much larger than the US ensigns commonly displayed by boats. Submarines are, by nature, stealth weapons. They often surface only at night to recharge their batteries while they cruise on the surface and are thus accorded few opportunities to display any national ensign. Conversely, entering a port or departing on a war patrol are often occasions of ceremony when the display of an oversized ensign like this would have been appropriate.

The USS Jallao, named after a fierce predatory fish common to the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, was launched 12 March 1944 and commissioned on 8 July 1944. After her sea trials she reported for duty with the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor in September 1944. After additional training she departed on her maiden war patrol on 9 October 1944 and joined a US Navy "wolf-pack" nicknamed "Clarey's Crushers" in the fall of 1944. The Jallao participated in the Battle for Leyte Gulf and Battle of Cape Engano. In the aftermath of the latter engagement, the Jallao sank the Japanese light cruiser Tama. Her successful first war patrol concluded at Majuro, the US Navy's large forward base in the Marshall Islands, on 10 December 1944.

The Jallao's second war patrol began 6 January 1945, but the decimated Japanese merchant fleet presented few targets, making the patrol tedious and uneventful. While attacking a convoy on 5 March a Japanese escort vessel tried to ram the Jallao, damaging her periscope, and she put in to Midway for repair on 26 March 1944.

Sailing for her third war patrol on 20 April 1945, the Jallao was assigned to aircraft crew rescue duty off the Japanese-occupied Marcus Island where she braved shore battery fire to rescue five aviators and transport then to Saipan. Her third patrol ended at Pearl Harbor on 13 June 1945.

The Jallao underwent training while sailing to Guam. She departed on her final fourth war patrol on 31 July 1945 during which she sank the 6,000 ton freighter Timako Maru on 11 August 1945. When hostilities ceased the Jallao sailed for San Francisco via Guam, arriving there on 28 September 1945. She was decommissioned and placed in the US Pacific Reserve Fleet on 30 September 1946.

Doubtless the Jallao used this ensign when entering or departing various Pacific ports: Pearl Harbor; Majuro; Midway; Saipan; Guam and San Francisco. Surviving photos show the Jallao displaying a large 48 star ensign from a small gaff on her conning tower.
Although the Jallao was recommissioned in 1953 while the 48 star flag was still current, ZFC3854 is not from the post-war era as it is finished with wartime grommets.
The flag was most likely kept aboard the Jallao as a memento during her WWII service when she was recommissioned between 1953 to 1974, until her US Navy decommissioning and sale to the Royal Spanish Navy where she saw another decade of service as the SPS Narciso Monturiol (S-35).

Provenance:
* Made at the Dettra Flag Company, Oaks, PA, 1943/44
* Used aboard the USS Jallao, 1944/45.
* Kept aboard as a memento of WWII service until decommissioning, 1974.
* Retained by Seaman John Bayley as a memento until 1990s.
* Acquired by purchase by The War Museum of New York City, 1990s
* Sold via Bonham's of New York City, NY to Zaricor Flag Collection, 2013.
Deaccessed at auction via Bonham's 21 November 2023, Auction #BOK23110NY, - 28447 - Lot #217

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