06/14/2006
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The black flag of death is flown by British submarines after every war mission
Statesmen, politicians, and opinion makers of half the world, above all in the
Anglosaxon sphere, have searched for years to promote a positive image of war,
or at least a neutral and ascetic one, to the end of making public opinion “digest”
it. They try to put over an image of war that is “politically correct,” that is
clean, civilized, and reassuring - as far as possibile disconnected from the concept
of death: an undigestible idea for any sane person. For this purpose terms have
been invented like “humanitarian intervention,” “surgical bombing,” “selective
bombing,” “intelligent bombs,” and - most important of all - “collateral damage”:
to make people forget that war is nothing less than death brought on a vast scale.
From the Falklands to the Gulf War. From the 80s until today, the “jolly roger” flag, more famous as the flag of
pirates, has been regularly hoisted on the yard of war submarines of the Royal
Navy that come back home after having completed war missions.
From Kosovo to the war in Iraq. July 9 of 1999: “humanitarian war” in Kosovo. After having launched a series
of cruise missiles at the city of Belgrade, the British submarine HMS Splendid
returned from the Adriatic Sea to the Faslane base flying the flag with the skull
and bones.
US Navy and the squadron of death. The macabre war ritual of the jolly roger does not seem to also be in use in
the American navy--even if a photo, published on a personal blog April 30, 2005,
represents an American warship that returns to port (from the Persian Gulf?) with
the black flag of skull and crossbones flying from its main mast.
War doesn’t bring peace or democracy. The next time that we see on television the spectacular pictures of missiles
and planes that are going to bring “peace” and “democracy” to some place, let
us remember the flag with the skull and crossbones. Let us remember that whoever
makes war brings only one thing: death.
But whoever makes war, that is, the military, knows well that death is the essence
of war. It is precisely whoever, like the military of the Royal British Navy,
celebrates every action of war, flaunting with pride the symbol of death through
antonomasia: the black flag with the skull and crossbones.
From the Falklands to the Gulf War. From the 80s until today, the “jolly roger” flag, more famous as the flag of
pirates, has been regularly hoisted on the yard of war submarines of the Royal
Navy that come back home after having completed war missions. The first documented case dates back to May 1982, during the war of the Falklands-Malvinas
between Great Britain and Argentina. After having torpedoed and sunk the Argentine
warship General Belgrano, causing the death of 323 sailors, the submarine HMS
Conqueror returned to Faslane naval base with the black flag of death fluttering
at the top of the turret.
In May 1991, in the middle of the Gulf War, the submarines HMS Opossum and HMS
Otus, returning from a secret mission in the Persian Gulf, entered Gosport naval
base flying the jolly roger.
From Kosovo to the war in Iraq. July 9 of 1999: “humanitarian war” in Kosovo. After having launched a series
of cruise missiles at the city of Belgrade, the British submarine HMS Splendid
returned from the Adriatic Sea to the Faslane base flying the flag with the skull
and bones.March 1, 2002, while the British armed forces were on duty in Afghanistan in
operation “Truth,” in support of the American operation “Enduring Freedom,” the
submarine HMS Trafalgar, returning from a mission in the Arabian Sea, entered
the port of Plymouth with the flag of death waving on its turret: it had launched
tomahawk missiles at Kabul. The submarine HMS Triumph would do the same thing
a little later.
The last time that a submarine of Her Majesty was seen returning to port flying
the jolly roger dates from April 16, 2003, at the beginning of the war in Iraq,
when the HMS Turbulent entered the port of Plymouth after having launched 30 tomahawk
missiles on Bagdad.
US Navy and the squadron of death. The macabre war ritual of the jolly roger does not seem to also be in use in
the American navy--even if a photo, published on a personal blog April 30, 2005,
represents an American warship that returns to port (from the Persian Gulf?) with
the black flag of skull and crossbones flying from its main mast.In compensation, the jolly roger has been for sixty years the insignia, and the
name, of the “best” squadron of fighter bombers of American naval aviation. From
1995 the F-14 Tomcat of the fighter squadron VF-103 has flown the skull and crossbones
on its double black tails. The VF-103 has been distinct in the aerial bombing
of Iraq, in particular in the notorious operation Phantom Fury on Falluja in October,
2004. Before 1995, the squadron of death had been—in chronological order—the VF-17
(second world war), the VF-61 (Korean War), and the VF-84 (Vietnam War).
War doesn’t bring peace or democracy. The next time that we see on television the spectacular pictures of missiles
and planes that are going to bring “peace” and “democracy” to some place, let
us remember the flag with the skull and crossbones. Let us remember that whoever
makes war brings only one thing: death. Enrico Piovesana
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