Regulations for the government of the United States Navy (1865)

ARTICLE XXXIV.

Arms of the United States.

1257 Arms: Paleways of thirteen pieces, argent and gules; a chief azure ; the escutcheon on the breast of the American eagle dis- played, proper, holding in his dexter talon an olive branch, and in his sinister a bundle of thirteen arrows, all proper; and in his beak a scroll, inscribed with this motto: "E Pluribus Unum." For the crest: Over the head of the eagle, which appears above the escutcheon, a glory breaking through a cloud, proper, and surrounding thirteen stars, forming a constellation, argent, and on an azure field.

1258 The flag of the Secretary of the Navy is to be blue, 10.25 feet in hoist, and 14.40 feet in length of fly, with a white foul anchor, three feet in extreme length, placed vertically in the centre ; the storm flag of the Secretary of the Navy will be similar to the above, but only 5.40 feet in hoist, and 7. 60 in length of fly, with the foul anchor eighteen inches in extreme length. These flags are to be displayed at the main to designate his presence on board. The flag of a Vice Admiral is to be plain and rectangular, with three five-pointed stars arranged as an equilateral triangle eighteen inches from centre to centre, with the upper star eighteen inches from the head, and twenty-seven inches from the tabling. The flag of a Rear Admiral is to be similar to the above, but having only two stars arranged vertically, eighteen inches from centre to centre, and eighteen inches from the tabling, with the upper star eighteen inches from the head ; in boat and night flags, the distances between stars will be proportionately less than the above ; the color of these stars will be white when the flag is blue or red, and blue when the flag is white. The broad pendants of Commodores will be, in colors and dimensions, as indicated in the book of allowances for vessels, with, however, only one star placed in the centre thereof.

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