[1][2][3] In late 1775, as the first ships of the Continental Navy readied in the Delaware River, Commodore Esek Hopkins issued an instruction directing his vessels to fly a "striped" jack and ensign.

But, since about 1880, this jack has traditionally been depicted as consisting of thirteen red and white stripes charged with an uncoiled rattlesnake and the motto "Dont Tread on Me" [sic]; this design appeared in a color plate in Admiral George Henry Preble's influential History of the Flag of the United States.

[4] In 1778, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sicily, thanking him for allowing entry of revolutionary ships into Sicilian ports.

A snake severed in segments and labelled with the names of the colonies and the legend "Join, or Die", had first been published in Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette in 1754, as a political cartoon reflecting on the Albany Congress.

Additionally, the snake does not strike until provoked, a characteristic expressed by the phrase "Don't tread on me" (see Gadsden flag).

[10] The idea was based on a post-9/11 suggestion from retired Captain Brayton Harris, who in 1975 and 1976 had been Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy for the bicentennial.

On February 21, 2019, the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral John Richardson, announced the blue Union Jack would be returned to nearly all commissioned warships of the U.S. Navy.

This First Navy Jack, along with the Serapis flag, is also featured on the crest of the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones.