{"id":41892,"date":"2019-06-04T21:26:56","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T21:26:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/06\/04\/why-the-union-jack-is-back-and-here-to-stay\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:41:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:41:33","slug":"why-the-union-jack-is-back-and-here-to-stay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2019\/06\/04\/why-the-union-jack-is-back-and-here-to-stay\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Union Jack is back and here to stay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NORFOLK \u2014 For the first time in nearly 17 years, the Navy\u2019s commissioned ships worldwide hoisted on their bows the star-spangled Union Jack<\/a> during Tuesday\u2019s morning colors<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a moment of profound symbolism, pointing both to the Navy\u2019s heroic past and a potentially violent future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday marked the 77th anniversary of the Battle of Midway, a key strategic victory for the United States against Imperial Japan during World War II \u2014 and it was the Union Jack that fluttered in ports during the island hopping campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But its rebirth on warships also has much to do with a call by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson<\/a> to focus on combat at sea against peer and near-peer competitors after nearly two decades of waging war against insurgencies and terrorist networks in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\t