BACKGROUND: Following an age old military tradition the German Wehrmacht, (Armed Forces), of the Third Reich utilized a wide variety of identifying flags and pennants to distinguish Officers and Headquarters and included specific command flags and pennants. The command flags and pennants were also utilized by the Kriegsmarine, (War Navy), to an even wider extent then the Heer, (Army), or Luftwaffe, (Air-{Weapon}, Force), and included specific command flags and pennants for sea going vessels. This particular pennant was flown when two or more ships were berthed in the same place, to indicate which ship’s Captain had seniority, when the Heimatwimpel, (Home Coming Pennant), was not appropriate to be flown. Of Note: The term "Captain", in this sense is not a rank but refers to the commander of a particular sea going vessel, regardless of the individual’s actual rank. If a ship’s commander held a rank higher then Kapitän zur See, he would have been entitled to fly a specific, higher rank, command pennant. The Captain’s command pennant came in five different sizes, designated by Roman numerals, with the particular size to be flown, from the starboard’s main arm, dictated by the size/type of ship commanded. Of Note: The size of the pennants were altered a couple of times between 1932 and 1939 and this example is size "I", the smallest size, intended to be flown from any sea going vessel of less then 500 tonnes.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Roughly, 1 5/8", (4cm) tall, 55 1/4", (143cm), long, coarsely woven white cotton construction, swallow tail command pennant with a printed, black and white bordered, black Iron Cross positioned near the hoist end. The swallow tails are both roughly ,14 1/2", (38cm), long with a central incision. The Iron cross is roughly , 1 5/8", (4cm), square. Both the top and bottom edges of the pennant have a folded over, dual-ply reinforcement with two parallel rows of reinforcement stitching. The narrow, swallow tails are dual-ply with three rows of reinforcement stitching to the top and bottom edges and a single row of reinforcement stitching to the central incision. The hoist end has a dual-ply, white cotton bunting with faint black printed numerals that appear to be, "1,3", possibly referring to the length in meters.(?) The cotton bunting has a single, stitched eyelet with an inserted guide rope with a tied loop to both the top and bottom edges. The pennant is in overall good condition with less the a dozen pin head sized tears and light age and usage toning. Seldom encountered command pennant.