"Don't Give Up The Ship" Flag - Large

A navy-blue flag with, "Don't Give Up The Ship" printed on it.  This item is the large size which is 3' x 5'.

“Don’t Give Up the Ship” is the U.S. Naval Academy’s most famous motto, displayed on a historic battle flag.  The original Perry flag is preserved in the U.S. Naval Academy Museum in Preble Hall, and a reproduction hangs in Memorial Hall inside Bancroft Hall, a space visited daily by midshipmen.

The words come from Captain James Lawrence of the U.S. Navy during the War of 1812.  On June 1, 1813, while commanding the USS Chesapeake, Lawrence was mortally wounded in a fierce single‑ship battle with the British HMS Shannon off Boston.  As he was carried below deck, he reportedly ordered: “Don’t give up the ship. Fight her ‘til she sinks.” 

Lawrence’s friend Commander Oliver Hazard Perry honored his legacy by having the phrase embroidered on a dark‑background battle flag, without an apostrophe, and raised it aboard Perry’s flagship USS Lawrence during the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813.  Perry’s men fought under this banner, leading to a decisive American victory.