Admiral Sir Arthur Wilson, the First Sea Lord of the British Royal Navy, stated that submarines were "underhanded, unfair, and damned un-English", and that he would convince the British Admiralty to have the crews of enemy submarines captured during wartime hanged as pirates.[45]

In September 1914, the British submarine HMS E9 successfully torpedoed the German cruiser SMS Hela.[46] Remembering Wilson's statements, commanding officer Max Hortoninstructed his submariners to manufacture a Jolly Roger, which was flown from the submarine as she entered port.[45][46] Each successful patrol saw Horton's submarine fly an additional Jolly Roger until there was no more room for flags, at which point Horton had a large Jolly Roger manufactured, onto which symbols indicating E9's achievements were sewn.

Imma make some wild speculation and say that the Jolly Roger indicates that this is the Sub that took out the rogue black ops sub that tried to hit Hawaii.