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From "Flags of the World"
The flag is blue and inscribed "Don't Give Up the Ship" which were the dying words of Captain James Lawrence aboard USS Chesapeake in her fight with HMS Shannon on June 1, 1813.
This was the battle flag of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, first aboard USS Lawrence and then aboard USS Niagara at the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813. In that battle, the U.S. squadron consisting of Lawrence, Niagara, and 7 smaller vessels captured the British squadron (HMS Detroit, HMS Charlotte, and 4 smaller vessels, apparently the only time in history an entire squadron of the Royal Navy has been captured intact. Perry's original flag is preserved at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.