USS Flagg

USS Flagg is a fictional U.S. Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toy line, comic, and cartoon series. It is the G.I. Joe Team's primary sea going vessel, and is named for the team's original commanding officer General Flagg (who was slain in combat against Cobra).[1]

USS Flagg
USS Flagg toy
Information
AffiliationG.I. Joe
Launched1985
General characteristics
ClassNimitz class aircraft carrier
Length1,092 feet (332.8 m)

Overview
USS Nimitz, the basis for USS Flagg

The hull classification symbol of this ship is often mistakenly identified as CV-66, but is actually CVN-99, as based on the artwork on the box and the instructions for the toy,[2] which call for the numbers on the command tower to be placed as 99. The numbers on the deck are turned 180° from the standard configuration on the carriers of the U.S. Navy.

In both the toy and comic book series, USS Flagg's commander is Vice Admiral Keel-Haul. However, Keel-Haul did not appear in the cartoon series, but a character Admiral Ledger was shown as commander of the Flagg. This discrepancy is unexplained.

Toy

The toy is the largest G.I. Joe playset, measuring in just under 7 ft 6 in length, with an unknown displacement. It was based on the USS Nimitz, but the ship was altered to accommodate the action figures. This led to its proportions being off in order to be playable with other toys like the G.I. Joe line of aircraft. The Flagg, had it been built to actual scale, would have been over 65 feet long and 13 feet wide. It features an electronic public address system, which can broadcast a person's voice, and a two-piece utility vehicle that is part "low tow" tractor, and part fuel delivery trailer. Flagg has radar, missile launchers, an "Admiral's Launch", an elevator deck, and an arrestor cable that fits snugly into the rear stabilizers of the Skystriker aircraft.[3] It was bundled with the "Admiral Keel Haul" action figure.

When Flagg was released in 1985, it was the largest playset aimed at boys existing at the time, and was sold for a retail price of US$109.99.[4] Comics Alliance referred to it in retrospect as the "ultimate playset" which represented to a child "no better way to gain false friendship and genuine jealousy", though admittedly physically impractical for many.[5] It is now traded among serious collectors for a few hundred dollars for sets in poor condition, or several thousand dollars for a product still in its original, unopened box.[3]

Hasbro canceled a rerelease prototype of Flagg for the G.I. Joe: Resolute toyline. The situation was said to be a "cruel tease"[6] which would "[make] your inner six year-old weep".[5]

Media appearances

Marvel Comics

The ship is used many times in the comic book series produced by Marvel Comics. It survives a tsunami in the Gulf of Mexico, then serves as a staging area for the assault on the newly formed Cobra Island.[7] The ship again serves as a staging area when G.I. Joe assaults Cobra forces in the fictional country of Sierra Gordo.[8]

Flagg is featured in G.I. Joe Special Missions #28 as the focus of a concentrated Cobra effort to destroy it. It suffers a missile hit straight to the steam lines, rendering all conventional aircraft unlaunchable. Thanks to the intervention of the Joe pilot Dogfight with his prop plane and the Joe spacecraft the Defiant, Flagg is saved from further damage. The Defiant then lands on Flagg, where both ships are featured in a fourth wall breaking farewell scene as #28 is the last issue of the series.[9]

The ship is featured when Joes again assault a fictional country, the Middle Eastern area known as Benzheen. The craft deals with two crash landings, a Skystriker and a Stealth Fighter but all involved survive uninjured.[10]

Action Force

Flagg makes a cameo appearance in issue #29 of the Action Force series, a slightly different Joe continuity also produced by Marvel Comics. Ace launches from it in order to take a fly-by of a suspected Cobra installation.[11] It makes another cameo in the next issue, as Ace lands his damaged Skystriker on it.[12]

IDW

In a continuation of the Marvel Comics continuity, the Flagg becomes the base for a mission to rescue kidnapped children.[13]

Devil's Due

Flagg, along with Keel-Haul and many Joe pilots, are seen after a battle against Cobra in the North Atlantic.[14]

Sunbow

Flagg is featured in the Sunbow G.I. Joe series, when the plot calls for operations at sea, until it sinks under the Indian Ocean in the season 2 episode "Computer Complications" after a Cobra helicarrier crashes onto it. In the later episode "Raise the Flagg", the Joes and Cobra organize separate salvage attempts after discovering the existence of an anti-matter core in the helicarrier (which struck the portside of Flagg). The teams' recovery crews also find out that one person survived the sinking - former Cobra mess hall chef BA LaCarre, who went insane because of the loneliness and named the wreck "LaCarre City" with a handful of reconditioned B.A.T.s to run it, as the antimatter core generates air and fresh water. Over the course of the episode, the Joes and Cobra operatives work together to bring the hulks back to the surface, where they suffer the bends as a result of the rapid ascent. At the end of the episode, a now-sane LaCarre asks General Hawk if he can join the Joes, while Flagg is brought to the shipyards in Norfolk, Virginia, for full repairs.

G.I. Joe: Resolute

In the Resolute microseries, Flagg is the Joe's main base. Storm Shadow infiltrates, kills Bazooka and bombs it, destroying the entire G.I. Joe armory and coming close to sinking the ship. As the support staff and computer equipment were not hit, the Joes are still able to use it for their counterstrike. Eventually, the Commander panics and vaporizes the ship with his secondary HAARP weapon, but the crew had already evacuated.

G.I. Joes: Renegades

USS Flagg made an appearance in the episode "Shipwrecked", when it offers assistance to the G.I. Joe Team, but Shipwreck politely declines.

Film

Flagg is featured in the 2009 film G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra,[15] which was followed by a book[16] and a video game. Flagg appears as a supercarrier with dual prows. Baroness is held in there under protective custody until the scientists remove the nanomites from her body. James McCullen (Destro) and Rex Lewis (Cobra Commander) are also imprisoned there.

Television

Flagg makes several appearances in The Goldbergs sitcom, including a scene where the carrier toy is shown off by Adam Goldberg in his bedroom in "You're Under Foot" (S1: E12).[17]

References
  1. G.I. Joe Vs Cobra: The Essential Guide p. 122
  2. "U.S.S. FLAGG". yojoe.com. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
  3. Bellomo, Mark (2005). The Ultimate Guide to G.I. Joe 1982-1994. Krause Publications. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-89689-922-3.
  4. "Sears Catalog 1985". Sears. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  5. Sims, Chris (4 April 2011). "Hasbro's Unproduced New USS Flagg Prototype Makes Your Inner Six Year-Old Weep". Archived from the original on 4 April 2011. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  6. Cochran, Jay (4 April 2011). "2011 G.I.Joe Con: Hasbro Archives Roundtable - What Could Have Been - USS Flagg & Transformers Crossovers". Toy News International. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  7. G.I.Joe: A Real American Hero 40-41 (October 1985)
  8. G.I.Joe: A Real American Hero 55-56 (1987)
  9. G.I. Joe Special Missions 28 (November 1989)
  10. G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero 115 (August 1991)
  11. Action Force #29 (19 September 1987)
  12. Action Force #30 (September 1987)
  13. G.I.Joe: Silent Options" #3 (2019)
  14. G.I.Joe #36 (2005)
  15. di Bonaventura, Lorenzo; Ducsay, Bob; Goldner, Brian; Sommers, Stephen; Gordon, Michael B. (2009). G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (Blu-ray and DVD) (2 disc ed.). Hollywood, California: Paramount Home Media Distribution. ISBN 1415750300. OCLC 443502902.
  16. Collins, Max Allan (2009). G.I. Joe: the Rise of Cobra (print book). New York: Del Rey. ISBN 9780345516091. OCLC 797227888.
  17. "The Toys in Adam Goldberg's Bedroom!". 8 January 2014.
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