Submariners: underhanded, unfair, and damned un-English? - Pacific Navy News
Few know the longstanding link between the submarine community and the Jolly Roger. As with most Royal Canadian Navy traditions, this one traces its origin to the British, more precisely, to comments made by the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Arthur Wilson. He referred to the advent of submarine warfare as ‘underhanded, unfair, and damned un-English’ and argued that enemy submariners should be hanged as pirates upon capture.
Source: lookoutnewspaper.com