flag acts have revised the design as new states joined the union. Denmark and the Netherlands were the first countries to salute the Grand Union flag, when gun salutes by U.S. ships were returned by officials in the West Indies in late 1776: on Danish St. Croix in October, and on Dutch St. Eustatius in November. (Though later, the better documented St. Eustatius incident involving the is traditionally regarded as the "first salute".) France was the first country to salute the Stars and Stripes, when a fleet off the French mainland returned a gun salute by Captain John Paul Jones commanding on February 14, 1778. In the 19th century the ensigns were quite large; the biggest ensign in 1870 measured . By the early 20th century, as warships took on distinctive forms and could no longer be easily mistaken for merchantmen at a distance, ensigns began to shrink and today are a fraction of their earlier size — the largest ensign for daily use on ships is now . During the 19th century, for its smaller-sized ensigns, the U.S. Navy used a 13-star flag which became known as "boat flag" due to its predominant use on boats (i.e., launches, gigs and tenders). The Navy appears to have started this practice in the 1850s and is formally documented in the Navy Regulations of 1864. The reason for the lesser number of stars was so that the stars in a smaller size flag would have greater visibility at a distance. Because they flew smaller-sized ensigns, the US Navy's first submarines and destroyers in the early 20th century also used the 13-star ensigns. In 1912, President President Taft formally recognized the Navy's longstanding use of the 13-star ensign in Executive Order 1637, which defined the flag's precise dimensions. The "boat flags'" formal recognition lasted just four more years however, as President Wilson acting through Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels discontinued the practice in 1916 with Executive Order 2390, after which all ensigns were supposed to have the full complement of stars. However, some of the flags remained in the supply system until the 1950s. Coast Guard Ensign and the Customs Ensign The United States Coast Guard flies a unique ensign to show that it has the authority to stop, board, examine, and seize vessels. The U.S. Customs Service flies a very similar flag, but it lacks the badge in the fly. These