---
title: British Weapons to Defeat Hitler - Britain Has a Far More Powerful Fleet Than the Enemy
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/british-weapons-to-defeat-hitler-fleet-1939/
description: Three silhouettes (battleship, cruiser, destroyer) fly the white ensign, with tonnage, crew and speed figures, under the claim that Britain has a far more
section: Collection
---

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3. British Weapons to Defeat Hitler - Britain Has a Far More Powerful

[![British Weapons to Defeat Hitler - Britain Has a Far More Powerful Fleet Than the Enemy, 1939 UK poster: Three silhouettes](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/british-weapons-to-defeat-hitler-fleet-1939.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/british-weapons-to-defeat-hitler-fleet-1939.jpg)

# British Weapons to Defeat Hitler - Britain Has a Far More Powerful Fleet Than the Enemy

Three silhouettes (battleship, cruiser, destroyer) fly the white ensign, with tonnage, crew and speed figures, under the claim that Britain has a far more powerful fleet than the enemy. The tell is that only British figures are given, with no enemy fleet to compare, and that the flag is attached to every ship.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/) [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
BRITISH WEAPONS
TO DEFEAT HITLER

THIS IS A BATTLESHIP
BRITISH BATTLESHIPS weigh about 30,000 tons and carry a crew of 1,200 men.
They are floating forts, and their big guns can fire to a distance of 20 miles.
They take from four to five years to build.

THIS IS A CRUISER
CRUISERS are smaller and faster than battleships. They weigh about 10,000 tons
and travel at a speed equal to 36 miles per hour. Their crews number 700 men and
they carry powerful guns as well as many other weapons.

THIS IS A DESTROYER
DESTROYERS are faster still. Their speed equals 40 miles per hour, and they
destroy submarines with depth charges that explode beneath the surface of the sea.
They carry about 200 men.

BRITAIN HAS A FAR MORE POWERFUL
FLEET THAN THE ENEMY

PRINTED IN ENGLAND BY GREENSLADE & CO. (READING) LTD.
FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE.
```

[← Britain's Mechanised Army on the March: Keep Going with War Savings](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/britains-mechanised-army-on-the-march-war-savings-1939/) [British Weapons to Defeat Hitler - Britain is Building 30,000 Tanks to Destroy Her Enemies →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/british-weapons-to-defeat-hitler-tanks-1939/)

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- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account.
- [Tomb of Darius I at Naqsh-e Rustam: the king in relief beside his inscription DNa, c. 490 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dna-inscription-darius-i-naqsh-e-rustam-490bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Testimonial, Card stacking)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Persepolis, Apadana staircase relief: a figure with an animal from a procession of delegations, early fifth century BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/persepolis-apadana-delegate-relief-500bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Manufactured consensus)
- [Alabaster relief, Assyrian troops storming a citadel, from Nineveh (reign of Sennacherib)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/relief-sennacherib-storming-citadel-nineveh-704bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Card stacking). Content note: An Assyrian palace relief of troops storming a fortified city, with a file of figures below; Assyrian royal reliefs and texts record killing, mutilation and deportation, shown as carved, with the historical context and scholarly dispute on the regime page.
- [Colour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lithograph-res-gestae-ancyra-heading-0014/) (Roman Empire · 0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities)
- [Silver denarius of Vespasian, reverse IVDAEA with a trophy of arms and a seated mourning woman](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/denarius-vespasian-judaea-capta-0070/) (Roman Empire · 0070 · Card stacking). Content note: A Roman victory coin showing a mourning female figure as the personification of the conquered province of Judaea after the Roman suppression of the Jewish revolt; shown as struck, with the historical context on the regime page.
