---
title: Flags of Maritime Nations
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/flags-of-maritime-nations-navy-hydrographic-office-1941/
description: A colour reference chart of national, ensign, merchant and jack flags in rows, labelled by country, including Allied.
section: Collection
---

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3. Flags of Maritime Nations

**Content note:** Reference chart includes the German swastika national flag and ensign, and the Japanese rising-sun ensign, shown as printed. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![Flags of Maritime Nations, 1941 US poster: A colour reference chart of national, ensign, merchant and jack flags in rows](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/flags-of-maritime-nations-navy-hydrographic-office-1941.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/flags-of-maritime-nations-navy-hydrographic-office-1941.jpg)

# Flags of Maritime Nations

A colour reference chart of national, ensign, merchant and jack flags in rows, labelled by country, including Allied, Axis and neutral states on the same sheet in the same format. The persuasion technique is faint here: it is an identification chart, and its only symbolic work is the display of national emblems (transfer), shown with equal treatment for each nation.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

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

```
FLAGS OF MARITIME NATIONS
ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: ENSIGN; MERCHANT. BELGIUM: ENSIGN . NATIONAL . MERCHANT. BOLIVIA: ENSIGN; NATIONAL. BRAZIL: ENSIGN . NATIONAL . MERCHANT. BRITISH EMPIRE: NATIONAL . JACK; WHITE ENSIGN; BLUE ENSIGN . MERCHANT; RED ENSIGN . MERCHANT; AUSTRALIA COMMONWEALTH . ENSIGN; CANADA . ENSIGN; NEW ZEALAND . ENSIGN; IRISH FREE STATE . NATIONAL; UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA . NATIONAL. BULGARIA. CHILE. CHINA. COLOMBIA. COSTA RICA. CUBA. CZECHOSLOVAKIA. DENMARK. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. ECUADOR. EGYPT. ESTONIA. FINLAND. FRANCE. GERMANY (ENSIGN; NATIONAL . MERCHANT . JACK). GREECE. GUATEMALA. HAITI. HONDURAS. HUNGARY. ICELAND. IRAN. IRAQ. ITALY. JAPAN. LATVIA. LITHUANIA. LIBERIA. MEXICO. MONACO. MOROCCO. NETHERLANDS. NICARAGUA. NORWAY. EL SALVADOR. PANAMA. PARAGUAY. PERU. POLAND. PORTUGAL. ROMANIA. SPAIN. SWEDEN. SYRIA. THAILAND. TUNISIA. TURKEY. U.S.S.R. URUGUAY. VENEZUELA. YUGOSLAVIA. [Small captions under each flag read ENSIGN, NATIONAL, MERCHANT, JACK, as listed; fine print under some flags is not fully legible.]
Edited by the Office of Naval Operations
Issued by the Hydrographic Office
under the authority of the Secretary of the Navy.
```

[← Fire slogan contest: 4th week's winner!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/fire-slogan-contest-4th-weeks-winner-1941/) [FLY, U.S. Army Air Forces →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/fly-army-air-forces-1941/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [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)
- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [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.
- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)