---
title: The freedom of the seas is in Your hands! Don't slow up the ship!
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/freedom-of-the-seas-is-in-your-hands-navy-1941/
description: The Statue of Liberty rises over a destroyer, a freighter and aircraft, beside the headline 'The freedom of the seas is in Your hands!' and the line 'Don't
section: Collection
---

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3. The freedom of the seas is in Your hands! Don't slow up the ship!

[![The freedom of the seas is in Your hands! Don't slow up the ship!, 1941 US poster: The Statue of Liberty rises over](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/freedom-of-the-seas-is-in-your-hands-navy-1941.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/freedom-of-the-seas-is-in-your-hands-navy-1941.jpg)

# The freedom of the seas is in Your hands! Don't slow up the ship!

The Statue of Liberty rises over a destroyer, a freighter and aircraft, beside the headline 'The freedom of the seas is in Your hands!' and the line 'Don't slow up the ship!' with 'give' struck through and replaced by 'slow'. The tell is the statue lending national symbolism to a request for shipyard and dock output.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)

## Text on the object

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

```
The freedom of
the seas is in
Your hands!
DON'T GIVE [struck through] Slow UP THE SHIP!
[signature:] Jon Whitcomb
[imprint:] LUTZ & SHEINKMAN, NEW YORK
OFFICIAL NAVY POSTER INDUSTRIAL INCENTIVE DIVISION, NAVY DEPARTMENT 5-13-11M
```

[← Freedom of Speech](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/freedom-of-speech-rockwell-1941/) [Freedom of Worship →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/freedom-of-worship-rockwell-1941/)

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- [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)
