---
title: He's in the Silent Service - Are You?
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hes-in-the-silent-service-are-you-1939/
description: A weathered naval officer in a peaked cap looks into the distance holding binoculars, above the line 'He's in the Silent Service - are you?'
section: Collection
---

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3. He's in the Silent Service - Are You?

[![He's in the Silent Service - Are You?, 1939 UK poster: A weathered naval officer in a peaked cap looks into the distance](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/hes-in-the-silent-service-are-you-1939.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/hes-in-the-silent-service-are-you-1939.jpg)

# He's in the Silent Service - Are You?

A weathered naval officer in a peaked cap looks into the distance holding binoculars, above the line 'He's in the Silent Service - are you?' and an instruction never to mention arrivals, sailings, cargoes or destinations. The officer's authority is lent to the instruction (transfer), and the question invites the viewer to join the group already keeping quiet (bandwagon).

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

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

## Text on the object

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

```
HE'S IN THE SILENT SERVICE - ARE YOU?
Never mention arrivals, sailings, cargoes or destinations to anybody.

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

Printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Stafford & Co., Ltd., Netherfield, Nottingham. 51 - 1032
```

[← Help Britain Finish the Job!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/help-britain-finish-the-job-wootton-1939/) [Our High Explosives are Beating the U-Boats →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/high-explosives-beating-u-boats-1939/)

## 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)