---
title: I'm building the ships we need to win!
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/im-building-the-ships-we-need-to-win-maritime-1941/
description: 'Maritime Commission shipyard poster: a smiling welder in cap and pushed-up goggles looks out from the sheet with a ''Ships for Victory'' badge on his collar'
section: Collection
---

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3. I'm building the ships we need to win!

[![I'm building the ships we need to win!, 1941 US poster: Maritime Commission shipyard poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/im-building-the-ships-we-need-to-win-maritime-1941.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/im-building-the-ships-we-need-to-win-maritime-1941.jpg)

# I'm building the ships we need to win!

Maritime Commission shipyard poster: a smiling welder in cap and pushed-up goggles looks out from the sheet with a 'Ships for Victory' badge on his collar and slipways behind him. The unnamed worker speaks in the first person (plain-folks); the quotation reads "I'm building the ships we need to win!" and the badge links his job to the war effort.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Plain folks](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/plain-folks/) [Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/)

## Text on the object

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

```
"I'm building the
ships we need to win!"
SHIPS FOR VICTORY
[signature: Norton (partly legible)]
U.S. MARITIME COMMISSION
```

[← Ils assassinent ! Enveloppés dans les plis de notre drapeau (They murder! Wrapped in the folds of our flag)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ils-assassinent-vichy-1941/) [I'm buying bonds, are you? →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/im-buying-bonds-are-you-bethlehem-steel-1941/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Trois Tetes sous l'meme bonnet (three heads under the same cap)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/trois-tetes-sous-le-meme-bonnet-1789/) (France · 1789 · Plain folks, Glittering generalities)
- ['This log cabin was the first building erected on the North Bend', Whig print by T. Sinclair, 1840](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/harrison-north-bend-log-cabin-sinclair-1840/) (United States · 1840 · Plain folks, Transfer)
- [Treeing Coons (pro-Polk cartoon), 1844](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/treeing-coons-polk-1844/) (United States · 1844 · Name-calling, Plain folks)
- [Zachary Taylor, People's Candidate for President (Currier banner), 1848](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/taylor-fillmore-peoples-candidate-1848/) (United States · 1848 · Plain folks, Glittering generalities)
- ['Little Mac.' (from the Democratic presidential campaign songster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/little-mac-song-sheet-feeks-1864/) (United States · 1864 · Bandwagon, Plain folks)
- [The peoples' choice, H. Greeley G. Brown](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/peoples-choice-greeley-brown-1872/) (United States · 1872 · Bandwagon, Plain folks)
- [The working-man's banner. For President, Ulysses S. Grant, 'The Galena Tanner.' For Vice-President, Henry Wilson, 'The Natick Shoemaker.'](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/working-mans-banner-grant-1872/) (United States · 1872 · Plain folks, Transfer)
- [The Chappaqua farmer](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/chappaqua-farmer-1872/) (United States · Jul 1872 · Plain folks, Glittering generalities)