---
title: Man the guns, Join the Navy
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/man-the-guns-join-the-navy-1942/
description: 'U.S. Navy recruiting poster: a painting of a bare-armed sailor carrying a large shell toward a gun crew in a steel helmet.'
section: Collection
---

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3. Man the guns, Join the Navy

[![Man the guns, Join the Navy, 1942 US poster: U.S. Navy recruiting poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/man-the-guns-join-the-navy-1942.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/man-the-guns-join-the-navy-1942.jpg)

# Man the guns, Join the Navy

U.S. Navy recruiting poster: a painting of a bare-armed sailor carrying a large shell toward a gun crew in a steel helmet, with gun flashes and sea behind, above the large lettering 'Man the GUNS, Join the NAVY'. The tell is the heroic labour image paired with a direct command; the technique is faint beyond that.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

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

## Text on the object

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

```
Man the GUNS
Join the NAVY
[signature:] McCLELLAND BARCLAY USNR
[imprint:] NRB-31781-3-4-42-15M
```

Signature and imprint read from the image.

[← Loose Lips Might Sink Ships](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/loose-lips-might-sink-ships/) [A message to our tenants from the government: Help stop fuel waste →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/message-to-our-tenants-fuel-1942/)

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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)
- [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)
- [Bronze sestertius of Trajan, reverse S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, S C, the emperor on horseback riding down an enemy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-trajan-optimo-principi-0103/) (Roman Empire · 0103 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities)
- [Gold solidus of Constantine I, reverse RESTITVTORI LIBERTATIS](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-constantine-i-restitutori-libertatis-0313/) (Roman Empire · 0313 · Glittering generalities)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (Byzantine Empire · 0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [The Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I (Royal Museums Greenwich version), oil on panel](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/armada-portrait-elizabeth-i-greenwich-1588/) (England · 1588 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Medal of Elizabeth I: portrait in a ruff, reverse an ark on stormy waves with SAEVAS TRANQVILLA PER VNDAS (18th-century aftercast of a 1588 model)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/elizabeth-i-ark-medal-aftercast-1588/) (England · 1588 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (Dutch Republic · 1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
