---
title: Mosquitoes, dashing through the seas at express train speed
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mosquitoes-pt-boats-1941/
description: 'Navy recruiting poster: a large P-T boat at speed, with three smaller photographs of P-T boats against a city skyline and open water.'
section: Collection
---

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3. Mosquitoes, dashing through the seas at express train speed

[![Mosquitoes, dashing through the seas at express train speed, 1941 US poster: Navy recruiting poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/mosquitoes-pt-boats-1941.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/mosquitoes-pt-boats-1941.jpg)

# Mosquitoes, dashing through the seas at express train speed

Navy recruiting poster: a large P-T boat at speed, with three smaller photographs of P-T boats against a city skyline and open water. The text calls them 'Mosquitoes' that 'protect our shores and pack a sting' and says 'Enlist today'. The sheet sells the service through the speed and sting of one craft, a selective showing of the Navy.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/) [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)

## Text on the object

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

```
"MOSQUITOES"
. . . Dashing through the
Seas at express train
speed, The Navy's P-T
Boats protect our shores
and pack a sting . . . .
Enlist today
THE UNITED STATES NAVY
[imprint: NRB-31165-12-23-41-15M, #433]
```

[← Met Duitschland voor een vrij Nederland (NSB film end card)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/met-duitschland-voor-een-vrij-nederland-1941/) [The most you can save is the least you can do. Buy war bonds or stamps every pay day →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/most-you-can-save-buy-war-bonds-1941/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [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)