Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
War Savings are Warships, 1939 UK poster: A painted view from above shows a line of British destroyers at sea under heavy

War Savings are Warships

A painted view from above shows a line of British destroyers at sea under heavy black funnel smoke, over the slogan 'War Savings are Warships'. The slogan states an equation between a household's savings and warships, and the fleet picture attached to it carries the naval prestige over to the act of saving.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Transfer
Date
1939
Period
Second World War
Made by
National Savings Committee (London), Scottish Savings Committee and Ulster Savings Committee, for H.M. Stationery Office; artist Norman Wilkinson; printer J. Weiner Ltd.
Region
Western and Central Europe
Country
United Kingdom
Medium
Poster
Issuer type
State
Regime
Churchill Government
Leader
Winston Churchill
Audience
Domestic public
Purpose
Fundraise
Themes
Economy and finance, War and the military
Event
World War II
Regime
Churchill wartime government
Leader
Winston Churchill
Source
Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
Rights
Public domain (UK Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired before 1996; no URAA restoration)
National Savings Committee, for H.M. Stationery Office; artist Norman Wilkinson, c. 1939-1945. U.S. National Archives, RG 44.

Text on the object

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

NORMAN WILKINSON. P.R.I.

WAR SAVINGS
ARE WARSHIPS

W.F.P.183- Issued by the National Savings Committee, London; Scottish Savings Committee, Edinburgh; Ulster Savings Committee, Belfast.
Printed for H.M. Stationery Office by J. Weiner Ltd., London, W.C.1. 51-1121

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