---
title: We Need More Coal to Build Ships
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-we-need-more-coal-to-build-ships-1942/
description: A stylised blue-and-black warship in a blue circle beside the text 'We need more coal to build ships. If 10 million homes used only 1 lb.
section: Collection
---

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3. We Need More Coal to Build Ships

[![We Need More Coal to Build Ships, 1942 UK poster: A stylised blue-and-black warship in a blue circle beside the text 'We need](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-we-need-more-coal-to-build-ships-1942.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-we-need-more-coal-to-build-ships-1942.jpg)

# We Need More Coal to Build Ships

A stylised blue-and-black warship in a blue circle beside the text 'We need more coal to build ships. If 10 million homes used only 1 lb. less of it during today, 4,500 tons would be saved for shipbuilding - TODAY!'. The tell is the single multiplied figure: 10 million households times one pound is given as the ship-building gain, with no stated share of total coal use and no denominator.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

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

## Text on the object

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

```
We need more coal
to build ships.  If
10 million homes used
only 1 lb. less of it dur-
ing today, 4,500 tons
would be saved for
shipbuilding-TODAY!

[imprint:] (FJ200). Wt. 26164. 1600. 9/42 Gp. 961. FOSH & CROSS LTD.
```

[← Notice: Waste Paper and Cardboard Must Not Be Destroyed, Thrown Away or Mixed With Refuse](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-waste-paper-cardboard-notice-1942/) ['Whatever Part of the Loco We Make, Ours Is a Real War Job' (British Ministry of Supply poster) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-whatever-part-of-the-loco-we-make-real-war-job-1942/)

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- [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)
- [Silver denarius of Vespasian, reverse IVDAEA with a trophy of arms and a seated mourning woman](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/denarius-vespasian-judaea-capta-0070/) (Roman Empire · 0070 · Card stacking). Content note: A Roman victory coin showing a mourning female figure as the personification of the conquered province of Judaea after the Roman suppression of the Jewish revolt; shown as struck, with the historical context on the regime page.