---
title: American Battleship North Carolina [Arabic]
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-owi-american-battleship-north-carolina-arabic-1942/
description: A photograph taken along the deck of a US battleship shows its forward gun turret firing in a cloud of smoke, above an Arabic text block.
section: Collection
---

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3. American Battleship North Carolina [Arabic]

[![American Battleship North Carolina \[Arabic\], 1942 US poster: A photograph taken along the deck of a US battleship shows its](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/us-owi-american-battleship-north-carolina-arabic-1942.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/us-owi-american-battleship-north-carolina-arabic-1942.jpg)

# American Battleship North Carolina [Arabic]

A photograph taken along the deck of a US battleship shows its forward gun turret firing in a cloud of smoke, above an Arabic text block, a US flag and a portrait of President Roosevelt. The flag and the attributed order from the President lend authority (transfer), and the text gives only US ship counts and claims of superiority (card-stacking).

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

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

## Text on the object

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

```
— اطلقوا النار حال رؤية العدو —
الرئيس روزفلت

اعظم مدرعات العالم سلاحا واكملها عدة ووقاية هي المدرعة «نورث كارولينا» وقد
لحقت بباقي مفردات الاسطول الامريكي للقيام بأوامر رئيس الولايات المتحدة القائلة
بوجوب اطلاق نيران الاسطول على قراصين البحر حال رؤيتهم لكي تبقى مسالك
البحار آمنة حرة. وقد انزلت اربع مدرعات اخر الى البحر هي طوالع سبع عشرة
مدرعة جديدة ستضاف قريبا الى الاسطول فيصبح عدد المدرعات في الاسطول
الامريكي اثنين وثلاثين مدرعة وهو ضعف ما تملكه أية دولة بحرية اخرى.
وللولايات المتحدة ٣٤٣ بارجة حربية جاهزة تمخض لجج البحار و ٣٤٥ بارجة
اخرى في دور البناء.

الرئيس روزفلت
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
— FIRE AS SOON AS YOU SEE THE ENEMY —
President Roosevelt

The world's most heavily armed battleship, and the most complete in equipment and protection, is the battleship "North Carolina", which has joined the rest of the units of the American fleet to carry out the orders of the President of the United States, which call for the fleet to open fire on the pirates of the sea as soon as they are sighted, so that the sea lanes remain safe and free. Four other battleships have been launched, the first of seventeen new battleships that will soon be added to the fleet, bringing the number of battleships in the American fleet to thirty-two, double what any other naval power possesses. The United States has 343 warships ready, churning the depths of the seas, and 345 other warships under construction.

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT
```

[← Un Parachutiste de l'Armée \[An Army Paratrooper\]](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-ociaa-un-parachutiste-de-larmee-french-1942/) [American Battleship North Carolina \[Chinese\] →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-owi-american-battleship-north-carolina-chinese-1942/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [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)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)