--- title: '''Tirez à Première Vue!'' [Shoot on Sight!] (American Battleship North Carolina [French])' url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-owi-american-battleship-north-carolina-french-1942/ description: A photograph taken along the deck of a US battleship shows its forward gun turret firing in a cloud of smoke, with officers on the bridge wing. (1 of 3) section: Collection --- 1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/) 2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) 3. 'Tirez à Première Vue!' [Shoot on Sight!] [!['Tirez à Première Vue!' \[Shoot on Sight!\], 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-french-1942.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/us-owi-american-battleship-north-carolina-french-1942.jpg) # 'Tirez à Première Vue!' [Shoot on Sight!] (American Battleship North Carolina [French]) A photograph taken along the deck of a US battleship shows its forward gun turret firing in a cloud of smoke, with officers on the bridge wing, above a French 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 (French) · read from the image, not independently checked ``` TIREZ À PREMIÈRE VUE! ...LE PRÉSIDENT ROOSEVELT. Le nouveau cuirassé américain, “North Carolina” est, de tous les navires de guerre du monde, le plus fortement armé et défendu. Il se joint aux autres cuirassés porteurs de l’ordre du Président de tirer à première vue sur les pirates de l’Océan, sauvegardant ainsi la liberté des mers. Quatre autres grands navires de guerre viennent d’être lancés, les premiers d’une série de 17 nouvelles forteresses des mers, ce qui portera à 32 le nombre qu’en possèderont les Etats-Unis; c’est à dire deux fois plus que ce dont dispose chacune des autres puissances maritimes. Les Etats-Unis ont actuellement 343 navires de guerre en action et sont en train d’en construire 345 autres. LE PRÉSIDENT ROOSEVELT ``` English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader) ``` SHOOT ON SIGHT! ...PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT. The new American battleship “North Carolina” is, of all the warships in the world, the most heavily armed and defended. It joins the other battleships carrying the President’s order to shoot on sight at the pirates of the Ocean, thereby safeguarding the freedom of the seas. Four other large warships have just been launched, the first of a series of 17 new fortresses of the seas, which will bring to 32 the number the United States will possess; that is to say twice as many as each of the other naval powers has. The United States currently has 343 warships in action and is building 345 others. PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT ``` [← Vaikka kestäisi kuinkakin kauan... \[American Battleship North Carolina\] (Finnish edition)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-owi-american-battleship-north-carolina-finnish-1942/) ['אמעריקא בודאי תצליח במלחמתה' \[America Will Surely Succeed in Her War\] (American Battleship North Carolina \[Hebrew\]) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-owi-american-battleship-north-carolina-hebrew-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)