'Tirez à Première Vue!' [Shoot on Sight!], 1942 US poster: A photograph taken along the deck of a US battleship shows its

'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 Card stacking

Date: 1942
Period: Second World War
Made by: Office of War Information (NARA RG 44 series; issuer not printed on the sheet)
Region: North America
Country: United States
Medium: Poster
Issuer type: State
Regime: Roosevelt Administration
Leader: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Audience: Foreign public
Purpose: Persuade or win support
Theme: War and the military
Event: World War II
Regime: Roosevelt administration
Leader: Franklin D. Roosevelt
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 (U.S. government work, NARA RG 44 OWI series)
Office of War Information, 1942-1945. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44 (NAID 44268421, 44-PF-R-4a).

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