![Veillant à la liberté des mers [Ensuring Freedom of the Seas] [French], 1942 US poster: A photograph shows the triple gun](../images/us-owi-ensuring-freedom-of-the-seas-french-1942.jpg)
Veillant à la liberté des mers [Ensuring Freedom of the Seas] [French]
A photograph shows the triple gun turret of a battleship firing, with sailors in the foreground, in a blue star-bordered frame beside an American flag and a portrait of President Roosevelt. The French text says the ship is unequalled in armour and artillery and that the US Navy, with 343 warships and 345 building, can oppose any obstruction of sea routes by aggressor nations. The flag, stars and portrait attach national symbols to the navy (transfer), and only US strength figures are given (card-stacking).
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1942
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Office of War Information (United States), foreign-language edition
- 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 (US federal government work, OWI, NARA RG 44)
Office of War Information, 1942. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, local identifier 44-PF-R-5a.
Text on the object
VEILLANT À LA LIBERTÉ DES MERS Vous voyez ici les canons de 408 mm du nouveau cuirassé américain North Carolina, lançant des obus pesant une tonne à plus de 40 kilomètres. Ce navire qui a coûté 65 millions de dollars est un des cinq bâtiments analogues lancés récemment et dont rien au monde n'égale l'armure et l'artillerie puissantes. Avec 343 vaisseaux de guerre sillonnant déjà les mers et 345 de plus en voie de construction, la Marine des Etats-Unis est à même de s'opposer à toute tentative d'obstruction des routes maritimes par les pays aggresseurs. LE PRÉSIDENT ROOSEVELT
WATCHING OVER THE FREEDOM OF THE SEAS You see here the 408 mm guns of the new American battleship North Carolina, firing shells weighing one ton to more than 40 kilometres. This ship, which cost 65 million dollars, is one of five similar vessels recently launched, whose armour and powerful artillery nothing in the world equals. With 343 warships already sailing the seas and 345 more under construction, the United States Navy is able to oppose any attempt to obstruct the sea routes by the aggressor countries. PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT
