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Belgium: Naval ensign and jack

Naval ensign
Naval jack
Masthead pennant

See also:

Naval ensign

Naval ensign of Belgium - Image by Mark Sensen, 8 April 2001

On 23 February 1950, the Force Navale received its own ensign, clearly different from the national, state and civil ensigns as well from the yacht ensign.

The ensign shows on a white field a black-yellow-red St. Andrew's cross, with black on left and right, red on top and bottom, yellow in the middle. In the first quarter, two crossed cannons are placed below the black royal crown whereas a black anchor is placed in the fourth quarter.

The ensign reminds the White Ensign of the Royal Navy, from which was formed the Naval Force. The St. Andrew's cross comes from the famous Burgondian saltire, which decorated the ensigns of the Belgian ships during the Burgondian rule. The three colours of the cross are the national ones, the crown is the emblem of the kingdom, the crossed cannons show the ensign is a military one and the anchors symbolize the crews. The war ensign was hoisted for the first time on 2 March 1950. The war ensign in proportion 2:3, with 2.25 x 3.375 m as largest size, flies either on the yard of the mainmast to starboard or on the Gaffel of the Besanmastes.

Source: L. Nyssen Einige Flaggen der belgischen Marine von 1815 bis heute (Some flags of the Belgian Navy from 1815 until now). Flaggenkurier (1995). Paper also available online.

Ivan Sache, 8 April 2001

A sheet from an unidentified book (bilingual Dutch-French, containing regulations, maybe for the Navy) gives the following dimensions (in cm) for the naval ensign:

Height of the flag: 225
Length of the flag: 150
Width of the stripes: 12 (therefore, width of the saltire is 3 x 12 = 36)
Height of the guns plus crown: 33
Width of the guns: 42
Height of the anchor: 36
Width of the anchor: 30

Mark Sensen, 8 April 2001

In Alfred Znamierowski's book The World Encyclopedia of flags (1999 edition) [zna99], the Belgian naval ensign is shown with the yellow saltire of greater width than the red or black one.

Martin Grieve, 15 May 2005

Naval jack

Naval jack of Belgium - Image by Ole Andersen, 8 April 2001

When required, a jack (square Belgian Tricolor), with a height of 1.50 m, also prescribed on 23 February 1950, flies from the bowsprit.

Source: L. Nyssen Einige Flaggen der belgischen Marine von 1815 bis heute (Some flags of the Belgian Navy from 1815 until now). Flaggenkurier (1995). Paper also available online.

Ivan Sache, 8 April 2001

Masthead pennant

Masthead pennant of Belgium - Image by Željko Heimer

The masthead pennant of the Belgian Navy is a long, rectangular black-yellow-red pennant with split fly (indentation 1/4 of length)

Source: Album des Pavillons [pay00]

Željko Heimer, 27 February 2001