Talk:White Ensign

Legal basis for restricting flag use?

 * "The White Ensign is also used by some football supporters, who write the name of their football club along the horizontal arm of the St. George's cross. This is technically illegal, as the White Ensign can only be used with the permission of the Royal Navy."

Under what law is it illegal? With what crime would I be charged if I flew a White Ensign from my house? The Merchant Shipping Act, 1995 forbids unauthorised vessels from flying "any colours usually worn by Her Majesty’s ships". However, I couldn't find any legislation relevant on land. Mtford 02:05, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

[Added 15 August 2010 - I have removed this paragraph as it is incorrect; there is nothing 'technically illegal' about the White Ensign as there is no UK law which governs its use. As with most flag matters in the UK, the 'rules' are by custom and use. Also the statement: "... but now the Royal Navy have given permission for this purpose" cannot be true for the same reason. There is no crime committed but it might not be 'correct' which is a different question. For further information see the website of The Flag Institute, London. Rich0908 (talk) 10:50, 15 August 2010 (UTC) Rich0908 ]


 * Technically, like the army ensign, and the RAF Ensign, it has the status of a war flag, and flying it could legally link any untoward action by the person(s)/groups flying-it to the British Government. What the actual relevant statute is I don't know, but it would almost certainly be one related to treason. They are flags specifically authorised by The Crown, in the person of HM Queen, so only 'official' bodies are legally entitled to fly them. The flags themselves signify that the bearers carry 'official' authority, so anyone else flying them would technically be claiming authority they don't have. The whole principal goes back to the Middle Ages and, although extremely unlikely to have any repercussions these days, the offending unauthorised flyer of the flag could technically be committing treason.


 * The reason this was taken so seriously was that by flying a misleading or unauthorised flag it was once possible to involve an innocent third-party nation in an Act of War, and it is for this reason that, although it is permissible for a warship to fly a false national flag for purposes for disguise, e.g., a Q-ship, it is a legal requirement for her to strike (lower) the false flag and hoist her true national colours before opening fire.


 * As an example, if a Royal Navy ship flying the White Ensign (thus signifying that it was in commission and therefore acting 'on Government business') was fired upon, then the British Government would be legally entitled to regard this incident as an Act of War, and to therefore act accordingly - this applied to the 1949 HMS Amethyst incident, and although the British Government decided not to act other than in self defence, it would have been legally entitled to declare that a state of war then existed between Britain and Red China if it had so chosen. Similarly, if a foreign ship was fired-upon by a ship flying the White Ensign, then the attacked ship would be justified in thinking that the attacking ship was acting on the authority of the British Government, and also act accordingly.


 * Incidentally, this is also why it is still technically illegal to fly a Union Flag without 'official' permission, as the flyer would then be claiming the authority of The Crown, with all the legal ramifications and responsibilities this entails.


 * In short, it all comes down to various treaties and International Laws between nations over the years and centuries, and so these various war flags all have specific meanings that are assumed in any and all subsequent international legal and diplomatic proceedings.


 * Although not mentioning flying a White Ensign from houses, the 1894 Merchant Shipping Act makes it an offence punishable by a fine of £1,000 for any British subject to fly a Union Flag, a White Ensign, Red Ensign with any defacement, Blue Ensign, plain or defaced, from a vessel either in home waters, or abroad, as well as on UK inland waterways, and tidal rivers - see the RYA Flag Etiquette and Visual Signals - 2001, p.11 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.7.147.13 (talk) 19:38, 30 October 2012 (UTC)

Deleted; Falklands Reference
I see no point in including a reference to the liberation of South Georgia purely as it contains a reference to the Ensign. I have thus deleted the passage.

Suggested addition to White Ensign entry
The White Ensign flies above the Seraph Monument at the Citadel, the U.S. military college in South Carolina. The Seraph Monument "is a memorial consisting of relics from H.M.S. Seraph, including the periscope and a forward torpedo loading hatch. Both the U.S. and British flags fly from the structure to symbolize that this English submarine was placed under the command of an American Naval officer for a special mission during World War II. It is the only shore installation in the U.S. permitted to fly the Royal Navy Ensign.

Seraph became known as "the special missions submarine" because of its involvement in the most famous seaborne covert missions in the European Theater of World War II. It was the vessel that took then Major General Mark Clark and several others to Algeria in October of 1942 on a successful secret mission to win support of the Vichy French forces prior to the Allied landings in North Africa. Days later Seraph was dispatched to southern France to rescue General Henri Giraud, a Vichy officer who wished to cooperate with the allies; because he would only deal with the Americans, Seraph's British markings were painted over, she flew a U.S. flag and temporarily became the U.S.S. Seraph under the command of a U.S. Navy Captain. Seraph later acted as a beacon ship for General George Patton's forces in the invasion of Sicily as well as for the D-Day landings in Normandy; she also transported several commando units on clandestine missions in southern Europe. Late in the war she was converted to a high speed anti-submarine warfare training platform and remained in service with the Royal Navy until 1962.

The HMS Seraph played a major role in Operation Mincemeat, one of the most successful deception operations ever mounted in warfare. The elaborate ruse involving the planting of fake documents on a body set adrift off Spain convinced Hitler's High Command that the next allied landings would be at Sardinia when the real target was Sicily. Operation Mincemeat is the subject of several books and a movie titled The Man who Never Was.

This monument is dedicated to Anglo-American cooperation during WWII." citation: http://www.citadel.edu/main/about/campusguide/virtualtour/monuments.html

Also see MacIntyre, Ben, Operation Mincemeat(2010) Harmony Books, Adobe Digital Edition, p 321. Quatrefilles (talk) 18:41, 23 September 2010 (UTC)quatrefilles


 * This boat has an article here: HMS Seraph, with the some of the other named events here: Operation Mincemeat and; The Man Who Never Was. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.112.59.39 (talk) 20:29, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Missing image?
Not sure why File:British-White-Ensign-1707.svg isn't included in the article... AnonMoos (talk) 18:58, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Bahamas white ensign with a blue cross
This flag is listed elsewhere on wikipedia as the "Auxiliary ensign of the Bahamas" but other websites suggest it is actually the non-military government ensign. Can anybody find an official source explaining which it is?



Eggybacon (talk) 12:35, 8 June 2016 (UTC)
 * , a bit belated but I corrected the name of the file. It is described as the government/state ensign or also the "non-combatant" ensign in a flag book produced by the Bahamian Government.  Fry1989 eh? 17:22, 14 December 2016 (UTC)
 * Nice one! So it sounds like it serves a similar purpose to the UK's Blue Ensign. I've updated the 'non military usage' section of the article to mention it - feel free to modify it or add references!Eggybacon (talk) 11:14, 15 December 2016 (UTC)
 * Sounds good.  Fry1989 eh? 18:44, 15 December 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on White Ensign. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150626001415/http://www.citadel.edu/root/monuments to http://www.citadel.edu/root/monuments

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 09:08, 14 December 2017 (UTC)

Vexillological symbol in infobox
I think the symbol in the infobox is wrong. The White Ensign is both a naval ensign and a yacht club ensign, albeit for only one club. Perhaps   War flag, civil ensign. The text in the article makes clear the duel use of the white ensign. Jacksoncowes (talk) 13:42, 13 March 2021 (UTC)