Last modified: 2007-01-13 by pascal gross
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During WW II a Swiss Naval Ensign was adopted with the proportions 2:3.
The National Flag of Switzerland is square.
Nick Artimovich, 12 February 1996
It is used only by the Swiss
commercial fleet outside Switzerland. On the lakes the usual square flag
is used.
Harald Müller, 12 February 1996
Switzerland does have a small navy of sorts. Lakes Konstanz and
Leman (Geneva) form international frontiers, and their navies consist
of a few patrol craft. Switzerland also has a major Rhine commercial
fleet (you can see the Swiss flag flying all the way to the Netherlands),
which military patrol craft in time of war. Both the navy and air force
are branches of the army (like the infantry and artillery). The air
force is 1st in Europe -- so good that Israel used it as their model.
T. F. Mills, 12 February 1996
One of three extracts from a memorandum sent to the Marine Department of the Board of
Trade in connection with revisions to the pages of national ensigns in the International
Code List published in 1879. [Public Record Office MT 9/183]
Switzerland.
Proposal of the Government of Switzerland to establish a Swiss maritime flag.
1864. "Switzerland has no distinctive maritime flag. Her Majesty's Minister in Berne
observed to the President of the Confederation that in the case where the merchant marine
would not have the protection of a military one, the measure might lead to political
complications in that while the position of Switzerland and her guaranteed neutrality
induced all Foreign Powers under existing circumstances to extend to her citizens
protection and goodwill, yet the use of the flag afloat might bring them into altercations
with belligerent Powers."
The question was referred to Admiral Harris who replied that "HM Government could only
view with satisfaction on the ocean, and in the ports of the British Empire the flag of an
industrious and friendly power, and that in time of peace no question were likely to arise
which would not admit of easy adjustment. However graver questions might arise in time of
war in consequence of Switzerland possessing no port of her own, and from the ships
bearing her flag hailing from ports of a belligerent. Neutrality guaranteed to the
territory of Switzerland could not be held to afford exceptional privileges to the
merchant vessels of Swiss citizens, and the power proposed to be given to Swiss consuls to
register vessels provisionally was considered likely to give rise to grave international
difficulties. The question of enforcement of Swiss municipal law on board such vessels,
and the manner in which respect to the Swiss Flag could be ensured were matters for the
Swiss Government."
Law Officers' Opinion. "The proposal is novel and though Swiss Marine must necessarily be
dependent upon the use of ports of other countries, there is no principle in International
Law which ought to lead other countries to refuse to recognise the flag of an inland
state, when used either by public ships of that state, or by the ships of its subjects
under the authority of its Government upon the high seas."
Proposal adjourned by Swiss Legislature to the following session, and abandoned in 1866.
David Prothero, 17 April 2001
It would seem peculiarly British to suppose that a state needed a distinctive ensign--different from the national flag--for display at
sea, since most other countries even then used the same flag for both purposes.
The more relevant point is that subsequent treaties including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea explicitly recognize the right of
landlocked states to use the high seas under their own flags.
Joe McMillan, 17 April 2001
Red pennant with a white cross voided throughout and a Swiss cross in canton.
Ivan Sache, 5 August 2000
Some of the Swiss maritime companies (past and/or present from a quick search) of which I am aware:
Acomarit Services Maritimes S.A. - Genf
Alpina Reederei AG - Basel
Arabian Maritime Lines - Fribourg
Atlanship S.A. - La Tour-De-Peilz
Contal Shipping Ltd. - Zurich
Ermefer S.A. - Fribourg
Keller Shipping - Basel
Massoel Gestion Maritime SA - Genève
MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. - Genf
Navylloyd A.G. - Basel
Norasia Shipping Services S.A. - Fribourg
Oceana Shipping - Coire
Panalpina
Rondeau Holdings A.G. - Wollerau
St. Gotthard Schiffahrts A.G. (H.H. Thyssen-Bornemiza) - Chur
Suisse-Atlantique Societé de Navigation Maritime S.A. - Lausanne
Suisse-Outremer Reederei AG - Zürich
Suisse-Outremer S.A. de Gerance et d'Affretement Maritimes - Geneva
Reederei Zürich A.G. - Zürich
Phil Nelson, 6 October 2000
Blue with a white logo centered.
The logo is composed of a winged human figure standing on a disc holding something that might be a sail.
Jorge Candeias, 6 March 1999