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Poland - Navy flags

Last modified: 2005-11-19 by jarig bakker
Keywords: eagle | crown | ensign | war ensign | merchant ensign | sword | cross | auxiliary vessels ensign | anchor |
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War ensign

[War ensign] by Adam Kromer, from his website.

The war ensign is a white over red bicolor, swallow tailed with two tails, on the white stripe is a red shield with a white eagle with a yellow crown.
Nathan Augustine, 5 December 1995

The above is the current polish war ensign (---/--*). Its a 10:21 swallowtail (90 degrees triangle cut off), equal horizontal bicolor white over red, with the state coat of arms centered on the white stripe (swallowtail part not included in the centering). If I recall correctly, I took this info from Crampton, but I'm not sure.
António Martins, 23 October 1998

In the polish flags there is a large confusion regarding the naval and war ensigns. My idea is that it is one and the same thing, but there are different descriptions there. Am I missing something?
Jorge Candeias, 7 Apr 1999

"Naval ensign" and "war ensign" mean the same thing, i.e. the national flag or a variant thereof for use by a nation's navy. Poland's naval ensign is a swallowtailed version of the national flag with the state arms on the top (white) stripe. Perhaps the confusion arises because Poland also has a distinctive naval jack.
Tom Gregg, 7 Apr 1999

According to Alfred Znamierowski the naval ensign uses an eagle with black lines, but all the other flags, including the rank flags, use eagles with grey lines. In practice many non-naval ensign flags also use black lines.
Graham Bartram, 10 Sep 1999

Flag of the Navy

[Flag of the Polish Navy] by Adam Kroger, 4 Sept 2000, from his site.

This flag is entitled: FLAGA MARYNARKI WOJENNNEJ . See also: Air Force and Air Defence Flag, Flag of the Army.
Jarig Bakker, 4 Sept 2000.

This flag is shown in The World Encyclopedia Of Flags (Znamierowski, p. 83). The insignia is actually a representation of the  cap badge. TWEOF shows similar flags for the Polish Army and Airforce, both red with a representation of the appropriate cap bage. According to TWEOF, all three were adopted in 1993.
Tom Gregg, 23 Apr 2000

Does anyone know how these are used?  They don't look like they'd be flown over military installations (and we know Polish AF bases have the airfields flag), and the one for the Navy certainly is neither the ensign nor the jack.  So are they parade flags of some kind?
Joe McMillan, 23 Apr 2000

The Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland (Siły Zbrojne Rzeczypospoliej Polskiej) consist of three Forces:
- The Land Army (Wojska Lądowe)
- The Air Forces and Air Defence (Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej)
- The Navy (Marynarka Wojenna)
All these Forces have flags,established by Sejm 19 February 1993. These flags  (pl^army, pl~navy and pl^air)  are neither ensigns nor jacks. They are flown over military units on the holiday of each Force.
Grzegorz Skrukwa, 16 Sept 2000

Banner of Polish Navy 1946-1955

[Banner of Polish Navy 1946-1955] by Adam Kromer, from his website.
 

The banner of the Polish Navy in 1955 was never used, instead it was used as flag of Coastal Units of Polish Navy 1961-1990.
Adam Kromer.

Merchant ensign

The merchant ensign is like the war ensign without the swallow tail. This is still an alternate flag for Poland, except during the comunist regime (1945-1990) the eagle had no crown.
Nathan Augustine, 5 December 1995

The merchant ensign was an alternate flag in the sense of being a political statement. Before 1990, the ensign (with the crowned eagle) was popular among Polish emigrees who flew it to demonstrate their opposition to the communist regime.
Greg D. 6 December 1995

The polish civil ensign is the state flag of Poland.
Jan Zrzavy, 16 January 1998

The Flagchart shows the civil ensign with the coat of arms (ratio 5:8, by the way). The same is said in [smi80], even if that is a bit old. Smith indicated both flags (without coat of arms - civil, state and war flag, and with coat of arms - civil and state ensign) as alternates, which I believe mean that these are not the only possible designs for the purpose. I think both with and without are OK. Only the swallow-tailed war (naval) ensign is required to have coat of arms.
Željko Heimer, 4 September 1998

Masthead pennant

[Masthead pennant] by Željko Heimer, 2 May 2004

An other image made according to the specifications provided long ago by Chris. It is the masthead pennant, known as litteraly translated from Polish (the term we also have at FOTW, and similar is also used by other Continental European navies) is Sign of Commander of Ship.

White over red bicolour long rectangular swallow-tailed pennat, size 20x500 units, with indentation depth 100 units. 10 units from hoist is center of an counterchanged emblem, consisting of a circle 6 units in diameter and and cross outscribed by square concentrical to the circle, with side lingth 12 units. The "crossbars" are formed by extension of the 60 degrees sectors in the main axes. (Does this description makes any sence?).

This image differs from the one we currently have at FOTW by Adam Kromer, since his has no disk in the middle of the "Maltese" cross.
Željko Heimer, 2 May 2004

I should have made it clear to Željko that the construction sheet I sent him, whilst certainly based on the Flaggenbuch, contained a lot of speculation on my part. Nor had I noticed that the illustration is the Album differs from that in the Flaggenbuch.
Christopher Southworth, 2 May 2004

Sign of Commander of Ship

[Sign of Commander of Ship] by Adam Kromer, from his website.

Auxiliary vessels ensign since 1953

[Ensign of Auxiliary Vessels [of the Navy] by Adam Kromer, from his website.

Auxiliary vessels ensign 1955-93

[Auxilliary vessels ensign 1955-93] by Adam Kromer, from his website.

Flag of the Commander of the Navy

[Flag of the Commander of the Navy] by Adam Kromer, from his website.

Commander of the Navy:  National ensign in 5:6 proportions with upright white foul anchor in lower center.
Joseph McMillan, 7 Oct 1999

Flag of the Commander of the Navy (uncrowned eagle)

[Flag of the Commander of the Navy (uncrowned eagle)] by Adam Kromer, from his website.

Ensigns and jack

Recent editions of Jane's Fighting Ships show the Polish naval ensign as being almost the same as Smith's 1975 illustration, i.e. a horizontal bicolor, white over red, with the state arms centered on the white stripe. Smith gives proportions of 10:21 for this ensign and the illustrations in Jane's appears to be about 1:2. The only difference seems to be that the crown has been restored to the eagle's head. Military organizations being what they are, I imagine that the Polish naval ensign has been precisely described in some regulation or other. Anyway, this is probably the one Polish flag we can be fairly sure of.
Tom Gregg, 4 August 1997

Admiral's flag

[Admiral's flag] by Adam Kromer, from his website.

Admirals' flags are a version of the national ensign in 5:6 proportions, with a shallow swallowtail.  White stars in the lower hoist, set at an angle, indicate the rank.
Admiral:  3 stars in a triangle.
Joseph McMillan, 6 Oct 1999

Admiral's flag (uncrowned eagle)

[Admiral's flag (uncrowned eagle)] by Adam Kromer, from his website.

Vice Admiral's flag

[Vice Admiral's flag] by Adam Kromer, from his website.

Vice Admiral (Wiceadmiral): 2 stars, one above the other.
Joseph McMillan, 6 Oct 1999

Vice Admiral's flag (uncrowned eagle)

[Vice Admiral's flag (uncrowned eagle)] by Adam Kromer, from his website.

Rear Admiral's flag

[Rear Admiral's flag] by Adam Kromer, from his website.

Rear Admiral (Kontradmiral):  1 star
Joseph McMillan, 6 Oct 1999

Rear Admiral's flag (uncrowned eagle)

[Rear Admiral's flag (uncrowned eagle)] by Adam Kromer, from his website.