British ensigns

This article concerns the ensigns flown by vessels and aircraft of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories.

In British maritime law and custom, the ensign proper to a British ship is one of several flags with a red, white or blue field, with the Union Flag in the canton (the upper corner next the staff), known respectively as the red, blue and white ensigns respectively.

Since the reorganisation of 1864, the white ensign (which is further distinguished by having St George's Cross upon the field) is used by the Royal Navy, while the red ensign is for the use of the Merchant Navy and all private craft. The blue ensign is the ensign of the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) and of certain ships whose masters are officers in the RNR. British government departments use a variety of blue ensigns defaced in the fly with the department badge, and colonial governments use blue ensigns defaced with the colonial badge. The flags of Australia and its states and the flag of New Zealand are defaced blue ensigns.

Many yacht clubs have royal warrants authorising them to fly ensigns other than the red ensign, e.g. the blue ensign, or red or blue ensigns defaced with the club's badge. Uniquely, the Royal Yacht Squadron is allowed to fly the white ensign.

There exist also a Royal Air Force (RAF) ensign and a civil air ensign, both of which have a sky blue field, with the Union Flag in the canton. The RAF ensign is defaced with the red-white-blue RAF roundel, while the field of the civil air ensign is marked with a large dark blue cross fimbriated white. The flags of Tuvalu and Fiji are defaced sky blue ensigns.

Table of contents

1 History
2 Canadian flags
3 See also
4 External Links

History

Prior to 1864, red, white and blue were the colours of the three squadrons of the Royal Navy, which were created as a result of the reorganisation of the navy in 1652 ? by Admiral Robert Blake. Each squadron flew one of the three ensigns.

The red squadron tended to patrol the Caribbean and north Atlantic, the white the coasts of Britain, France and the Mediterranean, while the blue patrolled the south Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. The flags of the various former British colonies often have grounds of the same colour as their protective squadron. Hence Bermuda has a red ground and Australia and New Zealand blue. The flag of the United States of America also follows this pattern. Early flags of the American Revolution were modified Red Ensigns. The Cambridge or Grand Union flag, added six white stripes to the Red Ensign and this flag was used during the fight for independence until the Union Flag in the corner was replaced by the current stars in 1777.

In addition to the Admiral of the Fleet (who was Admiral of the Red), each squadron also had its own Admirals, Vice Admirals and Rear Admirals, e.g. Lord Nelson was Vice Admiral of the Blue.

Canadian flags

In 1868, the British Admiralty made the Canadian Blue Ensign the proper flag for ships of the Canadian government, and in 1892, the Admiralty approved the use of the Canadian Red Ensign by Canadian merchant ships.

From about 1870, Canada unofficially used a Red Ensign with the arms of its provinces on one shield as its national flag (the Canadian Red Ensign). In 1924, an order-in-council made the flag official (for certain purposes) and replaced the provincial arms with the royal arms of Canada. The red ensign was replaced by the current red and white maple-leaf flag in 1965. In that same year, the province of Ontario made the red ensign with the provincial arms its provincial flag. Manitoba also uses a version of the red ensign as its provincial flag.