Naval ensign
|
The Japanese naval ensign is a variant of their national flag |
A
naval ensign is the
ensign used by a country's
navy on their ships (as opposed to the ensigns worn by merchant and pleasure vessels).
Some countries use their
national flag as their naval ensign. Others (like the
United States,
United Kingdom,
Italy,
Russia,
South Africa,
New Zealand, and
Japan) use a variant of the
national flag.
These flags are recognized as belonging to
warships and strict regulations governing them are put in place by the navy's respective governments. Civilian ships - with very few exceptions - would not fly naval ensigns.
If a warship goes into battle, large versions of naval ensigns (called
battle ensigns) are raised on the ship's
mainmast.
