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Kingdom of Italy (1848-1946) - Flags for Use at Sea

Last modified: 2003-08-16 by dov gutterman
Keywords: italy | ensigns | savoy | crown | pilot | naval jack | ufe |
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Naval Flags

Recently I received an inquiry with attached images from a guy in the UK who'd inherited some old flags from his late grandfather, a WW II veteran of the Italian campaign. His question concerned four items:

(1) An Italian Naval Ensign (with crowned shield) about 15 inches square, with yellow fringe. On the hoist end are three cloth loops to fit over a staff.

(2) An Italian Naval Jack (bannner of arms of Savoy)--otherwise, same size and discription as (1).

(3) Two pennants. One is striped green-white-red with the crowned shield (crown toward the hoist) on the white stripe. The other is blue, inscribed with what looks like "2 squadriglia motosiluranti."

My guess is that the above items were used by a motor torpedo boat squadron of the Royal Italian Navy--ensign, jack, commissioning pennant and squadron pennant. The guy said that his grandfather obtained them at Taranto, which was one of the Italian Navy's major wartime bases
Tom Gregg , 5 Febuary 2000

I find these two links to the "Sacrario delle Bandiere al Vittoriano":
<www.marina.difesa.it/storia/musei/musei001.htm> and <www.marina.difesa.it/storia/musei/musei002.htm> with some nice images of historical ensigns, such as: <museo007G.jpg> and <museo009g.jpg>. It is noteworthy that some ensigns dating from the late Kingdom of Italy era, such as this one from submarine "Ettore Fieramosca" 1929-1941: <museo034g.jpg> use an unspecific royal crown, rather than the Italian one.
Santiago Dotor, 27 June 2003


Naval Ensign


by Zeljko Heimer, 17 September 1996

The national flag/civil ensign had the Savoy arms, uncrowned, while the naval ensign (Bandiera da Guerra) had crowned arms.
James L. Woods and Tom Gregg ,15 January 1998

Here is a source about the Royal Ensign and if you want included measurments. it is from Annuario 1972 dell'Enciclopedia dei Ragazzi Ed.Arnoldo Mondadori Editore. The naval pennant is there also .
Bozeni Manuel, 18 October 2000

At "Nouveau Petit Larousse Illustre" (1926), the Italian flag appears to be with the shield of red with a white cross, a blue border around them, and above the shield a golden crown.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 29 October 2000

It is similar to the present ensign but with the shield and crown of Savoy in the centre.  A white rectangular cross, on a blue bordered, red shield.  This was below a red and yellow crown.
David Prothero, 26 December 2001

There are some mistakes in Zeljko Heimer's image . The naval flag has a green that is too light, and the shape of the crown is wrong. The Italian royal crown had its shape, you can see Here.
Guido Abate, 6 December 2002

Simplified Version


by Jorge Candeias , 29 October 1999

Another episode on the "Old flag plate" series. This italian flag is only interesting due to the CoA. It's probably a simplification of the CoA in actual use, since it lacks the blue border. it has, however a curious shape and I wander if this shape could reflect real flags. Finally the crown: it's practically not worth mentionning, because it seems to be simply outlined in the original.
Jorge Candeias , 29 October 1999


Naval Jack


by Zeljko Heimer ,17 September1996


Pilot Flag


By Phil Nelson and Zeljko Heimer, 3 January 2000

Pilot flag from the National Geographic 1917 depictions (NGM) and the Webster's New International Dictionary (WNID), circa 1924 plates.  The difference: the NGM image shows the arm of the cross slightly higher than in WNID.
Phil Nelson , 3 January 2000

The pilot flag is wrong: it was simply a reduced state flag with a white border. When I say "reduced" I mean that the flag had the same proportions (same shield, crown, etc.), but it was smaller.
Guido Abate, 6 December 2002


UFE

I have an Italian flag with the Arms of Savoy on the middle white stripe. It has a yellow crown over the Arms with a red anchor and red accent devices on each side of the anchor.  Could you tell me the years this was in use and by what special branch of government if any?  Any other detail you can give me on the flag would be appriciated.
Truman Pope (Secretary NAVA), 5 September 2000