Last modified: 2001-12-13 by elias granqvist
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In 1814, under the leadership of Regent Prince Christian Frederick, Norway enjoyed a brief period of full independence before entering into a personal union with Sweden. [Christian Frederik was regent in Norway from 18th of January. He was elected King of Norway on 18th of May 1814.] The Royal Norwegian Navy was formed of the part of the common Danish-Norwegian fleet that Norway took with it as the union with Denmark was dissolved.
One of the first things the Regent did was to give Norway a new flag. By proclamation of 27 February 1814, the prince decided that the flag was to be a rectangular red field with a white cross and the lion of Norway in yellow in the top hoist corner. The war flag had swallowtails in addition. In other words, the new flags were the Dannebrog with the arms of Norway added. In the design proposals submitted to the prince, the lion faced the hoist, but the prince turned it around so that it faced the fly. The first war ensign (it was also used on land, so it may also be labelled war flag) was used to March 1815 when a new war ensign was introduced (see below).
The first commissioning pennant At independence no decision was taken on rank and command flags. There were only 39 officers all together in the new Norwegian navy. None of them were admirals, and only one was a commodore (promoted to rear-admiral later on in 1814). So there was not a great need for rank and command flags. However, on 18 March 1814 the regent wrote to the head of the navy wharf in Kristiansand to give instructions on the commissioning pennant. Again, the old Danish model was used, adding simply two narrow stripes of yellow to a part of the cross near the hoist.
Jan Oskar Engene, 9 Feburary 1997
SOURCES:
· Handbok for menige. "Blaboka", Horten, 1965
· Norsk soldatbok, Oslo, 1928
· Soldatens bok, Kristiania, 1914
· Beutlich, F: "Flag og kommandotegn", in C. Sparre (ed): Norges sjöforsvar 1814-1914, Kristiania, 1914
· Munksgaard, Jan Henrik: "Militaere kommando- og rangflagg i Norden. Norge", Nordisk flagkontakt, No. 19, 1994, pp. 12-24
For images, see:
In the negotiations with Sweden over the union, Norway retained the right to fly a merchant flag of its own, while accepting that the war ensign was to be a union flag. In March and April 1815 the King of Norway and Sweden decided that the union war ensign was to be the Swedish war ensign (blue field, yellow Scandinavian cross, swallowtail and tongue) with the addition of a white saltire on red in the upper hoist corner. The canton in red and white was to represent Norway. This union war ensign (also used on land as war flag) was to be used in the navies of both countries and was to be hoisted for the first time 6 June 1815. It was used until 1844 when separate ensigns were introduced for the two navies.
At the same time, a set of command flags were introduced. These were also based on existing Swedish flags, only adding the red canton with the white saltire. They were identical for both navies. Admirals had the war ensign with three dark blue disks set one over two in the centre of the cross. Vice-admirals had two disk side by side, while rear-admirals had a single disk. Commodores, as commanders of squadrons had a dark blue over dark yellow pennant (about 1:3 in the picture in the 1836 saluting instructions) with the white saltire on red set on the upper half near the hoist. Commanders of an escadrille or unit that were not commodores had a dark yellow saltire next to the white saltire on red in the commissioning pennant. The commissioning pennant was swallow-tailed, dark blue overdark yellow with the red and white emblem in the upper half next to the hoist.
The proportions differ between the two sources, the flags are much shorter in Beutlich than in the Navy instructions. I have made my images closer to the instructions. The colours are usually dark yellow and dark blue, while red is standard red.
REFERENCES:
· Salutreglement saavel for Rigets Flaader, Escadrer, Orlogsfartöier som Faestninger, Christiania, 1936Jan Oskar Engene, 9 February 1997
· Beutlich, F: "Flag og kommandotegn", in C. Sparre (ed): Norges sjöforsvar 1814-1914, Kristiania, 1914
· Kannik, Preben: All verdens flagg, Oslo, 1956
· Sundt, Trygve: "Norske orlogs og kommandotegn siden 1814", Norsk tidsskrift for sjövesen, Vol. 50, 1932, pp. 518-529
For images, see:
In 1844, King Oscar I decided to introduce separate war ensigns for Norway and Sweden. Both were based on the national flags of the respective countries (Parliament of Norway adopted a new national civil ensign in 1821, the same flag that flies as the national flag of Norway today), to which was added a new mark of union in the canton and swallowtail and tongue. The union mark consisted of a combination of the national colours of the two countries. In its own right the union mark served as the common naval jack and as the flag of the joint diplomatic and consular missions.
A problem now appeared about what to do with the rank and command flags, as these had previously been based on the common war ensign. Now there were two separate war ensigns. As the navies were expected to undertake joint operations, it was decided to have identical rank and command flags. The new rank and command flags were announced in the saluting instructions dated 3 December 1844, but published in 1845.
The senior admiral of a fleet had a flag in proportions 4:5 with the field divided diagonally into dark blue and red fields, the union mark in top hoist and two crossed yellow command staffs beneath. This flag was only to be used in case there were two admirals in the same fleet. No matter rank, admirals flew a flag as that of a senior admiral but without the command staffs.
Commodores, as commanders of an squadron, had a half-oval shaped pennant with the union mark at the hoist, the rest being divided red over dark blue. Commanders of detachments had a pennant made up of the union mark and two short tails, the upper one red, the lower one dark blue.
The commissioning pennant was now to be in the national colours (horizontally stripes of red-white-blue-white-red) with a stretched version of the union mark at the hoist. As usual, the commissioning pennant ended in a swallowtail. The Swedish navy had a commissioning pennant in the Swedish national colours blue and yellow. I have used the images in Beutlich as the model for the drawings, with an eye to the colour plate in the 1844/1845 instructions.
SOURCES:
· Salut-Reglement for Rigets Orlogsfartöier og Faestninger, Christiania, 1845Jan Oskar Engene, 10 February 1997
· Beutlich, F: "Flag og kommandotegn", in C. Sparre (ed): Norges sjöforsvar 1814-1914, Kristiania, 1914
· Sundt, Trygve: "Norske orlogsflag og kommandotegn siden 1814", Norsk tidsskrift for sjövesen, Vol. 50, 1932, pp. 518-529
For images, see:
The saluting instructions of 4 September 1858 abolished the common rank and command flags for the Norwegian and Swedish navies. In Norway, admirals were to use the war ensign of 1844 as rank flag (to be hoisted on different masts according to rank). The commissioning pennant was left unchanged. Three new rank flags were introduced:
SOURCES:
· Beutlich, F: "Flag og kommandotegn", in C. Sparre (ed): Norges sjöforsvar 1814-1914, Kristiania, 1914
· Sundt, Trygve: "Norske orlogsflag og kommandotegn siden 1814", Norsk tidsskrift for sjövesen, Vol. 50, 1932, pp. 518-529
Jan Oskar Engene, 11 February 1997
For images, see:
New saluting instructions of 8 April 1875 made some changes to the rank and command flags of the Norwegian navy.
A flag for the commander in chief of the navy was introduced. He was to have two crossed white command staffs in the red field under the union mark (bottom hoist).
Admirals were no longer to use the plain war ensign. Instead stars were added to denote their rank. An admiral was to have three white stars (1 over 2) in the bottom hoist red field, a vice-admiral two stars (side by side), and a rear-admiral a single star. The pennant previously used by commanders of detachments (introduced in 1858) was now to be used by commodores as commanders of squadrons. Commanders of detachments were now to use a pennant with the union mark at the hoist with the rest of the field divided horizontally red-white-blue-white-red. The plain red pennant of non-commissioned officers was retained.
The pennant introduced in 1875 for commanders of detachments was replaced with a pennant identical to the one for use by commanders of detachments in the 1858 instructions. That is a red-white-blue-white-red horizontally striped pennant with union mark in the upper hoist corner, not covering all of the hoist as in the 1875 pennant).
The salutation instructions of 21 October 1901 introduced two additional flags.
The Minister of Defence was to fly the war ensign with the Norwegian arms in white in the bottom hoist red field.
The commanding general (or commander in chief of the army) was to fly a square red flag with the Norwegian lion in gold over two crossed command staffs also in gold. The lion faced the fly. This flag was used to 1905, when it was dropped because it was too similar to the then adopted royal standard.
Commodores as commanders of squadrons were now to use the broad pennant wih the union mark in top hoist.
SOURCES:
· Beutlich, F: "Flag og kommandotegn", in C. Sparre (ed): Norges sjöforsvar 1814-1914, Kristiania, 1914
· Reglement for saluter fra rigets faestninger, Kristiania, 1901
· Salutreglement med Tillaeg om Flage of Kommandotegn, Christiania, 1875
Jan Oskar Engene, 12 February 1997
For images, see:
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