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, 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.

Flags | Vexillology | Ensigns

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