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Flags of the World

Page created: 1st October 2003 Last updated: 20th December 2022
The FAME is a site devoted to the systematic and scientific study of flags and coats of arms. Such symbols often bear strong political and other messages. Inclusion of those symbols here does not mean that the author supports or approves of the ideas they may stand for.	This site is harvested for the NSK digital archives.

Kingdom of Yugoslavia, 1937 Regulations

• Ensigns
  • Naval Ensign
  • Merchant Ensign
  • Financial Control Ensign
  • Harbour Police Ensign
  • Reserve Naval Officer Ensign
  • Honour Naval Ensign
• Standards and High Dignitaries Flags
  • Standards
  • King
  • Queen
  • Prince Regent, in his function as a Member of the Royal House
  • Crown Prince
  • Member of the Royal House
  • Official Flags
  • Regent
  • Prime Minister
  • Minister
• Military Officials Flags
  • Command Flags
  • Minister of the Army and the Navy
  • Admiral
  • Vice Admiral
  • Rear Admiral
  • Rank Flags
  • Marshal
  • Army General
  • Division General
  • Brigade General
  • Standards
  • Commodore
  • Squadron Commander
  • Senior Officer Afloat
  • Pennants
  • Group Commander
  • War Pennant
  • Leader
• Signals
  • Customs
  • Postal service

The printing house of the Royal Navy Staff issued an official manual titled Law on Flags of Yugoslav Ships dated 1937, with a new legislation on flagging on naval, government and merchant ships. Such legsilation was never issues (as far as it is known) in the state or military official gazettes and the status of this regulation remains unclear. It is assumed by some that it is simply an illustrated manual for use in the Navy, consolidating the 1922 legislation and all subsequent changes and formalizing the actual practice in the Navy. However, its text explicitly invalidates the 1922 Law (Art. 11; and temporary retains the 1934 Regulations and Manual "Until the issuing of those Regulations [...] if they are not in conflict with this Law", Art. 9). It also retains the 1929 Regulations on Obtaining a Licence for Hoisting the Reserve Naval Officer Ensign on Merchant Ships on Sea. On the other hand, it is missing any introductory text on who adopted it as well as any signatures at the end. Also there are no known other amendments to the 1922 legislation that would introduce these changes. It is suggested that there may be various orders (government, military, naval...) or royal decress that introduced amendments to the 1922 Law until 1937. The only known preserved flag "introduced" with this 1937 Law is a 1939 example of the standard of a member royal house used in the navy.
However, that the 1922 Law was modified since, it is obvious not only by the introduction of various admiral rank flags (as presented on the previous page), but also by inclusion of some of the designs from this set in the German Flaggenbuch and some other contemporary sources.
This page presents all flags appearing in the 1937 Law, however, those that appear unchanged from the 1992 Law are here only illustrated, with the further dicussion on them on the previous page.

• SHS / Yugoslavia, 1918 - 1941
• Yugoslavia, 1918 - 2006

Ensigns

Zastave koje obeležavaju narodnost brodova

Ensigns are flags that mark the national affiliation of the ship.

Naval Ensign

Ratna zastava

2:3

The national tricolour with the coat of arms set near the hoist, with its axis on the one third of the flag length.

Merchant Ensign

Trgovačka zastava

2:3

The undefaced national tricolour of blue over white over red.

Financial Control Ensign

Zastava jedinica financijske kontrole

2:3

The national tricolour defaced with the state coat of arms in the blue stripe near the hoist. The height of the coat of arms is three tenths of the hoist and its axis is 1/8 of the flag length from the hoist.

Harbour Police Ensign

Zastava jedinica lučke policije

2:3

The ensign hoisted by ships of the maritime or river administration is the national tricolour with two blue anchors crossed in saltire set in the centre of the white stripe. The height of the emblem is three tenths of the flag hoist.

Reserve Naval Officer Ensign

Zastava rezervnih pomorskih oficira

2:3

The ensign that could have been warranted to the ships commanded by captains who are reserve naval officers and meeting certain criteria is the national tricolour defaced in the blue stripe next to the hoist with a yellow cabled anchor topped with the yellow royal crown. The same flag with the white anchor was prescribed earlier, and it is possible that the yellow anchor here is an error in the illustration.

Honour Naval Ensign

Počasna ratna zastava

2:3

The naval ensign was granted to certain naval ships as symbol of merit. The honour naval ensign is designwise entirely like the usual naval ensign, except that the grantee could include a small emblem - personal coat of arms or an other symbol - to deface the flag in an unobtrusive way usually in the canton corner.

Standards and High Dignitaries Flags

Zastave koje obeležavaju boravak Najviših i Visokih ličnosti na brodovima

Standards

Standarti

Stadards designate personal presence of suvereign and members of royal house.

King

Standart Kralja

1:1

The royal standard is a dark red square flag with tricolour triangles around the border and a yellow fimbriated white cross formy throughout over which is set the state coat of arms (and not the dynastic arms). The artistic representation of the coat of arms is modernized.

Queen

Standart Kraljice

1:1

The standard of the Queen is a dark red square flag with the border of tricolour triangles and the coat of arms in the centre.

Prince Regent, in his function as a Member of the Royal House

Standart Kneza Namesnika, u svojstvu Člana Kraljevskog Doma

1:1

The standard of the Prince Regent as a Member of the Royal House is a blue square flag with the border of tricolour triangles and the coat of arms in the centre.

Crown Prince

Standart Prestolonasljednika

1:1

The standard of the Crown-Prince is a blue square flag with the coat of arms in the centre and four royal crowns, one in each corner.

Member of the Royal House

Standart Članova Kraljevskog Doma

1:1

The standard for other members of the Royal House is a blue square flag with the coat of arms in the centre. This is so far the only known flag of the lot that was actually introduced in use prior to the World War II, in siz 190×190 cm, with the year of production marked as 1939.

Official Flags

Službene zastave

The official flags mark the presence of the highest state officials.

Regent

Službena zastava Namesnika

1:1

The flag for the regents is a white square flag with a blue cross and the state coat of arms in the centre.
The regency (namesništvo) established for the young king Peter II who inherited his father killed in Marseille in 1934, consisted of three members: Prince Paul (Pavle) and two other gentile members (Ivo Perović and Radenko Stanković). In practice, however, Prince Paul gained all the power and turned the Yugoslav policy from Allies towards Germany. This flag was for the other two members of the regency.

Prime Minister

Službena zastava Predsednika ministarskog saveta

1:1

The flag of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers is a white square flag with blue border at the top and red at the bottom and the greater coat of arms in the centre.

Minister

Službena zastava Ministara, članova Vlade

1:1

The flag of the other ministers - members of the Government is a white square flag and the greater state coat of arms in the centre.

Military Officials Flags

Zastave koje obeležavaju boravak starešina Vojske i Mornarice na brodovima

Flags and pennants of this group are used to indicate presence of a military officer of certain rank or duty aboard the vessel. Some flags of this kind might have been used as car flags, too.

Command Flags

Komandne zastave

Command flags indicate high naval rank officers and their right of command.

Minister of the Army and the Navy

Komandna zastava Ministra vojske i mornarice

1:1

The flag of the Minister of the Army and the Navy is a white square flags with blue border and the coat of arms in the middle.

Admiral

Komandna zastava admirala

1:1

The flag of an Admiral is a white square flag with blue border and three blue six-pointed stars in diagonal.

Vice Admiral

Komandna zastava viceadmirala

1:1

The flag of a Vice Admiral is a white square flag with blue border and two blue six-pointed stars in diagonal.

Rear Admiral

Komandna zastava kontraadmirala

1:1

The flag of a Rear Admiral is a white square flag with blue border and a blue six-pointed star in the middle.

Rank Flags

zastave čina

The rank flags are used to indicate presence of highest non-naval military officers aboard a vessel.

Marshal

Zastava vojvode

1:1

The flag of a Marshal is a square tricolour with the coat of arms (without the background shield) in the canton.

Army General

Zastava armijskog đenerala

1:1

The flag of an Army General is a square tricolour with three golden six-pointed stars set on the diagonal.

Division General

Zastava divizijskog đenerala

1:1

The flag of a Division General is a square tricolour with two golden six-pointed stars set on the diagonal, in the blue and in the red stripe.

Brigade General

Zastava brigadnog đenerala

1:1

The flag of a Brigade General is a square tricolour with a golden six-pointed star set in the centre.

Standards

Stegovi

The naval standards indicate presence of a high naval officer in command of a naval unit.

Commodore

Steg komodora

1:1

The Commodore standard is a swallow-tailed white square flag with a blue border all around.

Squadron Commander

Steg komandanta eskadre

1:1

The squadron commander standard is a blue square swallow-tailed flag.

Senior Officer Afloat

Steg starešinstva

2:3

The senior officer aboard standard is a blue triangular pennant.

Pennants

Plamenci

The pennants are triangular flags indicating presence of the younger naval commanders.

Group Commander

Plamenac komandanta sastava

2:3

The group commander's pennant is a triangular pennant vertically divided into hoist part the horizontal tricolour and the white fly part.

War Pennant

Plamenac komandanta broda

1:100

The masthead pennant is a white long pennant from half its length tappering to the, with a white tassel at the fly, and with the first third of the length coloured in the national tricolour.

Leader

Plamenac vođe

2:3

The leader's pennant is a triangular pennant vertically divided into white hoist part with a red cross and the blue fly part.

Signals

Zastave-znaci

The signals are used on ships performing some special state functions in addition to the otherwise prescribed ensign, usually at port of the main mast.

Customs

Carinski znak

2:3

The customs signal is a green triangular pennant with the coat of arms in the centre.

Postal service

Poštanski znak

1:1

The postal signal is a square tricolour with the central stripe wider containing a blue post-horn. It was required to be displayed by ships carrying mail while entering or leaving port and while in it at the the fore mast or its crossbeam.

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Flags of the World