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Naval Ensign




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 , 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 Ensign s) are raised on the ship's Mainmast .