Last modified: 2005-04-02 by phil nelson
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War Flag/War Ensign/Jack
![[War flag, war ensign and Jack]](../images/s/se~.gif)
by Željko Heimer
(4+2+4):(5+2+5+8)
Source: Album des pavillons (2000)
See Also:
Neither Sweden nor Denmark uses a square version of the national flag as a jack. Both countries use the forked flag as both jack and ensign. It appears from photos that, though the jacks are smaller than the ensigns, they have the same proportions.
The 1971 Pedersen The International Flag Book in Color [ped71] describes the Swedish ensign and jack as:
"Last adopted 1906. The Swedish swallow-tailed flag was originally the King's personal emblem, or the emblem representing a command conferred by the King. It was at first two-pointed, but about 1600 the distinctive swallow-tail-and-tongue appeared. Besides the Navy, the flag is also flown by other defense departments, while civil departments fly square flags."
The overall ratio, including the tails, is 2:1 and
is similar to the royal standard without the COA.
Michael P. Smuda, 1998
The size of ensigns used by the navy are not given metric by length. Instead the width is given in "dukar" (plural of duk, flaggduk=bunting). This goes back to old military regulations, at least mid-nineteenth century, where it was stipulated that the wool bunting "shall be of domestic authorized manufacturing, 18 inches [45 cm] wide, evenly woven and well edged, without loose threads across the bunting, that shows that the weft is thinner than the warp, which can not be considered as good, the weft and the warp must be equally thin." Reglemente den 20 maj 1847.
So, a flag measuring 180 by 90 cm is designated a
"tvådukare" (two-cloth or -bunting), a 360 by
180 cm a "fyrdukare" (four-cloth or -bunting)
and so on. You can see this on the heading of an ensign. Under the three crowns
of Sweden, for example 2 D or 4 D is stamped.
Stefan Klein, 1 February 2002