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Belgium: State ensign

Belgian state ensign

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Belgian State ensign

by José Carlos Alegria

The Belgian black-yellow-red flag charged with a black crown and a black lion with red tongue and nails was the Naval service ensign from 1936 until 1940 when the Belgian Navy was abolished. The Navy was re-established in 1949 and a year later a new Naval ensign was adopted. Since then the ensign with the lion and crown has been used as the state ensign.

Mark Sensen, 17 January 1998

M. Lupant, in his monography on Belgian flags and arms [lup98], says:

The flag of the State's Navy uses the Belgian lion armed and langued red surmonted by a black crown.

Album des Pavillons [pay00] shows this flag but the caption says:

On some really hoisted ensigns, the lion is fully black (in contradiction with the prescribed description)

L. Nyssen, in Vexillacta [vxl] #3 (March 1999), says:

The State's Navy ensign was regulated by royal order of 28 October 1936, but its real use was postponed until winter 1937/1938. The crews then tinkered with ensigns by using cardboard stencils of the crown and the lion, and in several cases the lion was fully black.

Ivan Sache, 9 August 2000