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Sweden and Norway 1858-1905

First National Rank Flags - 1858
National Rank Flags – 1875-1905

See also:

First National Rank Flags - 1858

The saluting instructions of 4 September 1858 abolished the common rank and command flags for the Norwegian and Swedish navies. In Norway, admirals were to use the war ensign of 1844 as rank flag (to be hoisted on different masts according to rank). The commissioning pennant was left unchanged. Three new rank flags were introduced:

A commodore, as commander of a squadron was given a red over white over blue over white over red (~6:1:2:1:6) with the union mark in top hoist corner.
Commanders of detachments had a swallow-tailed pennant (~1:3) divided red-white-blue-white-red (~5:1:2:1:5) with union mark in the top hoist corner.
Non-commissioned officers flew an all red pennant.

SOURCES:

Beutlich, F: "Flag og kommandotegn", in C. Sparre (ed): Norges sjöforsvar 1814-1914, Kristiania, 1914
Sundt, Trygve: "Norske orlogsflag og kommandotegn siden 1814", Norsk tidsskrift for sjövesen, Vol. 50, 1932, pp. 518-529

Jan Oskar Engene, 11 February 1997

Commodore

by Željko Heimer

Triangular pennant in the Norwegian national colours (no cross) with the herring salat in the canton. As in other cases when the saltire is included in non rectangular canton, the deformations make it a rather unpleasant sight.
Željko Heimer, 15 July 2002

Commander of a Detachment

image by Željko Heimer

"Broad pennant" (i.e. swallow-tailed rectangular flag) in the Norwegian national colours (no cross, though I haven't noticed this in all places where maybe needed) with the canton of the herring salat.
Željko Heimer, 18 July 2002

Non-Commissioned Officers

image by Jan Oskar Engene

National Rank Flags – 1875-1905

New saluting instructions of 8 April 1875 made some changes to the rank and command flags of the Norwegian navy.

A flag for the commander in chief of the navy was introduced. He was to have two crossed white command staffs in the red field under the union mark (bottom hoist).

Admirals were no longer to use the plain war ensign. Instead stars were added to denote their rank. An admiral was to have three white stars (1 over 2) in the bottom hoist red field, a vice-admiral two stars (side by side), and a rear-admiral a single star. The pennant previously used by commanders of detachments (introduced in 1858) was now to be used by commodores as commanders of squadrons. Commanders of detachments were now to use a pennant with the union mark at the hoist with the rest of the field divided horizontally red-white-blue-white-red. The plain red pennant of non-commissioned officers was retained.

Amendments of 1898

The pennant introduced in 1875 for commanders of detachments was replaced with a pennant identical to the one for use by commanders of detachments in the 1858 instructions. That is a red-white-blue-white-red horizontally striped pennant with union mark in the upper hoist corner, not covering all of the hoist as in the 1875 pennant).

Instructions of 1901

The salutation instructions of 21 October 1901 introduced two additional flags.

The Minister of Defence was to fly the war ensign with the Norwegian arms in white in the bottom hoist red field.

The commanding general (or commander in chief of the army) was to fly a square red flag with the Norwegian lion in gold over two crossed command staffs also in gold. The lion faced the fly. This flag was used to 1905, when it was dropped because it was too similar to the then adopted royal standard.

Commodores as commanders of squadrons were now to use the broad pennant wih the union mark in top hoist.

SOURCES:

Beutlich, F: "Flag og kommandotegn", in C. Sparre (ed): Norges sjöforsvar 1814-1914, Kristiania, 1914
Reglement for saluter fra rigets faestninger, Kristiania, 1901
Salutreglement med Tillaeg om Flage of Kommandotegn, Christiania, 1875

Jan Oskar Engene, 12 February 1997

Commander in Chief - Navy

by Željko Heimer

The state flag with the herring salat in canton and two white batons in saltire in lower hoist quarter.
Željko Heimer, 18 July 2002

Admiral - 1875-1905

image by Željko Heimer

Herring Salat in canton and three white stars in lower hoist quarter. As I have noted when dealing with the state flag, the 1844 pattern on which this one should have been modeled is shown by Engene with curious middle tongue. Either the flags followed it (not shown so by Engene) or the state flag was changed in usage to the modern look (with herring salat, of course), possibly silently. Third possibility is that the "odd 1844" is erroneous.
Željko Heimer, 16 July 2002

Vice Admiral

by Željko Heimer

The state flag with the herring salat in canton and two white stars in lower hoist quarter. I don't know if we have covered it, but I just remembered, and this