Portuguese Navy

Armada Portuguesa

Last modified: 2024-11-16 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: armada | jack | naval jack | streamer | cross(christ knights) | church pennant |
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• About Portuguese Naval Flags
• Flag of the Portuguese Navy
• Naval Jack
• Streamers
• Arms and Heraldic Banner of the Portuguese Navy
• Arms and Flags of Naval Ships
• Church Pennant
• Unknown Flag

• Portuguese Flags of Use at Sea
• Rank Flags of the Portuguese Navy:
  • current
  • pre-1910
• Positional Flags of the Portuguese Navy
• Sea Safety Guard
• Portugal

About Portuguese Naval Flags

Usage

All Navy ships in working conditions and under the command of a naval officer will further hoist the following:

• Streamer
• Jack
• Personal marks (rank flags)

Flag of the Portuguese Navy

The flag of the Portuguese Navy (see image at top) is basically the military flag with an additional cross of the Order of Christ in the canton.
Zoltan Horvath, 4 Sep 2024

Naval Jack

Naval jack (jaco nacional or jaque nacional!). This is a 1:1 flag, red with a green border ¹/₈ wide and the sphere and shield in the center.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 3 Feb 1998

According to the obsolete ANC site it should be hoisted at the prow, from sunrise to sunset, only when the ship is docked or anchored.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 10 Apr 1999

Streamers

2-Meter Streamer

7-Meter Streamer

9-Meter Streamer

A very long triangular flag hoisted in the main mast (when there is no rank flag to be hoisted) 24 hours a day. According to the law of June 19th, 1911, this is vertically divided in green and red, the relative width of these varying according to the length:

Total	Green	Red	%red
2 m	80 cm	120 cm	2:5 = 40%
7 m	3 m	4 m	3:7 ≅ 43%
9 m	4 m	5 m	4:9 ≅ 44%

Unfortunately this law prescribes nothing about the height. The image at the A.N.C. site is 3:54 (15×270 px), but the images in this site are quite sketchy.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 10 Apr 1999

Used only on warships under way.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 9 June 2000

Arms and Heraldic Banner of the Portuguese Navy

The heraldic banner of the Portuguese Navy shows a silver fish in a blue field, in the upper side says "São Jorge", and in lower side says "Talant de bien faire".
Source: this webpage
Vitor Jaime Matos Silva, 11 June 2001

Arms and Flags of Naval Ships

I’m no expert in military vexillology and much less in military heraldry, but from what I think I understood, each ship in the Portuguese Navy is considered a military unit and has it’s own coat of arms accordingly (every unit seems to have a COA in our military forces). These coats of arms (or the corresponding seal) do not serve as basis for any flags, at least usually, but they do appear in the unit flag.
Jorge Candeias, 14 Aug 2001

Church pennant

White pennant with red cross at the hoist, touching upper and lower edge, proportions approx. 1:3
Source: Flaggenbuch 1905
Miles Li, 25 April 2014

Unknown flag aboard Sagres

In a beautiful photo of the naval training ship Sagres, a floating navigation/sailing school of the portuguese Navy. The ship has, apart from the traditional Christ Order cross in the sails, two flags hoisted: The portuguese national flag and a white flag with a blue St. George’s cross over all and something red at the canton (prop. 2:3). If this St. George flags was white and green, it would be a naval rank flag, but being it white and blue, I don’t know what flag it is…
Jorge Candeias, 21 Jan 1998

The red element is suspiciously similar to a Christ Order cross.
Jorge Candeias, 16 Jun 1998

back to Portuguese military flags click here