Swiss navy and Swiss flags at sea

Last modified: 2009-03-21 by simon dodds
Keywords: switzerland | navy | suisse-outremer | panalpina | oceana shipping |
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image by António Martins

• Flag at sea
• Swiss Navy
• Merchant maritime flag use (recommendations from British government)
• Non-maritime use of the rectangular flag
• Yacht clubs
• Swiss maritime companies

See also:

• Switzerland

During WW II a Swiss Naval Ensign was adopted with the proportions 2:3. The National Flag of Switzerland is square.
Nick Artimovich, 12 February 1996

It is used only by the Swiss commercial fleet outside Switzerland. On the lakes the usual square flag is used.
Harald Müller, 12 February 1996

RS 747.30. Maritime Traffic Law (23 September 1953). Article 3: Swiss ensign
(Source: Website of the Swiss government, German / French / Italian)

1. The Swiss ensign shall be displayed only by Swiss ships. A Swiss ship shall display the Siwss ensign, to the exclusion of all other ones.
2. The Swiss ensign bears a white cross on a red background; its shapes and proportions shall follow the figure published in the appendix of the present law.

The flag is a 2:3 rectangle, with A (length) = 1.5B (height). The central element of the cross is a square of side b. The square is placed in the geometrical center of the flag. Each horizontal arm of the cross has a height of b and a length of b+(1/6)b (the cross has the same specifications as in the coat of arms). There is a length of 0.5A between the cross edges and the left and right edges of the flag. Similarly, each vertical arm of the cross has a height of b+(1/6)b and a length of b. There is a height of b between the cross and the upper and lower edges of the flag.
Ivan Sache, 2 March 2002

RS 747.321.7. Regulation concerning Swiss yachts at sea (15 March 1971). Article 1, Paragraph 3
(Source: Website of the Swiss government, German / French / Italian)

• Swiss yachts must fly the Swiss ensign, in accordance with Art. 3 of the Maritime Traffic Law of 1953. The Swiss Maritime Navigation Office can allow yacht owners who are members of a Swiss maritime club to deface their ensign withe the emblem of their club, so long that no confusion with other national flags should arise.

Switzerland does have a small navy of sorts. Lakes Konstanz and Leman (Geneva) form international frontiers, and their navies consist of a few patrol craft. Switzerland also has a major Rhine commercial fleet (you can see the Swiss flag flying all the way to the Netherlands), which military patrol craft in time of war. Both the navy and air force are branches of the army (like the infantry and artillery). The air force is 1st in Europe -- so good that Israel used it as their model.
T. F. Mills, 12 February 1996

Even if landlocked, Switzerland has its navy mainly to sail on the different lakes like Constance (Bodensee), Leman (or Geneva but people outside of Geneva dislike this spelling), Brienz, Thun, 4 Cantons (Vierwaldstaettersee), Zug, Neuchatel, Biel/Bienne or Morat (Murten) to name a few but they belong to private navigation companies. There's no regulation as to which flag or ensign should be flown on these ships: it appears that 2:3 ensigns are only flown on the 3 main lakes of Switzerland (Constance, Geneva and Zurich) while ships on other smaller lakes fly the 1:1 flag.
Pascal Gross, 11 July 2002

The Swiss "navy" consists of ten patrol boats on two lakes that form international borders (Constance and Leman).
T. F. Mills, 11 July 2002

Lake Maggiore and Lake Lugano form international borders with Italy. The shipping company for Lake Marriore is Italian and they seem to fly only the Italian flag. The shipping company for Lake Lugano is located in Switzerland and the square flag is flown here.
Pascal Gross, 12 July 2002

Merchant maritime flag use

Recommendations from the British Government

One of three extracts from a memorandum sent to the Marine Department of the Board of Trade in connection with revisions to the pages of national ensigns in the International Code List published in 1879. [Public Record Office MT 9/183]

Switzerland.
Proposal of the Government of Switzerland to establish a Swiss maritime flag.

1864. "Switzerland has no distinctive maritime flag. Her Majesty's Minister in Berne observed to the President of the Confederation that in the case where the merchant marine would not have the protection of a military one, the measure might lead to political complications in that while the position of Switzerland and her guaranteed neutrality induced all Foreign Powers under existing circumstances to extend to her citizens protection and goodwill, yet the use of the flag afloat might bring them into altercations with belligerent Powers."

The question was referred to Admiral Harris who replied that "HM Government could only view with satisfaction on the ocean, and in the ports of the British Empire the flag of an industrious and friendly power, and that in time of peace no question were likely to arise which would not admit of easy adjustment. However graver questions might arise in time of war in consequence of Switzerland possessing no port of her own, and from the ships bearing her flag hailing from ports of a belligerent. Neutrality guaranteed to the territory of Switzerland could not be held to afford exceptional privileges to the merchant vessels of Swiss citizens, and the power proposed to be given to Swiss consuls to register vessels provisionally was considered likely to give rise to grave international difficulties. The question of enforcement of Swiss municipal law on board such vessels, and the manner in which respect to the Swiss Flag could be ensured were matters for the Swiss Government."

Law Officers' Opinion. "The proposal is novel and though Swiss Marine must necessarily be dependent upon the use of ports of other countries, there is no principle in International Law which ought to lead other countries to refuse to recognise the flag of an inland state, when used either by public ships of that state, or by the ships of its subjects under the authority of its Government upon the high seas."

Proposal adjourned by Swiss Legislature to the following session, and abandoned in 1866.

David Prothero, 17 April 2001

It would seem peculiarly British to suppose that a state needed a distinctive ensign--different from the national flag--for display at sea, since most other countries even then used the same flag for both purposes.

The more relevant point is that subsequent treaties including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea explicitly recognize the right of landlocked states to use the high seas under their own flags.

Joe McMillan, 17 April 2001

Non-maritime use of rectangular Swiss flags

Not only does the Swiss government do nothing to prevent the non-maritime use of rectangular Swiss flags, but the government also uses such flags often in international matters. Official car flags have become rectangular during the past years to match them better with the mostly rectangular flags of official visitors. During international meetings abroad the Swiss flag is always rectangular. While this is understandable from the organisers' or manufacturers' point of view, since they may try to avoid causing offence to anybody by using flags of different sizes and it is much cheaper to have all flags the same shape, the use of rectangular Swiss flags on land is not encouraged. The national flag on land is square and is used by Swiss citizens as such.

Emil Dreyer, 23 May 2002

Cruising Club of Switzerland

Red pennant with a white cross voided throughout and a Swiss cross in canton.
Ivan Sache, 5 August 2000

The flag of the CCS, introduced in 1956, is the Swiss ensign defaced with a golden anchor and the cyphers CCS in the upper hoist. Prior to the 1971 law which allowed yacht clubs to deface the Swiss ensign, this flag was illegal, although tolerated.
Emil Dreyer, 23 May 2002

Société Nautique de Genève

The SNG was founded in 1872 by local and foregin members of the upper classes who enjoyed sailing on the Lake Léman. In 1876, Baronness of Rotschild registered by the SNG her steamship "Gitana I". In 1907, the International Yachting Racing Union (IYRU) was created, and the SNG, then the only Swiss yacht club of international reputation, was appointed "the National Authority for Racing Yachting in Switzerland". Due to the development of yachting in Switzerland, the SNG dropped its title in 1939 and founded with other yacht clubs the Swiss Yachting Union.

The SNG is now the biggest Swiss yacht club. It has more than 3,000 members and its private port, located close to the famous Geneva fountain, has more than 600 moorings. The SNG is divided into four sections:

• The "Section de l'Aviron", founded in 1872 along with the SNG, is dedicated to rowing
• The "Cercle de la Voile", founded in 1903, is dedicated to ballast sailing boats
• The "Section du Yachting Léger" is dedicated to dinghies and multihall boats
• The "Section Hélice et Ski Nautique" is dedicated to the motor boating and water skiings.

image by Ivan Sache

The SNG has one "generic" burgee, which is the base for the burgee specific of each section. This burgee is horizontally divided in seven horizontal blue and white stripes. Two vertical yellow and red stripes are placed in canton, and stretch out vertically over the first two horizontal stripes. Yellow and red are the colours of Geneva.

image by Ivan Sache

Pennant of the Section de l'Aviron.The charge is a black stylized rower.

image by Ivan Sache

Penant of the Cercle de la Voile. The charge is a blue V letter placed inside a red ring in the middle of the burgee.

image by Ivan Sache

Pennant of the Section Yachting Léger. The charge is made of stylized yellow YL letters stretching all over the burgee.

image by Ivan Sache

Pennant of the Section Moteur. The charge is a yellow three-bladed propeller.
Ivan Sache, 7 April 2003

Swiss maritime companies

Some of the Swiss maritime companies (past and/or present from a quicksearch) of which I am aware:

Acomarit Services Maritimes SA - Geneva
Alpina Reederei AG - Basel
Arabian Maritime Lines - Fribourg/Freiburg
Atlanship SA - La Tour-De-Peilz
Contal Shipping Ltd. - Zürich
Ermefer SA (now Vinalmar SA) - Geneva
Keller Shipping - Basel
Lloyd AG - Basel
Massoel Gestion Maritime SA - Geneva
MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company SA - Geneva
Navylloyd AG - Basel
Norasia Shipping Services SA - Fribourg/Freiburg
Oceana Shipping - Coire
Panalpina - Basel
Rondeau Holdings AG - Wollerau
St. Gotthard Schiffahrts AG (HH Thyssen-Bornemiza) - Chur
Suisse-Atlantique Societé de Navigation Maritime SA - Lausanne
Suisse-Outremer Reederei AG - Zürich
Suisse-Outremer SA de Gerance et d'Affretement Maritimes - Geneva
Swiss Shipping Company - Basel
Trans-Splitt AG - Basel
Reederei Zürich AG - Zürich

Phil Nelson, 6 October 2000 - last update 1 September 2008

Alpina Reederei AG

 image by Ivan Sache

Horizontally striped blue and white (seven stripes in all) with a square Swiss flag in canton (height of the canton: three horizontal stripes).

Ivan Sache, 23 August 2002

Ermefer SA

 image by Ivan Sache

Horizontally divided red-white-red flag with the white stripe larger and a red E placed in the middle of the white stripe.

Ivan Sache, 23 August 2002

Lloyd AG

 image by Eugene Ipavec

Horizontally striped black and yellow (seven stripes in all), a red canton bearing a white couped cross representing Switzerland (height of canton: four horizontal stripes).

Jan Mertens, 1 September 2008

Navylloyd AG

 image by Ivan Sache

Red flag with a white lozenge and a red N letter placed in the middle of the flag.

Ivan Sache, 23 August 2002

Oceana Shipping

 image by Phil Nelson

Panalpina

 image by Jorge Candeias

Blue with a white logo centered.
The logo is composed of a winged human figure standing on a disc holding something that might be a sail.

Jorge Candeias, 6 March 1999

Suisse-Atlantique Société de Navigation Maritime SA
Suisse-Outremer SA de Gerance et d'Affretement Maritimes

 image by Phil Nelson

Ivan Sache, 23 August 2002

Suisse-Outremer Reederei AG

 image by Ivan Sache

Flag similar to Alpina Reederei AG, but with yellow instead of white stripes.

Ivan Sache, 23 August 2002

Swiss Shipping Company

 image by San Pavlos

Exact shadings used in the flag are uncertain.

San Pavlos, 25 December 2002

Trans-Splitt

 image by Eugene Ipavec

Trans-Splitt AG at Basel, the name of which may be rendered as “crushed stone transportation”, is a member of ALFS Group at Baden-Baden (DE), active – since 1948 – in the trade and transportation of construction materials (sand, gravel, stone, assorted products).

Jan Mertens, 25 February 2009