Flags of the English Interregnum

There were a variety of flags flown by ships of the <a href="/facts/Commonwealth_of_England/h8yE48nC">Commonwealth</a> during the <a href="/facts/Interregnum_(England)/XQvuojl1">Interregnum</a> of 1649–1660.
At sea, royalist ships continued to fly the <a href="/facts/Flag_of_Great_Britain/zDe6c2rm">Union Jack</a> of 1606, while on 22 February 1649 the <a href="/facts/English_Council_of_State/nMShJo4S">Council of State</a> decided to send the parliamentary navy an order (signed by <a href="/facts/Oliver_Cromwell/pyCDY3vk">Oliver Cromwell</a> on 23 February) that "the ships at sea in service of the State shall onely beare the red Crosse in a white flag" (viz., the <a href="/facts/Flag_of_England/y5akhW1U">flag of England</a>).
On 5 March 1649 the Council further ordered "that the Flagg that is to be borne by the Admiral, Vice-Admiral, and Rere-Admiral be that now presented, viz., the Armes of England and Ireland in two severall Escotcheons in a Red Flagg, within a compartment."
A sole surviving example of a naval flag following this description is kept by the <a href="/facts/National_Maritime_Museum/C8kWrTSQ">National Maritime Museum</a> at Greenwich, others having fallen victim to the destruction of Commonwealth symbols at the <a href="/facts/English_Restoration/xdp8JnEc">Restoration of Charles II</a>.
Scotland was formally <a href="/facts/The_Protectorate/qodkY1kh">united with England</a> in 1654. According to Perrin (1922), the saltire of Scotland did not reappear on naval flags of the Commonwealth until 1658.
In 1658 Cromwell's personal standard as Lord Protector became the "Standard for the General of his Highnesse fleet", while the Cross-and-Harp jack was replaced by the "Protectorate Jack", consisting of the royal Union Flag with the addition of the Irish Harp at the centre.

Flags of the English Interregnum open-in-new

Flags of the English Interregnum