{"id":615,"date":"2026-05-29T10:19:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T10:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flags.page\/en\/glossary\/ensign\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T10:19:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T10:19:26","slug":"ensign","status":"publish","type":"term","link":"https:\/\/flags.page\/de\/glossary\/ensign\/","title":{"rendered":"Ensign"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An **ensign** is the national flag flown by a vessel at sea, or by a military formation, to identify its nationality or allegiance. Many states maintain separate civil, state and naval ensigns, distinguished by colour or by the presence of a defacement. The position at which an ensign is flown is fixed by long custom: at the stern when in harbour, at the gaff when under way.<\/p>\n<p>**Example**: The White Ensign is flown by ships of the Royal Navy, the Red Ensign by British-registered merchant vessels.<\/p>\n<p>**See also**: [jack](\/glossary\/jack\/), [defacement](\/glossary\/defacement\/), [courtesy-flag](\/glossary\/courtesy-flag\/), [ensign-at-sea](\/glossary\/ensign-at-sea\/)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-615","term","type-term","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flags.page\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/term\/615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flags.page\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/term"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flags.page\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/term"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flags.page\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}