An extremely rare naval ensign of the German Reichsmarine.
On November 11th, 1918, Germany signed the armistice which ended the First World War. Relatively quickly, Germany founded a new navy - the Reichsmarine. On April 11th 1921, the Reichsmarine's flag was flown for the first time and at the very end of the same year, the Kaiser's was folded up and placed away. Retrospectively, the Reichsmarine was a thoroughly transitive naval force existing for no more than 15 years before being replaced by the official formation of the Kriegsmarine (on May 21st 1935).
The Reichsmarine was weak, limited by the terms of the armistice and was mandated essentially for defence only. It was tasked with enforcing naval law in coastal areas and maintaining control over territorial waters. It also functioned like many other navies of the time by preventing piracy, protecting fisheries, deterring naval blockage, executing hydrographic surveys and other oceanographic work.
Navies are generally the most tradition bound and conservative of armed forces. The Reichsmarine was no different and they attempted to carry on the grand traditions of the Kaiserlichemarine of WWI; and since the model 1919 war ensign was never actually introduced, the old war ensign (model 1903) was used until a totally new ensign came into use. They retained the old black, white, and red jack of the Imperial Navy. This was stipulated with the regulation of 11th April 1921, finally in force 1st January 1922. It was basically the civil ensign black-white-red with a black-red-gold canton with an Iron Cross in the center. It would serve Germany until 1933 when the Weimar flag in canton was dropped.
These flags are extremely rare owing to the small size of the Reichsmarine.
The text printed on the hoist reads: "GAFFELFLAGGE 2,50X1,50". Acquired through a Hamburg Military Dealer 1997 Flag is circa 1921 - 1935.
ZFC Significant Flag
Sources:
Reichsmarine, Wikipedia, 17 November 2011, from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichsmarine
War Ensign 1921-1933 (Germany), Flags of the World, 17 November 2011, from: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/de1921~w.html
Iron Cross, Wikipedia, 17 November 2011, from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Cross
Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection
