page_title: White Ensign
section_title: United Kingdom
hierarchical_section_title: White Ensign / Current use / United Kingdom
caption_attribution_description: English: The White Ensign flying from St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square, London.
context_page_description: The White Ensign, at one time called the St George's Ensign due to the simultaneous existence of a cross-less version of the flag, is an ensign flown on British Royal Navy ships and shore establishments. It consists of a red St George's Cross on a white field with the Union Flag in the upper canton.
  The White Ensign is also flown by yachts of members of the Royal Yacht Squadron and by ships of Trinity House escorting the reigning monarch.
  In addition to the United Kingdom, several other nations have variants of the White Ensign with their own national flags in the canton, with the St George's Cross sometimes being replaced by a naval badge omitting the cross altogether. Yachts of the Royal Irish Yacht Club fly a white ensign with an Irish tricolour in the first quadrant and defaced by the crowned harp from the Heraldic Badge of Ireland. The Flag of the British Antarctic Territory and the Commissioners' flag of the Northern Lighthouse Board place the Union emblem in the first quarter of a white field, omitting the overall red St George's Cross, but are not ensigns for use at sea.
context_section_description: Royal Navy ships and submarines wear the White Ensign at all times when underway on the surface. The White Ensign may also be worn on a gaff, and may be shifted to the starboard yardarm when at sea. When alongside, the White Ensign is worn at the stern, with the Union Jack flag flown as a jack at the bow, during daylight hours. The logo of Royal Navy features a waving White Ensign at the top. 
  
  The White Ensign is worn at the mastheads when Royal Navy ships are dressed on special occasions such as the Queen's birthday, and may be similarly be worn by foreign warships when in British waters when dressed in honour of a British holiday or when firing a salute to British authorities.  The White Ensign may also be worn by the boats of commissioned ships. Yachts of the Royal Yacht Squadron and the Trinity House vessels when escorting the British Monarch (King or Queen of the United Kingdom) are also permitted to wear the White Ensign. 
  On land, the White Ensign is flown at all naval shore establishments (which are commissioned warships), including all Royal Marines establishments. Permission has been granted to some other buildings with naval connections to fly the White Ensign. This includes the St Martin-in-the-Fields Anglican Church in Trafalgar Square, London, which is the parish church of the Admiralty. The Ensign is also displayed on the Cenotaph alongside the Union Jack flag (for the British Army) and the Royal Air Force Ensign, in memory of the dead in the World Wars.  Special permission was granted to any individual or body to fly the White Ensign to mark Trafalgar Day and the victory in the naval Battle of Trafalgar on its 201st anniversary in 2006.
  The U.S. Navy destroyer Winston S. Churchill is the only U.S. warship to fly the White Ensign along with the Stars and Stripes to honour her British namesake, the former prime minister. Isambard Kingdom Brunel's SS Great Britain, although a merchant ship, appears to have worn (and still bears and flies, preserved in dry dock as a historical exhibit / museum ship) the White Ensign, apparently because its first master (an ex-Royal Navy man) brought it with him.
caption: The White Ensign flying from St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square, London.
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