The Belgian
Navy's status as a branch of the armed forces was always precarious.
Few people thought that Belgium needed a navy at all and though one
was established in 1831 it languished for lack of funding. The
control of the Navy was passed from ministry to ministry; such ships
as it possessed were mostly converted merchant vessels and small
watercraft. The Navy's missions were restricted to fishery protection
and, in wartime, support of the Army. Only in 1917 was a serious
effort made to create a naval combat force in the form of a torpedo
boat flotilla. After the Great War the Belgian Navy languished again
and it was actually abolished in 1926, its ships being sold or
scrapped and its men going to the Army. In 1936, however, with
another war impending, the Navy was reconstituted. The Naval Corps,
as it was now called, was charged with coastal patrol, minesweeping
and Army support. Most of its ships were requisitioned tugs, fishing
vessels, etc. The Naval Corps participated in the 1940 campaign and
was withdrawn to Britain when the Germans occupied Belgium. There it
was disbanded, the men being reassigned to the Army. Later a Belgian
Section of the Royal Navy was established and enough men were found
eventually to man two corvettes, but these served under the British
ensign.
Most Belgian
naval ensigns and flags of the period were based on the national
flag. At first a plain tricolor served as the naval ensign but a
distinctive ensign was adopted in 1936. The 1914-36 rank flags were
used by both naval and army flag officers. The naval reserve ensign
adopted in 1936 could be flown by merchant vessels whose masters and
a certain percentage of their crew were enrolled in the Reserve of
the Naval Corps.
See also
CURRENT BELGIAN NAVAL
ENSIGNS & FLAGS.
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