Flag of New Caledonia Flag of New Caledonia Up to 2010, the only flag used to represent New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France, was the flag of France, a tricolor featuring three vertical bands coloured blue (hoist side), white, and red known to English speakers as the French Tricolour or simply the Tricolour. However, in July 2010 the Congress of New Caledonia voted in favour of a wish to fly the Kanak flag alongside the French tricolor. In 2008 the government of New Caledonia debated the introduction of an official regional flag and anthem, as required by the Accord de Nouméa. A flag
New Caledonia the "Conseil General" of New Caledonia voted unanimously to support the Free French government, and in September the pro-Vichy governor was forced to leave for Indochina. In March 1942, with the assistance of Australia, the territory became an important Allied base, and the main South Pacific Fleet base of the United States Navy in the South Pacific moved to Noumea in 1942–1943. The fleet that turned back the Japanese navy in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 was based at Nouméa. American troops numbered as many as 50,000, the equivalent of the contemporary population. In 1946, New