The flag of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic shows a yellow hammer and sickle and outlined star on a red field above rippling water at the bottom, and was adopted by the former Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic on January 17, 1953.
The first socialist Latvian state, the Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic, shown a red flag with the inscription LSPR.
Prior to this, from 25 August 1940, the flag was red with the gold hammer and sickle in the top-left corner, with the Latin characters LPSR (Latvijas Padomju SociÃÂlistiskÃÂ Republika) above them in gold in a serif font.
The Soviet-era flag was officially replaced on 27 February 1990, when the national flag of Latvia was reintroduced. Since 2013, the use of a Latvian SSR flag at public events is banned.