Signalflagga - Gladan-Falken - Ystad-2015

International maritime signal flags are various flags used to communicate with ships. The principal system of flags and associated codes is the

International Code of Signals The International Code of Signals (ICS) is an international system of signals and codes for use by vessels to communicate important messages regarding safety of navigation and related matters. Signals can be sent by flaghoist, signal lamp ("bl ...

. Various navies have flag systems with additional flags and codes, and other flags are used in special uses, or have historical significance.

Usage

There are various methods by which the flags can be used as signals: * A series of flags can spell out a message, each flag representing a letter. * Individual flags have specific and standard meanings;AB Nordbok. "The Lore of Ships", page 138. New York: Crescent Books, 1975. for example,

diving support vessel A diving support vessel is a ship that is used as a floating base for professional diving projects. Basic requirements are the ability to keep station accurately and reliably throughout a diving operation, often in close proximity to drilling or ...

s raise the "A" flag indicating their inability to move from their current location because they have a diver underwater and to warn other vessels to keep clear to avoid endangering the diver(s) with their propellers. * One or more flags form a code word whose meaning can be looked up in a code book held by both parties. An example is the Popham numeric code used at the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...

. * In

yacht racing Yacht racing is a sailing sport involving sailing yachts and larger sailboats, as distinguished from dinghy racing, which involves open boats. It is composed of multiple yachts, in direct competition, racing around a course marked by buoys or ...

and

dinghy racing Dinghy racing is a competitive sport using dinghies, which are small boats which may be rowboats, have an outboard motor, or be sailing dinghies. Dinghy racing has affected aspects of the modern sailing dinghy, including hull design, sail materia ...

, flags have other meanings; for example, the P flag is used as the "preparatory" flag to indicate an imminent start, and the S flag means "shortened course" (for more details see Race signals). Nautical signal flags - USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6)

Nautical signal flags - USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6)

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

uses the same flags, with a few unique to warships, alone or in short sets to communicate various unclassified messages. The NATO usage generally differs from the international meanings, and therefore warships will fly the Code/answer flag above the signal to indicate it should be read using the international meaning. During the Allied occupations of Axis countries after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, use and display of those nations' national flags was banned. In order to comply with the international legal requirement that a ship identify its registry by displaying the appropriate national ensign, swallow-tailed versions of the C, D, and E signal flags were designated as, respectively, provisional

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, Okinawan, and

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

civil ensign A civil ensign is an ensign (maritime flag) used by civilian vessels to denote their nationality. It can be the same or different from the state ensign and the naval ensign (or war ensign). It is also known as the merchant ensign or merchant flag ...

s. Being swallowtails, they are commonly referred to as the " C-pennant" (German: C-Doppelstander), " D-pennant", and " E-pennant".

Letter flags (with ICS meaning)

Notes

Number flags

Substitute

Substitute or repeater flags allow messages with duplicate characters to be signaled without the need for multiple sets of flags. The four NATO substitute flags are as follows: The

includes only the first three of these substitute flags. To illustrate their use, here are some messages and the way they would be encoded:

References

External links

"How Ships Talk With Flags", October 1944, Popular Science

Collection of different flag systems.
Freeware to aid memorizing the flags

''La flag-alfabeto''
- signal flags used for the

Esperanto language Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communica ...