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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 . [ 1 ] Various navies have flag systems with additional flags and codes, and other flags are used in special uses, or have historical significance.
The rank flag or distinguishing flag is the flag worn by a superior officer on their flagship or headquarters (hence the term flagship). The origins of this are from the era before radiotelegraphy and radiotelephony, when orders were given by flag signals. The flag denotes the ship which must be watched for signals designating orders. Such ...
To avoid having to carry multiple sets of signal flags, the Code uses three "substitute" (or "repeater") flags. These repeat the flag at the indicated position. For instance, to signal MAA ("I request urgent medical advice" the Mike, Alfa, and 2nd substitute flags would be flown, the substitute indicating a repeat of the second character.
Maritime flag signalling, generally flaghoist signalling, is the principal means other than radio by which ships communicate to each other or to shore (distinguished from flags showing nationality, ownership, or (for naval vessels) organizational status).
Naval flag signalling undoubtedly developed in antiquity in order to coordinate naval action of multiple vessels. In the Peloponnesian War (431 – 401 BCE) squadrons of Athenian galleys were described by Thucydides as engaging in coordinated maneuvers which would have required some kind of communication; [1] there is no record of how such communication was done but flags would have been the ...
A US Navy crewman signals the letter 'U' using flag semaphore during an underway replenishment exercise (2005). Flag semaphore (from the Ancient Greek σῆμα (sêma) 'sign' and - φέρω (-phero) '-bearer' [1]) is a semaphore system conveying information at a distance by means of visual signals with hand-held flags, rods, disks, paddles, or occasionally bare or gloved hands.
In January 2023, Panama's maritime authority said it had withdrawn its flag from 136 ships linked to Iran's state oil company in the last four years. More than 8,000 vessels sailing with its flag.
Flags may have individual significance as signals, or two or more flags may be manipulated so that their relative positions convey symbols. Flag signals allowed communication at a distance before the invention of radio and are still used especially in connection with ships.