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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.
At first it was used concurrently with the old system until 1 January 1902, and then used exclusively after 1 January 1903. In this new edition, the number of flags was increased from 18 flags plus a code pennant to 26 flags and a code pennant. The eight new flags represented the vowels A E I O U and the letters X Y Z. [2]
In 1857, the United Kingdom sponsored the Commercial Code of Signals for the Use of All Nations at Sea, which introduced four letter flag signal codes to identify individual ships. [3] The first vessel to be reported in Lloyd's List by her letters was the Mallard (LDPN), off Deal, Kent whilst on a voyage from London to Calcutta , India . [ 4 ]
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 ...
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).
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 ...
In this code, alphabet letters were equated with three positions of a single flag, disk, or light. The flags measured two, four, or six feet (60, 120 or 180 cm) square and were generally either red or black banners with white square centers or white banners with red square centers. [ 7 ]
Modern ships usually have several identifiers. In addition to proper nouns, types of ship identifiers include: Code letters – an identifier for a ship that is displayed on vessels by ICS flags representing the letters of the alphabet and numbers 0–9, e.g. the flags (from top to bottom) represented the identifier "USMW"