Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 85 views

    Nautical Flags and Their Meanings

    Uploaded by

    ريكي أبريدو
    Nautical flags provide a means of visual communication between vessels regarding safety, navigation, and signaling. Individual flags have standardized meanings and can be used alone or in combination. There are 26 alphabet flags, 10 numeral pennants, and flags for substitute letters. Common flag colors include blue, yellow, red, black, and white. Nautical flags are important at sea when radio communication fails or during emergencies. Single flags signify urgent or common signals, while multiple flags together indicate things like points of the compass, times, verbs, and ship identification.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Nautical Flags and Their Meanings

    Uploaded by

    ريكي أبريدو
    85 views3 pages
    Nautical flags provide a means of visual communication between vessels regarding safety, navigation, and signaling. Individual flags have standardized meanings and can be used alone or in combination. There are 26 alphabet flags, 10 numeral pennants, and flags for substitute letters. Common flag colors include blue, yellow, red, black, and white. Nautical flags are important at sea when radio communication fails or during emergencies. Single flags signify urgent or common signals, while multiple flags together indicate things like points of the compass, times, verbs, and ship identification.

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Nautical flags provide a means of visual communication between vessels regarding safety, navigation, and signaling. Individual flags have standardized meanings and can be used alone or in combination. There are 26 alphabet flags, 10 numeral pennants, and flags for substitute letters. Common flag colors include blue, yellow, red, black, and white. Nautical flags are important at sea when radio communication fails or during emergencies. Single flags signify urgent or common signals, while multiple flags together indicate things like points of the compass, times, verbs, and ship identification.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    85 views3 pages

    Nautical Flags and Their Meanings

    Uploaded by

    ريكي أبريدو
    Nautical flags provide a means of visual communication between vessels regarding safety, navigation, and signaling. Individual flags have standardized meanings and can be used alone or in combination. There are 26 alphabet flags, 10 numeral pennants, and flags for substitute letters. Common flag colors include blue, yellow, red, black, and white. Nautical flags are important at sea when radio communication fails or during emergencies. Single flags signify urgent or common signals, while multiple flags together indicate things like points of the compass, times, verbs, and ship identification.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    You are on page 1of 3

    Nautical Flags and Their Meanings

    Nautical flags aim to provide ways and means of communication in situations related to
    safety of navigation and persons, being an international code system used for a boat to
    signal to shore or for two boats to signal to each other. Individual flags have specific
    and standard meanings. These ones can be used in combination with another flag or
    alone. Using different nautical colored flags have a different meaning.

    Nautical flags are made up of 26 square flags, which represent the letters of the
    alphabet. There are also 10 numbered pendants, one answering pendant and three
    substitutes. You will see nautical flags in a few colors because only a few flag colors
    are easily recognized:

    o Blue
    o Yellow
    o Red
    o Black
    o White

    Nautical Flags and Their Meanings


    It’s important to understand nautical flags and their meaning because they are valuable
    at sea in case of breakdowns in other communications systems (eg. radio) or in case of
    danger.

    o One-flag signals are urgent or common signals.


    o Two-flag signals are used for distress and maneuvering.
    o Three-flag signals are for points of the compass, relative bearings, standard
    times, verbs, punctuation and also general code and decode signals.
    o Four-flags are used mostly for geographical signals, names of ships, bearings,
    etc.
    o Five-flag signals are used to relate time and position.
    o Six-flag signals are used to indicate the main cardinal directions (N, S, E or W) in
    latitude and longitude signals.
    o Seven-flags are for longitude signals containing more than one hundred degrees.
    Nautical flags are also used in nautical racing which signal to the competitors what they
    are supposed to do.

    Nautical flags are also used in nautical racing which signal to the competitors what they
    are supposed to do.

    Internati
    onal Nautical Flags and Pennants1st , 2nd & 3rd Repeaters are called substitutes. 0-
    9 - numeral pennants.

    The Nautical Flag Alphabet


    It is important to know each flag representing a letter has a meaning.
    International meanings for nautical flags:
    o A: Alpha – diver down; I am undergoing a speed trial
    o B: Bravo – carrying dangerous cargo
    o C: Charlie – yes (affirmative)
    o D: Delta – keep clear of me, I am manoevering with difficulty
    o E: Echo – altering course to starboard
    o F: Foxtrot – I am disabled, communicate with me
    o G: Golf – I want a pilot
    o H: Hotel – a pilot on board
    o I: India – I am altering my course to port
    o J: Juliet – vessel on fire keep clear
    o K: Kilo – I want to communicate with you
    o L: Lima – stop your vessel instantly, I have something important to communicate;
    Come Within Hail or Follow Me (Sailing Regatta)
    o M: Mike – my vessel is stopped and making no way through the water; Mark
    Missing (Sailing Regatta)
    o N: November – no (negative); Abandonment and Re-sail (Sailing Regatta)
    o O: Oscar – Man overboard
    o P: Papa – In port: All personnel return to ship; vessel is about to sail; At sea: It
    may be used by fishing vessels to mean: “My nets have come fast upon an
    obstruction”
    o Q: Quebec – I request free pratique
    o R: Romeo – reverse course
    o S: Sierra – engines are going astern
    o T: Tango – Keep clear; engaged in trawling. (International); Do not pass ahead of
    me. (Navy)
    o U: Uniform – you are heading into danger
    o V: Victor – require assistance
    o W: Whiskey – require medical assistance
    o X: X-ray – stop your intention
    o Y: Yankee – am dragging anchor
    o Z: Zulu – I require a tug

    You might also like