International Marine Signal Flags

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The following flags are international signals used by ships at sea. They can be used to spellout short messages, or more commonly, used individually or in combination they have special meanings. Strung end to end and hung bow to stern from the rigging they are used to dress the ship for ceremonmial and festive occaisions.

For another means of communicating with flags, see the semaphore flag waving system.

Alphabet Flags

A;  B;  C;  D;  E;  F; G;  H;  I;  J;  K;  L;

M;  N;  O;  P;  Q;  R; S;  T;  U;  V;  W;  X;

Y;  Z; 

Answering Pennant

Numeric Pennants

0;  1;  2;  3; 4;  5;  6;  7; 8;  9; 

Substitute Pennants

substitute 1;  substitute 2;  substitute 3;

 The first substitute repeats the upper flag or pennant of a hoist, the second substitute repeats the second flag or pennant, and so on.

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by Jim Croft (jrc@anbg.gov.au)