Name (required):

  Expression ^{(Optional mood/title along with your name) Examples: (happy, sad, The Joyful, etc.) help)}

  E-mail address (optional):

* Type your message here:
>>Albert >> >>Are you sure about the commissioning pennant, I >>thought they were only flown by private ships (i.e. >>not flagships). >> >>Although I couldn't say where I got that idea. >> >>Cy >> >Timothy Wilson, <i>Flags at Sea</i> (Greenwich & >Annapolis: National Maritime Museum & Naval Institute >Press, 1986). > >P. 10: “The term ‘pennant’ can be used for any long >tapering flag: the masthead pennant which is the mark >of a naval vessel in commission, is long and narrow >...” > >P. 109: “<b>Commissioning pennant:</b> See ‘Masthead >pennant.’” > >P. 110: “<b>Masthead pennant:</b> A long narrow >pennant flown permanently by warships in commission, >unless replaced by the command flag of a flag officer.” > >Modern command flags have various markings (balls on >the British and their imitators, different numbers of >stars for U.S.N.) to indicate the rank of the flag >officer. In the sail era, in most navies all admirals >flew the same flag, their rank indicated by the >position: ><i>Mizzen mast:</i> Rear-admiral, chef d'escadre, >schout-by-nacht, and equivalents ><i>Fore mast:</i> Vice-admiral, lieutenant-général, >teniente general, and equivalents ><i>Main mast:</i> Admiral, vice-amiral (France), >capitan-general, lieutenant-admiraal (Netherlands), >and equivalents > >If there was a higher rank, such as the British >admiral of the fleet, he flew a different flag from >the mainmast. In the British navy, the admiral of the >fleet flew the “union [flag]at the main.” > >Nowadays, ships have only one place at which to fly >the admiral's flag <b>or</b> commissioning pennant, >but I am not sure how that applied in the era of >three-masted warships. I don't know whether the >commissioning pennant was flown from the mainmast of >the flagships of rear- and vice-admirals, but not >flown on the flagship of an admiral or equivalent, or >was flow with and above the admiral's command flag. I >have plenty of pictures showing ships flying a long, >narrow pennant from the mainmast, and some pictures >that do not seem to show a commissioning pennant. One >of HCMS <i>Santissima Trinidad</i> shows her flying >the post-1785 Spanish ensign at the stern and a >smaller one from the mizzen peak. Thus, it would seem >to be <i>Trinidad</i> at Trafalgar, where she had a ><i>jefe de escuadra</i> or rear-admiral on board >although he had no command. She is also flying a >commissioning pennant from the main peak. I don't >have a clear picture of <i>Victory.</i> In any case, >paintings are not photographs, it is impossible to be >sure that a painter, even a contemporary one with >naval officers as patrons, was accurate about the >flags on a particular ship on a particular occasion. >It is possible that practice varied over time or from >navy to navy. > >So now I’m not sure whether <i>Victory</i> at >Trafalgar was flying a commissioning pennant or not. >She would definitely have been flying white ensigns at >the stern and from the foremast, and the non-flagships >in the British fleet would have been flying >commissioning pennants. I know that Villeneuve had >the tricolor hoisted at all three mastheads, but this >was an idiosyncracy.

Notice: Copies of your message may remain on this and other systems on internet. Please be respectful.