Signalman 1 & C - Historic Naval Ships Association

ADDRESS OF MESSAGEMost messages have at least one addresseeresponsible for taking action on the contents and fororiginating any necessary reply. Other addressees withan official concern in the subject of the message butwho do not have the primary responsibility for actingon it receive the message for information. Do not beconfused by the term information addressee. Eventhough an information addressee usually is concernedonly indirectly with a message, frequently action ofsome nature must be taken within the command. Somemessages have only information addressees. Exemptaddressees are used when the originator desires toexclude one or more authorities from a collective title.PROSIGNSLEARNING OBJECTIVES: Define prosign.Match prosigns with their meanings.Procedure signs, or prosigns, consist of one ormore letters or characters or combination thereof, usedto aid communication by conveying, in a condensedform, certain frequently used orders, instructions,requests, and information relating to communication.Figure 3-1 is a list of prosigns, and their meanings, thatare authorized for use in visual signaling. No othersmay be used. An overscore (a line over two or moreletters) indicates that the letters overscored are to betransmitted as a single character (no pause betweenletters). ACP 129, Communications Instruction,visual Signaling Procedures, contains the proceduresfor the use of prosigns.NAVAL MESSAGE FORMATLEARNING OBJECTIVE: Identify the parts,components, and elements of the basic navalmessage format.Figure 3-2 shows a message copied as receivedby flashing light. Figure 3-3 represents the standardformat of naval messages. Study the figure andcompare it with the message.Each message prepared in either plaindress,abbreviated codress, or codress will have three parts:heading, text, and ending. Each message part hascertain components, which are broken down intoelements and contents. Format lines 2, 3, 4, 14, 15, and16 (fig. 3-3) identify the procedural portions of theFigure 3-1.—Authorized prosigns and their meanings.3-2