Signalman 1 & C - Historic Naval Ships Association

FLAGHOIST TERMINOLOGYLEARNING OBJECTIVES: Explain flaghoistterminology and the use of it whencommunicating with flaghoist.Every rating has its own vocabulary; theSignalman rating is no exception. You may already befamiliar with some of the terms discussed in thissection.Signal flags are stowed in the flag bag. It is notactually a bag, but derives its name from the metalframe covered with canvas, in which flags formerlywere stowed. Most ships today are equipped withall-metal bags, which are fireproof and afford moreprotection for the flags.Halyards are numbered from outboard to inboard(1, 2, and so on). Hence, No. 1 starboard would be theoutboard halyard on the starboard yardarm.When the end of a hoist gets away from you andflies out of your reach, you can recover it by using aretriever. A retriever is a separate line attached by ametal ring to each halyard. The retriever may bemoved up and down by separate lines attached as partof such rigging.The Signalman who keeps a lookout for signalsand calls them out to personnel handling the flags atthe flag bag is called the spotter. The spotter will callout, “Stand by your bags,” when a signal is being madeon another ship. That warning tells those personnel onthe bags that a signal is being made and they shouldbe ready to repeat it. The spotter calls out the completehoist twice, then calls out, “Going up.”An example of an incoming signal is as follows:The spotter calls out, “Stand by your port/starboardbag. Signal in the air from the OTC. First hoist,BT—FORM 3, I say again BT—FORM 3, going up tothe dip; second hoist, CORPEN STBD 275, I say againCORPEN STBD 275, going up to the dip; third hoist,SPEED 15—T13, I say again SPEED 15—T13, goingup to the dip. End of hoist, end of signal.”Signal flags are bent onto the uphaul part of thehalyard. The piece of halyard that is made fast to thelast flag in a hoist (so the flags can be hauled down) iscalled the downhaul. When personnel on the bags havethe downhaul secured to the last flag and are ready forthe signal to be hoisted, they tell the person on theuphaul to “Take it up.”HOISTING SIGNALSA flaghoist is said to be “closed up” when its topis touching at the point of hoist. The point of hoist isthe block attached to the yardarm through which thehalyard carrying the hoist is rove. It is the highest pointto which the signal can be raised. Signals when hoistedby the originator are normally hoisted closed up.A flaghoist is said to be “at the dip” when hoistedthree-fourths of the way up to the point of hoist(fig. 5-3). Flaghoists made in answer to or to repeatthe original signal are normally hoisted at the dip untilunderstood; then they are hoisted close up. Relayingships are always to repeat the flaghoist at the dip untilit has been acknowledged by the ships for which theyare responsible, after which they close up the signal.A flaghoist is said to be “hauled down” when it isreturned to the deck. The moment of hauling down isthe moment of execution unless the time of executionis otherwise indicated. The signal is to be acted uponas soon as understood, or the signification of a signalindicates that it is to be executed on dipping.Best results are achieved in flaghoist communicationwhen signals can be made as a single hoist andhauled down before another signal is hoisted. If thehoist is too long (when it cannot be displayed on onehalyard), it is to be broken where a tack wouldnormally be inserted. If the entire signal cannot bemade on three halyards, it is usually advisable to maketwo or more hoists. When this is done, the heading ishoisted and left flying close up until completion of thesignals.Figure 5-3.—Flaghoist close up and at the dip.5-4