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The Medical Signal Code [13] (incorporated in the International Code of Signals since 1930) is a means of providing assistance when medical personnel are not present. Plain language is generally preferred in such cases (presumably via radiotelephone), but the various codes provide a succinct method of communicating to a doctor the nature of the ...
International maritime signal flags are various flags used to communicate with ships. The principal system of flags and associated codes is the International Code of Signals . [ 1 ] Various navies have flag systems with additional flags and codes, and other flags are used in special uses, or have historical significance.
The International Code of Signals [1] defines a standard set of flags and associated alphabet suitable for international use, as well as a set of standard codes. Flaghoist is also used in boat racing , to warn of impending severe weather, and other specialized applications.
Naval flag signalling undoubtedly developed in antiquity in order to coordinate naval action of multiple vessels. In the Peloponnesian War (431 – 401 BCE) squadrons of Athenian galleys were described by Thucydides as engaging in coordinated maneuvers which would have required some kind of communication; [1] there is no record of how such communication was done but flags would have been the ...
Various other codes were also published, [15] but all these were eventually supplanted by the Commercial Code of Signals published by the British Board of Trade in 1857, which eventually became the International Code of Signals (ICS). A significant development was the addition of letter flags to make the code alphabetical.
In the system of international maritime signal flags, part of the International Code of Signals, the Z flag stands for the letter Z ("Zulu" in the NATO Alphabet) when used in letter-by-letter alphabetic communication. When used alone, it means "I require a tug" or, when used by fishing vessels near fishing grounds, "I am shooting nets".
A US Navy crewman signals the letter 'U' using flag semaphore during an underway replenishment exercise (2005). Flag semaphore (from the Ancient Greek σῆμα (sêma) 'sign' and - φέρω (-phero) '-bearer' [1]) is a semaphore system conveying information at a distance by means of visual signals with hand-held flags, rods, disks, paddles, or occasionally bare or gloved hands.
In radiotelegraph operation, a Q code is often shorter, [39] and provides codes standardized by meaning in all languages – essential for international shortwave radio communications. Z codes are used for military radio communications NATO countries, and like Q codes are standardized across languages.