View Full Version : British flags in red, blue or white?
Lucky Jack
10-14-2014, 13:40
Hello all together,
it`s a little bit awkward question, but I´m only a landsman, and so I ask all the wise guys on this side:
What is the meaning of the groundcolour of the british flags. Each one has the Unionjack in the corner,
but the groundcolour vary between white, red or blue.
I think it is not caused by the commander, but what is the right explanation?
Diamondback
10-14-2014, 13:58
The Royal Navy of the time was divided into three squadrons: Red, White and Blue, each having a corresponding flag. (This is also why you see RN Flag Officers referred to as "Vice-Admiral of the Red", "Admiral of the White", "Rear Admiral of the Blue" and so on.)
Today, only the White Ensign remains in Royal Navy active service, I cannot recall which went were but if memory serves one of the others went to Royal Naval reserve and the other to Merchant Navy.
Naharaht
10-14-2014, 16:57
Diamondback is correct. Here is a link to a Wikipedia article on the subject of British Ensigns.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_ensign
David Manley
10-14-2014, 23:35
As an aside there were also Yellow Admirals, those who were promoted but whom did not have appointments ("without distinction of squadron"). There was of course no yellow ensign.
You might find this helpful as well, as it discusses the various ranks, e.g. Admiral of the Fleet, Admiral of the White, etc.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiral_(Royal_Navy)
Lucky Jack
10-15-2014, 12:57
Thanks a lot to all off you.
It seems you all have british seawater in your veins.
:salute:
Mmm, I think I use red for my vessels....:question:
It seems you all have british seawater in your veins.
Lake Michigan via a Chicago filtration plant. :wink:
Diamondback
10-15-2014, 18:20
And we were doing SO WELL... just got hammered by a solid 2 minutes of Database Error while trying to access this thread.
Not so much British seawater, just a lot of cramming on RN technical history over the past few years trying to help Ares stay off MOST of the biggest rocks.
As far i know after Trafalgar the flag on english warships was only the white one.
Just a little bit of info on admirals the Royal Navy actually had 4 colours White, Blue, Red and believe it or not Yellow. To bypass an officer for any reason he was promoted to Admiral of the Yellow. I believe that someone was promoted Yellow to make way for Nelson (I am sure I read that somewhere).
John B.
Diamondback
02-08-2015, 15:43
The Yellows were basically kicked aside to Shore Duty, a sinecure if memory serves.
David Manley
02-08-2015, 22:11
"Without distinction of squadron" (see post #4) :happy:
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