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Thread: British flags in red, blue or white?

  1. #1
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    Default British flags in red, blue or white?

    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?
    Last edited by Lucky Jack; 10-14-2014 at 13:47.

  2. #2
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    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.

  3. #3
    Admiral. R.I.P.
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    Diamondback is correct. Here is a link to a Wikipedia article on the subject of British Ensigns.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_ensign

  4. #4
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    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.

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    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)
    “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” ― Plato

  6. #6
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    Thanks a lot to all off you.
    It seems you all have british seawater in your veins.

    Mmm, I think I use red for my vessels....

  7. #7
    Retired Admiral of the Fleet
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lucky Jack View Post
    It seems you all have british seawater in your veins.
    Lake Michigan via a Chicago filtration plant.
    “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” ― Plato

  8. #8
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    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.

  9. #9
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    As far i know after Trafalgar the flag on english warships was only the white one.

  10. #10
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    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.

  11. #11
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    The Yellows were basically kicked aside to Shore Duty, a sinecure if memory serves.

  12. #12
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    "Without distinction of squadron" (see post #4)

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