In case you were wondering what the flags say, reading down the hoists and right to left they spell out "NAVY ME MO RIAL". This is appropriate since the mast is at the US Navy Memorial in Washington, DC. Since I am not an expert in such things, and I am sure whoever put the flags up and you would not make such a mistake, please let me know why the Victor flag looks like the X-Ray flag on my chart. Does the Navy swap those letters in their code compared to the international code?
Thanks!
Hmmm. Now that you mention it that is an X-Ray vice a Victor. Evidently I made a mistake in reading the hoist.
I have no idea why they would use the wrong flag. I am sure there are enough people around the Navy Memorial that read signal flags, semaphore, and Morse code.
I have several sea stories that deal with unsupervised signalmen.
WWG1WGA
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Does the Navy swap those letters in their code compared to the international code?Could be. I was not in the Navy, but I am a sailor. IIRC, the US Navy military code is slightly different from the international code standard. I could be wrong.