what do the flags on the ship mean?

Question

whenever I see a ship, like a coast guard cutter or a fishing yacht or something, they always have different flags flying with different colors and designs and stuff. for example, one that i saw was white with a red x in it, another was white and blue checkered, and another was half red, half white, and other stuff like that

Answer 1

These are SIGNAL flags. (Semaphore flags are handheld.)



A Coast Guard cutter will fly its call sign -- a four letter combination beginning with the letter "N". (All CG and Navy ships have call signs which begin with "N".)



Other signals (from single flags to combinations of many) flown indicate operations or conditions onboard the ship.



White with a red x in it is the "V" which when flown alone, means "I require assistance." White and blue checkered is "N" -- "I am stopped." Half red, half white -- "H" -- means there is pilot onboard.

Answer 2

Besides flying the flags of the different countries the ship may be registered in, they also fly flags for the operations they may be involved in. Check out this link



http://www.travel-images.com/international-maritime-signals.html

Answer 3

These are semaphore flags that you are describing. Each flag is a letter of the alphabet. You have spelled " X N H". Follow the link for more details.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_maritime_signal_flags