This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website

Naval traditions about flags

Last modified: 2005-05-28 by phil nelson
Keywords: naval traditions |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors


 

See also:

Hoisting of Colors

As with many traditions, the US Navy borrowed that of morning and evening colors from the British. According to the Royal Navy website http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/history/coveycrump/:

The present ceremony of hoisting colours (Union Jack at the jackstaff, and White Ensign at the ensign staff) each morning, with a guard and band paraded, was instituted by Lord St. Vincent in 1797 after the mutinies at Spithead and the Nore.

In the US sea services, evening colors have always been made at sunset. The first mention in regulations of the time for morning colors was in the 1843 Rules and Regulations for the Government of the Navy, which provided that if sunset was after 6:00 p.m., then morning colors were at 8:00 a.m.; if sunset was before six, then morning colors were at nine. The 1876 Regulations for the Government of the Navy provided that morning colors would be at 8:00 a.m. in all cases, and that has remained the practice since then. (US Navy Regulations (1990) articles 1259-1260). The Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration follow the same practice.

The ceremonies go as follows:

Morning Colors

  1. Approximately 0755, the word is passed FIRST CALL, FIRST CALL TO COLORS (aboard ship) or the bugle call "First Call" is sounded (ashore).
  2. The guard of the day and band are paraded.
  3. The bugle call "Attention" is sounded or one blast is sounded on the ship's whistle.
  4. At 0800, the word is passed EXECUTE, and the National Anthem or the bugle call "To the Colors" is played. The ensign is started up at the beginning of the music and hoisted smartly to the peak or truck. Aboard ship, the union jack is hoisted simultaneously. All within earshot face the ensign and salute during the playing of "To the Colors" or the National Anthem.
  5. If the ensign is to be displayed at half-mast, it (and, aboard ship, the jack) is then lowered slowly to a point 3/4 of the way to the peak or truck, or, on a pole-mast with a crosstree, to a point level with the crosstree. (At Marine Corps bases, half-mast is halfway up the pole, as for the Army.)
  6. The bugle call "Carry on" is sounded or three blasts are sounded on the ship's whistle.

Evening Colors

  1. Approximately five minutes before sunset, the word is passed First Call, First Call to Colors (aboard ship) or the bugle call "First Call" is sounded.
  2. The guard of the day and band are paraded.
  3. The bugle call "Attention" is sounded or one blast is sounded on the ship's whistle.
  4. At sunset, the word is passed EXECUTE (aboard ship), and the National Anthem or the bugle call "Retreat" is played. The ensign is started down at the beginning of the music and lowered slowly timed to be fully lowered at the last note. Aboard ship, the union jack is lowered simultaneously. If the ensign is at half-mast, it and the jack are run smartly up to the peak or truck at the beginning of the music, then lowered slowly. All within earshot face the ensign and salute during the playing of "Retreat" or the National Anthem.
  5. The bugle call "Carry on" is sounded or three blasts are sounded on the ship's whistle.

When evening colors are made ashore during a parade or review with troops and band present, the sequence is "First Call," "Attention," "Retreat," the National Anthem, and "Carry On," with the ensign being lowered during the National Anthem.

(Sources:
U.S. Navy Regulations, Chapter 12;
USCG M5000.3B; NTP-13(B);
NAVMC 2691; NAO 201-6;
James Stavridis, The Watch Officers Guide)

By the way, these times do not apply to ships under way, which fly their flags in daylight hours only under certain conditions specified in Navy Regulations (cruising near land, when falling in with other ships, coming to anchor, in combat, etc.).

And, finally, no, there are no words to either "To the Colors," played in the morning, or "Retreat," played in the evening. They are old (at least 19th century) army bugle calls.
Joe McMillan, 03 June 2000

Gin Flag

When I was in the Royal Canadian Navy I heard reference to a "Gin flag" that was meant as an invitation to other ships crews to join the ship flying the flag to come aboard when in dock for "gin". Have you heard of this and do you know what it looks like?
Dale Vigar, 12 October 2001
Off list question to FOTW

I have heard of it, or actually read about it, in books covering customs and traditions of the Royal Navy. I have seen it described rather as the "gin pendant" or "pennant" and as being green. I've seen one suggestion that it is the "starboard" signal pennant--a trapezoidal pennant of four alternating green and white vertical stripes. But since 1950 NATO navies have used that as the signal indicating the vessel of the senior officer present afloat. It's possible that "starboard" was used before 1950 and that some other pennant or flag is used now, or that the green gin pendant was never the same as "starboard" but some other design altogether. Or that British and Canadian SOPAs are just exceptionally hospitable fellows.

As U.S. Navy ships have been "dry" since the 1910s, I do not believe this signal is used in the United States Navy, so I doubt that I'll be able to find much more about it on this side of the Atlantic.
Joe McMillan, 12 October 2001

Looking further into the gin pennant, I just found a picture at http://members.aol.com/jmlavelle2/flag3.jpg of a group of USN officers and sailors on Midway in World War II holding what is described as a gin pennant. It is long and triangular, dark with a single vertical white stripe. The photo is B&W, but the pennant could well be green and white, but it is not the "starboard" pennant that is in the current signal books and used by senior officers present afloat in NATO.

And www.hazegray.org/faq/slang1.htm defines gin pennant as "usually green with a wine or cocktail glass on it." It says the pennant is used by UK, unofficial, and hoisted by ship's officers to announce that they are celebrating some event by offering drinks to visitors.
Joe McMillan, 13 October 2001

The page http://bowsprit.home.mindspring.com/page2.html has:

*Editors Note: A tradition of the Royal Navy started at the height of the British Empire, was the hoisting of the "Gin Pendant", R.P.C., which means Request the Pleasure of your Company at 1800 hours, by RN warships in harbours around the world. Gin and angostura bitters at the end of the workday were de rigueur. The tradition continues today, though as a general signal for gatherings aboard ships to celebrate any number of events and anniversaries where officers call meet and talk "shop."