to the addressees or to the OTC if there are no
addressees.
SECOND SUB in place of the address means For
general information, no specific address, no answer
required.
THIRD SUB preceding the address means This
signal, in addition to being addressed to certain ships
for action, is for general information and is to be
relayed and answered as an all ships signal.
FOURTH SUB at the yardarm means Accompanying
signals are taken from ATP 2, volume II or national
or regional defense organization publications.
Construction of Heading
In constructing flaghoist calls, numerals are
expressed by numeral pennants except when numeral
flags are specifically indicated.
The heading consists of the address. Ordinarily,
only action addressees are indicated, but information
and exempted addressees may be included. Flag W
and the NEGAT pennant, respectively, are used for
information and exempted addressees. The address
may be omitted under the following situations:
Signals to all ships from the OTC or senior officer
present afloat
By ships addressing the OTC that are in direct
visual communication with him/her and no relay is
required and no confusion would result
By ships or commands addressing emergency
signals to the OTC
A tackline must often be used to separate call signs to
avoid ambiguous combinations of flags in the heading.
It will always be used to separate flag W from the call
sign preceding and/or following it in the same hoist.
Address designations used in flaghoist messages
are call signs, address groups, and sequence numbers.
Example of a heading:
ACTIONAll ships
INFOMain body
EXEMPTAmphibious force
HOISTp2 TACK W TACK p3 NEGAT p3p2
TEXT
The text of flaghoist messages will consist of such
prescribed signals and plain language as may be
necessary to convey the subject matter expressed by
the originator. Usually the message is made up of
signals from the Allied Maritime Tactical Signal and
Maneuvering Book, ATP 1, volume II, or the
International Code of Signals, Pub 102. International
signaling is discussed in chapter 6.
ALLIED MARITIME TACTICAL
SIGNAL AND MANEUVERING BOOK
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Explain the
procedure for the use of the Allied Maritime
Tactical Signal and Maneuvering Book, ATP 1,
volume II, including general procedures, listing
chapters, the use of the supplementary tables,
single flags and pennants, substitutes, and
supplementing signals. Describe procedures
for encoding and decoding signals.
ATP 1, volume II, is the origin of most tactical
communications between Allied naval units.
The signal book consists of instructions, tabulated
sections of code, and special tables. The 34 chapters
of the signal book are constituted as follows:
Chapter lGeneral Instructions for Use of the
Book
Chapter 2Single Flags and Special Pennants
Chapter 3Emergency Alarm and Action Signals
Chapters 4-9Maneuvering Signals Using
Pennants
Chapters 10-34Two-Letter and Number-Letter
Signals, Special Tables (Operational and
Administrative), and Main Signal Vocabulary
The overall security classification of the signal
book is NATO Restricted, but groups contained
therein are a simple unchanging code and have no
security. If the system of signaling is subject to
interception, only unclassified information should be
sent in the code. Unless specified otherwise, signals
from the signal book may be used with any
communication media, including flashing light, voice
radio, and flaghoist.
Chapter 1 is a must for all Signalmen. It contains
the general instructions for use of this publication.
Take time to thoroughly study this chapter.
Signals relating to certain important types of
actions are grouped in flag action tables. For instance,
signals relating to ASW are located in one table. There
are six flag action tables; each flag action table has a
5-7