The ultimate ensign question

[Poignard]

Question:- Under what circumstances might you see a Royal Navy warship, in commission, hoist a red ensign?

nb This is taken from a pre-second world war book and may not apply nowadays .

 

[Gunfleet]

can we just clear up the question of which war it's pre?

 

[Poignard]

Sorry! See above.

 

[Impaler]

I saw a pic of a RN ship flying an Iranian flag.

 

[BrendanS]

where and when, and was it a real pic, or just photoshopped?

 

[Impaler]

Remember our glorious hostages and the alleged navigation error?? It was only a RIB but the White Ensign I believe was eclipsed by the republic's flag!!
As an ex soldier it's my duty to take the whatsit from the Senior Service.

 

[JohnP]

Until 1863, the Royal Navy was divided into Red, White and Blue Squadrons. Ships of the Red wore a Red Ensign. After 1863, all had the White Ensign.

 

[Talbot]

Not sure about when in commission, certainly never happened on any ship I served in + while in commission.

However, A new ship still in contractors hands will fly a red ensign while carrying out contractors trials prior to hand over + but the vessel will not be in commission.

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

SWMBO, who is a librarian for the Naval Museum in Portsmouth Dockyard, is interested in this one as ensign based queries are not infreqeunt. Any more details?

 

[Rustyknight]

There's a website called shipsnostalgia.com which has loads of forums which often turn up some real gems of info...... even a thread about The Red Ensign and the Royal Navy

 

[bbg]

Are there any circumstances in which the RN might hoist a red ensign as a courtesy flag? In some protectorates / former colonies, for example?

This site says merchant ships under charter to the navy normally continue to wear the red ensign.

 

[TheBoatman]

My first thoughts are the possibility that it would be a RN ship but under the command of Merchant Navy skipper rather than a serving RN officer.

What you might call a "delivery skipper"

I'm going off to have a dig round!

Peter.

 

[TheBoatman]

Having had a ferret around he's a second guess at an answer!

During WW1 there could be confusion between the English and German naval ensigns, therefore a British commissioned warship could "in addition" hoist a red ensign.

Am I anywhere near the answer?

Peter.

 

[Poignard]

The answer, according to "The Yachmaster and Coasting Skipper's Guide" by Frank G. Carr, is :

"A warship may hoist a red ensign when it wishes to communicate with a British merchant vessel or yacht."

Obviously not done nowadays with vhf available but I wonder if warships still carry a red ensign for this purpose, in case they were unable, or unwilling, to use the vhf.