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The Phonetic Alphabet

Phonetic Alphabet and Signal Flags

Navy opens high-tech warship simulator

HMAS Hobart-Ship's Badge

HMAS HOBART– SHIP'S BADGE

For the first seven months as HMAS Hobart I, the ship displayed the badge of HMS Apollo (the ship's original name) as no castings of the official pattern (design) had been manufactured. Eventually badges were manufactured and the ship displayed the Crest of the Coat of Arms of the State of Tasmania. The crest is that part atop the shield in Coat of Arms, namely the red lion with a paw on the spade and pick standing on the crest wreath (the two colours, gold and red).

State of Tasmania – Coat of Arms

The ship also adopted officially the motto of the State of Tasmania, 'Ubertus et Fidelitas' (Fruitfulness and Faithfulness), as it was common when adopting a State or City's Coat of Arms that the motto was also adopted, in its original language. As the design had no motto scroll the motto was rarely displayed with the badge.

Importantly, the City of Hobart did not have a Coat of Arms until 1957, some 10 years after Hobart 1 decommissioned.

City of Hobart – Coat of Arms

When addressing Hobart II's badge, the Ships Badges, Names and Honours committee (who presided over badge designs) recommended that the design of Hobart I be adopted but incorporating the 1963 policy of displaying mottos in English. Thus discussion began about the translation of the motto 'Ubertus et Fidelitas'. The English translation "Richness and Faithfulness", or "Fruitful and Faithful" or "Abundant and Faithful" were considered inappropriate for a fighting ship, so eventually the committee agreed and approved the motto 'Audacious'.

HMAS Hobart II Motto - Audacious

With the announcement of the new motto and subsequent drawings being reproduced, the ships and boat badges were processed for manufacture. It was only when the Naval Board was advised by Chief of Naval Staff (CN today) that the advanced party of Hobart's ships company questioned the motto that the Naval Board decided (24 Aug. 65) that the motto would be 'SIC FORTIS HOBARTIA CREVIT' and that it remain in its Latin form not in English.

Unfortunately notice of the amended motto change was not received until after the pattern (design drawings) and mould had been completed, badges cast and painting commenced. Additionally, Hobart's ships canteen had been debited with expenditure for various items displaying the badge with the motto 'Audacious' and advice was that insufficient time remained to re-order and reproduce these items before commissioning. In view of this the Naval Board was asked to reconsider the motto change. Additionally, advice from the ship was that the motto 'Audacious' had been most favourably received by the nucleus crew, and proudly displayed in the Bay City. It was also stated that while it was possible that one or two dissenters may have expressed contrary opinions of the motto to the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) during his visit, the majority of the crew, including the CO, in fact had a strong alliance to 'Audacious'. Further, the CO made a strong representation to retain the motto and the Naval Board was asked to reconsider their decision.

Wishing no financial loss to the Officers and ship's company, Naval Board approval was given for the various canteen items and presentation plaques to be used; but the dies which had been manufactured were to be replaced and charged to official funds. Instruction for additional orders of canteen items displaying the motto 'Audacious' were not to be placed. In summary though the decision to change the motto to 'SIC FORTIS HOBARTIA CREVIT' would remain.

The explanation from the Naval Board was that discarding the motto, while retaining the name and a badge derived from the Arms of the City of Hobart, was an unnecessary break from tradition and it could moreover give offence to the ship's named city with which it was to be hoped the ship would have a happy association throughout her life. Unfortunately this conclusion was incorrect. As previously stated, the Heraldic Lion came from the Arms of the State of Tasmania, not the City of Hobart. Though it can be noted that the Arms from the City of Hobart does have a Heraldic Lion in it though displayed slightly differently and without the Spade and Pickaxe. Nevertheless 'SIC FORTIS HOBARTIA CREVIT' remained the approved motto.

On 3 December, 1965 the official pattern (design drawing) motto was amended to 'SIC FORTIS HOBARTIA CREVIT' and all previous drawings cancelled.

HMAS Hobart II Motto – SIC FORTIS HOBARTIA CREVIT

Recently, with notice that the new Air Warfare Destroyers would be the Hobart Class of which Hobart would be the class leader, the design of the Hobart badge was again raised, as is normal practice when a de-commissioned vessel is re-commissioned into service. With the instruction to still have English mottos displayed on Navy badges, where it is thought more appropriate, Hobart's motto was discussed with the eventual approval for the Latin motto to be translated into English approved by Chief of Navy (CN)

However the translation of Hobart II's motto into English was 'Thus in Strength Did Hobart Grow' which was thought inappropriate for a fighting ship plus had too many letters to fit into the motto scroll under the aboriginal weapons. So Hobart III's motto was altered to reflect the same values and meaning of the original motto but be able to fit into the motto scroll and more obviously reflect a fighting ship. Thus the eventual motto, 'Grow with Strength' was approved.

HMAS Hobart III Motto – GROW WITH STRENGTH

The Phonetic Alphabet

A phonetic alphabet is a list of words used to identify letters. It was developed to put an end to confusion in telephone or radio conversations. Two words may sound alike and still they can have very different meanings; for example: "sale" and "sail." Spelling is therefore necessary to tell one from the other.

Unfortunately, spelling is not enough to solve the problem, as it can also become confusing with similar sounding letters like "B" and "D." The phonetic alphabet, where letters are substituted by spoken words from an approved list, was thus developed to help prevent confusion between similar sounding letters/words, and to clarify communications that may be garbled during transmission. For example, the word "Navy" is spelled "November Alfa Victor Yankee" per the current phonetic alphabet.

An early version of the phonetic alphabet appeared in the 1913 edition of "The Bluejackets' Manual." It was found in the Signals section and paired with the Alphabetical Code Flags defined in the International Code. The words selected to represent some letters have since changed several times, as shown in the table below. The meaning of the flags (the letters they represent) and their names (which make up the phonetic alphabet) were chosen by international agreement. Any changes must also be made by international agreement.

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Phonetic Alphabet and Signal Flags
Related source: Bravo Zulu

A phonetic alphabet is a list of words used to identify letters in a message transmitted by radio or telephone. Spoken words from an approved list are substituted for letters. For example, the word "Navy" would be "November Alfa Victor Yankee" when spelled in the phonetic alphabet. This practice helps to prevent confusion between similar sounding letters, such as "m" and "n", and to clarify communications that may be garbled during transmission.
An early version of the phonetic alphabet appears in the 1913 edition of The Bluejackets’ Manual. Found in the Signals section, it was paired with the Alphabetical Code Flags defined in the International Code. Both the meanings of the flags (the letter which they represent) and their names (which make up the phonetic alphabet) were selected by international agreement. Later editions included the Morse code signal as well.

Flags with special meanings in Navy signaling were given extra names. These five flags are called governing flags. They convey specific information about how to interpret a signal based on their position among the other flags raised. The governing flags are called Affirm (Affirmative), Int (Interrogatory), Negat (Negative), Option (Optional), Prep (Preparatory). The Navy often substituted these special names for the standard word listed in the phonetic alphabet. During World War II, when it was necessary for the Navy to communicate with the Army or Allied forces, signalmen were directed to use the standard words, given in parentheses.

The words chosen to represent some letters have changed since the phonetic alphabet was introduced. When these changes occur, they are made by international agreement. The current phonetic alphabet was adopted in 1957.

 

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Letter	1913	1927	1938	World War II	1957-Present	Signal Flag
A	Able	Affirmative	Affirm	Affirm (Able)	Alfa
B	Boy	Baker	Baker	Baker	Bravo
C	Cast	Cast	Cast	Charlie	Charlie
D	Dog	Dog	Dog	Dog	Delta
E	Easy	Easy	Easy	Easy	Echo
F	Fox	Fox	Fox	Fox	Foxtrot
G	George	George	George	George	Golf
H	Have	Hypo	Hypo	How	Hotel
I	Item	Interrogatory	Int	Int (Item)	India
J	Jig	Jig	Jig	Jig	Juliett
K	King	King	King	King	Kilo
L	Love	Love	Love	Love	Lima
M	Mike	Mike	Mike	Mike	Mike
N	Nan	Negative	Negat	Negat (Nan)	November
O	Oboe	Option	Option	Option (Oboe)	Oscar
P	Pup	Preparatory	Prep	Prep (Peter)	Papa
Q	Quack	Quack	Queen	Queen	Quebec
R	Rush	Roger	Roger	Roger	Romeo
S	Sail	Sail	Sail	Sugar	Sierra
T	Tare	Tare	Tare	Tare	Tango
U	Unit	Unit	Unit	Uncle	Uniform
V	Vice	Vice	Victor	Victor	Victor
W	Watch	William	William	William	Whiskey
X	X-ray	X-ray	X-ray	X-ray	X-ray
Y	Yoke	Yoke	Yoke	Yoke	Yankee
Z	Zed	Zed	Zed	Zebra	Zulu

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MECC 128/11 Thursday, 24 March 2011

Navy opens high-tech warship simulator

Junior officers in the Royal Australian Navy will learn to pilot the next generation of warships, in an upgraded $10m training facility at HMAS Watson, Sydney, which will be officially opened tomorrow.

The new high-tech simulator uses computerised virtual-reality software to simulate a working warship's bridge, complete with a 240-degree view of a computer generated 2D scene through the bridge windows.

The bridge training faculty, one of the most advanced simulators in the world, will be opened by Commander Australian Fleet Rear Admiral Steve Gilmore.

"This facility is at the cutting edge of simulator technology and provides junior Seaman Officers with very realistic training so they will be capable of carrying out the duties of the Officer-of-the-Watch before heading out to sea," Rear Admiral Gilmore said.

"Our Navy is the first in the world to use multi flex touch screens in a warship bridge simulator, which increases functionality without cumbersome hardware," Rear Admiral Gilmore said.

The simulators replicate the full range of maritime operations likely to be experienced while on the bridge of a warship and can be reconfigured to match most classes of ship in the RAN's current fleet. New functionality includes boat operations, interdiction, and docking and beaching evolutions pertinent to the new Landing Helicopter Dock ships, the first of which is due to enter service in 2014.

"An example of a complex scenario is manoeuvering a 3500-tonne warship within 2000 yards of a number of other ships while under air attack, or ships within 50m of each other conducting replenishment-at-sea approaches" Rear Admiral Gilmore said.

With two full-mission simulators and four part-task simulators, the facility allows up to six warship bridge teams to train for specific scenarios in a joint exercise environment or, conversely, run six independent scenarios.

The graphics system can replicate different environmental conditions, from a clear day through to a raging storm, detailed land-and sea-scape features as well as dynamic models of aircraft, tugs and other ships, including the Canberra Class LHDs and Hobart Class AWDs.

A dedication ceremony will also be held for the combined navigation and bridge training faculties, which was renamed the Taylor Building, after former Chief of Navy (1994-97), the late Vice Admiral Rod Taylor AO, a specialist navigation and operations officer.

The ship bridge simulation system was delivered to the Navy by the Defence Materiel Organisation on time and under budget. The system was provided by Kongsberg Maritime Simulation & Training, Norway.

 

Media note: Imagery of the new ship bridge simulation system is available on the Defence web site: www.defence.gov.au

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