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Turkish Naval Forces: Command flags

Last modified: 2016-02-09 by ivan sache
Keywords: turkish naval forces |
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• The bomb
• Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces
• Commander in Chief of the Naval Forces
• Commander of a Naval Base
• Junior Commander at Sea
• Fleet Admiral
• Naval Forces Command
• Admiral
• Vice Admiral
• Rear Admiral - Upper Half
• Rear Admiral - Lower Half
• Group Commander
• Commodore
• Captain
• Battalion Commander
• Masthead
• Minister of the Navy (abolished in 1927)

See also:

• Turkey
• Turkish Naval Forces
• Ottoman Empire: Flags shown in National Geographic (1917)

The "bomb"

The basic charge of several Turkish rank flags is a "bomb" (Album des Pavillons [pay00]). A bomb is a kind of 20-pointed star with points of different length, with the sequence <long-small-medium-small-long> repeated four times.
The graphic construction of the bomb is given in Flaggenbuch (1939) [neu92], with the following details:
- diameter of the long rays: 40;
- diameter of the medium rays: 34;
- diameter of the small rays: 24.
The inner diameter of the bomb, not specified, could be 20. It seems that a small ray points upwards, followed clockwise by a medium ray, then by a small one and a long one, etc.
Comparatively, the bomb in Album seems to be somewhat bigger, slightly differently designed, and somewhat skewed toward the edges of the flag.
The bombs in the swallow-tailed flags in Album are relatively bigger than those in square flags, whereas in Flaggenbuch all the bombs are of the same size.
Therefore, we show here the flags as they are represented in these two sources.

Ivan Sache & Željko Heimer, 16 April 2003

The images in Album are taken from BR20 (1958 release), confirmed by Album des Pavillons (1990 and 1923 releases). The design of the bomb was also confirmed by an illustration in a special page of Naval Forces (December 1997) on the Turkish Navy.

Armand Noël du Payrat, 18 April 2003

Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces

Flag of the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces - Image by Ivan Sache, 17 April 2003

The flag of the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces is a square red flag with four white bombs placed 2 + 2 and surrounding a white anchor [Album des Pavillons [pay00]].

Ivan Sache, 17 April 2003

Commander in Chief of the Naval Forces

Flag of the Commander in Chief of the Naval Forces, as shown in Album des Pavillons (left) and in Flaggenbuch (right) - Images by Željko Heimer, 18 April 2003

The flag of the Commander in Chief of the Naval Forces is a square red flag with four white bombs, one in each corner, and a white fouled anchor in the middle [Album des Pavillons [pay00]].
The flag shown in Flaggenbuch (1939) [neu92] includes a crescent, with horns pointing upwards, beneath the anchor.
The construction details for the flag are as follows:

• Flag side length: 140 (cm?);
• Distance from the top of the flag to the top of the anchor: 30;
• Outer diameter of the anchor ring: 14;
• Length of the anchor crossbar: 45;
• Distance between tthe points of the anchor hooks: 40;
• Height of the anchor: 64;
• Distance from the bottom of the flag to the bottom of the crescent: 28;
• Outer radiius of the crescent: 27 (this makes the crescent and the lowest bombs slightly overlapping);
• Maximal width of the crescent: 38;
• Inner radius of the crescent: 26;
• Distance from the geometrical center of the flag to the geometrical center of a bomb: 58;
• Construction of the bomb, see above.

National Geographic (1917) [gmc17] shows the flag in ratio 2:3, without crescent, as the Imperial standard afloat. This was probably the flag used by the Sultan as the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy.

Željko Heimer, 16 April 2003

Commander of a Naval Base

Flag of the Commander of a naval base, as shown in Album des Pavillons (left) and in Flaggenbuch (captioned "Chief of station") (right) - Images by Željko Heimer, 16 April 2003

The flag of the Commander of a naval base is a red square flag with a white fouled anchor [Album des Pavillons [pay00]].
The flag shown in Flaggenbuch (1939) [neu92] includes a crescent, with horns pointing upwards, beneath the anchor. It is captioned as a flag of a Chief of station.

Željko Heimer, 16 April 2003

Junior Commander at Sea

Flag of a Junior Commander at sea - Images by Željko Heimer, 16 April 2003

Flaggenbuch (1939) [neu92], shows for a Junior Commander at sea a forked version of the flag of the Commander of a naval base. This flag is no longer shown in Album des Pavillons [pay00].

Željko Heimer, 16 April 2003

Fleet Admiral

Flag of the Fleet Admiral, as shown in Album des Pavillons (left) and in Flaggenbuch (captioned "Great Admiral") (right) - Images by Željko Heimer, 16 April 2003

The flag of the Fleet Admiral (Bëyëk Amiral) is a square red flag with five white bombs, one in each corner and one in the middle [website of the Turkish General Staff].
Flaggenbuch (1939) [neu92] shows a similar flag for the Great Admiral, with the following construction details:
- Flag size: 140;
- Distance from the geometrical center of the flag to geometrical center of a bomb: 55;
- Construction of the bomb: as described above.

Željko Heimer, 16 April 2003

Naval Forces Command

Flag of the Naval Forces Command - Image by Miles Li, 7 May 2008

The flag of the Naval Forces Command is a square red flag with four white bombs, one in each corner, and a white fouled anchor in the middle [website of the Turkish General Staff].

Flag of the Naval Forces Command flag, as shown in Flaggenbuch - Image by Željko Heimer, 18 April 2003

The Naval Forces Command flag shown in Flaggenbuch (1939) [neu92] is a square red flag with four white bombs, one in each corner, and a white fouled anchor in the middle (that is, similar to the today's Naval Forces Command flag), and a crescent, with horns pointing upwards, beneath the anchor.
The construction details for the flag are as follows:
- Flag side length: 140 (cm?);
- Distance from the top of the flag to the top of the anchor: 30;
- Outer diameter of the anchor ring: 14;
- Length of the anchor crossbar: 45;
- Distance between the points of the anchor hooks: 40;
- Height of the anchor: 64;
- Distance from the bottom of the flag to the bottom of the crescent: 28;
- Outer radiius of the crescent: 27 (this makes the crescent and the lowest bombs slightly overlapping);
- Maximal width of the crescent: 38;
- Inner radius of the crescent: 26;
- Distance from the geometrical center of the flag to the geometrical center of a bomb: 58;
- Construction of the bomb, as described above.

National Geographic (1917) [gmc17] shows the flag in proportions 2:3, without crescent, as the Imperial standard afloat. This was probably the flag used by the Sultan as the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy.

Željko Heimer, 16 April 2003

Admiral

Admiral's flag, as shown in Album des Pavillons (left) and in Flaggenbuch (right) - Images by Željko Heimer, 16 April 2003

The flag of an Admiral (Oramiral) is a square red flag with four white bombs, one in each corner [website of the Turkish General Staff].
In Flaggenbuch (1939) [neu92], the construction details are the same as for the flag of the Great Admiral.

Željko Heimer, 16 April 2003

Vice Admiral

Vice Admiral's flag, as shown in Album des Pavillons (left) and in Flaggenbuch (right) - Images by Željko Heimer, 16 April 2003

The flag of a Vice Admiral (Koramiral) is a square red flag with three white bombs, placed one over two [website of the Turkish General Staff].
In Flaggenbuch (1939) [neu92], the construction details are the same as for the flag of an Admiral, the upper bomb being placed on the vertical median of the flag.

Željko Heimer, 18 April 2003

Rear Admiral - Upper Half

Flag of a Rear Admiral - Upper Half, as shown in Album des Pavillons (left) and in Flaggenbuch (right) - Images by Željko Heimer, 18 April 2003

The flag of of a Rear Admiral - Upper Half (Tumamiral) is a square red flag with two white bombs, placed vertically in the middle of the flag [website of the Turkish General Staff].

Željko Heimer, 18 April 2003

Rear Admiral - Lower Half

Flag of a Rear Admiral- Lower Half, as shown in Album des Pavillons (left) and in Flaggenbuch (right) - Images by Željko Heimer, 18 April 2003

The flag of of a Rear Admiral - Lower Half (Tugamiral) is a square red flag with one white bomb placed in the middle of the flag. [website of the Turkish General Staff]

Željko Heimer, 18 April 2003

Group Commandert

Group Commander's pennant, as shown in Album des Pavillons (left) and in Flaggenbuch (right) - Images by Željko Heimer, 17 April 2003

The pennant of a Group Commander is a red triangular flag with a white bomb placed in the middle of the flag [website of the Turkish General Staff].

Željko Heimer, 17 April 2003

Commodore

Commodore's broad pennant, as shown in Album des Pavillons (left) and in Flaggenbuch (right) - Images by Željko Heimer, 18 April 2003

The flag of a Commodore is a red swallow-tailed flag with two white bombs placed vertically in the middle of the flag [website of the Turkish General Staff].

Željko Heimer, 18 April 2003

Captain

Captain's flag - Image by Miles Li, 7 May 2008

The flag of a Captain (Albay, sometimes mistranslated as "Colonel" because both ranks are known as Albay in the Turkish language) is a square red flag with a white fouled anchor, unless appointed as a Commodore [website of the Turkish General Staff].

Miles Li, 7 May 2008

Battalion Commander

Battalion Commander's pennant - Images by Miles Li, 7 May 2008

The flag of a Battalion Commander is a red triangular pennant with a white fouled anchor [website of the Turkish General Staff].

Miles Li, 7 May 2008

Masthead pennant

Masthead pennant - Image by Željko Heimer, 24 April 2003

The masthead pennant is a red triangular flag with a white crescent and star near the hoist [Album des Pavillons [pay00]]. Album does not give the proportions of the pennant, but show them as, approximately; 1:20.
Flaggenbuch (1939) [neu92] provides four official sizes, that are probably still valid, with distance to the Mondumkreises vom Liek* indicated, as:
- 10 x 180 cm; moon at 17 cm;
- 12 x 460 cm; moon at 30 cm;
- 14 x 640 cm; moon a at 48 cm;
- 18 x 1,280 cm; moon at 65 cm.
Accordingly, the proportions of the pennant range from 1:18 to just over 1:70.

* Liek here stands obviously for what we would call the hoist. The original image showes a kind of crossbar from which the pennant is hoisted. Anyway, the distance is, I suppose between the hoist and the point of the crescent closest to the hoist (and not the center of the moon or the center of the entire white symbol.
Mondumkreis is indeed the minimum circle within which the crescent is contained.

Željko Heimer & Santiago Dotor, 24 April 2003

Minister of the Navy (abolished in 1927)

Flag of the Minister of the Navy, as shown in Flaggenbuch (1926) - Image by Željko Heimer, 20 April 2003

Flaggenbuch (1926) [d9e26] shows the flag of the Minister of the Navy as a square red flag with four white bombs, one in each corner, and a white cabled anchor in the middle.

Željko Heimer, 20 April 2003

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