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Triangular pennants that repeat a flag already flying.
Also known as: Repeaters, Triangular pennant in a hoist
A vessel carries one of each flag, so a hoist needing the same letter twice would be impossible. Three substitutes solve it by repeating the first, second or third flag of the hoist.
Three triangular pennants that repeat, respectively, the first, second or third flag of the hoist in which they appear.
Contexts: Navigation
They exist because a ship carries a single set. Without them a group needing a repeated letter — or a repeated numeral, which is far commoner — could not be flown at all.
A substitute counts positions among flags of its own kind, so in a mixed hoist a numeral substitute repeats the first numeral rather than the first flag.
A detail that changes what a hoist says, and is easy to overlook.
A triangular pennant tapering from the hoist to a point, divided into two or three coloured bands or triangles.