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{{about|Royal Navy and European ship pennant numbers|the United States equivalent|Hull classification symbol|the Canadian equivalent|Hull classification symbol (Canada)}}
In the [[Royal Navy]] and other navies of [[Europe]] and the [[Commonwealth of Nations]], ships are identified by '''pennant number''' (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that identified a [[flotilla]] or type of vessel. For example, the Royal Navy used a red [[burgee]] for [[torpedo boat]]s and a [[Pennon|pennant]] with an '''H''' for [[destroyer|torpedo boat destroyers]]. Adding a number to the type-identifying flag uniquely identified each ship.
In the current system, a letter [[prefix]], called a ''flag superior'', identifies the type of ship, and numerical [[suffix]], called a flag inferior, uniquely identifies an individual ship. Not all pennant numbers have a flag superior.
==Royal Navy systems==
<ref>{{cite book |last1=Warlow |first1=Ben |last2=Bush |first2=Steve |title=Pendant Numbers of the Royal Navy |date=2021 |publisher=Seaforth |location=Barnsley |isbn=9781526793799}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dodson |first1=Aidan |title=The Development of the British Royal Navy’s Pennant Numbers Between 1919 and 1940 |journal=Warship International |date=2024 |volume=61 |issue=2 |page=134–66}}</ref>
The Royal Navy first used pennants to distinguish its ships in 1661 with a proclamation that all of his majesty's ships must fly a union pennant. This distinction was further strengthened by a proclamation in 1674 which forbade merchant vessels from flying any pennants.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Perrin |first1=william Gordon |year=1922 |title=British Flags, Their Early History, and Their Development at Sea: With an Account of the Origin of the Flag as a National Device |url=https://archive.org/details/britishflagsthei00perrrich |publisher=Cambridge University Press archive |page=[https://archive.org/details/britishflagsthei00perrrich/page/202 202] }}</ref>
The system of numbering pennants was adopted prior to the [[World War I|First World War]] to distinguish between ships with the same or similar names, to reduce the size and improve the security of communications, and to assist recognition when ships of the same class are together.
During the First World War, pennant numbers were changed on a regular basis, with only those for ships in Home waters centrally controlled; those on foreign stations were allocated on a local basis. However, in November 1919 a new navy-wide system was introduced, with the intention that ships should now carry a permanent number. In most cases, plain numbers were given to capital ships and cruisers, and ones with flags-superior to smaller ships. While the numbers allocated to major warships (except for a few older vessels) would generally remain stable into the 1930s, destroyers were subject to further revisions, stability being reached in January 1922. While 1919/1922 numbers were allocated on a fairly systematic basis, later allocations were on the basis of re-allocating numbers made available by the disposal of older vessels. The next major revision took place in the late 1930s, when the volume of new construction was such that insufficient 'spare' numbers were now available for new ships. Accordingly, older cruisers had the flag-superior 'I' added in front of their existing plain numbers; as a result, submarines, which had previously used 'I', were given a new scheme of flags-inferior. Other changes were also made at this time. The next major change took place in 1940, when there was a wholesale set of changes to flags-superior, including the old cruisers changing from 'I' to 'D'.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dodson |first1=Aidan |title=The Development of the British Royal Navy’s Pennant Numbers Between 1919 and 1940 |journal=Warship International |date=2024 |volume=61 |issue=2 |page=134–66}}</ref>
Traditionally, a pennant number was reported with a [[full stop]] "." between the flag superior or inferior and the number, although this practice has gradually been dropped, and inter-war photos after about 1924 tend not to have the full stop painted on the hull. The system was used throughout the navies of the [[British Empire]] so that a ship could be transferred from one navy to another without changing its pennant number.
Pennant numbers were originally allocated by individual naval stations and when a ship changed station it would be allocated a new number. The Admiralty took the situation in hand and first compiled a "Naval Pendant List" in 1910, with ships grouped under the distinguishing flag of their type. In addition, ships of the 2nd and 3rd (i.e. reserve) fleets had a second flag superior distinguishing from which naval depot they were
A completely new system was adopted in 1948, when flags-superior specific to a type of ship were introduced. For example, cruisers had the flag-superior 'C', destroyers 'D', frigates 'F' and carriers 'R'. In general, the existing numerical part of a ship's number was kept, except where this would lead to duplication (especially in the case of frigates, where 'F' now absorbed the former 'K', 'L' and 'U' lists), in which case the number was increased by 100, 200 or 300, as necessary.
▲Pennant numbers were originally allocated by individual naval stations and when a ship changed station it would be allocated a new number. The Admiralty took the situation in hand and first compiled a "Naval Pendant List" in 1910, with ships grouped under the distinguishing flag of their type. In addition, ships of the 2nd and 3rd (i.e. reserve) fleets had a second flag superior distinguishing from which naval depot they were manned; "C" for [[Chatham Dockyard|Chatham]], "D" for [[HMNB Devonport|Devonport]], "N" for [[Nore]] and "P" for [[Portsmouth]]. Destroyers were initially allocated the flag superior "H", but as this covered only one hundred possible combinations from H00 to H99 the letters "G" and "D" were also allocated. When ships were sunk, their pendant numbers were reissued to new ships.
The 1948 system was later taken over by NATO, and a single pennant list set up for all NATO navies, apart from the USA and Canada.
During the 1970s, the service stopped painting pennant numbers on submarines on the grounds that, with the arrival of nuclear boats, they spent too little time on the surface, although submarines do continue to be issued numbers.
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{{HMS|Lancaster|F229|6}} was initially allocated the pennant number F232, until it was realised that in the Royal Navy, form number 232 is the official report for ships that have run aground; sailors being superstitious, it was quickly changed to F229.
===Second World War===
<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lenton |first1=H T |title=British and Empire Warships of the Second World War |date=1998 |publisher=Greenhill Books |location=London |isbn=1-85367-277-7 |page=713–25}}</ref>
====No flag superior====
Pendant number 13 was not allocated.
* Capital ships, aircraft carriers, modern cruisers
====
Pendant numbers 13 were not allocated to flag superiors. The letters J and K were used with three number combinations due to the number of vessels.
* D — [[destroyer]]s (until 1940), older [[capital ship]]s, [[aircraft carrier]]s, [[cruiser]]s (from 1940)
* F — destroyers (until 1940) and [[Armed merchantman|large auxiliary combatants]] (from 1940)
* G — destroyers (from 1940)
* H — destroyers
* I —
* J — [[Minesweeper (ship)|minesweepers]]
* K — [[corvette]]s, [[frigate]]s
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* FY — fisheries (auxiliary [[fishing trawler]]s, [[drifter (fishing boat)|drifter]] etc.)
====Flags inferior====
* A — allied (Polish [[ORP Orzeł (1938)|ORP ''Orzeł'' (85A)]])
▲Flag inferiors were applied to submarines. Royal Navy submarines of the "H" and "L", and some transferred American vessels, were not issued names, only numbers. In these cases, the pendant number was simply the hull number inverted (i.e. ''L24'' was issued pendant "24L"). Pre-war photos show the pendants painted correctly, with the flag inferior, but wartime photos show that the numbers tend to be painted "backwards", in that the inferior was painted on as a superior. For obvious reasons, the inferior "U" was not used so as not to confuse friendly ships with [[Nazi Germany|German]] [[U-boat]]s. For similar reasons "V" was not used. Pendant numbers 00–10, 13, and those ending in a zero were not allocated to flag inferiors.
* C ("coastal") — {{sclass2|U|submarine|4}} (pre-war construction)
* F ("fleet") — {{sclass2|River|submarine|4}}
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* L — [[British L-class submarine|L class]]
* M ("minelayer") — {{sclass|Grampus|submarine|4}}
* N — allocated to existing submarines after 1940.
* P — [[Odin-class submarine|O class]], [[Parthian-class submarine|P class]]
** 31P— U class (wartime construction), [[British V-class submarine|V class]]
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* F — frigate (former escort destroyers, sloops and corvettes)
* H — shore signal stations (military); survey vessels
* K — miscellaneous vessels (e.g., the
* L — amphibious warfare ships
* M — minesweepers
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* R — aircraft carriers
* S — submarines
* X — experimental vessels (currently, the only vessel to use this is [[XV Patrick Blackett (X01)|XV Patrick Blackett]] which is not a commissioned ship of the Navy but is crewed and run by the Royal Navy)
* Y — yard vessels
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* {{HMS|Dauntless|D33|6}} — DT
* HMS ''Ocean'' — O
* HMS Ark Royal — R
* HMS Invincible — N
* HMS Illustrious — L
* {{HMS|Queen Elizabeth|R08|6}} — Q
* HMS Prince of Wales — P
* [[RFA Argus (A135)|RFA ''Argus'']] — AS
* [[RFA Lyme Bay (L3007)|RFA ''Lyme Bay'']] — YB
* RFA Cardigan Bay — CB
* RFA Mounts Bay — MB
==International pennant numbers==
Several European NATO and [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] navies agreed to introduce a pennant number system based on that of the Royal Navy. The system guarantees that, amongst those navies and other navies that later joined, all pennant numbers are unique. The United States and
Participating countries, with their assigned number ranges,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hazegray.org/faq/smn2.htm#B3 |title=sci.military.naval FAQ, Part B – General Terminology & Definitions |publisher=Hazegray.org |date=2002-04-28 |access-date=2013-10-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
* Argentina — (D: 1x, 2x; P: 3x, 4x; S: 2x, 3x; C: x; V: x)
* Australia (formerly incorporated into the Royal Navy system until 1969; now uses a system based on the RN pennant number format and U.S. [[hull classification symbol]]s)<ref>{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Peter |editor=Stevens, David |title=The Royal Australian Navy |series=The Australian Centenary History of Defence (vol III) |year=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=South Melbourne, VIC |isbn=0-19-554116-2 |oclc=50418095 |chapter=Towards Self Reliance |page=213}}</ref>
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* Germany — (A: 5x, 51x, 14xx; D: 1xx; F: 2xx; L: 76x; M: 10xx, 26xx; P: 61xx; S: 1xx)
* Greece — (D/P: 0x, 2xx; A/F: 4xx; L/S/M: 1xx)
* Italy — (5xx; D 5xx; F 5xx; P 4xx; 5xxx; A 5xxx; L 9xxx; Y 5xx; S 5xx)
* Kenya
* Malaysia
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* Netherlands (8xx; Y: 8xxx)
* Norway (F/S/M: 3xx; P: 9xx; L: 45xx)
* Portugal (F/M: 4xx; S: 1xx; P: 11xx0)
* Spain (A: xx, F: 0x 1x 2x.., R: 01, 11, L: 0x, 1x.., P: 0x, 1x.., Y: xxx)
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* HMS Bulwark — BK
[[River-class patrol vessel|
* HMS Forth — FH
* HMS Medway — MY
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* HMS Spey — SP
[[Type 45 Destroyer|
* HMS Daring — DA
* HMS Dauntless — DT
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* HMS Duncan — DU
[[Type 23 frigate|
* HMS Argyll — AY
* HMS Lancaster — LA
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* HMS St Albans — SB
[[Invincible-class aircraft carrier|
* HMS Invincible — N
* HMS Illustrious — L
* HMS Ark Royal — R
[[Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier|
* HMS Queen Elizabeth — Q
* HMS Prince of Wales — P
[[Bay-class landing ship|
* RFA Cardigan Bay — CB
* RFA Lyme Bay —
* RFA Mounts Bay — MB
[[Tide-class tanker|
* RFA Tidespring — TS
* RFA Tiderace — TR
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* RFA Tideforce — TF
[[Wave-class tanker|
* RFA Wave Knight — WK
* RFA Wave Ruler — WR
[[Fort Rosalie-class replenishment ship|
* RFA Fort Rosalie — FR
* RFA Fort Austin — FA
Individual ships
* [[RFA Argus (A135)|
* RFA Fort Victoria — FV
=== Royal Netherlands Navy ===
[[
* HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën — ZP
* HNLMS Tromp — TR
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* HNLMS Evertsen — EV
[[Holland-class offshore patrol vessel|
* HNLMS Holland — HL
* HNLMS Zeeland — ZL
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Amphibious support ships
* [[HNLMS Rotterdam (L800)|HNLMS Rotterdam]] — RD
* [[HNLMS Johan de Witt (L801)|
* [[HNLMS Karel Doorman (A833)|
=== Royal Canadian Navy ===
[[Halifax-
* HMCS Halifax — HX
* HMCS Vancouver — VR
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* HMCS Charlottetown — CN
* HMCS St. John's — SJ
* HMCS Ottawa (FFH 341) — OA
[[
* HMCS Harry DeWolf — HF
* HMCS Margaret Brooke — ME
* HMCS Max Bernays — MS
* HMCS William Hall — WL
* HMCS Frédérick Rolette — FE
''(Deck codes of decommissioned ships)''
[[St. Laurent-class destroyer|St. Laurent-class]]
* HMCS St. Laurent — ST
* HMCS Saguenay — SY
* HMCS Skeena — SA
* HMCS Ottawa (DDH-229) — OA
* HMCS Margaree — ME
* HMCS Fraser — FR
* HMCS Assiniboine — AE
[[Annapolis-class destroyer|Annapolis-class]]
* HMCS Annapolis — AS
* HMCS Nipigon — NN
[[Iroquois-class destroyer|Iroquois-class]]
* HMCS Iroquois — IS
* HMCS Huron — HN
* HMCS Athabaskan — AN
* HMCS Algonquin — AL
[[HMCS Provider (AOR 508)|HMCS Provider]] — PR
[[Protecteur-class replenishment oiler|Protecteur-class]]
* HMCS Protecteur — PT
* HMCS Preserver — PS
=== Egyptian Navy ===
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=== German Navy ===
[[Braunschweig-class corvette|
* Braunschweig — BS
* Magdeburg — MD
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[[Sachsen-class frigate]]
* ''Sachsen — SN''
* ''Hamburg — HA''
* Hessen — HE
Auxiliary ships
* Main — MA
* Mosel — MO
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* FS Charles de Gaulle - G
[[Mistral-class amphibious assault ship|
* FS Tonnerre — TO
* FS Dixmude — DX
* FS Mistral — MI
[[Horizon-class frigate|
* FS Forbin — FB
* FS Chevalier Paul — PL
[[FREMM multipurpose frigate|
* FS Aquitaine — QN
* FS Provence — PC
* FS Languedoc — LD
* FS Auvergne — VG
* FS Bretagne — BT
[[La Fayette-class frigate|
* FS La Fayette — YE
* FS Surcouf — SF
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* KRI Ahmad Yani — AMY
* KRI Oswald Siahaan — OWA
* KRI Karel Satsuit Tubun — KST
* KRI Abdul Halim Perdanakusumah — AHP
* KRI Slamet Riyadi — SRI
* KRI Yos Sudarso — YSO
[[Martadinata-class frigate|Martadinata Class]]
* KRI Raden Eddy Martadinata — REM
* KRI I Gusti Ngurah Rai — GNR
[[Bung Tomo-class corvette|Bung Tomo Class]]
* KRI Bung Tomo —BTO
* KRI John Lie — JLI
* KRI Usman Harun — USH
[[Fatahillah-class corvette|Fatahillah Class Corvette]]
* KRI Fatahillah — FTI
* KRI Malayahati — MLH
* KRI Nala — NLA
[[Makassar-class landing platform dock|Makassar- Class]]
* KRI Makassar — MKS
* KRI Banda Aceh — BAC
* KRI Surabaya — SBY
* KRI Banjarmasin — BJM
* KRI Semarang — SMR
[[Cakra-class submarine|Cakra Class]]
* KRI Cakra — CKA
* KRI Nanggala — NGA
[[Nagapasa-class submarine|Nagapasa Class]]
* KRI Nagapasa — NPS
* KRI Ardadedali — ARD
* KRI Alugoro — AGR
[[Diponegoro-class corvette|Diponegoro Class]]
* KRI Diponegoro-DPN
* KRI Sultan Iskandar Muda-SIM
* KRI Frans Kaisiepo-FKO
* KRI Sultan Hasanuddin-HSN
==See also==
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