On Feb 2, 4:11�am, JLH wrote:
On 1 Feb 2007 19:46:52 -0800, "Chuck Gould"
wrote:





Had occasion to verify the meaning of "Bravo Zulu", and discovered
that the signal does **not* date back to WWII, at least according to
the following source. Some interesting comments about the evolution of
the phonetic alphabet are included:

(This is from Wikipedia)

Bravo Zulu is a naval signal, conveyed by flaghoist or voice radio,
meaning "well done"; it has also passed into the spoken and written
vocabulary. It can be combined with the "negative" signal, spoken or
written NEGAT, to say "NEGAT Bravo Zulu", or "not well done".

There are some myths and legends attached to this signal. The one most
frequently heard has Admiral "Bull" Halsey sending it to ships of Task
Force 38 during World War II. He could not have done this, since the
signal did not exist at that time.

"Bravo Zulu" actually comes from the Allied Naval Signal Book (ATP1
Vol 2 series), an international naval signal code adopted after the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was created in 1949. Until
then, each navy had used its own signal code and operational manuals.
World War II experience had shown that it was difficult, or even
impossible, for ships of different navies to operate together unless
they could readily communicate, and ACP 175 was designed to remedy
this.

In the U.S. Navy signal code, used before ACP 175, "well done" was
signaled as TVG, or "Tare Victor George" in the U.S. phonetic alphabet
of that time. ACP 175 was organized in the general manner of other
signal books, that is, starting with 1-flag signals, then 2-flag and
so on. The 2-flag signals were organized by general subject, starting
with AA, AB, AC, ... AZ, BA, BB, BC, ... BZ, and so on. The B- signals
were called "Administrative" signals, and dealt with miscellaneous
matters of administration and housekeeping. The last signal on the
"Administrative" page was BZ, standing for "well done".

At that time BZ was not rendered as "Bravo Zulu", but in each navy's
particular phonetic alphabet. In the U.S. Navy, BZ was spoken as
"Baker Zebra". In the meanwhile, the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) had adopted English as the international air
traffic control language. They developed a phonetic alphabet for
international aviation use, designed to be as "pronounceable" as
possible by flyers and traffic controllers speaking many different
languages. This was the "Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta..." alphabet
used today. The Navy adopted this ICAO alphabet in March 1956. It was
then that "Baker Zebra" finally became "Bravo Zulu".

The hyper-critics are probably going to accuse you of trying to sell signal
flags, but I found that very interesting. Thanks!
--
***** Have a super day! *****

* * * * * John H- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Shh! John, you'll spoil it for me. This week I earn $15,000 for
mentioning "signal flags" in rec.boats, plus a $500 bonus for every
hit on the thread. Pretty good gig, don't you think? :-)