Flag Protocol

Re “Highflying Dispute: Ex-Military Officer Challenges Propriety of Hoisting Yacht Club Flag Above Nation’s” (Sept. 16) and “Yacht Club Flag” (Ventura County letters, Sept. 19).

Proper protocol for flying the national ensign can be found in the official regulations of the U.S. Navy called “NTP 13 (B): Flags, Pennants and Customs,” published by the Naval Telecommunications Command. This is based on Public Law 623 and its amendments.

Section 210 deals with buildings and shore activities and states, “None of these [flags or pennants for societies] will be placed above or to the right of the national flag.” Shore activities display religious pennants below the national flag or separately (Section 804.b).

I believe an exception is the United Nations flag, which flies above all other nations’ flags at United Nations sites around the world, although “NTP 13 (B)” does not address this.

For ships, Section 206 states, “No other flags or pennants shall be places above or, if on the same level, to the right of the national flag. The only exception to this rule is during church services conducted by naval chaplains at sea for personnel of the Navy, when the church or Jewish worship pennant may be flown above the national flag.”

Chapter 5 further deals with ship display, which is dependent on whether a vessel is underway or not. The national ensign is to be displayed from the flagstaff or from the loftiest hoist from 0800 until sunset when a ship is not underway. Underway, the national ensign may be displayed from the gaff during daylight under some circumstances (mooring, anchoring, falling in with other ships, in battle, etc.) When unequipped with a gaff, “the national ensign shall be displayed from the after masthead or, in the case of a single-masted ship, from the mainmast.”

That should keep cocktail hours at the yacht clubs busy for a while. Rarely do I get to use my 11 years’ experience as a government protocol official.

ALAN ALPERS

Oxnard