REPUBLIC OF TURKEY
CURRENT NAVAL ENSIGNS & FLAGS
Notes
The national flag of the Republic of Turkey is identical to that used by the Ottoman Empire: red with a white crescent and star. Red is a color long associated with Turkey; the crescent and star are symbols of Islam. The flag in its current form dates from the mid-1840s. At that time it served as the national flag on land and the naval ensign at sea, Merchant vessels flew either a plain red ensign or, for ships whose Muslim masters had made the pilgrimage to Mecca, an ensign horizontally striped red-green-red.
Today, the national flag also serves as the ensign and jack of the Turkish Navy, while the commissioning pennant replicates the design of the flag. Most of the position and rank flags display a device unique to Turkey: a white "bomb," actually a star with twenty points.
Flag Proportions: The ensign, jack, commodore's broad pennant and seniority pennant are made in 2:3 proportions: rank and position flags are made square.
