"Equal Speed Charlie London"

This is the famous signal made by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe for the deployment of the British battlefleet at the Battle of Jutland, 31 May 1916. The hoist consisted of:

• the "equal speed" pendant
• the letter 'C' ("charlie" in the then-current phonetic alphabet)
• the letter 'L' ("london")

The Royal Navy Signal Book of the day defined that signal to mean:

The column nearest SE by E is to alter course in succession to that point of the compass, the remaining columns altering course leading ships together, the rest in succession so as to form astern of that column, maintaining the speed of the fleet.

Jellicoe's Deployment

Source: Signal! by Captain Barrie Kent

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