Confederate Naval Signal Flags

[major bill]

In 1861 the book Signal for the Use of The Navy Confederate States 1861 was published. How close was the signal flags used by Confederate ships to the signal flags used by the US Navy? I know all navies at the time used signal flags but how simular were the world's naval signal flags? It seems like for operational security the flags would need to be changed off and on. It would be important that the entire Navy change flags at the same time.

 

[Talos]

There's two different parts here.

One is the basic signal code, which is probably the same between those two navies. A = flag so and so, B = a different flag, etc. What would change are the signal codes for a period. For instance, a challenge code might be AZH, with a reply of BJR, and ship callsigns, etc. (I'm obviously making those up as examples)

Remember that it evolved out of the Royal Navy's system which was codified during the Napoleonic Wars and spread to civilian merchant use after the war. Two ships with the same code can talk to each other even without being from the same country, relying on private signal codes for anything that needs security.