Flagship

From Free net encyclopedia

Template:Otheruses1 A flagship is the ship used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships. The term originates from the custom of the commanding officer (usually, but not always, an admiral) to fly a distinguishing flag.

Used in this way, "flagship" is fundamentally a temporary designation; the flagship is wherever the admiral is flying his flag. However, admirals have always needed additional facilities; a meeting room large enough to hold all the captains of the fleet, and a place for the admiral's staff to make plans and draw up orders.

In the age of sailing ships, the flagship was typically a first-rate; the aft of one of the three decks would become the admiral's quarters and staff offices. This can be seen today on HMS Victory, the flagship of Admiral Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar, now at Portsmouth, England.

In the 20th century, ships became large enough that most types could accommodate commander and staff, and during World War II admirals would often prefer a faster ship over the largest one. Increasing communications and computing requirements have resulted in the design of specialized command and control ships to serve as flagship.

Flagship in language

As with so many other naval terms, flagship has crossed over into common parlance, where it means the most important or leading member of a group. It has also come to be an adjective, as in the "flagship product" of a manufacturing company or "flagship store" of a retail chain.

Broadcast stations

A flagship station is also the "home" station of a broadcast network (radio or TV). It can be the station that produces the lion's share of material for the network, or the station in the parent company's home city. The term dates back to the mid-century years of broadcasting when the local stations themselves produced programs for the network, as PBS does today.

For example, the flagship stations of the ABC, NBC and CBS television networks (and ABC and CBS radio networks) are their owned and operated outlets in New York City. While a handful of PBS stations, including WGBH, KQED and WNET provide the lion's share of the web's programming, the TV industry has long given the "flagship" appelation to WNET, dating back to its years as the key outlet for PBS's predecessor, National Educational Television.

In sports broadcasting, the "flagship" is the sports team's primary station in the team's home market. For example, WGN radio and television are the flagships of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, which also has an extensive radio network.

Automotive

The term flagship is also used to describe the top or main vehicle manufactured by automotive marque. These vehicles are usually, but not always, the most expensive, prestigious and largest vehicles in the line-up.

While the flagship is always the most prestigious vehicle in a company's line-up, it may not always be the most expensive, or the largest. The Lincoln Town Car, for example, while considered the flagship of the Lincoln division, ranges roughly $6,000 below the Navigator in price. In the case of Cadillac the DTS flagship sedan is not only priced roughly $11,000 below the Escalade but it is also smaller, in terms of overall length and width, than the Escalade ESV.

It should be noted, however, that the term is most often applied to sedans and usually only those manufactured luxury automobile marques.

Fiction

The meaning of flagship has been loosely interpreted in works of fiction as well. For example, the USS Enterprise in Star Trek is often referred to as the flagship of the United Federation of Planets, even though it does not carry commanding officers of higher rank than the captains aboard other ships. This is because, in Star Trek, the term seems to mean the ship that represents the fleet as a whole and hosts the most advanced technology and finest crew, though not necessarily the crew of the greatest rank.

Also, in the PlayStation 2 game Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War, the main characters find themselves as part of a makeshift fleet fighting to stop the war between Osea and Yuktobania. The flagship of their fleet is the aircraft carrier Kestrel, simply because it is the most important ship in the fleet.da:Flagskib de:Flaggschiff ja:旗艦 pl:Okręt flagowy ru:Флагманский корабль fi:Lippulaiva sv:Flaggskepp