HC Deb 28 April 1964 vol 694 c43W
Mr. Mahon

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what was the last occasion on which the General Chase signal was flown by the Royal Navy; from which Royal Navy ship it was flown; under whose command the ship was; and where the actual flags of the signal are preserved.

Mr. Hay

I regret that the information asked for in the first part of the Question is not readily available and could only be extracted from individual ship's logs and other naval documents after lengthy research.

Even if, in such a search, the latest example of the use of this signal were discovered in a ship's log, it would not necessarily indicate that it was the last example of such a signal being flown, since it would be possible for such a signal to have been made without the fact being noted in the ship's log.

On such a signal being flown, no one concerned would have anticipated that it would prove to be the last occasion that such a signal would be employed, and would therefore preserve for historical purposes the actual flags used to make the signal.

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