A phonetic alphabet is a list of words used to identify letters in a message transmitted by radio or telephone. It helps to prevent confusion between similar sounding letters, such as «m» and «n» when boats, yachts and ships communicate in the sea. For example, the word «EOLIA» would be «Echo Oscar Lima India Alpha» when spelled in the phonetic alphabet.

Each letter has a corresponding signal flag which also corresponds to an international sailing meaning.

Specifically, the letters, the phonetics, the signal flags and their international meanings are:

Letter	Phonetic	Signal Flag	International Meaning
A	Alpha		I have a diver down
B	Bravo		I am carrying dangerous cargo
C	Charlie		«Yes» or «affirmative»
D	Delta		I am maneuvering with difficulty; keep clear
E	Echo		I am directing my course to starboard
F	Foxtrot
G	Golf		I require a pilot
H	Hotel		I have a pilot on board
I	India		I am directing my course to port
J	Juliet
K	Kilo		I wish to communicate with you
L	Lima		You should stop your vessel immediately
M	Mike
N	November
O	Oscar		Man overboard
P	Papa
Q	Quebec		Ship meets health regs; request clearance into port
R	Romeo
S	Sierra
T	Tango
u	Uniform
v	Victor		I require assistance
w	Whiskey		I require medical assistance
x	Xray
y	Yankee		I am dragging anchor
z	Zulu		I require a tug