Page "Pennant (commissioning)" Paragraph 5

The pennant, is an evolution of old " pennoncell ", that in the Royal Navy used to consist of three colours for the whole of its length, and towards the end left separate in two or three tails, and so the tradition continued until the end of the Napoleonic Wars when the Royal Navy adopted the style of pennants used by the service to this day.

Pennants have been carried by men-of-war from the earliest times, prior to 1653 at the yard-arm, but since that date at the maintopgallant masthead.