Significations et usages de Flagship

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2010)

  HMS Victory, flagship of the Second Sea Lord of the Royal Navy

A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the first, largest, fastest, most heavily armed, or, in terms of media coverage, best known.

Over the years the term "flagship" has been borrowed in metaphoric form by industries such as broadcasting, automobiles, education, and retailing to refer to their highest profile or most expensive products and outlets.

  Naval use

In common naval use the term flagship is fundamentally a temporary designation; the flagship is wherever the admiral's flag is being flown. 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. HMS Victory still serves the Royal Navy today as the ceremonial flagship of the Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command,^[1] making her the oldest commissioned warship in service. The USS Constitution, which also served as flagship of the United States Navy in her day, is 30 years younger, but is the oldest commissioned warship still afloat.

In the 20th century, ships became large enough that most types could accommodate a commander and staff, and during World War II admirals would often prefer a faster ship over the largest one. Some larger ships may have a separate flag bridge for use by the admiral and his staff while the captain commanded from the main navigation bridge. Because its primary function is to coordinate a fleet, a flagship is not necessarily more heavily armed or fortified than other ships.

  Flagship as metaphor

As with 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 describing the most prominent or highly touted product, brand, location, or service among those offered by a company. It now has common derivations such as the "flagship brand" or "flagship product" of a manufacturing company or "flagship store" of a retail chain. Auto companies usually have a flagship in the form of their leading, highest-priced car.

  Abercrombie & Fitch flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York City

  Retailing

Flagship stores are core stores for brand name retailers, larger than their standard outlets and stocking greater inventory, often found in prominent shopping districts such as Madison Avenue in New York and Tokyo's Ginza.

Flagships are prevalent among upscale retailers, including such familiar names as Banana Republic, Polo Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton, Coach, and Prada.

  Broadcasting

A flagship station is the principal station of a (radio or TV) broadcast network. It can be the station that produces the largest amount of material for the network, or the station in the parent company's home city, or both. The term dates back to the mid twentieth century years of broadcasting when headquarters stations produced programs for their networks.

For example, the flagship stations of the ABC, NBC and CBS television and radio networks are their owned and operated outlets in New York City. Likewise, public television's WNET served as primary member station for Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) predecessor, National Educational Television (NET).

In sports broadcasting, the "flagship" is a team's primary station in their home market, which produces game broadcasts and feeds them to affiliates. For example, WGN is the flagship station of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, which has an extensive Cubs radio network spanning several states.

  Automobiles

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. The term is most often applied to sedans and usually only those manufactured by luxury automobile marques. 

The term "halo car" is often used in automotive marketing and journalism to refer to the flagship vehicle. The term is derived from the halo effect, the tendency for a favorable trait to influence the perception of subsequent traits in a sequence of interpretations; it appears to have been used as early as 1938.^[2]

  Education

The phrase flagship institution or flagship university is often used with reference to state university systems in the United States, which often comprise numerous separate and distinct degree-granting institutions. In this context, flagship means the original institutions from which the system grew, often schools dating from the wave of state university foundings that occurred in the three decades from 1850 to 1880. An example is the University of California at Berkeley. As in the naval analogy, it is often, though not always, the site of the administrative headquarters for the system.

According to Robert M. Berdahl, interim President of the University of Oregon, the phrase "flagship" came into existence in the 1950s when the Morrill Act schools were joined by newer institutions built in a wave of post-war expansion of state university system.^[3]

Berdahl contends that because of their age, the flagship institutions of a university system are often the largest and best financed and are perceived as elite relative to non-flagship state schools.^[3] He comments that "Those of us in "systems" of higher education are frequently actively discouraged from using the term "flagship" to refer to our campuses because it is seen as hurtful to the self-esteem of colleagues at other institutions in our systems. The use of the term is seen by some as elitist and boastful. It is viewed by many, in the context of the politics of higher education, as 'politically incorrect.' ... Only in the safe company of alumni is one permitted to use the term."^[3]

Nevertheless, some state universities and their officials still use the term "flagship" in official contexts. For example, "As the system's flagship campus, [UMass-]Amherst draws from throughout the Commonwealth, the nation and the world;"^[4] and "It is a pleasure to report to the General Assembly on the accomplishments and initiatives of the State [of Maryland]'s Flagship University."^[5]

  Conservation

Within conservation biology, the term flagship species refers to a species or taxon that is a symbol or rallying point to catalyze conservation actions. The metaphoric use of the term is inherently linked to ideas about representation.^[6]

  References