Maritime Phonetic Alphabet at sea

The phonetic alphabet is used to spell out parts of a message or call sign that are critical or otherwise hard to recognize during voice communication. The phonetic alphabet assigns code words to the letters of the English alphabet so that code words can be pronounced and understood by those who transmit and receive voice messages regardless of their native language. As a result, it is quite important for maritime communications that the phonetic alphabet be memorized. The phonetic alphabet is a part of ICS (International Code of Signals) and SMCP (Standard Marine Communication Phrases).