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The Bravo Zulu award is given to someone for their outstanding contribution to the Certification Commission and the Certification Program, as judged by fellow Commissioners.
“Bravo Zulu” is a Naval signal, conveyed by flag-hoist or voice radio, meaning “well done;” it has also passed into the spoken and written vocabulary.
There are some myths and legends attached to this signal. The one most frequently heard has Admiral “Bull” Halsey sending it to ships of Task Force 38 during World War II. Bravo Zulu actually comes from the Allied Naval Signal Book (ATP1 Vol 1 series), an international naval signal code adopted after the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was created in 1949.
World War II experience had shown that it was difficult, or even impossible, for ships of different navies to operate together unless they could readily communicate, and ACP 175 was designed to remedy this. ACP 175 was organized in the general manner of other signal books, that is, starting with one-flag signals, then two-flag signals, and so on. The two-flag signals were organized by general subject, starting with AA, AB, AC ... AZ, BA, BB, BC ... BZ, and so on. The last signal on the “administrative” page was BZ, standing for “well done.”
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