How were medieval navy commanders able to communicate with 100’s of ships during war?

Question

During medieval navy wars, there was a lot of smoke and noise from cannon fire. The weather was sometimes stormy. The visibility and sound wouldn’t have been that good. How were they able to command ships during such conditions and keep updated with rapidly changing events during battle?

In: Other

Answer 1

>medieval navy wars

Didn’t happen a lot. Naval warfare mostly happened earlier (roman times) or later (post rennaisance)

But in general they didn’t communicate well. They used flags for signalling, but even in WW1 miscommunications were still very common. So everything basically boiled down to whose pre-battle plan fitted the conditions of the actual battle better.