Shipboard Communications

[Bucephalus]

Hi Everyone,

I am researching several aspects of World War I naval combat, and something I'd like to get a feel for is what was it really like to try to communicate via wireless from ship to ship? For example, what were the protocols for a Captain sending a message via wireless to another ship (or ships) in his squadron? Would he simply dictate the message to the senior wireless officer who then passed it on to someone who actually input the morse code? Similarly, how would an incoming wireless message make its way to the Captain? How would encoding and decoding messages factor into the transmission times? On most ships, were the wireless rooms adjacent to the bridge? Without knowing how all of this was actually accomplished, it seems like the entire system could have been rather cumbersome.

I am researching both the Royal Navy and the Imperial German Navy, so any information about the differences in protocol between the two forces would be very useful.

Any information on this one?

Thanks in advance,

Bucephalus

[John(txic)]

Whilst by no means an expert, I seem to recall from reading about various actions that the RN, at least for the early part of the war, relied heavily on flag signals rather than wireless. There was one major foul-up in the Battlecruiser action at the Dogger Bank whereby the fleet concentrated on the crippled Blucher than the remainder of the fleeing enemy. Beatty was, however, exceptionally loyal to his subordinate, whose lack of ability cost Beatty at least a DSO, if not a seat in the House of Lords!

[Bucephalus]

While the RN certainly did use flag signals for many purposes, there were numerous scenarios in which wireless was the only or best option (particularly at night). It is in those scenarios that I'm trying to get a feel for the procedures and protocols involved.

For example, before the Battle of Coronel, both Cradock's squadron and von Spee's squadron were limiting their wireless traffic to a single ship - leading the British to believe that only the SMS Leipzig was nearby, and leading the Germans to think that HMS Glasgow was isolated from the rest of the British Squadron. In doing so, the two full forces steamed right toward each other (and into history).

Wireless was certainly being used early in the naval war by both sides, even if it was limited by circumstance or protocol. I guess I'm trying to get an idea of the "nuts and bolts" of how it would have worked on board a warship in both combat and during normal operations.

Thanks,

Bucephalus

[joseph]

Bucephalus,

Wireless communications in the RN was well practised by the time war broke out the first being July 1898, all major ships being capable.

Under normal sailing conditions a signal sent by the Captain would be received by the Chief Yeoman who would then take or send it to the Signal Bridge where the Signals Officer would decide on the manner of transmission, the message would then be sent and logged in the Distribution Office.

An incoming message on receipt would go to the Distribution Office where the Yeoman of the Watch would determine what action the signal required and have all signals logged, they would then be distributed as necessary.

Each signal would have a category of importance, security classification and a content requirement (a low importance signal may require a reply by a certain time).

During action stations only executive signals would be sent and received these would be sent directly from the bridge by visual methods, the wireless signal would go by messenger to the operator. All signals are logged and recorded in the distribution office after each signal is actioned.

From a Wireless point of view the operator would need a practical knowledge of the Wireless Telegraphy Apparatus of his ship. To be able to draw, explain and join up the various circuits. Be able to tune the transmitting circuits to a given wave.

Some standards for Leading Telegraphist;

Receiving Code at 22 words a minute.

Receiving “Enclair” (English) 25 words a minute.

Receiving “Enclair” (foreign) 20 word a minute.

Sending Code at 22 words a minute.

Sending Cypher, 15 Cypher groups all repeated in 2min 15 sec. (Cypher groups consist of five numerals)

from Admiralty's Handbook of signalling 1913 and Kings Regulations and Admiralty Instructions 1913.

The biggest enhancement to wireless achieved during WW1 was two-way voice communication.

Hope this helps.

Regards Charles

[Bucephalus]

Hi Charles,

This is very useful information, thanks!

I am getting the impression that with this many people involved, whether the message content was relayed verbally to the wireless room or was sent in written form, that the content of even messages intended to be sent in cypher would likely be relatively common knowledge among at least portions of the crew. There would, therefore, be relatively few "secrets" aboard a ship at the time.

I also would have to assume that during action stations, things could certainly be very chaotic on the bridge and elsewhere, particularly under fire. Would the messengers going to and from the operators and Distribution Office be junior officers? Also, in terms of actual layout of a ship, what kind of a physical trip are we talking about? Customarily, how far away would the Wireless Room or the Distribution Office be from the bridge itself (taking into, of course, the differences in layouts between different classes of ship)? Also, would the Captain have available to him the option of voice tube relay of messages to and from these locations?

Thanks again for the insight and information.

Regards,

Bucephalus

[joseph]

Bucephalus,

Secrecy was taken very seriously, few people would see a signal which would always be in writing on form S1320b. The distance between the captain and his signal deck would be yards it was normally abaft the bridge or above it. The wireless room not to far away from the signal deck, the apparatus for sending wireless would be deep in the ship as would be the distribution room.

The messengers would be ratings detailed in the Watch and Station bill as their Action Station, voice tube would be an option but only used in confirming reciept of the message at its destination onboard.

This is a signal sent by Wireless from Q Ship Dunraven after she had been attacked by a submarine and was about to be attacked again which she was shortly afterwards, no sign of chaos!;

Regards Charles

[joseph]

Due to the outage the signal wasn't attatched heere it is;

Regards Charles

[Amity]

Hi Bucephalus

I am currently researching the 1st AIF Convoys, which departed Austrqlia during WW1. A part of this concerns radio communications, which you may find useful, as follows:

HISTORY OF MARITIME RADIO COMMUNICATIONS

The Worldwide History of Telecommunications By Anton A. Huurdeman

In 1901, Marconi made a deal with Lloyds of London that implied that any ship had to be equipped with a Marconi Radio Station to take advantage of the world wide network of marine intelligence that centred on Lloyds and be insured by Lloyds. These restrictions were lifted in 1906.

International Bureau of Berne reported that in 1912, there were 2752 ship stations, served by 479 shore stations.

After WW1 radio became widely used in merchant ships due to the improved quality of vacuum tubes, in turn improving the quality of reception. By 1920 there were 12,622 ship stations served by 937 shore stations.

THE STORY OF PORTISHEAD RADIO

LONG RANGE MARITIME RADIO COMMUNICATIONS: 1920 - 1995

________________________________________

1995 sees the 75th anniversary of long range maritime radio communications in the United Kingdom, which started from humble beginnings in 1920.

Broadcasting to ships had been taking place since the early days of radio; the General Post Office (GPO) long wave stations at Poldhu and Caernarvon had been conducting two way traffic with ships within a few hundred miles of the United Kingdom prior to the First World War. However, no long range system existed until 1919 when the GPO and the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company agreed to convert a redundant Imperial Wireless Chain receiving station at Devizes in Wiltshire for long range maritime use. Comprising of a receiver and a 6 kilowatt valve transmitter, station GKT was opened for service early in 1920, with a guaranteed range of 1,500 miles.

HISTORY OF MARITIME DISTRESS CALLS “SOS” & “CQD”

The rescue of 1,500 passengers and crew from the Republic and the Florida by the Baltic in January of 1909, was the defining moment in wireless rescue history. The White Star liner Republic was rammed in a dense fog by the Italian Florida. Wireless operator Jack Binns of the Republic, sent out a "CQD." (The Florida was not wireless equipped.) The Baltic came to the rescue after hunting for the Republic in the fog for many hours. Those concerned with the maritime industry now realized the importance of equipping ships with wireless.

The number of ships equipped with wireless grew rapidly after the Republic disaster. For example, at the end of 1909 the Marconi Co. owned and operated 143 wireless stations on the high seas. By the summer of 1911, the number grew to 303 stations. By the end of 1912, there were 580 shipboard wireless installations.

From my own sea-going experience in the 1960's, when radio comms, between ship & shore, (during the introduction of short range VHF), were recieved & transmitted by a radio operator using Morse Code. The ship's Master wrote in longhand, on a message pad, the content of the message & handed it to the Ro Op for transmission, who in turn waited for the appropriate time in his watch to transmit it. The reverse proceedure would have been used for incoming messages. The Master approved all transmitted messages before transmission. (All Ro Op watches commenced with a silent period to listen for SOS & PAN (Urgency) messages, before commencing routine traffic. Communications were conducted in HF bands, when transmissions were bounced off the Ionosphere & earth to reach their destination.

Radio rooms were located close to the bridge, mainly to facilitate the physical connections of the radio set with the aerial slung between the fore & main masts. The TITANIC's Ro room was close to the bridge, so I suspect it was commonplace for this to occur in all merchant ships in the early part of the 20th Century. It was certainly the case when I was at sea.

During War Time, in general, a strict policy of radio silence would have been observed, Ro Ops listening only. (During WW1 only the larger merchant ships were equipped with radio). Messages in convoys would have been by International Code (flag hoists) and semaphore during the day and by aldis signal lamp using Morse Code during night & day. Intelligence messages received from shore stations in code would have been decoded using the appropriate manuals.

Yes, compared to today's voice communications, it was a cumbersome system, but then, so is everything when it first evolves.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Amity

[simonharley]

Beatty was, however, exceptionally loyal to his subordinate, whose lack of ability cost Beatty at least a DSO, if not a seat in the House of Lords!

The subordinate in question, Ralph Seymour, later threw himself off a cliff after being released from the Navy, having had a history of mental problems. Beatty's attempts to cover his tracks after Jutland made Seymour become the centre of a lot of criticism which directly or indirectly to his taking his own life. Beatty already had a DSO, which he won in 1896.

The technical specifications for sending and receiving messages have been helpfully laid out above. However, getting the message from the Captain or Admiral who originated the message, down to the WT room, and then from the recipient's WT Room to the addressee, could take far longer than it ought to. The Official Despatches of the Battle of Jutland and other works show great variations in the period from when a message was sent and when it was received, which obviously in the heat of battle can be crucial.

Harley

[joseph]

Harley,

Would be interesting to see some of the messages and times they were sent and recieved, maybe fit them into priority, damage or chaos category. I will read the OH see what that says about signalling.

Regards Charles

[Bucephalus]

Hi Charles, Amity, and Harvey,

This is all excellent insight and information. I also would be fascinated to see some representative examples of send and receive times for some wireless signals, particularly in the midst of a battle.

I presume that during combat, all of the wireless messages would still be encoded (perhaps more likely so), even though doing so would take longer to transmit and receive.

I have another question, which I hope is not too elementary: In today's world of ubiquitous wireless communication, we take for granted the vast spectrum of transmission frequencies available to us for the tranmission of varying media. During WWI, however, how many frequencies (or bands) were commonly in use? Did the RN have a specific frequency (or range) in which they broadcast? Did merchant chips use the same frequencies? Obviously, the German Telefunken wireless transmitters were of a different type than the RN, but they could certainly hear each other - and even attempt to jam each other's tranmissions. How much flexibility did each side have, with regard to frequencies?

Thanks again for all the great input on this one.

Regards,

Bucephalus

[Bucephalus]

My apologies, Harley, for inexplicably referring to you as "Harvey".

I apparently need my morning coffee...

Bucephalus

[Amity]

Hi Bucephalus

During WW1, maritime radio comms were still in their infancy. As you will see from my previous response to you, in the section entitled History of Portishead Radio, that during this period, maximum range of Low Frequency transmissions was 1500 nm. You should bear in mind that the lower the freqency, the closer the transmission will follow the curvature of the earth's surface, while the higher frequencies are only line of sight. (Submarines communicate in the Very Low Frequency band, when submerged and require a great deal of power to have any effective range). The benefit of Line of sight HF transmissions is that they require relatively less power and can be bounced off the Ionosphere & earth's surface several times to reach their destination. The disadvantage of this is that during the periods of an hour either side of sunrise & sunset, the Ionosphere physically shifts its distance from the earth's surface and compromises this "bounce" strategy.

As for Navy ship CO's transmitting messages during a battle, I would imagine that they would be too busy concentrating on battle tactics to send messages beyond acknowledging instructions from senior fleet / flotilla officers. Even for this they would have their communications officer & signals yeomen available to do it for them.

Cheers

Amity

[John(txic)]

Bucephalus,

I would commend this site to you: http://www.bobhenneman.info/forum/index.php

An interesting comment in this Thread:

http://www.bobhenneman.info/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1186

said "Otherwise, the only other thing that has come to mind since reading your orginal post is that I can now recall reading somewhere in the dim and distant past, that Jellicoe said that the key (wireless) was never to be pressed at sea unless it was absolutely necessary to do so (that is not a direct quote though). "

[Bucephalus]

Hi Amity and John(txic),

Thanks for the additional insight and info. I have been researching the battles of Coronel and the Falklands, so most of the material at my disposal relates to those two clashes and the movements and communications immediately preceding, between, and afterward. I have a few sources (logs, diaries) that list various signals from ship to ship during the actual battles. As far as the Royal Naval signals are concerned, it looks like wireless signals during the battle were outnumbered by other methods (most likely flag signal) about 4 to 1. In most cases, the wireless signals appear to have been used either to transmit beyond visual (flag) range or to transmit a message of greater complexity than would have been practical by some other means.

While I don't have quite the same depth of documentation for the German signals (most of the records of von Spee's squadron now reside at the bottom of the South Atlantic), it appears that the Germans were more inclined to use wireless to make more basic queries and communications, even during the height of the battle. I have read more than one account insinuating that the Imperial German Navy was so confident in both the quality of their wireless communications equipment and in the security of their encryption that at least for a time their use of wireless communication was more routine than the Royal Navy's.

[John(txic)]

Bu,

If you will recall, the U-Boot Waffe were incredibly garrulous inWWII, such that HF/DF bearings led to many a sinking - not to mention more source material for Bletchley Park!

[Toms girl]

Hello Folks

I would like to add that not all signals were by wireless, and indeed in the early part of the war a signal would be sent by flag from the stern of one ship to the fore of the one behind, this would in turn be repeated back to confirm accuracy, then sent to the next ship in the convoy and the same proceedure followed. It was not uncommon for a message to take 5/7 minutes to reach the last ship in a convey. At night lamps were used.

Regards Margarette

[joseph]

Bucephalus,

Have you assertained whether any of the Royal Naval ships 'Coronel and Falklands' where fitted with the 'Poulson wireless Set'.

Regards Charles

[Bucephalus]

Hi Charles,

I have not yet come across any specific mention of Poulson wireless equipment on any of the various Royal Navy ships directly involved in the Coronel and Falklands engagements. I did happen upon one reference that stated that HMS Vindictive (an obsolete Arrogant-class Protected Cruiser) was equipped with a Poulson wireless and sent to Ascension Island in November 1914 to act as a link in the communications chain between the Admiralty and the squadron commanded by Admiral Sturdee.

I haven't come across any other references to Poulson wireless equipment on any other Royal Navy ships during the war. I'm not sure why this is, because the Poulson sets had been around for at least seven years before the start of the war. Perhaps they weren't ideal for shipboard use?

Just to make sure you and I are discussing the same thing, I believe the Poulson set was the first wireless equipment to permit transmission of actual voices, music, etc. - instead of just coded signals.

Do you have any more information on this?

Thanks,

Bucephalus

[joseph]

Bucephalus,

I have been looking at the communication system in the Mediteranean and moving some of the poulson sets from ships in the link to the South Atlantic was discussed in a letter I read from Rear Adm Thomas Jackson D of Ops Admiralty to Vice Adm John de Robeck Eastern Med Squadron, Admiralty Whitehall 24/03/1916. HMS Vindictive is mentioned by name, also the manufacture of 3kw sets that could be used as there are no excisting sets not in use.

The Poulson set was large and takes up a lot of room, it also needed a substantial ariel array!. Seems to be spoken of in a positive way. Transmits and recieves voice 250miles plus.

Regards Charles

[per ardua per mare per terram]

My apologies, Harley, for inexplicably referring to you as "Harvey".

Maybe you were seeing a pooka at the time?

[per ardua per mare per terram]

Have you read Andrew Gordon's Rules of the Game? Although it covers Jutland, it has a large section on signalling, particularly the grip of flags. Which of the NA files have you researched? In addition to Sterdee's report for the Falklands there is ADM 137/3851 Papers concerning Von Spee's cruiser squadron and naval engagement off Coronel 1914 Nov

Spark wireless was unreliable and as has been identified of limited range.

whose lack of ability cost Beatty at least a DSO, if not a seat in the House of Lords!

He wasn't eligable for a DSO for this action, he did get a seat in the House of Lords; it should have resulted in Beatty being court martialled.

[joseph]

It was compulsory for all ships carrying more than 50 personell to be equiped with a wireless system (Ship Act 1910 amended 1912). The RN used the quenched spark system capable of 250 miles day and 375 miles night and up to 1500 miles, depending on the hight and position of the ariels. Continuous wave systems became a standard fit on RN ships during the war as the did not rely on atmosperic conditions as much.

Regards Charles

[Bucephalus]

I've gone back through my resources and found no specific mention of Sturdee's communication with (or via) HMS Vindictive during or after the Falklands battle. Apparently preserving the contents of the messages was more important than mentioning HOW the messages got to and from the communicators. Oh well...

I would be interested to hear from those of you who know more about this than I do: how the standard-issue spark wireless gear aboard the RN ships differed from (and was apparently inferior to) the Telefunken wireless kits aboard the German ships at the time (range, reliability, etc).

Thanks,

Bucephalus

[joseph]

Bucephalus,

HMS Invincible was fitted with Poulson wireless gear on November 26th at Abrolhos Rocks to link with the Vindictive which was on its way to Ascension.

OH Vol I page 409.

Regards Charles