| Show SIGNALING IN SEA FIGHTS h Closely Guarded Secrets of the Navys Signal Books In a naval battle the success or failure fail-ure of a fleet may depend on keeping open communication between the different dif-ferent vessels of the squadron engaged en-gaged Owing to the fact that the surface sur-face of the sea would often be ob squred by the smoke of battle the difficulty diffi-culty of this Is apparent and naval experts ex-perts have been kept busy devising some method by which the flagship can communicate with the other vessels under I un-der all conditions So far nothing has been put in general gen-eral service which meets this demand but it understood that there has lately been Invented a telephone which it is claimed can be used without wires and that signals can be projected by a vibrator on one vessel against a receiver re-ceiver on another The navy department depart-ment is keepiqg the details of this new system carefully to itself as it desires to have the invention for the exclusive use of our own shinsrin battle i l The present method of communica i tion Is by the use of flags representing numeral which are displayed in the rigging by the use of the Ardois system i sys-tem of lights for night work by the i Meyer code wigwag signals and b > I the use of the heliograph As it is of the utmost Importance that I the enemy should not read the message mes-sage the signal books on board a vessel are protected with the greatest care and are destroyed alonjr with the cipher code whenever it is seer that capture is inevitable The semaphore signal sys i tern in use in the British navy was j i tried for a time aboard some of our vessels but It never become popular V and has been abandoned V REPRESENTED BY FLAGS In signaling by the navy code the sentence to be sent Is looked up in the code book and its corresponding number num-ber Is obtained This number is nevermore never-more than four figures on account of the necessity for setting the signal with the least delay The number having been obtained the cjuartermaster in charge of the signal chest proceeds to bend the flags representing the numerals numer-als to the signal halliards so as to read from the top down These flags represent repre-sent the numerals from 1 to 9 and 0 and there is a triangular pennants I termed a repeater which is used in I a combination where one or more numerals I nu-merals recurt The numbers refer to I I hose found in the general signal book in which are printed all the words phrases and sentences necessary to frame an order make an Inquiry indicate in-dicate a geographical position or signal sig-nal compass course Answering Interrogatory In-terrogatory preparatory and geographical geograph-ical pennants form part of this code also cornet telegraph danger dispatch dis-patch and quarantine flags The signal having been prepared is hoisted and left flying until the vessel to which the message has been sent signifies that it Is understood by hoisting hoist-ing what is called the answering pennant pen-nant If the number hoisted by the flagship flag-ship is a preparatory order for a fleet movement it Is left flying until all the yessels of the fleet have answered and then Ijs I pulled down the act of pulling the signal down being understood as the command for the execution of the movement just communicated It is often necessary for a manof war to communicate with a merchant vessel or with some other warship be longipg to a foreign country For this purpose the International code is also carried in the signal chest These signals sig-nals are those In general use by all the merchant navies of the world for communication com-munication bv dat at sea There are 15 flacs and a code pennant corres pondlnsr to the consonants of the al cQ1son of phabet omittinc x am z ine cooe pennant is always used with these signals sig-nals S nalsSYSTEM SYSTEM OF NIGHT SIGNALS I P messacrp is to be sent at night the Ardois system of night signals wi h which all our vessels carrying an electric elec-tric plant are fitted is employed These signals consist essentially of five goups of double lamps and showIng show-Ing white and red respectively By the combination of these lights letters can be formed and so letter by letter a I word and thence an order can be spelled out for the guidance of the shlp3of a squadron These lamps are suspended on u stay in the rigging and are worked by a keyboard on the upper brldce V On the smaller ships of the service those which are not fitted with electrjc lighting Verys night signals are used This set includes the implements for1 I firing and recharglng the signals The t < C = a 1 > V I I latter show a green and red stars on I being projected from the pistols made for them The combination of red nd green in various ways is used to express I ex-press the numbers from 1 to 9 and 0 soV I that the numbers to four digits contained V con-tained in thesignal book may be displayed dis-played MEYERS WIGWAG SIGNALS The Meyer wigwag system is employed em-ployed either by day or by night Fla sand s-and torches are employed The official flag is a red field with a small white square in the center the unofficial flag is the same with the colors reversed The operator having attracted the attention at-tention of the ship which is to be signaled sig-naled by waving the flag or torch from right to left transmits his message by motions right left and front each motion mo-tion representing an element of a letter of the alphabet the letter being made up of from one to four motions When circumstances permit the heliograph I 1 liogranh is sometimes used The rays I 6f the sun are thrown by a system of mirrors to the nolnt with which it is I desired to communicate and then in i terrunted bv means of a shutter making mak-ing dots and dashes as used in the Morse telegraph code This system is used onlv when operations ashore are going on as the rolling of the ship would prevent the concentration of the rays of sunlight The present stems of flag signaling are products of experience in the past and are the natural growth of the cruder flag system in use in the war of 1S12 and in the civil war There nave been some changes in the construction of flags and the scope of communication has been greatly enlarged greaty larged but otherwise our forefathers talked at sea in much the same way that we do now Of course the Ardois light signal is something very modern I In olden times they communicated at night either with dares and colored cares lights or by torches but as there was I no alnhabetical code in those days the process was bv means of flashes representing I rep-resenting numbers In the signal book sigal and It was lone and tedious anc I How sel the present flag and wigwag wig-wag signals will work during an engagement en-gagement remains to be discovered but if ther fail attempts can still be made to communicate by the ships whistle or by writing messages disolaved on blackboards if occasion offers In case of an enemy appearing on our coasts arrangements have been made to notify the nearest body of troops or the commander of whatever ships maybe may-be at hand For this purpose may have been erected at intervals and telegraph I tel-egraph wires leading from one to the j I other have been strung This together with the telephone system in use by the light saving service will permit of ample I am-ple warning on the approach of a hostile j hos-tile squadron te S I |
