The record-union., 1898-03-21
SIGNALING TO WARSHIPS.
THE NAVAL MILITIA BROUGHT
INTO USE.
Semaphores to Send Messages to
Vessels a Hundred Miles
Away.

function in a unique system of sea-
coast defense to be established by the
Navy Department.
The nayy's Bureau Of Equipment is
engaged just now in designing interest
ing apparatus whereby. in times of
peace or in times of war, military Sc
crets may be whispered between naval
vessels far off shore and chains of sig
nal stations to be straightWay distrib-
uted along our Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf
and Great Lake coasts. The vessels
and stations will be equipped with the
necessary paraphernalia after they shall
have been selected.
All of the naval militia headquarters
along these coasts will be employed as
signal stations, and to complete the
chains the wide gaps between them will
be filed by bringing into service a
great number of lighthouses. Wherever
these viii not suffice to make the line
so complete that each signaler may
view the signals of the neighbCring
station on either side a new station will
be built by the Navy Department. The
system will be of great use in time of
peace, as we'll as in time Of war since
the Bureau of Navigation of the navy
is always receiving kilograms as to the
movements of naval vessels along the
coast and dispatching orders to them
After its installment our signal sys-
tenn between ship and ship and ship
and shore will be nearer perfection than
that Of any other naval power The
signaler at each station will be able
to converse by day with all ships pass
ing within radius of fifty miles, with
a possible extension of 100 miles.
SEMAPHORE SIGNALING.
Up to this time our naval signaling
in daytime has been accomplished
through the manipulation OF small flags
at the mastheads of vessels. These
cannot be depended upon for signaling
from shore to sea during calms, on
shore winds and hazy atmospheres, and
generally appear indistinct against a
shore line background. For day sig
mailing, semaphores similar to those
used on railroads. or shapes of some
kind, will have to be used within a GER
tain radius. Further than that, day
fireworks elevated by captive balloons
may be used. Searchlights and rock
cts will be employed at night.
A signal invented by Lieutenant B.
n. AohC, VI tiiC navy, anu COiAo4SAiiiS VI
four semaphores, is now before the de-
partment The semaphores are six feet
long by six inches wide and arranged
one above the other on the space of
the masthead above the sail When
not in use they normally hang so as to
coincide with the length of the mast
and thus be invisible. To bring one
into action an electric circuit is closed
by an operator in another part of the
vessel. BY proper manipulation he
can raise it so as to project at right an
giles with the mast, or at an angle Of 40
degrees. The movement is made by an
electro magnet attached to each arm.
In time Of peace the operator is sta
toned upon the bridge and in time of
war within the commanders turret. He
has before him a keyboard like that Of
typewriter, which automatically
translates messages in the naval cipher
or in ordinary language to the sema
phore code In the naval cipher every
word in the language is formed by
combination Of the numbers l, 2 and B.
Thus, to send a message by semaphores
the Navy Department would first trans
late it into cipher and wire it to the
signaler. The signaler would trans
late the cipher into the semaphore code
without knowing it's meaning. 1t would
then be received by the signal officer
of the vessel who would translate it
back into the cipher and hand it to the
commander. The commander would
unlock his safe and take out his cipher
book, unseal it and translate the mes
sage into common English. In the
semaphOre language, the number one
would be represented by pulling down
one semaphore to an angle of forty
five degrees, two by lowering it to right
angles, and so on.
APPARATUS ON SHIPBOARD.
A similar apparatus would be placed
on mast erected over each station,
lighthouse or lightship. transmitting the
signals from shore. Hand glasses are
now made so powerful that semaphores
of the dimensions given may be viewed
until the top Of the ships mast sinks
beneath the horizon. During a sea bat
tie the mast of a vessel is the last por
tion hidden in smoke after a discharge.
1t can almost always be seen. In
close fight positions Of our ships could
readily be accounted for by the flag
ship, as well as by the observer on
land, We're each one to continue the
repetition of it's name signal. The flag
ship bea airing the Admiral would no
longer need to expose itself to the brunt
of the battle. as it does now. Fleets
could maneuver much faster, and
warnings of torpedoes could be given in
time to avoid them. What one vessel
could rot see another could. All Wis
ible signals would be constantly read
and repeated by all receivers, both on
shore and on the sea.
The semaphores will be placed as
high above the earth as possible. II
l 900 feet above the sea level and large
enough in dimensions they might be
seen from the masthead for a distance
of forty-five miles with a sufficiently
powerful glass. In other words, they
will not fall below the horizon until
that distance shall have been reached.
Lighthouses, of course, differ in hight.
The top of Sandy Hook lighthouse, for
instance, could be seen from the mast
head for distance Of only about nine
teen miles.
WATER TELEGRAPHY AND HY-
DROPHONE.
Many inventions have been considered
by the Bureau of Equipment One is a
system perfected in Italy, whereby
passing vessel may telegraph, without
wires and through no other medium
than sea water, to a station on shore
from a distance of six miles. This is
phenomenal so far as it goes, but such
a system cannot be adopted until it can
reach still greater distances. An inter-
esting American invention is system
for signaling by sound between yes
sells or between a vessel and shore. The
transmitting vessel makes sounds in