The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-09-07
NAVAL SIGNALS.
Methods Used to Transmit Messages FreO
One Vessel to Another.

Methods Used to Transmit Messages Frsa
One Vessel to Another.
In naval battle, the success or fall
ure Of feet may depend on keeping
open communication between the diff
ferent vessels Of the squadron engaged.
Owing to the fact that the surface of
the sea would often be obscured by the
smoke Of battle, the difficulty Of this
is apparent, and naval experts have
been kept busy devising some method
by which the flagship can communicate
with the other vessels of squadron at
all times and under all conditions.
The present method Of communica-
ton is by the use Of flags representing
numerals, which are displayed in the
rigging; by the use Of the Ardois sys-
tenn Of lights for night work; by the
Meyer code Of wig-wag signals. and by
the use of the heliograph.
AS 1t Is of the utmost importance
that the enemy should not read the
message, the signal books on board
vessel are protected with the greatest
care, and are destroyed along with the
cipher code whenever 1t is seen that
capture is inevitable. The semaphore
signal system in use In the British
navy was tried for time aboard some
Of our vessels, but 1t never became pop
ular and has been abandoned.
In signaling by the navy code the
sentence to be sent is looked up In the
code book and Its corresponding num-
Der is obtained. This number Is never
more than four figures, on account Of
the necessity Of setting the signal with
the least delay. The number having
been obtained, the quartermaster in
charge Of the signal chest proceeds to
bend the flags representing the numer-
ais to the signal halyards. so as to
read from the top down. These flags
represent the numerals from / to 8 and
0, and there is triangular pennant
termed a repeater, which Is used In o
combination where one or more numer-
ais recur. The numbers refer to those
found in the general signal book, In
which are printed all the words,
phrases and sentences necessary to
frame an gorder, make an inquiry, in.
dictate a geographical position or sig
nal a compass course. Answering, In
terrogatory, preparatory and geo.
graphical pennants form part of this
code; also cornet, telegraph, danger,
dispatch and quarantine flags.
1t is often necessary for a man-of-
war to communicate with merchant
vessel or with some other warship be-
longing to foreign country. For this
purpose the international code is also
carried in the signal chest. These sig
mails are those in general use by all
the merchant navies Of the world for
communication by day at sea. There
are eighteen flags and a code pennant
corresponding to consonants of the
alphabet, emitting X and z. The code
pennant is always used with these sig
nails.
II message is to be sent at night,
the Ardois system of night signals,
with which all our vessels carrying
an electric plant are fitted, is used
How well the present flag and wig
wag signals will work during an en-
gagement remains to be discovered;
but If they fail attempts can still
be made to communicate by the ships
whistle, or by written messages dis
played 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
ship may be at hand. For this pur-
pose towers have been erected at in
tervals, and telegraph W es leading
from one to the other have been strung,
This, together with the telephone sys-
tenn in use by the life-saving service,
will permit of ample warning on the
approach Of hostile squadron.