Evening star., 1898-05-07
Modern Methods of Communication
Between Men-o'-War.
REPRESENTED BY FLAGS
At Night Groups Of Electric Light:
Are Used.
SENDING WAR MESSAGES

| Written for The Evening Star.
In a naval battle the success or failure of
| a fleet may depend on keeping open COM
| nunication between the different vessels of
the squadron enga ged. Owing to the fact
| that the surface of the sea would often be
| obsoured by the smoke of battle, the diff
| Guilty 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 a squadron at all
times, and under all conditions.
| So far nothing has been put in general
| service which meets this demand but it is
| und srstood that there has lately been in
| vented 4 telephone which, it is claimed.
| can be used without wires, and that signals
| can be projected by vibrator on one ves-
, sci against receiver on another. Tn, Navy
Department is keeping the details of this
new system carefully to itself, as it desires
| to have the vention for the exclusive use
| of our own ships in battle.
| The present method of communication is
| by the use of flags representing numerals,
| Which are displayed in the rigging; by the
| use of the Ardois system of lights for night
| work; by the Meyer code of wig-wag sig
| rals and by the use of the heliograph.
AS it is of the utmost importance that III q
| enemy should net read the message III.
| signal books on board a vessel are protect
GU WIN tHc greatest care, ana are de-
stroyed along with the cipher code when-
ever 1t is seen that capture is inevitable
| The semaphoIe signal system in use in the
British navy was tried for time aboard
some of our vessels. but it never became
popular, and has been abandoned.
Represented by Flags.
In signaling by the navy code the SEN
| tence TO be sent is looked up in the code
| book and its corresponding number is OBJ
tanned 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 quarter
| master in charge OF the signal chest pro-
| ceeds to bend the flags representing the nu-
! nie!als to the signal halliards so as TO read
| from the top down. These flags represent
| the numerals from to . and o. and there
| Is a triangular pennant, termed repeater,
Wnlch Is used in a combination where one
| or more numerals recur. The numbers re-
FER to those found in the general signal
| book, in which printed all the words.
phrases and sentences necessary to frame
| an order. make an inquiry, indicate a geo
graphical position or signal a compass
| course Answering, interrogatory, prepara-
tory and geographical pennants form part
| OF this code, also corret, telegraph danger
dispatch and quarantine flags
The signal having been prepared is
hoisted and left flying until the vessel to
which the message has been sent signifies
called the answering pennant If the num-
| Der hoisted by the flagship is preparatory
order for fleet movement it is left flying
! until aii the vessels of the fleet have an
sWered and then is pulled down the act
OF pulling the signal down being under
stood as the command for the execution of
| the movement just communicated.
1t Is often necessary for man-of-war
TO communicate with a merchant vessel
or with some other warship belonging TO a
foreign country. For this purpose the in
ternationai code is also carried in the sig
mai chest. These signals 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 pen
| hant, corresponding to consonants of the
alphabet emitting X and z. The code
pennant Is always used with these signals
Night Signals.
If a message is to be sent at night the
Ardots system of night signals, with which
all our vessels carrying an electric plant
are lifted. is employed. These signals con-
sist, essentially, of five groups of double
lamps, the two lamps in each group con-
tanning incandescent electric lamps and
showing white and red respectively BY the
combination of these lights letters can he
formed, and so, letter by letter a word
ana thence an order can be spelled out for
the guidance of the ships of squadron
ihese lamps are suspended on a stay in
the rigging, and are worked by q keyboa rd
from the upper bridge.
On the smaller ships of the service those
Which are not fitted with electric lighting
very night signals are used. This SCI
includes the implements for firing and re-
charging the signals. he latter show as
green ana red stars being protected
from the pistols made for them. The COM
binatio1 of red and green in various vays
is used to express the numbers from I to .
and ., so that the numbers to four ,iiCits
contained in the signal book may be dis
played
The Meyer wig-wap systap, is ep,n,o,aa
either by day or by night Flags and
torches are employed. The official flag is
red fleid with small white square in
the center. The unofficial flag is the same
with the colors reversed. The operator.
having attracted the attention of the shin
which is to be signaled by waving the flag
or loren from right to left, transmits his
message by motions right, left and front
each motion representing an element of a
letter OF the alphabet, the letter being
MADE up from one to four motions.
When circumstances permit the helfo-
graph is sometimes used. The rays of the
sun are thrown by system Of mirrors to
the point with which it is desired to COM
municate, and then interrupted by means
OF shutter, making dots and tlashes as
used in the Morse telegraph CODE This
system is used only when operations ashore
are going on, as the rolling of the ship
would prevent the concentration Of the
rays of sunlight.
Result of Experience.
AHo pfeSeiil SYSTEMS OF nag signaling are
products of experience in the past, and are
the natural growth of the cruder flag sys-
tenn in use in the war of 1872 and in the
civil war.
There have been some changes in the con-
struction of flags, and the scope of commu-
nication has been greatly enlarged but
otherwise our forefathers talked at sea I'm
much the same way that we do now. or
course the Ardois light signal is something
very modern. In old times they communi-
Gated at night either with clares and col
ored lights or by torches, but as there was
no alphabetical code in those days the pro-
cess was by means of flashes representing
numbers in the signal book, and it was
long and tedious.
How well the present flag and wig-wag
signals will work during an engagement
remains to be discovered; but IL they fail,
attempts can still be made to commune
cate by the ships whistle or by written
messages displayed on blackboards If occa-
sion offers
In case Of an enemy appearing on our
coasts arrangements have been made to no.