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W/T 1920s to 1950s

© RN Communications Branch Museum/Library



  A good look at the period very late 1920s until the mid 1950s. This of course shows the full Wireless Telegraphy environment of the Royal Navy from day one of WW2. The lists below, dated 1939, show the names of the ships which took part in the war literally from the beginning or were built/building ready for war. However, those lost in the opening months of the war e.g. HMS ROYAL OAK are not listed. When a ship's entry is blank, it means that it had not been fitted out from new build e.g. HMS ANSON (KG V Class) first commissioned 1942. However, the KING GEORGE V herself had been commissioned so her fit can be read for all KG V Class battleships.   We have sourced ROYAL OAK's fit separately. Her transmitter outfit was the Types 36M, 43C, 49C, 60E, and 73X. Her D/F outfits were the FH2/LM1 and her Wa/T was the 405.
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KDA Control System, proudly known as the Central Wireless System, the C.W.S. - developed for ships of the 1930s onwards KDA Central Wireless System
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Transmitter

 Transmitters 1920s to 1950s
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Receivers Receivers 1920s to 1950s
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Aerials Aerial Outfits 1920s to 1950s
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D/F Equipment D/F Outfits 1920s to 1950s
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Battery Outfits The life blood of the machines of those days IF the ship's D.C. supply failed. A.C. supplies for the equipment, normally fed from the ships D.C. supplies but by the batteries above when the latter failed. Also supplied from rotaries and from motor alternators. Battery Outfits 1920s to 1950s
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Wavemeters Wavemeters
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Warning Telephones Warning Telephones
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Capital Ships W/T Fits It seems odd that the Lion and the Temeraire are listed in these tables. Other than the Temeraire which fought at Jutland in 1916 and the School of Naval Physical Training in Portsmouth, I can find nothing to support this entry. The cruisers Lion and Tiger (Blake also in class but plays no part in this story) were named that at the very end of WW2 (1945) having been built as Defence and Bellerophon respectively. In this story taken from the internet it suggests that HMS Tiger (built as such) was given to the Russians at the end of the war and they used it for target practice! It seems strange that as we give away a ship called Tiger we immediately rename one of our newer ships Tiger in its place. The Lion, according to this story was sunk in the Mediterranean. Here is the URL to that web site HMS LION. Capital Ship W/T Fits
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Aircraft Carriers W/T Fits Aircraft Carriers W/T Fits
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Cruisers W/T Fits Cruisers W/T Fits
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Tribals W/T Fits Tribals W/T Fits
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Flotilla Leaders W/T Fits Flotilla Leaders W/T Fits
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Destroyer W/T Fits Destroyer A to H W/T Fits

Destroyer I to SAB W/T Fits

Destroyer I to SAB W/T Fits

Destroyer SAG to 2 W/T Fits
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Submarines W/T Fits Submarines W/T Fits
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Escort Vessels W/T Fits Escort Vessels W/T Fits
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Minelayers & Netlayers W/T Fits Minelayers & Netlayers W/T Fits
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Minesweepers W/T Fits Minesweepers W/T Fits
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Gunboats W/T Fits Gunboats W/T Fits
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Trawlers W/T FITS Trawlers W/T FITS
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Patrol Vessels W/T Fits Patrol Vessels W/T Fits
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Boom Defence Vessels W/T Fits Boom Defence Vessels W/T Fits
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Tugs W/T Fits Tugs W/T Fits
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Drifters W/T Fits Drifters W/T Fits
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Small Craft W/T Fits ML's MTB's for example Small Craft W/T Fits
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Miscellaneous Vessels W/T Fits RFA's, Depot Ships, Naval Auxiliary Vessels (NAV), Target Vessels, Surveying Vessels, S/M Tenders, Monitor's, old battleship HMS Iron Duke (a WW1 battleship used for harbour duties: location Scapa Flow as a transit/accommodation ship), Cable Vessels, Hospital Ships, Mining Tender, Water Carriers, Petrol Carriers, Royal Yacht, Repair Ships. In this section there are 4 ships (Lucia, Tyne, Unicorn and Woolwich) which are also mentioned in the Depot Ship section below. Ignore the data listed for them in THIS section. Miscellaneous Vessels W/T Fits
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Depot Ships W/T Fits Depot Ships W/T Fits
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Other W/T Fits Other W/T Fits
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The Ionosphere

(See the Post WW1 Years 1920s file - The Post WW1 years - the 1920s)

  The 1931 version of the Admiralty Handbook for W/T had got to the Heavyside Layer, only considering what went on in that layer both day and night without considering what might be going on 250 miles above the earths surface. The original name for the ionosphere (1902) was the "Kennelly-Heavyside Layer" named after the two British scientists who discovered this ionised layer, and they were stimulated by the successful transmissions made across the Atlantic by Marconi in 1901. They knew that the least height above sea level before ionisation took effect was approximately 60 miles although it wasn't 'set in stone' and was known to vary between day and night, summer and winter. What follows is the Royal Navy's state of understanding in the early 1930's 1930 EM Waves Part 1 and 1930 EM Waves Part 2

  Later on, when the subject of the Ionosphere was fully understood, the Navy produced documents like this . Propagation as taught and used in the Royal Navy