Radio communications

ConvoyHunting · 11-13-21, 04:11 PM

Just some "historic" questions. Unlike the very well documented german side, I can't find a lot of informations about the radio communications procedures between U.S. submarines and their respective bases/commanders.

In Blair's Silent Victory, he mentioned the "Fox Schedule", a nightly radio broadcast from Pearl Harbor who transmitted orders and informations to all of the submarines at sea in the same long and fastidious flow of encrypted messages.

Pages 109 and 110 :
"If Withers had information or orders for his boats, he sent them messages over the nightly Fox schedules originating from Pearl Harbor. The submarine radio operators "guarded" (i.e., monitored) these boradcasts, watching for their own coded sign. When it appeared in the long string of messages, they would copy it. The message would then be decoded by the communications officer of by the other officers designated for this task. All messages were repeated three times. Very important messages were repeated on succesive nights. Messages were numbered serially. If an operator missed a message because he was submerged when it was transmitted or for other reasons, he had orders to "open up" (i.e., break radio silence) at the earlist opportunity and request that it be repeated"

It seems to be the main system of communication during the early years of the war for the Pacific Fleet.
Is the Asiatic Fleet used that same kind of "night schedule" system or everything came from Pearl's "Fox Schedule" ? And is that system used until the end of the war or evolded to a more "rafined" thing ?

11-13-21, 04:11 PM	#1
ConvoyHunting Watch Join Date: Oct 2021 Posts: 27 Downloads: 8 Uploads: 0	Radio communications Just some "historic" questions. Unlike the very well documented german side, I can't find a lot of informations about the radio communications procedures between U.S. submarines and their respective bases/commanders. In Blair's Silent Victory, he mentioned the "Fox Schedule", a nightly radio broadcast from Pearl Harbor who transmitted orders and informations to all of the submarines at sea in the same long and fastidious flow of encrypted messages. Pages 109 and 110 : "If Withers had information or orders for his boats, he sent them messages over the nightly Fox schedules originating from Pearl Harbor. The submarine radio operators "guarded" (i.e., monitored) these boradcasts, watching for their own coded sign. When it appeared in the long string of messages, they would copy it. The message would then be decoded by the communications officer of by the other officers designated for this task. All messages were repeated three times. Very important messages were repeated on succesive nights. Messages were numbered serially. If an operator missed a message because he was submerged when it was transmitted or for other reasons, he had orders to "open up" (i.e., break radio silence) at the earlist opportunity and request that it be repeated" It seems to be the main system of communication during the early years of the war for the Pacific Fleet. Is the Asiatic Fleet used that same kind of "night schedule" system or everything came from Pearl's "Fox Schedule" ? And is that system used until the end of the war or evolded to a more "rafined" thing ?