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Old 20th Jan 2022, 1:41 pm   #25
roadster541
Pentode
 
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: Camborne, Cornwall, UK.
Posts: 124
Default Re: On-board ship communications

In reply to Merlin's question, There wasn't generally a connection between ships' internal phone system and a shore line. In the pre satelite phone days, as mentioned in a previous post by an ex RO, any personal messages would have to go through the RO and be sent via HF radio if deep sea and generally only for serious health problems, births or deaths.
Nowadays there is generally Wifi on board for crew use as well as official business, using satelite phone at sea and local mobile network when in port.
Mechanical telegraphs were in use on new vessels up to around 1960. Those which I remember used a chain connection similar in size to a bicycle chain; not a problem when the bridge was directly above the ER, but when the bridge was midships and the ER aft, that would mean very long chain runs.
The electric telegraph took over in the 1960s and remained the primary means of engine control communication until bridge control of the main engine(s) became commonplace in the 1970s.
Rod
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