The Ship Model Forum

As a ps, I should have added that ship to air was fitted pre-war to those battleships and cruisers that carried aircraft. Hpwever these appear not to have been dedicated outfits.

ar wrote:For the RN the primary means between ships was visual and electronic. As the war progressed the electronic side of things grew, but right up to the end, visual means played a substantal part.
As for ship to air, the primary means early in the conflict was electronic and restricted to aircraft carriers as one would expect.
In 1941 the first ships to have ship to air HF sets were fitted to destroyers on East Coast convoys. By the end of 1941 a Fleet wide program was underway to fit HF sets on ships down to escort size for ship to ship and ship to air.
Procedures on use for both types changed as the war went on. One cannot give a quick or simple answer here. Far too complicated.

For the RN the primary means between ships was visual and electronic. As the war progressed the electronic side of things grew, but right up to the end, visual means played a substantal part.
As for ship to air, the primary means early in the conflict was electronic and restricted to aircraft carriers as one would expect.
In 1941 the first ships to have ship to air HF sets were fitted to destroyers on East Coast convoys. By the end of 1941 a Fleet wide program was underway to fit HF sets on ships down to escort size for ship to ship and ship to air.
Procedures on use for both types changed as the war went on. One cannot give a quick or simple answer here. Far too complicated.

In Shattered Sword, there are references to the weak and ineffective aircraft radios.

Sometime in early 1942 the USN TBS (Talk Between Ships) FM set became ubiquitous.

By 1943 USN carriers had several air-ship frequencies for direction, marshaling, sector control, ASW patrol and so on. In addition it seems that each squadron may have had two frequencies assigned to it.

During WWII, what were the principle tools available to each Navy for plane to ship and ship to ship communications, and what were the primary means of intra-ship communication?

During the attack on Pearl harbor, the Japanese attack force tapped out the code words Tora Tora Tora using morse. Japanese planes appearently signaled each other using flash lamps and hand signals. Does this mean the Japanese aircraft did not possess voice radio or radio telephony? I know the British naval aviation did not enjoy widespread use of voice radio until well past 1942 althought RAF definitely had it during battle of Britain, US naval aviation did have it during Coral sea and used it to announce the scratching of one flattop.

If not, did the Japanese ever acquire this capability during the war?

It appears that, at least in the lead up to Midway, the Japanese did not possess any secure horizon distance ship-to-ship radio communication, thus whenever they did not wish to betray their location, they resorted to flag and light signals. It was only with the greatest angst and agony that they resorted to ship-to-ship radio transmission in an emergency. Indeed, the one time during the trip to Midway when Nagumo risked sending what was described as a short-range intra-taskforce radio transmission, Yamato clearly picked up the signal from 400 miles away. They apparently never developed horizon distance only radio communication, as during late war, they developed infra-red signaling as a means to achieve secure horizon only ship-to-ship communication.

Did any other navy widely use secure horizon only, or intra-task force radio transmission during the war?

Yamato was the first Japanese warship to rely primarily on internal intercom and telephone network for intra-ship communication. Previous Japanese ships had all relied heavily on brass voice tubes for internal communication. How extensively did other navy rely on voice tubes?