[Boatanchors] Living Memory Project: WWII Merchant Marine Signals

[David Stinson]

OK was finally able to get back to this.
As a reminder:

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Stinson" <arc5 at ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Living Memory Project: WWII Merchant Marine Signals


> Living Memory Project: WWII Merchant Marine Signals
> 
> I have two original log books detailing signals used 
> during a year of WWII North Atlantic convoy duty.
> As with Radio Operators in aircraft, these men wrote
> down all the signals they sent, received and heard.
> Signals include Flashing Lights, Colored Lights, 
> Flag Hoists and TBY Radio.
> 
> While many of the entries are decipherable,
>some remain obscure.
> I've been thinking of transcribing these texts in the hope
> that there may yet be WWII Merchant signalmen, 
> who would now be in their 80s and 90s, who 
> might be able to shed light on the obscure passages.

I haven't been able to budget a new scanner, 
so I'm going to try using a camera.  
This is the first installment of what could be many, 
depending on the level of interest in the project.
These logs document the signals and communications 
to and from an individual ship in a WWII convoy, 
*other than* those by radio 
(TBY was a "convoy intercom" so 
not counted as the ship's Radio station).
These include:
F.L.:  Flashing Light- semaphore flasher
F.H.: Flag Hoist - signal flags
C.L.:  Colored Lights - three lights hoisted at night.
TBY:  VHF TBY receiver/transmitter.

There are several mysteries about the two log books.
The first is that they document different ships from 
different convoys, but all entries are in the same hand.
Were these entries made by a "Signals Supervisor" who
transferred from ship-to-ship as needed?

This log is from the STK South Mountain 
(Radio call sign KWEQ) which departed
New York for Glasgow, Scotland on 14 May 1944
in convoy with 13 ships and 8 escorts.
While many of the entries have been "deciphered" using
context and other entries, there are others which remain
unclear.  One of the reasons to submit these logs to you
is hope that there may yet be Signalmen from the convoys
alive who can shed light on them.

Column entry formats:

"FROM" and "TO":  
Ships were addressed using a number that denotes
 the ship's position in the convoy.  In this log the 
"STK. South Mountain" ( what does "STK" mean?)
 is addressed as "24," but there are only 21 total ships 
in the convoy, so I don't get the "why" of that.
Late in the convoy, they shuffled the ships around
and South Mountain was repositioned and addressed
after that as "23."
"AS" indicates a transmission to "All Ships."
"B" is a signal from or to the convoy Commodore, 
the convoy Commander.
Once the ship arrived at at anchorage, they dropped
the "23" number and started identifying themselves
in the log as "S.M." (South Mountain).

"T.O.O" and "T.O.X":  
These seem to be "Time Of Observation", meaning 
the time the Signal was noted and logged, and 
"Time Of Xmit," meaning when a signal was relayed.
Entries with "-" in T.O.O. followed by a time in T.O.X.
seems to mean the signal was both observed and 
relayed at that time.
However, I'm very uncertain about "T.O.X." because
there are entries where that meaning makes sense
and others where it does not.  These notations
need some "living memory."

SIGNAL:
The signals noted and logged.  
Examples of entries that have been "deciphered:"
PG3-xxxx-xxxx: Convoy position in degrees/mins
         North and West.  i.e. PG3-5312-1830,
         which is just west of Ireland.
BLACK PENNANT:  Escort DD reports sub contact.
I: Zigzag Port
E: Zigzag Starboard
Kxx:  Make your speed xx knots.
Sxxx: Steer xxx degrees
Txxxx:  Time xxxx

Sequential Signals:
There can be multiple signals received at the same time:
K10
S080
T1000
which means: 
"Make your speed 10 knots and steer 080 at 1000 hrs."

Negate:
Sometimes a signal is sent in error and is followed
by the same signal with an "N" or "N-" before it.
This means "negate or disregard that last signal."
i.e. 
K15
N-K15
K12
meaning: 
"Make your speed 15 knots.  Correction;
 make your speed 12 knots."

COLORED LIGHTS:
The lights came in Red, Green and White.
This did not count "stern lights" which were blue,
designed to keep the ships from ramming each other
in the dark.
I've only been able to decipher two C.L. signals:
RRG- Emergency turn to port.
GGR- Emergency turn to starboard

There are many entries which remain mysteries and 
I hope you might help with them.
Examples:
PDL
WU60-T0200
WT60-T0200
UV
1st GPIS
1st GMLJ
1st BUAD
DM-T1930
DJ11
and others.

In later logs, many of these entries are "coded."
For instance:  instead of open "steer 020",
 a "compass code" named each 60 degrees of
 the compass with a letter like "Miami."  
Thus, one might be signaled "steer Miami minus 20."

Constructive input is solicited for this project.
Log sheets for this trip are at:
http://home.netcom.com/~arc5/shiplogs/
NOTE:  These files are a half meg each.
Working on making them smaller.

73 OM DE Dave AB5S