Flashing Light Morse Code Crucial In Atlantic Rescue

The following story was reported by a sailor on the USS Dahlgren on February 22

, 1992.

I was a sailor aboard a US Navy Guided Missile Destroyer, the USS Dahlgren (DDG43). The weather on that fateful morning was calm and pleasant as we prepared for our daily duty. Suddenly alarms sounded throughout the ship and dark, black smoke began to fill the inside air.

Within minutes the typical hum of the steam engines silenced. The majority of the crew immediately gathered on the outside decks and watched as the ship slowed to a dead stop in the Atlantic Ocean. Smoke billowed from the forward exhaust stack! A fire had started in the front engine room and the fire team sprang into action.

Seven hours later the fire had been extinguished and we turned back towards home and limped along on a single engine and propeller. The message of our distress had gone out via the electronic messaging systems onboard, but soon after a rescue tug appeared on the horizon.

While voice communication was established, it was the flashing light stationed on the bridge wing that enabled rapid and constant communication with the tug as it pulled alongside. I had previously watched the signalmen pass along messages during underway replenishment and other activities, but it was during that time of extreme danger that I was extremely thankful for the coding skills of my ship's signalmen. They helped guide the rescue tug into position and allowed for our successful return home.

The Morse code invented more than one-hundred-fifty years ago, has long provided a means of simple but effective communication, rescue and rapid response. Cryptically coded communications were encoded and de-coded by trained operators during two World wars often enabling covert operations. World War II pilots and airmen regularly pounded out messages using keyers strapped to their legs, sending Morse code through headphones of their flight crews. Coast Guardsmen Worldwide rely on the code to help locate survivors from oceanic mishaps. Pilots use the code to identify their destinations and whether or not they are on their proper heading. Of course, a main use today for the Morse code is in Radio, both amateur and commercial. Persons familiar with the code continue to believe that it is the surest way to get through, in the busy radio bands.

by: Gerald Wheeler Ed.D., W6TJP

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