Battleship IOWA's Radios - Part 1

[@johnklein233]

Great video Gary, thanks for making it.

[@phillipbouchard4197]

I was fortunate to have a three hour tour of the Iowa in 1997 at the Inactive Ship Facility in Philadelphia. Part of our tour group included a former Iowa radioman from the 1980's crew. He became separated from our group and we relocated him in his old workspace in the radio room where he had fired up the equipment. Fortunately since no antennas were mounted topside no signal could be sent out. Our tour guide from the yard was greatly relieved !

[@garygreen7552]

The radio room on the LST that I was on in the mid 1960's was a lot simpler, but they did have teletypes. The radio men, when they had an available teletype, would print out a news feed and give it to me. I was the ship's yeoman. When I got a printout I would put together a "newspaper" using the items in the printout. I would type articles on a Ditto master, the copier system we had, and duplicate a large number of copies which I put on a shelf out side the ship's office. I also gave copies to the officers. The duplicated copies disappeared quickly, and I believe my crew mates appreciated getting this small sample of the outside world. I never got any bad comments from the XO or other officers.

[@richarderickson5965]

Oh what fun. Retired Navy Radioman C7 tech, ( Ship Board Tech Controller ). To bad you didn't show the Pepsi machine. I only saw it in pictures. I was never on a ship that had one. Tin Can's Sailor here.

[@sdfiddler]

Love the patch cables for the analog equipment! We kept some as a remnant of some of the old equipment of the early Trident Radio Room! Though obsolete by the time I went to Radio A School, was still neat to see in Radio on board the 740! ETR2(ss) 2000-2007! Keep up the awesome work!

[@Inkling777]

Iowa's communications gear dates from its refurbishment in the 1980s. That makes it a good contrast to the U.S.S. Alabama in Mobile, Alabama, which is being restored to its condition during WWII. For students of naval history, visiting both is a must. And if the U.S.S. Texas can be dry-landed, perhaps it can be restored to its status between the two wars. I've heard that it is the closest survivor to the dreadnought class of WWI. The list of British dreadnoughts is filled with a depressing series of "sold for scrap."

[@dxace1]

This is REALLY cool, thanks for posting it -- I see the R- designation on the teletype receiver and can only assume that is Harris equipment?

[@vener6]

They are Stewart-Warner R1051G/URR

[@kevinb4783]

Great! Very interesting

[@timmangosphotography]

Is there a chance of seeing a part two to this? Would love to know what some of the other equipment in this room is for! Possibly also how their teletype communications were encrypted and decrypted.

[@BattleshipUSSIowaLosAngeles]

Working on it!

[@BattleshipUSSIowaLosAngeles]

@@anthonyjordan7150 No predictable time estimate, but we'll get to it as soon as we're able. We'll drop a message into this comment thread and give you a heads up as soon as we have something ready.

[@BattleshipUSSIowaLosAngeles]

Here you go, guys: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n4HJo5h4aNCDpsk

[@timmangosphotography]

@@BattleshipUSSIowaLosAngeles Thank you so much and thank you for all you do protect such an amazing ship.

[@2Oldcoots]

Are there any copies of USS Iowa's bombardments in The Pacific War?

[@rprendy]

My hf rig has come a long way... When will you guys be on the air next? QSO?

[@BattleshipUSSIowaLosAngeles]

Rumor we're hearing from the radio guys is Armed Forces Day.

[@adamzieba8364]

Was there any automatic encryption device for voice communication over shortwave and VHF? What kind of transmission of voice was used - analog (SSB or NFM for shortwave, NFM or WFM for VHF) or maybe digital? I would be very happy if someone could give answers to my questions.

[@BattleshipUSSIowaLosAngeles]

Yes, most all communication, voice and teletype, was encrypted. The encryption and decryption was done in the FACCON 2 space located port side from FACCON 1 where all of the receiving equipment is located. Voce communication on HF used both upper and lower SSB. AM was used on both VHF and UHF for ship to air communication. UHF communication ship to ship would have been 15 KHz FM, and communication via FLEETSATCOM would have been 15 KHz FM or PSK.

[@ProperLogicalDebate]

No matter what the ship, when there are rooms dedicated to one thing, there is a lack of residency unless there are many rooms dedicated to that one thing.

[@kg4lod]

Redundancy doesn't always mean explicit duplication. In IOWA's case, the loss of this compartment means that it loses its long range communications capability. That's not an immediate concern in a firefight. It can still communicate short-range with all the other ships in the fleet and the radars and other weapon systems still work independently of this space. If long-range communication is needed after suffering a casualty it can route through another ship nearby.

[@HK-qj4im]

Time to take off the masks.