WWII U.S. NAVY RADIO OPERATOR TRAINING FILM "THE RADIOMAN FIGHTS" 52364

Produced in 1944, the “unclassified” US Navy training film “Radio Operator Training” instructed seaman on how to become an effective radioman. Whether it be a PT boat, landing barge, submarine, or any other vessel, the narrator explains at mark 01:08 that a radioman is onboard and on duty. “He is the mouthpiece of his commanding officer. His right hand. Without him, the ship is crippled. The fleet is paralyzed.” Mark 01:48 takes us to NSS Annapolis (officially known as Naval Communications Station Washington, D.C.), the Navy’s transmitter station from which orders and instructions emanate. To illustrate the film follows a message from NSS to a Navy communication station in California and then on to Hawaii, Guadalcanal, and finally the flag ship of a task force 10,000 miles away. What goes into the training of a radioman is examined starting at mark 04:35 as rows of men are shown learning Morse Code as well as the form and routing of messages and repair of transmitters and receivers. Advanced classes address various aspects of sending and receiving messages. Graduation day comes at mark 07:05 as the sailors march to receive their certification and are shipped off to active duty. The film ends as the narrator continues to sing the praises of the radioman - “the nerves of the Navy.”
NSS Annapolis, officially known as Naval Communications Station Washington, D.C. Transmitter or NavCommStaWashingtonDC(T), was a Very Low Frequency (VLF) and High Frequency (HF) transmitter station operated by the United States Navy. It was located at Greenbury Point, in Anne Arundel County, across the Severn River from Annapolis, Maryland at coordinates 38°58′40″N 76°27′12″W. NSS Annapolis was used by the USN for submarine communication. The station consisted of an umbrella antenna supported by a 1,200-foot (365.76 m) high central mast, which was insulated against ground, 6 guyed masts of 800-foot (243.84 m) and 3 freestanding towers of the same height.
The huge towers were a local landmark, and served as a visual reporting point for aircraft landing at the nearby Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) airport. A golf course ran through the VLF antenna farm; special rules addressed hitting a tower with a ball (usually stroke and distance). The NSS HF receiver station, and the headquarters for NavCommStaWashingtonDC(T), was located at the Naval Communications Station in Cheltenham, Maryland until 1969. In late 1969, the receiver station at Cheltenham closed and a new receiver station was activated at Sugar Grove, West Virginia.
NSS began transmitting in September, 1918 using 500 kilowatt Poulson Arc transmitters. However, arc transmitters were significantly inferior to the then state-of-the-art Alexanderson alternator and the arc transmitters were replaced by more modern vacuum tube transmitters in 1931. VLF, or "longwave" radio was the standard at the time for long range radio transmission, later to be generally replaced by shortwave.
VLF later became essential for communicating with submerged submarines, a critically important capability as submarines became strategic missile platforms. The NSS transmitter fed one million watts of radio energy to its antenna, and during idle times, transmitted the string "W W W VVV VVV VVV DE NSS NSS NSS" in Morse code. The power was so high and the frequency so low, one could hear the signal on practically any kind of receiver anywhere in the Annapolis area.[dubious - discuss][citation needed] Messages were also sent in Morse code, but were either prearranged code signals or were encrypted.
Rendered obsolete by satellite technology and the end of the cold war, NSS ceased operation and most of all of the antennas and most of the towers were demolished in 1999. Only three of the smaller towers were preserved for historic reasons.
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[@TheErinw]

My Grandfather was a Petty Officer, 3rd Class Radioman in WWII. Thank you to the OP for posting this.

[@josephwonderless1258]

So was I during the late 70's on the USS Enterprise, but I had to use teletype instead of code. I think code is a art of it's own.

[@josephwonderless1258]

And when I was in we use to call ourselves a RM3.

[@LarryLMelton]

I was a radioman. In 1967, I attended boot camp in San Diego, California, and attended A school there. Day after day, yelling at the top of our lungs in class ... Dit Dah ... A,. Dah dit dit dit ... B. Larry from Texas

[@TheSocratesian]

Do they still teach Morse Code these days?

[@queencerseilannister3519]

My grandfather died when I was very young. All I know is he was a Naval radioman during WWll. Wish I knew more about him. :(

[@daveswart9267]

Unfortunately this video didn’t teach you anything! Lol. What was the purpose of this video?? I wanted to learn what a radioman DID!

[@danielaramburo7648]

I salute him.

[@SilentAlchemy1333]

My great grandfather Woodrow Wilson Thorn was a radioman on the USS Ticonderoga in WW2. He survived the kamikaze attacks. I never met him or my granddad. Rip American Hero.

[@josephwonderless1258]

SilentAlchemy how old are you by the way? My father was in WW2 as a radioman 3rd class

[@SilentAlchemy1333]

​@@josephwonderless1258 30. Where did he serve? Navy?

[@dsscheib1]

I bet those guys didn’t know someone from 2019 would watch this

[@meganmcgowan5798]

I've been a ham radio operator for 31 years (Extra Class), and my father was a radioman in WWII. I love CW (Morse code operation) and yup, I can copy this easily. 😁

[@ryanrearden]

Hi! I am a high school student doing a project on Radio Operators in WWII/amateur radio. Its probably going to be about a month before I can do it but if I can, would you be willing to be interviewed and give an account of what your father did?

[@meganmcgowan5798]

Hi Ryan and sorry I missed this. My father really didn't speak much of his time in World War II and really didn't say much about what he did as a radio operator. I asked him several times myself when I was growing up, but he never said anything. I wish I knew, as that was part of our history but I don't know if his work was classified or if it just brought back some bad memories or whatever. I do know that like many young men of his time, he was younger than the minimum age for Enlistment when he joined the Navy back in those days. A lot of young men lied about their age because they wanted to serve. My father was one of them

[@davidthelander1299]

I am an extra class ham also - AB7GI. I was trained as a Coast Guard Radioman in 1971. Served aboard 3 ships - CGC Storis, CGC Burton Island, and CGC Tamoroa. After leaving ‘The Guard’ in 1975, I went Merchant Marine for next 20 years as ‘Sparks.’ I’ve seen some blue water! Our training in 1971 was very similar to as depicted in this great film. Training was for six months, and you come out as a E4 - 3rd class petty officer. Only difference I could see was our radio classes were MUCH smaller - 10-15 people.

[@dylansalazar1226]

@@meganmcgowan5798 did Morse code radio operators in the army fight on the front lines ?

[@DennisMathias]

Me too! My dad was a courier not a radioman. But he seemed to know something about that culture in the Philiipines with the 13th AAC. But I have my Extra ticket. 73 de W0QR

[@McPilot_W3DDS]

My dad took his training as a RMc2 at Northwestern University. He served on the USS Van Valkenberg DD656 in the South Pacific

[@nunya4244]

My dad was a radio man & repairman, communications personnel in the 2d Marine Division, Pacific theater, Dept of the Navy, of course. Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian....we miss him terribly.

[@blusnuby2]

BIG Hoo-Rah ! to your pop. Have you read: WITH THE OLD BREED, by Eugene Sledge ?

[@nunya4244]

@@blusnuby2 I haven't but want to! That and Helmet for My Pillow by John Lecke. Sledge's and Lecke participated in different conflicts than my father but their experiences weren't very different. There are so many great reads on this subject I may not live long enough to get to them all.

[@blusnuby2]

Do Yourself a favor & read that one NEXT. Very few combat narratives 'put you there.' Sledge`s DOES. @@nunya4244

[@MrEirelion]

I’m teaching myself Morse right now and it’s going good but these guys on these old videos are crazy fast…. It really is all about the rhythm. I can watch these old films and maybe pick out a little bit, I’ve got a hell of a long way to go…

[@blusnuby2]

Each operator has his own style of key operation. Did you notice some fellows 'rolling' their hand from side to side ? Good luck with your self-tutilige.

[@wolfden8979]

My grandpa was a Navy radioman in WWII. Been thinking about him lately & wanted to see more about what he did. Pretty cool to think he watched this & now I'm watching it. Tbh I wish I payed more attention when he would tell me about his memories & friends he went in with

[@gerardosullivan1642]

The radio man no matter what side you were on they were a band of brothers united by Morse code.

[@gerardosullivan1642]

Tks the other side had radio operators also.

[@brucechamberlin9666]

I’m 71 and knew a lot of WWII vets growing up, but I never met any radio operators. Field radio would be so hazardous, your the number one target!

[@good.citizen]

eww

[@sionh.harringtoniii1233]

Very, very cool!

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@meekhinglim4829]

I was a Radio Operator with the Malaysian Navy and I was ont he Tactical side

[@MarvinMonroe]

my grandfather (mom's dad) was born in 1925 (although he lied and his license always said 1924) and died in 1995 when i was 16 But anyways he was a radio operator and captured at Battle of the Bulge. I interviewed him in 1991 for a history class for 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor but taped over the interview a few months later with the Waynes World soundtrack lol. Ive still got the paper i wrote for the class but wish i had the tape Edit:oh and yeah hed always be tapping his fingers while sitting in his chair watching tv and stuff (Only watched the news and nature shows on pbs)

[@blusnuby2]

Big salute to your grampa ! Interesting about his not-so-idle hand while watching tv. My Mother, who was a seamstress, would "knit" with her empty hand while engaged in thought...

[@normanbuffett4642]

I graduated with class 7015 Radioman class A school NTC Bainbridge Md. Then to NAS Quonset Point RI then USNAVCOMSTA Asmara Ethiopia. That was enough.

[@Stax-ht9md]

I was a RM3 in the late 70's. Just curious to see how close my job was then to wayback then.

[@richarddowney1972]

I was an Air Force op but I recognize that the Navy had the best.

[@zawir_usaodpowiadausa3354]

Of course it was almost surely can be heard every 19 kHz on medium wave . It was 1milion watts and broadcasting receivers have rather low selectivity of input stages, especially those from 50, 60s.

[@aughrafizzgig5053]

My father was on a radio in one way or another until he passed away...Navy from 37-66...on ships on land..taught me morse code when i was in HS while on the NET in Maine relaying msgs from Vietnam...

[@dace938]

RM3 Petey . Was there in 77 when USS Mount Whitney basically turned off all HF trans and receivers and went satellite -the Bird ending the rate of radioman. INT QRK ?

[@toastnjam7384]

I went to Radioman A school at NTC San Diego. The first few weeks was just learning Morse Code and when I got to my ship not a key in sight. It was all teletypes. USS Kitty Hawk 70-73

[@mikejohnson4723]

Toastnjam, Guam 1974,1977 and USS enterprise 1977,1978. Also a graduate of RMA school San Diego Dec 1974, Guam ( NPN), and ENTERPRISE (NIQM) LOL Good to see another one of us still around, ( RTTU) ACP131b,and I said enough for now.

[@mikejohnson4723]

Also toast KITTY HAWK NZFF.

[@TheKahunas2722000]

My grandfather Chief warrant officer 3rd class WW2 Korea

[@shadowwarriorshockwave3281]

BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE MILK FOR THE KHORNE FLAKES

[@Molly8014]

I see one goober had his crow on the wrong sleeve!

[@Molly8014]

rustbeltrefugee well......everyone getting on the truck who's crow was visible had their crow on the left sleeve except one(the stocky sailor on the left getting in the truck. His was on the right sleeve). The two instructors (a 3rd class and a 2nd class) had their crow on the left sleeve. BM, QM and SM ratings wore their rates on the right arm. Below deck ratings wore their ratings on the left arm until around 1949 when every ratings went to the left sleeve. RM1 1959-1982 (my rectum is too tight to have any head in it)

[@tc1uscg65]

Interesting.. "In 1941, the Navy changed the eagle's facing direction to follow the heraldic rules which face right toward the wearer's sword arm. This rule continues to apply and the eagle now faces to the front or the wearer's right." So, maybe those who are left handed would cause the confusion since that would make the "crow" face a different direction or be on a different arm? But what do I know? I'm just a puddle pirate. :-) (don't let the TC fool ya. Was RM from 81 to 94, then changed our names to TC.. sad day)

[@Quadrinjo]

tc1uscg When to some RM change to TC. I know about RM changing to IT around ‘97. Is TC at typo?

[@Quadrinjo]

C AB some; When did some RM...

[@mpeg2tom]

1:45 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSS_Annapolis