TBT…

Setting the way back machine…

Thanks to Tina for this one, she donated it to this old sailor…

If you ever wondered how they learned semaphore in the Navy, this is one of the ways…

semaphore sendingsemaphore receiving

Sending the letter Y on the left, receiving Y on the right…

This particular training wheel is from WWII. An official BUPERS training aid, it was probably issued as part of the Signalman ‘A’ school or kept by a Signalman as an OJT aid.

And no, I didn’t learn on one of these… 😛

Comments

TBT… — 14 Comments

  1. Scivvie wavers. Semaphore, signal lamp, and signal flags. The Signalman Rating is another very old rating that is long gone.

  2. I could have used one of those during my Boy Scout days but back then they barely knew how to print in black and white, much less color….

  3. That takes me back a bit. Used to get a kick out of watching the signalmen “talking” to each other during ship-to-ship UNREPs & refuelings. They used to keep their hands at belt level & point fingers instead of flags for, ahem, private conversations.

  4. I had a hard enough time learning Morse Code. Trying to stand on a swerving ship and doing the skivvy waving, there is no telling what kind of message I would send just trying to keep my balance by waving my arms around.

  5. So how’d they do it back on your day? Smoke Signals?

    “Incoming Smoke, Sir!”

    “U..R..G..E..N..T..

    G..E..N….C..U..S..T..E..R

    I..N..D..I..A..N..S….C..O.M..I..N..G

    N..F..O….S..E..N..D..S”

  6. My father had one of those. He served in the Coast Guard during WWII. As I remember it, his had two wheels and showed semaphore on one wheel and Morse (prob. International) code on the other. Wish I still had it.

  7. I am willing to bet that Old-NFO’s was in black and white, you know from the time before color.

  8. Mrs.C- Still appreciated! 🙂

    Rick/LL/Murph- 😛

    Rev- LOL, heard about that…

    CP- Lots of 4 letter words probably… or a CORPEN change…

    MJ- They are pieces of history.

    WSF- Yep

    daga- 🙂 NOT!!!