USCG Pequot - Escort Ships


57. Visual Communication was achieved using semaphore flags. Pequot 1944	58. Morse Code was used with the highly directional blinker light. Pequot 1944	59. Flags & Pennants from 1940 Bluejacket's Manual. Click to enlarge.	60. Communication Training 1940 Bluejacket's Manual. Click to enlarge.	61. Semaphore Alphabet 1940 Bluejacket's Manual. Click to enlarge.

The Pequot's Visual Call Sign was W-58 which meant that the W, 5, and 8 flags would be flown from the mast to identify her to other ships.

The signal flag storage box on Coast Guard Patrol Boat CG-94001 which served as one of the Pequot’s escort ships in 1943. In addition to letters and numbers we see the symbols of special communications flags and triangular pennants which were used to signal maneuvers like turns, formation, and deployment. (courtesy Paul A. Schlais Family)

Signal flags snapping in the breeze on Patrol Boat CG-94001 with the Coast Guard Ensign flying on the mast. The ship’s long thin “Commission Pennant” is also tied off on top of the mast. (courtesy Paul A. Schlais Family)

Running Lights and Pennants

	(USCG Nautical Rules of the Road 1943, Page 81)

(color added) (Lou Carhart)	(USCG Nautical Rules of the Road 1943, Page 115)

In addition to having the universal Red to Port and Green to Starboard running lights, as a cable ship operating in international waters, the running lights added to Pequot’s mast consisted of an upper and lower red light with a while light in the middle. Per the regulations detailed in the Coast Guard’s 1943 “Nautical Rules of the Road” directives when Pequot was stationary and not underway the standard red and green side running lights were to be turned off as a signal to other ships that Pequot was not under power and unable to get out of the way. For cable ships in international waters during daylight hours of operations two round red balls separated by a white diamond pennant are flown from the ship's mast which tells other vessels: "Keep clear I'm engaged in underwater operations". Despite these "road rules" we can assume that during much of her WWII travels along the Eastern seaboard, especially at night, that Pequot ran dark to avoid detection by U-boats.


(color added). (Calamaio family)	(USCG “Nautical Rules of the Road” 1943 Page 82)	The CS Alert 1966 (Atlantic-Cable.com)

The Radio War

Although primitive by today’s standards radio communications of many types played an intense role during WWII especially in the Battle of The Atlantic. Like all Coast Guard ships, the Pequot was equipped with a variety of high and low frequency radio receivers and transmitters. Most radio traffic was enciphered. The messages came in 5-character groups of numbers and letters mixed together. Radiomen had no idea what they were receiving. Transcriptions would be passed to an officer on the bridge who would do the decoding.


62. Pequot Radioman 1st Class John J. McCormack with Lester Jenkins in the Pequot’s Radio Room” (McCormack family)	63. In Boston Harbor Wallace Hoganson tests the intercom system by one of the tarp covered 20mm cannons. A large ammunition ready-box is on the right. (Freiermuth family)

The Mill. All communication had to be accurately documented and logged and a custom communications typewriter called a “mill” was used by most Radiomen. It had special keys to distinguish between similar characters such as the numeral 0 and the letter O. The mill had a slashed zero "Ø" so there was no confusion with a capital O, It also had a #1 key, which other typewriters of the era didn’t, a small “l” was normally used. The mill was designed to eliminate having to use the shift key as much as possible for speedy radio transcription.

64. As evidenced by the slashed zeros, this 1944 radio log entry of the Pequot’s movements was typed with a mill. It notates that on August 11th at 1310 hours (1:10 pm) the Pequot arrived at the District Coast Guard Office of the 1st Naval District in Boston escorted by the CG-94001. (US Coast Guard History Office)

For much of the time radio silence was the rule so ships like the Pequot relied extensively on coded inbound communication from shore stations. There were also codes inside codes; for example “Z-codes” were used as abbreviations for longer routine messages. For example;

ZEQ = How is my note?

ZET = Your transmitter is not keying properly.


65. Radioman Don Paxton in a shore station radio room (possibly at Eastern Point Light Station). (Freiermuth family)	66. The Navy worked to let convoy ships know how U-boats could find their position by picking up radio transmissions. (WPA 13^th Naval District, US Navy)	67. A Shipboard Radio Room (possibly the Pequot's). Note the “mill” typewriter on the lower left used for recording coded messages. (McCormack family)

When at sea short range two-way voice radio was permitted using a the Talk Between Ships, or TBS system. This was only permitted when ships were in very close proximity to each other. At night, when visibility was greatly reduced, and when submarines or other enemy vessels might be within range, use of very high Frequency or VHF radio was strongly discouraged. There were many cases where the German U-boats and surface ships would try to bait Coast Guard and Navy convoy escorts by sending out false distress calls. Other basic communication was also completed by the dash and dot alphabet of Morse Code by tapping hand transmitters. Coast Guard Radiomen had to be expert at notating incoming Morse Code transmissions quickly and accurately. Lives often depended on correctly receiving the distress calls from cargo ships after U-boat torpedo attacks on the Eastbound and Westbound convoys. The Pequot’s Radio Call sign NRFQ was designated by the Office of Naval Operations for all US Navy and Coast Guard ships. In addition the Pequot was equipped with its own intercom communication system that was used between the bridge and the ship’s main operational areas such as the engine room, the radio room, and the two rear mounted gun positions.

Radio Direction Finding. Shortly after the Army mine layer General Samuel M. Mills was converted to the cable laying ship Pequot she was equipped with a first generation radio direction finding (RDF) system or Radio Compass. This can be seen on the photo below (right) as the distinctive diamond shaped rotating antenna on top of the wheelhouse. It is not evident on the earlier photo to the left. This technology, which was first deployed by the Coast Guard in the early 1920s, enabled the ship’s radio operator to get a compass bearing fix on the source of a ship or shore radio transmission. Not only was this an aid to navigation, but it enabled ships to locate each other at sea and during the war determine friend from foe.


68. This close up of the General Samuel M. Mills shows that no RDF system was installed before the Coast Guard obtained the ship. (US Coast Guard)	69. From the early 1920s until midway through WWII the Pequot was equipped with the diamond shaped antenna of early RDF systems. (McCormack Family)

HD/DF or Huff-Duff. We see that by 1944 the diamond shaped RDF antenna was replaced by a circular loop antenna (see left-most photo below). This indicates that Pequot was equipped with the newly developed High Frequency Direction Finder (HF/DF) system or Huff-Duff as crews liked to call it. This new system was vastly superior and more accurate than earlier systems and enabled Pequot to not only obtain bearings from shore stations and more accurately navigate the rocky North Atlantic coast, but also to locate other Coast Guard and allied ships, as well help keep a keen ear out for transmissions from U-boats. Radio direction finders and Huff Duff technology were used extensively by both the German U-boat commanders and the ships of Allied convoys during the battle of the Atlantic. Each side did all they could to locate the position of their adversaries radio transmissions. The Germans used RDF to locate convoys and moved U-boats into position for torpedo attacks, and Allied escort ships used Huff Duff readings to set course bearings to chase down and depth charge wolf pack submarines.

70. This photo from May of 1944 clearly shows the installation of the circular loop antenna of the improved “Huff-Duff” radio direction finding system. (Calamaio family)

SO-1 Detection Radar. At the beginning of World War II radar was an emerging technology. In the late 1930s the first generation of ship borne CXAM radar was deployed on US and British battleships and aircraft carriers. In 1940, a group of British researchers stumbled upon a new electronic component, the "cavity magnetron," a type of transmitter tube that permitted the development of effective microwave radar. In America, Bell Labs, RCA, and Westinghouse explored and developed a wide range of radar technologies before Pearl Harbor, and a primary research and development center, the Radiation Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was created in 1940. With the outbreak of war the MIT “RadLab” greatly stepped up research work as did a large number of British efforts including those led by Reginald V. Jones in what was dubbed “The Wizard War”. By 1942, new radars were coming into service on both sides of the Atlantic and being deployed on ships, planes, and land based stations. Half of the radar deployed during World War II were designed at the MIT RadLab, including over 100 different radar systems costing $1.5 billion.


71A. A 1945 Radar Plan Position Indicator or "PPI" Scope. (serialconsign.com)	71B. SO-1 Operator Controls. (From the April 1945 Radar Operator's Manual)

72. SO Search Radar Accessory Control and Indicator Unit
(Catalogue of Naval Electronic Equipment - April 1946)

In 1945 the Pequot was equipped with SO-1 microwave search radar which had a maximum reliable range of 13.5 miles to see aircraft at 500' elevation, it could see a battleship at 23 miles, and a destroyer at 14 miles, but it could only distinguish a surfaced submarine at a range of 1 mile. It had a resolution of 200 yards and at 4 miles was accurate to about 60 yards. It enabled Pequot to see ships, planes and coastlines in all types of weather and at night through the use of a Plan Position Indicator (or PPI) scope. Contacts picked up on the PPI scope would immediately provide officers on the Pequot’s bridge the range and bearing of aircraft and ships in the area, as well as verify Pequot’s location along the rocky shores of New England, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Although a short range device, the addition of SO-1 helped Pequot see in the dark and greatly increased the ship's safety.