Annual Reports of the Navy Department for the Fiscal Year 1909.

Report of George V. L. Meyer, Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C., December 4, 1909:
Page 7:

ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  NAVY  DEPARTMENT.

    The duties of the different bureaus, by a somewhat illogical growth, have been extended so that the same or very similar duties may be found in several bureaus. The Bureau of Equipment, in addition to the equipping of vessels with rope, canvas, navigation instruments, and the like, has purchased the coal for motive power, and furnishes the generators and accessories for electric light and power. So many anomalies exist that some rearrangement of duties among the bureaus is deemed essential in the interests of economy and efficiency.
    To effect the principal changes found necessary the department recommends that the Bureau of Equipment be abolished, and that the Secretary be authorized to distribute its duties among other bureaus. The supplemental estimates for the coming year have been arranged in accordance with the changes desired to be made, but it is advisable to effect the changes as soon as possible by authority of law.
    The department wishes to distribute the duties of the Bureau of Equipment as follows: electric generators and accessories, mechanical signal apparatus, wireless telegraph outfits, and chain and anchor manufacture to Bureau of Steam Engineering; and the Naval Observatory, Hydrographic Office, and Compass Office to the Bureau of Navigation.

Report of Wm. S. Cowles, Chief of the Bureau of Equipment, October 14, 1909:
Pages 249-263:

SUMMARY  OF  WORK  AT  NAVY-YARDS  AND  NAVAL  STATIONS.

NAVY-YARD,  PORTSMOUTH,  N.  H.

    [E]xpenditures at this navy-yard during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1909:
    Wireless stations: $211.28 (Labor); $108.02 (Material); $319.30 (Total).

WIRELESS  TELEGRAPH  STATIONS.

    The stations at the navy-yard and Cape Elizabeth, Me., are in efficient working order, and have been in continuous operation during the year.

NAVY-YARD,  BOSTON,  MASS.

    [E]xpenditures at this navy-yard during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1909:
    Wireless stations: $201.93 (Labor); $390.73 (Material); $592.66 (Total).

WIRELESS  TELEGRAPHY.

    The work of the stations at Cape Cod and Boston, which stations are under the control of this yard, has been highly satisfactory. Time signals are sent out daily, Sundays and holidays excepted, and weather reports and advices transmitted to ships at sea.

NAVY-YARD,  BROOKLYN,  N.  Y.

    [E]xpenditures at this navy-yard during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1909:
FROM  JULY  1,  1908  TO JANUARY  31,  1909.
    Maintenance and additions to wireless stations and wireless installations on ships: $1,921.57 (Labor); $3.927.82 (Material); $5,849.39 (Total).
FROM  FEBRUARY  1,  1909  TO JUNE  30,  1909.
    Wireless stations: $252.62 (Labor); $49.46 (Material); $302.08 (Total).

WIRELESS  TELEGRAPH  STATION.

    The wireless station at this yard is now in operation, but the service is not satisfactory owing to the low power of the apparatus in use. A new wireless station is in the course of construction, and when completed it is anticipated satisfactory service will be obtained.
    The wireless telegraph station at Fire Island under control of this navy-yard has been in satisfactory operation during the year.

NAVY-YARD,  PHILADELPHIA,  PA.

    [E]xpenditures at this navy-yard during the periods named:
FROM  JULY  1,  1908  TO JANUARY  31,  1909.
    Installation and repair of wireless telegraphy aboard ships: $300.00 (Labor); $187.58 (Material); $487.58 (Total).     Manufacture and repair of wireless telegraphy: $92.30 (Labor); $25.48 (Material); $117.78 (Total).
FROM  FEBRUARY  1,  1909  TO JUNE  30,  1909.
    Installation and repair of wireless telegraphy on board ships: $297.31 (Labor); $150.89 (Material); $448.20 (Total).

WIRELESS  TELEGRAPH  STATION.

    The wireless telegraph station at Cape Henlopen and at the navy-yard are both in satisfactory operation.

NAVY-YARD,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.

    [E]xpenditures at this navy-yard during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1909:
    Wireless telegraph stations: $505.97 (Labor); $20,281.39 (Material); $20.787.36 (Total).

WIRELESS-TELEGRAPH  STATION.

    The wireless-telegraph station at this yard during the year has been in successful operation. A number of experiments and tests have been conducted at the station during the year.

NAVY-YARD,  NORFOLK,  VA.

    [E]xpenditures at this navy-yard during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1909:
FROM  JULY  1,  1908  TO JANUARY  31,  1909.
    New wireless tower: --- (Labor); $439.90 (Material); $439.90 (Total).

WIRELESS-TELEGRAPH  STATION.

    The wireless-telegraph stations under this navy-yard have been in successful operation during the year. The stations are five in number, viz, at Norfolk, Cape Henry, Virginia; Pivers Island, Beaufort, N. C.; and Diamond Shoals Light-ships Nos. 1 and 2. The station at Cape Henry was discontinued during this year.
    Messages sent:
Norfolk: 1,873
Pivers Island: 469
Light-vessel No. 71: 593
Light vessel No. 72: 22
    Messages received:
Norfolk: 1,820
Beaufort: 1,515
Light-vessel No. 71: 160
Light vessel No. 72: 6

NAVAL  STATION  CHARLESTON,  S.  C.

    There are no facilities for equipment work at this station, except for the wireless-telegraph station.

WIRELESS-TELEGRAPH  STATION.

    The wireless telegraph station has, in the main, not been in satisfactory operation.

NAVAL  STATION,  KEY  WEST,  FLA.,  AND  DRY  TORTUGAS.

    [E]xpenditures for this naval station during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1909:
    Maintenance of wireless stations: $5,696.89 (Labor); $1,647.94 (Material); $7,344.83 (Total).

WIRELESS-TELEGRAPH  STATIONS.

    The station at this yard has been in practically continuous operation, Sundays and holidays excepted, during the year, 2,557 messages being sent and 2,244 received. A new 65-horsepower oil engine has been recently installed, which will greatly improve facilities.
    The wireless station at Tortugas has been discontinued.

NAVAL  STATION,  PENSACOLA,  FLA.

    [E]xpenditures at this navy-yard during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1909:
    Wireless station: $790.16 (Labor); $735.38 (Material); $1,525.54 (Total).

NAVAL  STATION,  NEW  ORLEANS,  LA.

    There are no facilities for equipment work at this station other than the wireless-telegraph station, which is maintained with satisfactory results.

NAVY-YARD,  MARE  ISLAND,  CAL.

    [E]xpenditures at this navy-yard from July 1, 1908 to January 31, 1909:
    Maintenance of wireless stations: --- (Labor); $569.84 (Material); $569.84 (Total).
    Installation of wireless station at Cordova, Alaska: $4,196.68 (Labor); $6,039.15 (Material); $10,235.83 (Total).

WIRELESS-TELEGRAPH  STATIONS.

    The stations under control of this navy-yard are those at Point Loma, Point Arguello, Farallon Islands, Mare Island, Table Bluff, Cape Blanco, North Head, Sitka and Cardova, all other than that at Sitka being under the direct supervision of the equipment officer at Mare Island, while that at Sitka is under the supervision of commanding officer of marines at that place. These stations have been in satisfactory operation since their installation.

NAVY-YARD,  PUGET  SOUND,  WASH.

    [E]xpenditures at this navy-yard during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1909:
FROM  JULY  1,  1908  TO JANUARY  31,  1909.
    Wireless stations: $792.48 (Labor); $1,450.80 (Material); $2,243.28 (Total).
FROM  FEBRUARY  1,  1909  TO JUNE  30,  1909.
    Wireless stations: $56.81 (Labor); $177.53 (Material); $234.34 (Total).

WIRELESS  TELEGRAPH  STATION.

    The wireless-telegraph stations at Tatoosh Island and the navy-yard are both under cognizance of the authority at this yard and have rendered satisfactory service during the year, barring some interference from commercial stations. This interference appears to be on the increase rather than on the decrease, and has been the subject of complaint on more than one occasion by the equipment officer. This matter has been referred to in another part of the bureau's report.

NAVAL  STATION,  CAVITE,  P.  I.

EXPENDITURES  JULY  1,  1908  TO MARCH  31,  1909.
    Wireless-telegraph station: $155.54 (Labor); $262.18 (Material); $417.72 (Total).

NAVAL  STATION,  SAN  JUAN,  P.  R.

    There are no facilities for equipment work at this naval station except the wireless telegraph plant.

WIRELESS  TELEGRAPH  STATION.

    The wireless-telegraph station at this place has been in satisfactory operation during the year.

NAVAL  STATION,  CULEBRA,  P.  R.

    There are no facilities for equipment work at this station. The wireless-telegraph station is in successful operation.

NAVAL  STATION,  GUANTANAMO,  CUBA.

    [E]xpenditures at this naval station during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1909:
    Maintenance of wireless station: $745.77 (Labor); $2,091.46 (Material); $2,837.23 (Total).

WIRELESS-TELEGRAPH  STATION.

    The operations of the wireless-telegraph station at this place have not been as satisfactory as the bureau could hope. New engines are in the course of installation and it is expected that better results will be obtained when this work has been completed.

NAVAL  STATION,  HAWAII.

    There are no facilities for equipment work at this station other than a wireless telegraph station, which has been in successful operation during the year.

NAVAL  STATION,  ISLAND  OF  GUAM.

    There are no facilities for equipment work at this station.

Pages 279-280:
WIRELESS  TELEGRAPHY.

    The art of wireless telegraphy during the past year has shown a steady development, which though not so spectacular as in years gone by, has been very satisfactory when considered from a standpoint of sure and efficient service. The bureau has kept pace with this growth by purchasing new apparatus to stimulate the activities of the manufacturing companies, by standardizing as many parts of the apparatus as is possible, and by carrying on tests leading to a more thorough understanding of the subject of all wireless communication. For the latter purposes the bureau has established a testing and inspecting division, and much research work leading to gratifying results has been undertaken and accomplished.
    A contract has been entered into to supply the bureau with apparatus for a high-power station to be located in Washington and this station is to have a radius of 3,000 miles both day and night; to be capable of overcoming interference and static discharges; and to be equipped with apparatus to insure secrecy of operation. In fact, it is expected that message work will be carried on from this station with as much surety and dispatch as is now possible over cable lines. The great military advantage of such an installation is difficult to over-estimate, for with the fleet in reach of the national capital in all parts of the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, a much closer and more perfect surveillance may be maintained over matters of international import than has heretofore been possible. Part of the same contract provides for the installation of two similar sets of apparatus of lesser power on two of the scout cruisers and the flagship of the Atlantic Fleet is likewise equipped. With this great increase in distance and accuracy of wireless communication it is expected that a great increase in message work will fall to all coastal stations, for in spite of the present comparatively crude equipment installed the growth in this service is even now phenomenal. Large numbers of merchant vessels are being fitted with wireless apparatus, and the demands for the bureau's time service and weather reports are in themselves becoming a large factor in the daily work of the stations. As a matter of safety to the traveling public, as insurance to vessels and goods shipped thereon, and as a general safeguard of our coasts, wireless has come to be of inestimable value. Numerous cases of shipwreck, such as the Republic and Ohio, have proven the absolute necessity of maintaining an efficient, vigilant watch at coastal stations, in order that succor may be rendered with as little delay as possible. The great increase in wireless business along the coasts and on account of the many seemingly semi-intelligent and wholly irresponsible operators employed or otherwise engaged in this occupation, who at any time through carelessness or stupidity may render hopeless the case of a shipwreck, it seems imperative that laws governing the conduct of all wireless stations should be passed. This action has been suggested from time to time, but as yet no results have been obtained.
Annual Reports of the Navy Department for the Fiscal Year 1910.

Report of A. C. Wrenn, Chief Clerk, Bureau of Equipment, September 27, 1910:
Pages 285-286:

WIRELESS  TELEGRAPHY.

    Improvement in the equipment and efficiency of wireless-telegraph installations has been steady and satisfactory. Modern high-frequency apparatus is being purchased for a number of vessels and shore stations, and apparatus installed on the scout cruisers Birmingham and Salem and the Connecticut have been tested as far as the services of these ships would permit. The results of these tests indicate that these 10 and 25 kilowatt sets are better suited for shore stations, where suitable higher antennæ of greater capacity can be used.
    The matter of the erection of the high-powered station in Washington has been pending on account of the lack of funds necessary to proceed with the work and the difficulty of obtaining a suitable site.
    Several sets of portable wireless-telegraph apparatus have been manufactured for test on the North Carolina, Montana, and Chester. These portable sets are intended to be used during battle, the maximum range to be in the neighborhood of 20 miles. The aerial of the ship's long-distance set could be taken down before battle when the ship was cleared, and the small set used with a wire hoisted to the yardarm, the operator and his small portable outfit being in any protected position--for instance in the lee of armor inside on the upper deck. It is expected that this type of apparatus can be so developed as to give very satisfactory service for short distances and can be modified for use with landing parties and at lookout stations along the coast.
    Considerable work of an experimental nature has been done at the wireless laboratory at the Bureau of Standards and at the station at Brant Rock, Mass., where a 100-kilowatt set for the Washington station is installed. These experiments were carried out in connection with the installation on the scout cruisers.
    The work on the coastal stations has been satisfactory as a whole, but many improvements are required, principally in the line of furnishing high-frequency apparatus and more durable masts or towers. It is proposed to use steel towers wherever possible, especially in the Tropics.
    The number of messages handled for the Navy, Weather Bureau of the Department of Agriculture, and for private persons has increased steadily. Storm warnings, weather reports, and time signals are sent out broadcast as often as obtained, also notices of obstructions, changes of lights, etc.
    Plans are being formulated for increasing the power of wireless apparatus at navy-yards and stations and the reduction of the number of unprotected coastwise stations.
    A modern high powered station has been installed at Colon and is in excellent condition. This station has given very satisfactory results and is able to communicate with Key West every night in the year except in the summer mouths when static conditions make communication in the Tropics irregular. Other stations of similar power are to be erected at Key West and on the island of Porto Rico. It is expected that these stations will afford constant communication between the United States and the stations at San Juan, Guantanamo, and the Canal Zone. The necessity of moving the Colon station to a site on higher ground near the middle of the Canal Zone for communication with ships in both oceans is recognized.

NAVAL  OBSERVATORY  AND  HYDROGRAPHIC  OFFICE.

    In view of the fact that the Bureau of Equipment was discontinued on June 30 last by legislation, it is understood the report of the Superintendent of the Naval Observatory and the Hydrographer have been submitted direct to the department.

DISCONTINUANCE  OF  BUREAU.

    By act of Congress approved June 21, 1910, the Bureau of Equipment was discontinued after June 30, 1910, and the duties assigned to it by law and the available funds appropriated for its use were distributed amongst the other bureaus of the department, in accordance with departmental order No. 70, the distribution of the clerical force following the distribution of the duties of the bureau.

Report of T. J. Cowie, Paymaster-General, Bureau of Supplies and Accounts, September 26, 1910:
Page 526:

Table 1:
Wireless telegraph stations, Title E (real estate and chattels, industrial): $20,000.00 Bills, $28,713.47 Material.
Wireless telegraph stations, Title G (maintenance of yards and stations, industrial): $39,591,27 Bills, $12,919.57 Material.
Wireless telegraph stations, Total: $59,591.27 Bills, $41,633.14 Material.
Annual Reports of the Navy Department for the Fiscal Year 1911.

Report of George V. L. Meyer, Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C., December 1, 1911:
Pages 32-33:

WIRELESS  TELEGRAPH.

    The wireless equipment of the fleet and shore stations has been greatly improved as regards range and immunity from interference. A high-power station is being erected in the vicinity of Fort Myer by means of which it is expected that direct communication will be maintained with the fleet within a range of 2,000 miles and with the Canal Zone. Other high-power stations will be erected on the Isthmus of Panama, on the California coast, in Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines, and Tutuila as soon as the funds therefor become available. This chain of naval wireless stations will render our fleet independent, to a great extent, of cable lines, and will be an asset of the highest importance in time of war.
    The coastwise wireless service has been extended by the erection of stations in Alaskan waters, and an extension along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico to the Rio Grande will be effected as soon as practicable. The business of the coast wireless service has steadily increased to the great benefit of commercial as well as naval interests. This service handles commercial business only when it does not compete with private companies, and this business is very beneficial to our stations which are most efficient when steadily employed. This service is also employed in a considerable and increasing degree in all Government service for which it is adapted, notably in the collection and dissemination of weather reports from and to vessels at sea.
    It is recommended that the Secretary of the Navy be authorized to collect tolls on commercial wireless messages handled by Alaskan stations in order that a message for transmission by wireless to a point on the Washington-Alaska cable, thence by cable to the United States, may be prepaid by the sender. At present the Army lines and cables are not authorized to receive collect messages, and it is more or less impracticable for inhabitants of outlying islands to arrange for payment in advance for such messages or to make a deposit at the nearest Army cable station to cover the cost of a collect message. It is also recommended that the Secretary of the Navy be authorized to collect tolls for wireless messages handled by any naval stations or ships in order that the business in connection with the commercial wireless and cable companies may be satisfactorily arranged. This authorization would prepare the Government coast wireless system for working under the rules of the International Wireless Union should the Government ratify the International Wireless Convention and open its stations for international business.

Report of R. C. Hollyday, Bureau of Yards and Docks, November 4, 1911:
Page 182:

WIRELESS  STATION.

    The department authorized the preparing of plans for a high-power wireless telegraph station at the military reservation at Arlington, Va. Contracts for one tower, 600 feet in height, two towers, 450 feet in height, and several buildings were awarded in June, 1911.

Report of H. I. Cone, Engineer in Chief, Bureau of Steam Engineering, October 6, 1911:
Pages 263-264:

WIRELESS  TELEGRAPHY.

    The range and efficiency of wireless installations, afloat and ashore, have steadily increased, and considerable advance has been made toward modernizing ship and shore installations. This work was greatly delayed by failure of contractors to make deliveries on time but a number of sets for ships and shore stations are now available for installation, and the next year should see a more rapid improvement.
    The work of the coastal stations has been satisfactory as a whole, and the number of messages handled, official and commercial, is increasing. Time signals, hydrographic information, weather reports, and storm warnings are sent broadcast for the benefit of shipping.
    A site has been obtained for the high-powered station for Washington on the Fort Myer Military Reservation, and contracts have been let for the towers and buildings. It is expected that the station will be in operation by July 1, 1912.
    The experiments to be carried out with the Washington station are expected to add very considerably to the world's knowledge of wireless telegraphy. At the same time the Government will have direct communication with many distant points and with ships at considerable distances at sea, which would be of vast importance in time of war.
    The necessity for stations on outlying islands in Alaska, principally for the business of the Department of Commerce and Labor, the Department of Agriculture, and the Treasury Department, being apparent, material for three new stations was assembled at Mare Island and embarked on the Buffalo, with a working party from the navy yard. At the close of the fiscal year a temporary station at Kodiak had been completed, and a temporary station at St. Paul, Pribilofs, and a permanent one at Unalaska were in course of erection. These stations will not only handle business for all departments of the Government, but will be of great assistance to commercial interests in transmitting commercial business to stations on the line of the Washington and Alaskan military cable.
    Steps were taken to select sites for important stations in Porto Rico, on the Island of Tutuila, Samoa, and at the naval station, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
    The bureau has been carrying on experiments between the torpedo boats Stringham and Bailey, operating from the engineering experimental station, Annapolis. The results of these experiments have been valuable in that systematic quantitative measurements of energy sent and received by vessels communicating under various conditions were made. In addition several new devices were tested and preparations are now being made for further experiments to ascertain the value of kites as supports for aerials of ships for temporary long-distance communication.
    Advances have been made in determining the most suitable sending wave lengths for the various types of ships and in the reduction of interference. A set of instructions for the use of standard calling wave lengths and other arrangements for reducing interference have been prepared, and this information is ready for issue. These instructions, revised from time to time as may be necessary, are expected to eventually increase the possibilities of wireless communication in a given area threefold.
    The quantitative tests of apparatus at the Bureau of Standards have been of value, not only to the bureau, but to science. Thorough tests of new receivers, detectors, amplifones, wave meters, and various types of condensers have been made, and their suitability for the service determined.
    Anticipating the time when all seagoing vessels, however small, will carry wireless apparatus, and the need for wireless communication for submarines, aeroplanes, landing parties, and in special circumstances between a ship and her boats, and recognizing the need for a low-power limited-range fog-signal wireless installation for all ships, wireless stations, lighthouses, and lightships, special attention is being paid to portable apparatus. Several types have been tested, and it is hoped that a satisfactory, practicable set for each of the purposes mentioned will be developed. Satisfactory portable sets for battle purposes have not yet been obtained, but an improved type is being made up for further tests.
Annual Reports of the Navy Department for the Fiscal Year 1912.

Report of George V. L. Meyer, Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C., November 20, 1912:
Pages 38-39:

RADIOTELEGRAPHY.

    Improvements in the radio equipment of the fleet and shore stations as regards increased range and prevention of interference during the past fiscal year have been made as rapidly as the appropriations permitted. The purchase of new radio apparatus conforming to the latest requirements is expensive, but the marked gain in efficiency makes such changes imperative.
    The high-power station at Arlington, Va., is now in operation, and messages have been exchanged with Key West and Colon. It is the first of the proposed chain of high-powered radio stations, the others to be erected on the Isthmus of Panama, on the coast of California, in Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines, and Samoa. Valuable results as regards the control of the fleet at sea and widespread dissemination of time signals and storm warnings can be obtained when these stations are erected.
    The Navy Department is maintaining 41 shore stations and 6 stations on light vessels. An expedition has recently been in Alaska modernizing and improving the older stations there and erecting a new station on the island of Unalga. The chain of Alaskan coast stations is, in conjunction with the inland Army stations, of great importance commercially, as an alternative means of communication in case of breakdown of the cable or land telegraph lines.
    As Congress has enacted legislation regulating radiotelegraphy and making obligatory the opening of certain designated naval radio stations to paid commercial business, the radio work and expenses of the department will be largely increased. It will be necessary to modernize and improve the apparatus of coast stations so that the commercial work may be successfully handled. It is expected, at the outset at that much of the burden of inspection for adjustment of commercial stations will fall upon this department. But the added work will undoubtedly prove an incentive to increased efficiency and will bring the naval stations into closer touch with commercial companies and their methods of operation, which, it is hoped, will mean a better appreciation of each other's work and cordial cooperation in regulation and the minimization of interference.
    The high-powered radio station at Arlington, Va., consists of two 450-foot and one 600-foot self-supporting steel towers, a building containing radio apparatus, laboratories, storerooms, offices, living quarters for operating force, etc., and the necessary ground-wire system, water supply, roads, walks, etc.
    Since the introduction of high-frequency quenched-gap radio apparatus the most urgent work of the department has been the modernizing of old installations. This work has been advanced during the past year as rapidly as limited funds and the slow deliveries of contractors have permitted. Much in this line remains to be accomplished, especially in the case of coastal stations, which, as a result of recent legislation, will be thrown open to commercial work. All new ships commissioned within the year have been provided with modern apparatus, but it has not been possible to properly equip the entire fleet because sufficient funds were not available.
    With the assignment of two officers for the administration of this rapidly expanding branch it becomes possible, for the first time, to foresee a time when other and intrinsically more important features of this activity will be upon a satisfactory basis. These features relate to the development of radio for tactical purposes, experimentation in connection with purely naval needs, proper supervision and training of operators, and the standardization of material and operating methods.

Report of H. R. Stanford, Bureau of Yards and Docks, October 26, 1912:
Page 123:

RADIO  STATIONS.

    The station at Arlington, Va., including one 600-foot tower and two 450-foot towers and several buildings, has been completed. Proposals will shortly be opened for a wireless station at Guantanamo, Cuba.

Report of Phillip Andrews, Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, November 6, 1912:
Pages 143-144:

RADIOTELEGRAPHY.

    Radiotelegraphy legislation enacted during the last session of Congress, though designed especially for the control and regulation of commercial interests, will have an important effect upon the naval organization. The bill of July 23, 1912, requires two or more operators and an auxiliary source of power upon all commercial ships. The act of August 13, 1912, requires the examination and license of all private and commercial apparatus and operators within four months of the date of passage. Other provisions of the act of August 13 bring under executive control the operation of all radio apparatus in accordance with the terms of the Berlin convention. It also requires that naval stations be opened to commercial business in all places not fully served by commercial installations and that the rates for such service be fixed by the Secretary of the Navy. This, in effect, requires the establishment within the department of a complete commercial organization, capable of dealing directly, and making traffic arrangements and accounting with connecting land-wire and radio companies. Accordingly the office of Superintendent of Radio Service has been established under the Bureau of Navigation for the purpose of administering all details connected with the commercial and military operation of the naval radio system. The Bureau of Steam Engineering will be charged with the technical work of supply, maintenance, and experiment; the Bureau of Navigation will furnish trained officers and radio operators and administer the system.
    The development of radio for military uses of the fleet is advancing rapidly. Efficiency in this respect is dependent mainly upon skillful operators, improved apparatus, and progressive and intelligent supervision afloat. The assignment of a trained officer as fleet radio officer, the separation of radio electricians from electricians for other duties, and the revision of the instructions concerning the tactical use of radio, all recent measures, contribute to this end.

Pages 146-147:

NAVAL  OBSERVATORY.

    With the completion of the powerful radio station at Arlington, the observatory is contemplating a time signal which will reach ships at great distances at sea. It is hoped to reach the greater part of the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans by this means. Plans are also being made to send radio signals for the determination of differences of longitude, and it is hoped that the first of these will be between the Naval Observatory and the Observatory of Paris via the Arlington Station and Eiffel Tower. Prof. Asaph Hall, United States Navy, of the observatory, was ordered to attend the conference held in Paris, October 15, 1912, to consider questions concerning radio signals from the Eiffel Tower for time and other, purposes.
    Numerous letters received at the observatory and articles in the technical press indicate that jewelers in various parts of the country are contemplating the use of radio apparatus in getting correct time daily. It is proposed to issue at an early date a pamphlet on standard time and time signals, with general information as to their reception by radio telegraphy.

HYDROGRAPHIC  OFFICE.

    During the year the Hydrographic Office has maintained the high standard of work it long ago established. Until May 26 the office was under the administration of Capt. John J. Knapp. He was relieved on that date by Commander George F. Cooper.
    During the administration of Capt. Knapp the office rendered valuable service to the maritime world by the efficient manner in which it disseminated information concerning the Titanic disaster, which is fully set forth in the hydrographer's report. Prior to the collision of the Titanic with the iceberg the Hydrographic Office had given repeated warnings of bergs in the neighborhood of the steamship lanes crossing the Atlantic, and the office received a radiogram on the day the Titanic struck, indicating bergs very near her track. She, herself, transmitted this radiogram from the Amerika. The Hydrographic Office at once made public the message. The office immediately recommended to the steamship lines that they move the lanes south so that they would clear the ice fields. The department established for trial an ice patrol of the steamship lanes. This was very greatly appreciated by the maritime world and should be continued each year during the ice season. It would be advisable to have a special vessel for this purpose. It could locate dangerous bergs and floes and communicate their positions and the direction of movement to vessels by radio. The bureau recommends that the department plan to continue this ice patrol each year. It is properly a function of the Navy, and the information to be obtained is urgently needed by the Hydrographic Office for the protection of merchant shipping.

Report of H. I. Cone, Engineer in Chief, Bureau of Steam Engineering, October 3, 1912:
Pages 254-255:

RADIO  TELEGRAPHY.

    Since the introduction of high-frequency quenched gap radio apparatus the most urgent work of the department has been the modernizing of old installations. This work has been advanced during the past as rapidly as limited funds and the slow deliveries of contractors ave permitted. Much in this line remains to be accomplished, especially in the case of coastal stations, which as a result of pending legislation will be thrown open to commercial work. All new ships commissioned within the year have been provided with modern apparatus, but it has not been possible to properly equip the entire fleet because sufficient funds were not available.
    With the assignment of two additional officers for the administration of this rapidly expanding branch it becomes possible for the first time to foresee a time when other and intrinsically more important features of this activity will be upon a satisfactory basis. These features relate to the development of radio for tactical purposes, experimentation in connection with purely naval needs, proper supervision and training of operators, and the standardization of material and operating methods.
    The high-power station at Arlington is rapidly approaching completion.
Annual Reports of the Navy Department for the Fiscal Year 1913.

Report of Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C., December 1, 1913:
Page 17:
THE  RADIO  SERVICE.

    The new radio service has become an important part of the Navy. Twenty-three radio stations have been established and opened to public business. The high-power radio station at Arlington is in successful operation, and is now used for communicating with other naval radio stations, and also as a time-signal station, connections having been made with the naval observatory whereby time signals are sent broadcast twice every day. This service is of great commercial value, and is highly appreciated not only by shipping interests, but by jewelers throughout the country, many of whom have installed the equipment necessary for receiving the time signals. The Arlington station is now being used in conjunction with the Eiffel Tower Station in Paris, in determining the difference of longitude between it and our Naval Observatory by means of radio signals. For this purpose a joint commission of American and French naval officers are in Paris and in Washington, taking nightly observations at these two observatories. In connection with this work it is expected to be able to determine the velocity of propagation of the Hertzian wave. This is a work of great scientific importance and it is expected to lead to very practical results in determining the longitudes of hydrographic survey bases, observatories, etc. It will enable the department to determine the longitude of points on the routes to the Panama Canal in both oceans with great accuracy, with the Naval Observatory as the base, and possibly, by cooperating with other Governments, to encircle the globe in the important work of verifying the longitude of many places, supplementing and extending the work done by officers of the Navy in the past when the submarine cable was used to connect remote points on the earth's surface.

Report of Victor Blue, Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, October 4, 1913:
Pages 124-125:

RADIOTELEGRAPHY.

    The act of Congress approved August 13, 1912, effective December 13, 1912, contained a provision that the head of the Government department having control of coast radio stations should as far as is consistent with the transaction of governmental business arrange for the transmission and receipt of commercial radiograms under the provisions of the Berlin convention and future international conventions or treaties to which the United States may be a party, at Arlington, Va.; Key West, Fla.; San Juan, P. R.; North Head and Tatoosh Island, Wash.; San Diego, Cal.; and those established or which may be established in Alaska and in the Canal Zone. Furthermore, at such stations and wherever and whenever shore stations open for general public business between the coast and vessels at sea under the provision of the Berlin convention and future international conventions and treaties to which the United States may be a party shall not be so established as to insure a constant service day and night without interruption, and in all localities wherever or whenever such service shall not be maintained by a commercial shore station within 100 nautical miles of a naval radio station, the Secretary of the Navy is required, so far as is consistent with the transaction of governmental business, to open naval radio stations to general public business.
    Departmental General Order No. 240 of November 9, 1912, established the Office of Superintendent of Radio Service under the Bureau of Navigation, with office at the radio station, Arlington, Va. This office is charged with the preparation of regulations and issue of detailed instructions for the operation of stations in accordance with military efficiency, international agreements in force, and the laws affecting the operation of naval radio stations, including issue of accounting and operating forms, auditing commercial accounts. traffic agreements, and accounting with commercial and other Governmental managements involved.
    In accordance with the provisions of the act of August 13, 1912, referred to, the following coast radio stations are open for the handling of commercial business:

Charleston, S. C.
St. Augustine, Fla.
Jupiter, Fla.
Key West, Fla.
Pensacola, Fla.
San Juan, P. R.
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Colon, Isthmian Canal Zone.
St. Paul, Pribilof Islands, Alaska.  
Cape Blanco, Oreg.
Eureka, Cal.
Point Arguello, Cal.
|  St. George, Pribilof Islands, Alaska.
|  Unalga, Alaska.
|  Dutch Harbor, Alaska.
|  Kodiak, Alaska.
|  Cordova, Alaska.
|  Sitka, Alaska.
|  Tatoosh, Wash.
|  North Head, Wash.
|  San Diego, Cal.
|  Balboa, Isthmian Canal Zone.
|  Guam, Mariana Islands.
|

    The first station, Key West, was opened on December 15, 1912, and other stations followed as fast as regulations could be prepared for heir operation. The opening of these stations at once proved to be of the greatest benefit to the public at large, and the business handled by them will undoubtedly increase as the benefits derived are better known. Practically each month shows an increase in the number of commercial messages handled by each station. To June 1, 1913, the total number of paid commercial messages through naval coast stations was 3,833, with a total of 60,157 words.
    By Department Order No. 10, of February 7, 1913, all ships of the Navy were opened to public business for the convenience of officers and crew under such restrictions as the commander in chief or senior officer present might prescribe.
    In addition to all the accounting necessary for the settlement of traffic accounts between the naval radio service and other systems, by arrangement with other departments of the Government, the office of Superintendent of naval radio service is also charged with the settlement of all international accounts involving charges on radiograms passing between American vessels and foreign coast stations. The handling of commercial work has operated to increase the military efficiency of the coast stations, giving the operators more work and practice, rendering them more alert and attentive to duty and more readily able to receive and answer calls from sea of whatever nature as well as making them familiar with international operating rules. The handling of commercial business has not interfered with the purely military necessities of the stations nor with the official business done by the various departments of the Government.
    Reports from the fleet show continued increase in efficiency in the use of radio apparatus, particularly in fleet tactical work, and the good results are primarily due to the very intelligent supervision given this important service by the fleet radio officer, as well as to the continued betterment of material and increased inspection.

Pages 129-130:
NAVAL  OBSERVATORY

    The observatory was represented at the international time conference held in Paris in October, 1912, by Prof. A. Hall, United States Navy, who, with Commander H. H. Hough, United States Navy, were the only American representatives. A letter from the superintendent of the observatory suggesting a determination of the difference of longitude between the Naval Observatory at Washington and the Paris Observatory, using radiotelegraphy, was read at this conference.
    Arrangements have been made with the French Government in accordance with this suggestion and the naval radio station at Arlington and the Eiffel Tower radio station will be used as the means of communicating the necessary time signals between them. The astronomical and radio problems involved are highly scientific and are being worked out with great care by the officers of both Governments. While the suggestion originated at the United States Naval Observatory, the French officials who have made a specialty of this branch of science are cooperating most cordially.
    Some preliminary work was done in March and April of this year when four French officers visited this country for that purpose, and Commander Hough and Prof. Hall represented the United States in Paris at the same time. Special instruments are being made for this work, and two small buildings are being erected at the Naval Observatory to accommodate the astronomical instruments of the observers of both Governments. These buildings are designed along scientific lines. Direct wires are run from the observatory to the Arlington radio station.
    It is expected that the experience gained in this work will be of permanent value in connection with hydrographic surveying, and it is hoped that the Naval Observatory may thus become the base of all such work on this continent and the islands adjacent thereto. It is proposed to issue a circular to the observatories within the effective radius of the Arlington radio station, making suggestions whereby their longitudes may be determined with considerable accuracy if they will listen during certain specified times for the signals from that station intended primarily for the Eiffel Tower.
    In August and September, 1912, the observatory cooperated with the Flower Observatory of the University of Pennsylvania in a determination of the longitude of that place by ordinary telegraphic transmission of time signals.
    The time service has been extended so that the noon signals are now sent out on every day of the year, whereas formerly they were not sent on Sundays and holidays. Beginning on the night of April 1, 1913, a night signal service by radiotelegraphy via the Arlington station was begun. This signal is sent from 9.55 to 10 p. m. Information has been received to the effect that time signals are received at a station in the interior of Brazil about 2,800 miles from Washington and at Chicago, and Beloit, Wis. The signals may be received by any ship irrespective of nationality. The master of the British steamship Santa Maria, in reporting receipt of the noon signals on New York and Colon, writes as follows:
The above came out to within one second of our corrected G. M. C., and I consider it of great importance, for if anything was to happen to the chronometer it would be quite reliable to navigate with results like the above.


Report of J. L. Jayne, Superintendent of Naval Observatory, November 12, 1913:
Pages 145-149:
    The United States Government was represented at the International Time Conference which was held in Paris in October, 1912, by the naval attaché at Paris, Commander H. H. Hough, United States Navy, and Prof. A. Hall, United States Navy, of the Naval Observatory staff
    This observatory, being the first institution in the world to have its time signals regularly transmitted by radiotelegraphy, was naturally deeply interested in an international conference which was largely devoted to questions concerning the distribution of time by this means, especially as preparations were in progress to use the Arlington radio station to send out time signals of great radius. Our delegates were therefore instructed in part as follows:
The department desires you to inform the conference that it has been sending out radio time signals regularly since January, 1905, and that the practice will be continued from the Arlington station with the idea of reaching ships as far at sea as possible; but it desires to do this so as not to interfere in any way with the signals from the Eiffel Tower. On the contrary it desires to cooperate with the work of that station so far as it may be mutually advantageous.
    It may be necessary to send a night signal from the Arlington station in addition to the one at noon in order to reach the maximum distance. This signal should be sent as soon after darkness has covered the North Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea, as suitable for the purpose, and so as not to interfere with any well-established radio business. The best time for this signal might well be a subject of consideration by the conference, so as not to conflict with any other undertakings to be considered by it, as well as the question of a standard of time to be used for all such undertakings. A program of time signals for cooperating stations to avoid conflict among them and with commercial stations would be desirable.
    The conference may be informed that the department is disposed to favorably consider the use of the Arlington station for the exchange of messages relating to important astronomical discoveries, such as new asteroids, or hydrographic and meteorological information.

    Commander Hough was appointed the delegate to represent the United States at the conference which met in Paris October 20, 1913, with powers to sign a convention based on the one submitted by the French Government as a result of the labors of the conference of October, 1912, but somewhat modified, subject, however, to the approval of the Senate and such legislative action as may be required to give the instrument effect and with the following reservations:

    First. That the United States may send time signals from such radio stations of its own as it may designate and at such time as it may decide upon.
    Second. That it may be free to use, in sending radio time signals, the method that it has used in the past, or such modification thereof as may seem to it desirable.
    Third. That it is to be understood that in agreeing to this convention, the United States Government does not undertake to exercise any control over private radio stations that may possibly be contemplated beyond what is permissible under existing laws.

    It is not considered desirable for the department to agree to limit the number of its stations to send radio time signals to the three named in the journal of the conference. New stations are to be built at Panama Canal Zone, Hawaii, etc., and it is probable that it will be desirable to send such signals from some or all of these. It is believed, however, that it can regulate the signals so as to help rather than interfere with international interests.
    About the time that the invitation to attend the Paris conference was received, the superintendent was interested in the problem of determining "lag," or the amount of time lost in transmitting signals to the radio stations and automatically converting them into radio signals. Three methods suggested themselves as possible: First, for a near-by station such as Arlington, the chronograph, using a coherer or other wave detector permitting the use of a recording device, but this involved a determination of the time taken to operate the detector and recorder or the elimination of this time as a factor; second, some chemical recording device in which the passage of the Hertzian wave would produce a change in color or a reaction which could be made visible as in the photographic process; and lastly, the application of the well-known coincidence method for comparing time pieces keeping different times. With these ideas in mind, steps were taken to install at the observatory, radio-receiving apparatus for the purpose of experimentation. Soon, however, attention was called to an article in Revue générale des Sciences pures et appliquées, entitled Emploie de la Télégraphic sans fil pour la Détermination des Longitudes by Claude, Ferrié, and Driencourt. Here was a beautiful method of eliminating "lag" by the method of coincidences already worked out and utilized in the transmission of signals for the determination of differences of longitude. The radio-receiving apparatus was installed notwithstanding this fact, and has proven very useful, but the development of the new longitude method opened the way to a very important undertaking. The Hydrographic Office had already used the observatory time signals, which were transmitted to Key West by land lines and there automatically converted into radio signals, for longitude determinations, but it seemed desirable to lose no time to familiarize ourselves with the new method.
    The longitude of the Naval Observatory referred to Greenwich or Paris had never been determined directly, but was based on determinations of the longitude of Cambridge, Mass., and Montreal. A letter was, therefore, written to the Navy Department recommending that its representative at the International Time Conference be directed to take up with the authorities of the Observatory of Paris the question of the arrangements necessary for the determination of the difference of longitude between the observatories of Paris and Washington, using the radio stations at the Eiffel Tower and Arlington for transmission of signals. This recommendation was approved and Commander Hough was instructed accordingly. Besides taking the matter up with the French authorities he read a translation of the letter to the conference, which received it favorably, but took no formal action in regard to it, as none was necessary. The French scientists have taken great interest in the problem and in March last sent five of their leading experts to this country to study it and make preliminary tests. These gentlemen were Hydrographic Engineer in Chief L. Driencourt, French Navy; Commandant G. Ferrié, French Army; Capt. Levesque, French Army; Lieut. C. Gignon, French Navy; and Prof. H. Abraham, of the faculty of sciences of the University of Paris.
    At the same time we had in Paris Commander Hough and Prof. Hall representing this country.
    The Frenchmen brought with them a prismatic astrolabe and used it for taking astronomical observations. Time signals were exchanged and the results were such as to make very certain that the work of this fall and winter will be successful.
    Prof. Abraham was detailed by the minister of public instruction and brought over his apparatus for recording signals photographically to test its applicability to the problem.
    The astrolabe was left at this observatory for trial and is now being used by Assistant David Rines. Messieurs Claude and Driencourt have devoted much study to this instrument and have written a valuable treatise describing it and its use.
    Much time has been spent in making preparations for the work which began in October. Two transit instruments were ordered of G. Prin, of Paris, to conform to the following specifications:

    Aperture, 3 inches; focal length, 33 inches. Self-registering right ascension micrometer, driven by electric motor, and controlled by hand arrangement for reversal on each star. Pivots of hardened steel. Electric lighting. Meridian mark, and long focus lens.

    Two specially designed instrument houses have been built, side by side, in the observatory grounds. Three pairs of wires have been made available for transmitting signals between the observatory and the radio station at Arlington. While it is expected that the American and French parties will work simultaneously their astronomical methods and some other details may differ.
    The American party now in Paris consists of Assistant Astronomer G. A. Hill, Lieuts. R. B. Coffman and C. W. Magruder, and Ensign G. S. Gillespie. Mr. Hill and Mr. Magruder are detailed for astronomical work and the other two for coincidence work. This party is placed under the supervision of Commander Hough, who has been of great assistance in making arrangements in Paris. The party working here is composed of Prof. F. B. Littell, Lieut. W. T. Mallison, and Ensigns H. E. Saunders and R. A. Lavender. The first two are detailed for astronomical work and the others for coincidences. The parties will change stations after a sufficient number of observations have been taken, and signals exchanged, each carrying its transit instrument with it.
    There have been a great many details to work out in connection with this undertaking and the distance separating the two observatories has made cooperation between them difficult. Much credit is due the officers for the enthusiastic manner in which they have undertaken the work.
    Owing to the great range of the signals that are to be sent out from Arlington in connection with this work and length of time over which they are to be spread it was seen that other institutions might take advantage of them to determine their longitude. Accordingly a circular letter was issued giving information concerning the signals and a number of replies indicate that the opportunity will be embraced by institutions widely scattered, one being as far west as the University of California. It is also contemplated establishing the longitude of a point in Haiti in connection with the survey in which U. S. S. Eagle will be employed.
    After the time conference adjourned Prof. Hall visited under orders the following observatories and institutions doing work along lines in which this observatory is specially interested and submitted a report for its use:

France:
    Observatoire de Paris, Paris.
    Observatoire d'Astronomie Physique, Meudon, Paris.
    Bureau International des Poids et Mesures, Sèvres, Paris.
    Service Hydrographique de la Marine, Paris.
    Service Géographique de l'Armée, Paris.
    Observatoire du Bureau des Longitudes, Montsouris, Paris.
Germany:
    Astronomisehe Sternwarte und Astrophysikalisches Observatorium, Königstuhl, Heidelberg.
    Königliche Sternwarte, Bonn.
    Königliche Sternwarte, Berlin.
    Königliches Astronomisches Recheninstitut, Dahlen, Berlin.
    Astrophysikalisches Observatorium, Potsdam.
    Königliches Geodätisches Institut, Potsdam.
    Königliche Sternwarte, Kiel.
    Hamburger Sternwarte, Bergedorf.
    Deutsche Seewarte, Hamburg.
England:
    Royal Observatory, Greenwich.
    Kew Observatory, Richmond, Surrey.
    National Physical Laboratory, Teddington.
    Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty, London.

    During the fiscal year and subsequently the superintendent has been favored with the privilege of visiting and conferring with the directors of the following observatories: Harvard College, Yale University, Dudley, Columbia University, Flower Astronomical, Dearborn, Yerkes, Washburn, and Smith. It has been his desire to extend this list, but time has not permitted.
    During the year there has been put in effect a plan of bringing together those who are interested in the science of astronomy and related subjects to discuss developments in those lines and with the object of increasing the interest of the personnel of the observatory and stimulating them to their best efforts. From October to May, both inclusive, meetings are held twice a month from 3.30 to 4.30 p. m. A number of very interesting and instructive papers have been presented, and much interest has been aroused in the meetings. The observatory has been fortunate in securing the kind cooperation of a number of distinguished specialists from outside its numbers as well as the presentation of some able papers by members of its staff.

Pages 162-163:

CHRONOMETERS  AND  TIME  SERVICE.

    The noontime signals were sent out as previously by telegraph wires also by radiotelegraph until April, 1913. On the night of December 31, 1912-January 1, 1913, a midnight signal was sent via the Arlington radio station (Radio, Va.) to mark the dying of the old and birth of the new year. Noon signals had been sent from this station for a number of days prior to January 3, 1913, but they were interrupted on that date for the purpose of installing of new apparatus. On the night of March 31, 1913, a 10 p. m. radio time signal service was begun, using the Arlington station only, and since that date this station has been regularly used for both day and night time signals with few interruptions. It soon became evident that a number of the coast stations which had previously been used for sending noon signals could discontinue this service on account of the great effective radius of the Arlington signals. At present the noon signal is sent by radio from the Arlington, Key West, and New Orleans naval radio stations on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts only, except in the case of a breakdown or other cause for interruption of the Arlington service, when the stations at Newport, New York, Norfolk, and Charleston may be ordered by telegraph to repeat the noon signals. Officers of merchant ships as well as those in the Navy appreciate the value of these signals, and they may be received by any ship equipped with radio receiving apparatus without regard to nationality. Jewelers and others on shore are recognizing their value, and the installations for their reception are constantly increasing.
    The mean daily error of the noon signal for the year was 0.03 second and the maximum error was 0.18 second.

Report of R. S. Griffin, Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering, October 1, 1913:
Pages 225-226:
RADIOTELEGRAPHY.

    Improvement in the radio equipment of the fleet has been especially marked during the past year. More careful control and the extended use of radio for signaling, especially in the Atlantic Fleet, have resulted in the development of clearer ideas as to the ultimate value of radiotelegraphy for military purposes. A sufficient number of modern high-frequency radio sets have been contracted for to modernize the installation on all the modern battleships, the armored cruisers, and the other more important vessels, and it is expected that this work will be practically completed during the present fiscal year. The rapid development of radio for battle use will render necessary a readjustment of the installations on all battleships, and this work will require another year for its completion
    The high-power radio station at Arlington has been in successful operation, and is now used not only for communication with other naval radio stations but as a time-signal station from which time is sent broadcast twice daily, and for the conduct of a large volume of official business.
    Contracts have been awarded for the construction of the high power station on the Panama Canal Zone, to be known as the Darien station, which it is expected will be completed early in 1914. The next station of this chain will be erected on the California coast, its exact location being now under consideration. These stations are expensive of construction, but will prove of great value not only as military radio stations but for the dissemination of storm warnings and time signals for the fleet and for shipping in general.
    Radiotelegraphy being still in a stage of development, progress is rapid and changes costly, and therefore it has not been possible to keep all the coastal stations supplied with modern equipment, but effort in this direction has been applied only to the more important stations. Those which are maintained for purely local purposes, such as a restricted range of naval communication and the protection of local shipping, and which are not of sufficient importance to warrant a large outlay, will be maintained in a state of efficiency equal to the demands made upon them, but without any attempt to increase their power.
    Owing to the increased average range of radio sets, and to the proximity of commercial stations, two stations, Cape Henlopen, Del., and Yuerba Buena Island, Cal., were discontinued as unnecessary.
    As a result of the work done by the radio expedition to Alaska last summer, the chain of Alaskan radio stations is in excellent condition.
    The establishment of the office of superintendent of radio service has freed the bureau of details consequent to the opening of naval coastal radio stations to paid commercial business and has left it free to devote more attention to the technical development of radio apparatus and material.
    The naval radio laboratory at the Bureau of Standards has rendered valuable technical assistance in the work of the bureau.
Annual Reports of the Navy Department for the Fiscal Year 1914.

Report of Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C., December 1, 1914:
Pages 23-26:
NAVAL  RADIO.

    The President recently signally honored the Navy by intrusting to this department the enforcement of the Executive order of August 5, which was necessary to prevent radio stations under the jurisdiction of the United States becoming the instrument through which unneutral messages were sent to vessels at sea or to other radio stations. At the outbreak of the European war it developed that no precedent existed which related to the use of radio stations by persons within the limits of neutral countries during continuance of hostilities. The President, in pursuance of his neutrality proclamations, intrusted to the Navy Department the duty of acting as censor of radio communications. This work has been done without friction or injury to commercial business. It became necessary for the Government to take over the radio station at Tuckerton, N. J. Its ownership was in dispute, it had no license to operate under the radio act, and its control by the Government was required to meet a real demand for its use for neutral messages.
    The primary purpose of the naval radio establishment is a purely military one, and this has been emphasized by events in connection with our occupation of Vera Cruz and still more forcibly during the progress of the war in Europe; and while this feature of our equipment is one in which the naval service alone is directly, interested, it is a matter of scant knowledge how great a part the naval radio establishment plays in everyday commercial life. An idea of this may be had from the statement that we have opened 25 stations to commercial business, and that every ship of the Navy is herself a commercial station, as all private messages handled are paid for by the senders. During the war in Mexico, when all land wire and cable communication between the United States and the southern part of Mexico was interrupted, the naval vessels on the west coast afforded the only means of quick commercial communication and soon began to handle a large business.
    In addition to the paid commercial business carried on by the naval radio stations the system renders a free service of inestimable value in the daily transmission from Arlington and other stations of the time signals from the Naval Observatory, thus enabling ships at sea, even though far beyond the range of transmission of their own equipment, to determine their exact chronometer correction. Even sailing vessels which habitually make long voyages and which have no power with which to operate a radio station of their own may, at trifling expense, be equipped to catch this signal. Our own naval ships have carried it far into the Mediterranean.
    But it is not the seafaring people alone who make use of this time signal It is attracting great and growing attention throughout the country. Jewelers have installed receiving apparatus for the purpose of getting it, and many amateur receiving stations have been established for the receipt of the time and weather reports. A leading jewelers' trade magazine has informed the department that there are not less than 300 jewelers throughout the country who now receive the time signal by radio, and that the number may be expected to grow to about 3,000. The same journal says that although maritime interests may have been the primary reason for the erection of the Arlington station, it will benefit more people on land than at sea. It is a pleasure to record this evidence of the value of this service, as it is also a matter of pride that the first radio time signals ever sent out were from our own naval stations.
    Another interesting feature of this free radio service which should be of incalculable benefit to shipping is found in the radio compass now under construction at the Fire Island station, near the entrance to New York Harbor. This device is intended to send out radio signals of such a character that a vessel in a fog may get a close approximation of her "bearing," or compass direction, from the station. By means of observations taken 5 or 10 miles apart it should be possible for the vessel to determine her actual position with fair accuracy. This is the first installation of this type to be made in this country; but a second installation of different type, though answering the same purpose, is projected for the station at Cape Cod. The signals sent out by the radio compass at Fire Island will necessarily be limited as to range, but the Cape Cod installation will allow of a ship calling the station in the usual manner from any distance within the ship's ordinary range and receiving a definite reply as to her bearing from the station. In the case of Fire Island the ship will determine her bearing from the character of the signals continuously emitted; for Cape Cod the station determines the bearing of the ship from her calling signal and sends the information back. If these installations prove as successful as anticipated, the radio operators of ships will become an important part of the navigating force.
    One of the most important parts of the naval system, from a public-service point of view, is the Alaskan branch. On account of their isolation the stations in this division are also the most difficult, though not the most expensive, to maintain. Regarded merely as an aid to the important shipping in these waters, their value is very great. In addition they play an important part in the rapidly growing commercial business of inland Alaska. The Army cable is the only wire connection between western Alaska and the United States, except the very roundabout route through the Canadian northwest. This cable is laid in difficult bottom and is expensive to maintain. Its operation is frequently interrupted, and at such times the radio station must be depended upon to handle the traffic. The performance of the radio stations has been very creditable in this work, but it is, of course, out of the question for the present few and rather low-powered stations to handle the entire traffic carried by the cable in the busy season. A medium high-powered station to replace the small station at the Puget Sound Navy Yard and an additional station of the same type in Alaska are needed additions to the present military system, and such stations would practically solve the question of uninterrupted commercial communication with Alaska, allowing the abandonment of the cable with a great saving to the Govermnent and a much cheaper service to the public. With the building of the Alaskan railway the need for additional stations will become more urgent.
    These are features of our radio installation of more or less general interest, but the military feature is the one with which the department is more intimately concerned. In this field there has been an enormous advance during the past year, and much of this progress, perhaps the greater part, is due to the original work of the department. Commercial progress in the art has been notable, but it must be remembered that the naval problems in radio work have no parallel in commercial work; that foreign Governments guard carefully their own discoveries and developments; and that therefore the Navy Department is dependent upon its own expert talent for military progress. For this reason it is very gratifying to be able to state that we have kept abreast of the times and have made material progress, and that our equipment is such as will place us in a position at least not inferior to the corresponding service of any foreign Government, if we do not, in fact, surpass it.
    The erection of the high-powered stations authorized for San Diego, Honolulu, Guam, Manila, and Tutuila has been delayed through inability to acquire title to the private property selected as a site at San Diego. With the present statutory limit as to cost it is impossible to build fully adequate stations unless the cheapest construction is resorted to. An absolutely necessary saving under the circumstances was effected by letting a single contract for the steel towers at San Diego, Honolulu, and Manila, but the delay in connection with the transfer of title at San Diego has delayed the whole chain. The title question has, however, just recently been favorably settled, and proposals for the towers, the largest single item of cost of each station, will be advertised this month. The rapid completion of the Panama Canal made it necessary to proceed with the canal station independently. Delay has been encountered there also, owing to delinquency of contractors, but the station is now rapidly approaching completion, and it is expected that the first tests of the installation will be held about March 1. It is interesting to note that at the time the Panama Canal station, officially known as the Darien station, was contracted for, the type of equipment selected by the department was practically discredited by a majority of the most eminent technical authorities throughout the world. The Navy Department, however, through its own investigations and with the cooperation of the progressive American manufacturers of the apparatus, had come into possession of certain data that left no doubt as to the choice to be made. The notable scientific development that has taken place during the last year has confirmed the department's action beyond peradventure. In this one contract the direct saving to the Government, due to information resulting from experimental work, was sufficient to cover the total ordinary expenses for experimental work during a period of five years.

DETERMINATION  OF  LONGITUDE  BY  RADIO.

    The Naval Observatory has added to its record of achievement this year by determining directly the difference of longitude between Washington and Paris, and finds this difference of longitude between the official meridians of these capitals to be
5h 17m 36s.658.
    The velocity of transmission of radio signals given by these observations is
175,000 miles per second,
which is probably the best value yet obtained, though owing to the distance (3,831 miles on a great circle) between the stations, which, compared with this velocity, is small, it is subject to a probable error of ±16,000 miles per second.
    These observations constitute the first direct determination of the difference of longitude between Washington and Europe, and it is the first time that radio has been used for trans-Atlantic longitude determinations. Independent observations were made by the United States and French Governments, each having two parties (which interchanged stations at the middle of the observations), one at the United States Naval Observatory and the other at the Observatoire de Paris, using the Navy radio station at Arlington (Radio, Va.) and the Eiffel Tower, respectively, for radio transmission.

Report of Victor Blue, Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, November 1, 1914:
Pages 148-149:
RADIO  SERVICE.

    The report of the superintendent of the Radio Service for the calendar year ending December 31, 1913, who has charge of the preparation of regulations, etc., for the Naval Radio Service and control of all commercial work handled by naval radio stations, is published in a separate pamphlet as Appendix No. 4 to this report. The total number of commercial messages handled by all stations and ships of the Navy for the average period of 10 months ending December 31, 1913, were 17,710 and the total receipts were $20,860.52.
    During the past few months the President ordered strict censorship of all messages passing through commercial radio stations in order to effectually carry out the neutral policy of this Government, and directed the Secretary of the Navy to carry such orders into effect. In compliance with such directions, the Secretary of the Navy detailed certain naval officers to duty at the various radio stations in order that the proper censorship of messages might be effected, and issued detailed instructions in accordance with which strict censorship of all messages received or sent through the various stations has been exercised. A large number of small private stations have been inspected and dismantled.

Report of Captain J. A. Hoogewerff, Superintendent of the Naval Observatory, October 12, 1914:
Pages 178-179:
TIME  SERVICE.

    The noon and 10 p. m. time signals have been sent out daily, the former over the telegraph lines covering the country east of the Rocky Mountains, and both via the Navy radio station at Arlington, which practically covers the same territory as well as the North Atlantic Ocean. The importance to navigators of these two signals is referred to in a report from a merchant vessel which states that their chronometers have been checked daily from New York to a point 600 miles north of Rio Janeiro when the distance from Arlington was 4,250 miles. The noon signal is also sent by radio from Key West and New Orleans, covering the northern part of the Gulf of Mexico. Since May 7, 1914, a special 10 p. m. radio signal has been sent out from Key West for the benefit of our vessels in Mexican waters. In case of a breakdown at Arlington, the stations at Newport, New York, Norfolk, and Charleston are directed to send the noon signals, In case of appreciable error in the signal it is corrected by sending the signal one hour later. The mean daily error in transmission for the year was 0.055 second and the maximum error 0.36 second, due to a change of rate in the standard sidereal clock, due to recent overhauling.
    While the lag that is the difference of time between the transmission of the signal audits arrival at a distant point is small, it amounts sometimes to some 0.3 second; and, in these days when the signals are being increasingly used by surveyors and astronomers, it is very desirable that more up-to-date sending apparatus be installed and certain return signals arranged for, particularly by radio, in order that the exact time of the receipt of signals may be known and published. This will require a special appropriation. Small radio receiving sets for the time signals are now being used extensively throughout the country by watchmakers, jewelers, and colleges, and have greatly extended the usefulness of the time signals. These receiving sets have proven themselves of practical value, and as they are not very expensive, the number of them is increasing rapidly.

Report of Captain W. H. G. Bullard, Naval Radio Service, March 18, 1914 (for the year ending December 31, 1913):
Page 213:
    I have the honor to present herewith a report on the United States Naval Radio Service for the year ending December 31, 1913, which includes the operations of the Radio Service from December 13, 1912, the date the act of Congress approved August 13, 1912, became effective, up to the end of the calendar year 1913. The next annual report will contain the operations of the Radio Service from the beginning of the calendar year 1914 to the end of the fiscal year 1915.
    On August 13, 1912, Congress passed an act entitled "An act to regulate radio communication," which became effective December 13, 1912. Reference to article 18 of this act will show that provision is made for the opening of certain Government shore stations to commercial business under the terms of the Berlin convention of 1906, or future international conventions to which the United States may be a party.
    By Navy Department General Order No. 240, of November 9, 1912, the office of the Superintendent of Naval Radio Service was established, with headquarters at the radio station, Arlington, Va. This office, among other things, is charged with--
    (1) The preparation of regulations and issue of detailed instructions for the operation of stations in accordance with military efficiency, international agreements in force, and the laws affecting the operation of naval radio stations.
    (2) The control of the commercial work handled by naval radio stations, including issue of accounting and operating forms, auditing commercial accounts, traffic agreements, and accounting with commercial and other Government managements involved.
    The superintendent was authorized to correspond directly within the naval service, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the regulations in the case of bureaus and other offices under the Navy Department, in regard to all matters in which he is authorized to take action, and directly with private and commercial concerns upon matters of reciprocal interest relating to the commercial operation of naval radio stations in questions of interference, traffic arrangements, proposed changes of rates, and accounting.

Pages 214-216:
    The work of this office naturally divides itself into two general divisions, viz, that falling under the head of official or Government work, and relating principally to the military features of radio service, and that falling under the head of commercial work. In addition to the purely naval duties of the coast stations, all are actively engaged in transmitting messages to and from all departments of the Government that may have occasion to transact official business between ship and shore, and shore and ship, such as the Revenue-Cutter Service, Army transport service, Lighthouse Service, Weather Bureau, etc.
    One of the first duties connected with the establishment of this office was the adoption of standard practices in the matter of operating. The Government had become a signatory party to the Berlin Radiotelegraphic Convention on May 25, 1912, and this prescribed the exact method to be followed in the handling of all commercial radiograms. Though not obligatory to make the practice of operation required for commercial radiograms apply to official work in its entirety, the advantages to be gained by so doing were very obvious, particularly as under the radio act of 1912 certain naval stations were required to do commercial work, and all operators, both afloat and ashore, were required to comply with these standard international practices. The opening of certain naval stations to commercial work necessitated the preparation of instructions and regulations necessary to efficiently carry on this work. The instructions were issued to the service as occasion demanded in the form of circulars and bulletins. Later these were embodied in a Handbook of Regulations, United States Naval Radio Service, which was issued to the service the latter part of December, 1913. The preparation of this book was the result of a year's work and experience, and involved much correspondence with ships and companies operating land telegraph lines and cables. Too much credit can not be given to the officers who were engaged in this work, and who faithfully labored with subjects that were comparatively new to them. The first part of the work was under the direct charge and supervision of Lieut. Commander D. W. Todd, who was the assistant superintendent, and was followed in turn by Lieut. Commander H. G. Sparrow and Lieut. Commander S. W. Bryant, all of whom furnished valuable suggestions. Paymaster E. C. Gudger, the accounting officer of the service, undertook the preparation of data referring to rates and all traffic accounting, and the result reflects great credit on his zeal and energy. The handbook is divided into two sections, the first of which deals with all matters of operation that are necessary for the naval service in the conduct of Government business, the second section entirely with matters concerned with the commercial working of the system.
    Besides the standard practices of operation which are common to the handling of both official and commercial work, certain methods of operation in the fleets are used, which it is not considered desirable to speak of in a public report. The standard of operation in the Atlantic Fleet is very high, and this state of efficiency is due to the interest taken by the commander in chief and chief of staff, and to the personal interest of the fleet radio officer, Lieut. S. C. Hooper, who has assiduously labored to bring about this high state of efficiency. This has been furthered by the technical department under the Bureau of Steam Engineering, in introducing new and modern apparatus which allows a control of operation not possible before its installation.
    The results attained in the Atlantic Fleet justify the recommendation that a fleet radio officer should be attached to the staff of each commander in chief, and that such an officer should be a radio operator. Many young officers are now qualified as operators, due to the excellent training they receive in the fleets, and the services of these officers will be invaluable in time of war. This office keeps a list of the officers who have been reported as qualified, which should be considered as additional to any information is shown on the "Report of fitness" of these officers.
    The provisions for the training of men for operators seem ample and complete, and there seems to be no immediate reason why the naval service should not always have its full complement of operators. The coordination between the bridge signal force and radio operators on board ship is very complete, and many fine young radio operators receive their first training in bridge signaling. The knowledge required of operators in the naval service is greater in several respects than required of operators in commercial life, and many take the examination required by the Department of Commerce prior to the issue of a commercial license by that department. Most of the applicants for licenses for commercial operators issued by the Department of Commerce are examined in the various naval stations, and the examinations are conducted by naval officials, who prepare and mark all papers.
    When battleships are ordered to navy yards for their overhaul periods, it has been the practice to send their chief electricians to the station at Arlington for a special course of training, and in addition to this they receive instructions at the Bureau of Standards, under the experts of the Bureau of Steam Engineering, in the elements necessary to a proper understanding of the adjustment of their apparatus. This has resulted in great benefit, and chief electricians who have received this instruction have been able to so adjust their apparatus as to obtain far better results, and have expressed their surprise that these possibilities were under their hand without their having knowledge of it. It is hoped that this practice will continue and be enlarged, so that as many as possible of these leading men may have the advantage of this training.

Pages 218-219:
CIVILIAN  EXPERT  FOR  COMMERCIAL  WORK,  ACCOUNTING,  ETC.,  IN  ADDITION  TO  CHIEF  PAY  YEOMAN.

    The number of official messages handled by the stations belonging to the naval coast system for the months of October, November, and December, 1913, is shown in Table A. Previous to this period the prescribed form did not give complete enough data for reporting messages. For the period given the list is incomplete, due to poor mail facilities from some far-off stations, but the table gives a fair idea of the amount of work done by these stations. In future reports it will be possible to give accurately the number of messages handled by each station for each month in the year.
    The coast stations that under the law are opened for the transaction of commercial business are given in the following list, and opposite each name is given the date on which the regulations for handling commercial business went into effect:

         Key West, Fla., December 16 1912.
         St. Paul, Pribilof Islands, Alaska, January 14, 1913.
         St. George, Pribilof Islands, Alaska, January 14, 1913.
         Unalga, Alaska, January 14, 1913.
         Dutch Harbor, Alaska, January 14, 1913.
         Kodiak, Alaska, January 14, 1913.
         Cordova, Alaska, January 14, 1913.
         Sitka, Alaska, January 14, 1913.
         Charleston, S. C., January 31, 1913.
         St. Augustine, Fla., January 31, 1913.
         Jupiter, Fla., January 31, 1913.
         San Juan, P. R., January 31, 1913.
         Colon, Republic of Panama, January 31, 1913.
         Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, February 9, 1913.
         Pensacola, Fla., February 28, 1913.
         Guam, February 28, 1913.
         North Head, Wash., March 14, 1913.
         Tatoosh, Wash., March 14, 1913.
         Cape Blanco, Oreg., March 14, 1913.
         Eureka, Cal., March 14, 1913.
         Point Arguello, Cal., March 14, 1913.
         San Diego, Cal., March 14, 1913.
         Balboa, Isthmian Canal Zone, May 31, 1913.

    The number of commercial messages with the number of words handled by each station is shown in Table B.
    The amount of money collected for the transmission of messages though naval coast stations opened to commercial business is given in Table C.
    By Navy Department General Order No. 10, of February 7, 1913, the radio installations on board all vessels of the Navy were opened to commercial business for the benefit of officers and crews, under certain regulations prescribed by the commanders in chief of the fleets or senior officers present.
    In addition to the privileges enjoyed by officers and crews of the ships of our Navy, this service has been of great value to the public. It has frequently happened that communication by the land lines in Mexico during the past year has been interrupted, and the only means of communication with coast ports has been by the radio installations of the ships anchored in the ports. The ship stations have been freely used by the public in sending messages to and from points in the United States, from and to points in Mexico, by relay to naval radio stations where connection with land lines was possible.
    The number of commercial messages, with the number of words handled by each ship, is shown in Table D.
    The amount of money collected for transmission of messages through ships of the Navy is shown in Table E.
    All money collected as the result of the transmission of radiograms is turned into the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts.
    Recapitulating the information given in the accompanying tables:

TABLE  A.
Total number of official radiograms through all shore stations for the months October-December, 1913: 60,196

TABLE  B.
Total number of commercial messages handled by all stations open to public business, average period of 10 months, 23 stations: 12,854
Total number of words: 218,403

TABLE  C.
Total amount of shore station charges collected on commercial messages through shore stations from December, 1912, to December 31, 1913: $17,535.11

TABLE  D.
Total number of commercial messages handled by ships of the Navy: 4,856

TABLE  E.
Total amount of ship charges collected on commercial messages through ship stations: $3,325.41
Total amount of money collected for shore and ship stations charges: $20,860.52

Page 220:
    Grouping the separate recommendations of this report on which action is requested:
    (a) Fleet radio officer for each fleet.
    (b) Chief electricians to be detailed to Arlington from ships during overhaul period.
    (c) Promotion to warrant rank from chief electricians to be limited to a maximum of five per year.
    (d) Waiving of certain requirements for certain special men to allow promotion to warrant rank.
    (e) Commissioned or warrant officer to be detailed in active charge of each high powered station, and others to be named. Civilian clerks for service at Key West, San Juan, Guantanamo Bay, Canal Zone, San Diego, and later at other places.
    (f) Employment of expert civilian trained in the operation of commercial business.
    (g) Detailing of operators from office of superintendent (subject of a special letter).
    (h) The compulsory use of the radio service in all ordinary messages.

Report of R. S. Griffin, Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering, September 26, 1914:
Pages 281-283:
RADIOTELEGRAPHY.

    Satisfactory progress has been made in the work of modernizing the radio installations of ships. Since the introduction of high frequency and quenched gaps, which rendered all former equipment obsolete, this work has formed the largest single item of expense and effort in connection with radio, though other work of technical investigation and development in connection with the military problems of radio has a greater intrinsic importance. The replacement of the old low-frequency equipment would have been necessitated by reasons of comparative efficiency alone, for recent laws governing commercial installations embody provisions that can hardly be complied with except by modern apparatus. With the old material removed from ships equipped with modern apparatus, it has been possible to equip 10 ships which were without radio and to improve several other installations.
    The bureau's new specifications for radio material were issued in January, 1913, and the first deliveries under them were made during the past fiscal year. These specifications were much more exacting than the old ones; in several particulars requirements were made that seemed almost impossibilities, considering the state of the art and from time to time since then, as purchases of apparatus have been made, additional requirements have been added. The full value of this action has become increasingly impressive as the apparatus has been put into service. In this connection it is interesting to note the decrease in cost of radio apparatus. The sets now supplied represent an increase in manufacturing cost and in material supplied of about 40 per cent over the sets purchased under the old specifications, in addition to very notable improvement in efficiency and design, but the purchase prices have shown no advance, and in some cases there has even been a decrease. Against this favorable condition is to be weighed the disadvantage of having in service a multiplicity of types of apparatus made by various manufacturers, which condition not only adds to the expense of maintenance on account of the larger stock of spares it is necessary to carry but also constitutes a serious military weakness. Standardization of radio apparatus is highly important and apparently it is to be accomplished only by Government manufacture.
    The use of radio to the limit of its apparent possibilities for military purposes involves technical problems of a difficult order. These problems do not occur in commercial practice, and so long as the Navy depends upon the work of commercial expert investigators these problems will remain unsolved; or, at best, the Navy will remain in the rear of development as established by the practice of other military powers. The obstacle in the way of progress lies in the lack of specialized expert personnel for the necessary development work. Happily this is now in a fair way of being overcome.
    Improvement in shore-station installations has kept progress with that of the fleet. Seven stations were equipped with modern apparatus, and many items for extensive betterments in efficiency were carried out at moderate cost throughout the whole chain of stations. The original wooden masts installed at all stations are now approaching the end of their natural life, and as they wear out are being replaced by self-supporting steel towers. An improvement that should go hand in hand with new towers is the provision of fireproof power and operating buildings. The fire hazard is considerable at all radio stations, and especially where oil engines are depended upon for primary power supply. Almost all the stations as originally erected consisted of frame buildings, many of them in isolated positions without other fire protection than that afforded by patent extinguishers in the hands of the station crews.
    The stations at Colon and Balboa, at the terminals of the canal, are undergoing complete reconstruction. These stations will handle all the commercial radio communication in connection with the operation of the canal, and no pains have been spared within the bureau's means to provide adequate equipment and a creditable service in keeping with the other parts of this work. These stations will be ready for operation by the end of the calendar year. Their present equipment is adequate for the traffic that must be handled meanwhile.
    The construction of the high-powered radio station on the Isthmus has been delayed by delinquency of the contract for the towers. The buildings, constructed by the Panama Canal Commission, are ready for occupancy, and the electrical equipment was ready for shipment before completion of the contract time. The work is now proceeding more satisfactorily, and the indications are that the station will be in full operation by the end of the calendar year. Proposals for the other high-powered stations authorized on the California coast, in the Hawaiian Islands, and in the Philippines will be advertised about the end of October. The statutory limit of cost for these stations makes it necessary to proceed with the utmost economy, even at the expense of considerable delay. From the amount appropriated in 1912 there remained a balance, after the expenditures necessary for the Darien station, entirely insufficient to cover the cost of one additional station, and additional funds were not made available until the end of the fiscal year. It is expected that a considerable saving may be effected by placing one contract for all the towers for the three stations mentioned, and the principal reason for delay has been the endeavor to accomplish this saving by waiting for the additional funds necessary to proceed with all these stations at once. A difficulty in the way of immediate action, now that funds are available, lies in a legal flaw in the title to the property selected as a site for the California station, the only station of the chain for which private property had to be acquired, but this difficulty, after long negotiations, is now in a fair way of quick settlement.
    The stations at Guam and Tutuila, also authorized in connection with the high-powered chain, are not required by the conditions of the problem to be of so powerful a character as the other stations mentioned, and, moreover, the existence of small stations already established at these places, which may be largely used in the final construction, will probably cause only a small draft against the high-powered station appropriation in connection with these stations. However, even for the four large stations required, the statutory limit of $1,000,000 is just about half the amount that is being spent by other Governments and commercial concerns to build the same number of stations designed to communicate over like distances. The bureau's plans do not contemplate exceeding the appropriations, and the plans have been drawn as far as possible to insure that there shall be no waste in remodeling the stations if additional funds are provided hereafter. To provide stations that can be regarded as efficiently fulfilling the requirements of the situation, as judged by present-day practice and the possibilities of the art, will require an additional allotment of $500,000, and even at this figure the total cost will be much less than has been allowed for stations of comparable characteristics erected by other Governments and commercial concerns.
    The history of the bureau shows that it has been in the very forefront of progress in recognizing the tendency of the art, in making decisions of radical nature that have influenced world-wide development, and in acting along independent lines. As examples, it is sufficient to cite the high-powered station project, the building of Arlington, the specifications above referred to, the adoption of arc apparatus in the face of adverse reports by the world's greatest authorities, the first discovery of the most efficient method of receiving arc signals, the development of methods of high-frequency measurement, the development of instantaneous wave-changing apparatus, and many other smaller matters of great importance. Not a single action of the bureau in this line has proved to be a mistake or has failed of having its wisdom confirmed by subsequent development. No money has been spent for unnecessary material, and the expenditures for development work have been insignificant compared with what has been accomplished.
Annual Reports of the Navy Department for the Fiscal Year 1915.

Report of Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C., December 1, 1915:
Pages 42-44:

WIRELESS:

NAVY  RADIO  AND  TELEPHONE  BY  WIRELESS.

    The miracle of the closing year was the perfection of the wireless telephone. Wireless telegraphy, when the wonder of the discovery passed, was utilized by the Navy and has come to be regarded as an indispensable adjunct of naval communication. Long-distance wireless telephone communication was accomplished for the first time on September 29, 1915, when experiments extending over several months culminated in successful transmission of the human voice by radio from the naval radio station at Arlington, Va., across the continent to the station at Mare Island, Cal., 2,500 miles away. The experiments were under the direction of Capt. Bullard, superintendent of Naval Radio Service, in co-operation with the American Telephone & Telegraph Co. and the Western Electric Co.
    In the first experiments the voice was successfully transmitted by radio to Mare Island from Arlington, the return answers and communications being made over transcontinental land telephone lines. This was accomplished in the presence of officials and engineers of the Western Electric Co., a representative of the Signal Corps of the Army, representatives of the technical and operating departments of the Navy Department, and a few other interested parties.
    After this successful demonstration conversation originating in New York was transmitted over the land line to Arlington, there automatically connected to the radio transmitter, which carried the voice to Mare Island, where it was clearly and distinctly received, and answers and other conversation were from there transmitted over the transcontinental line to the originating office in New York. In the presence of a distinguished company the Secretary of the Navy, on November 5, sat at his desk in the Navy Department and sent the first order ever issued by the Navy by wireless telephony. The order was sent to Rear Admiral Usher, commandant of the New York Navy Yard, and was as follows: "Report as soon as practicable after the arrival of the New York how soon the repairs recommended can be completed." As there was no sending apparatus at the New York end of the line, the answer came back over the long-distance wires. Prolonged conversations were carried on with New York without the slightest difficulty. The use of long-distance wireless telephone communication in naval or military operations is still in an undeveloped state, but it is confidently expected valuable use can be made of this wonderful demonstration; but aside from such considerations the department and its officials may well feel proud that they have been interested co-operators in the first practical development of this last march in the wonderful science of radio communication.

PROGRESS  IN  NAVAL  RADIO.

    During the year marked progress has been made in the development of apparatus both for sending and receiving.
    The new Darien Station, in the Canal Zone, was opened, and continuous, reliable communication effected between Arlington and Darien, a distance of 1,791 nautical miles. The erection of medium-power stations has continued. Foundations and self-supporting towers 250 or 300 feet in height were built at Chelsea (Boston Navy Yard), Key West, Guantanamo, San Juan, and Cordova, Alaska. New steel towers were erected at the Washington Navy Yard and improvements were made in the battle radio installations of ships.
    Much of the development in radiotelegraphy is due, in a great part, to the original work of the department and to the collaboration of the department's experts with the eminent radio engineers of the country.
    Six expert radio aides were allowed and appointed, after competitive examinations. They were assigned to the various navy yards, and the work they have accomplished has met the expectations of the department and entirely justified their appointment. There has been a considerable resultant saving to the Government in the manufacture of radio apparatus in the navy yards.
    The order of the President delegated the censorship of wireless upon the Navy Department. The ships of all belligerent countries entering the waters of the United States were prohibited from using their radio apparatus while within the jurisdiction of the United States, and the radio apparatus of all such ships was sealed and in some cases the antennae were lowered and disconnected, to prevent either transmission or reception. One radio company refused to recognize the authority contained in the President's Executive order and, to test its validity, sought an injunction in the United States courts to prevent the Secretary of the Navy or any of his agents from interfering with the transmission of messages through any of their stations. This suit was dismissed by the court on the ground of lack of jurisdiction, and no other attempts have been made in the courts to deny the Government's right to censorship.

Report of Victor Blue, Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, October 26, 1915:
Page 206:
RADIO  SERVICE.

    On the outbreak of the War abroad, the censorship of all radio stations under United States jurisdiction was delegated to the Secretary of the Navy by the President in order to carry out effectively the neutral policy of this Government, and in compliance with the President's order, instructions were drawn up with a view to maintaining the neutrality of the Government, while at the same time not imposing any hardship on commercial interests.
    Officers have been detailed as censors to various commercial stations, and the two high-power radio stations at Tuckerton, N. J., and Sayville, Long Island, which are capable of trans-Atlantic communication, have been taken over by the President's order for purposes of operation and control by the Navy.

Report of Captain J. A. Hoogewerff, Superintendent of the Naval Observatory, July 1, 1915:
Page 247:

TIME  SERVICE.

    Time signals were sent out at noon and 10 p. m.daily, as follows, by radio:
    Radio, Va., noon; 10 p. m.; wave length 2,500 meters. Key West, noon; 10 p. m.until March 20, 1915, by courtesy of the Western Union Telegraph Co., wave length 1,500 meters. New Orleans, noon; wave length 1,000 meters; by telegraph lines at noon throughout the United States, east of the Rocky Mountains.
    In case of breakdown at Radio, Va., the stations at Boston, Newport, New York, Norfolk, and Charleston, S. C., send out the noon signals on 1,000-meter wave length except on Sundays and holidays.
    The station at Radio, Va., covers the country east of the Rocky Mountains and the greater part of the North Atlantic Ocean. The radio signals have been used by an increasing number of jewelers and of vessels. During the summer of 1914 every signal was received by the Illinois up to 2,360 miles and the 10 p. m. signals up to 3,500 miles by the Missouri, while those vessels were on the practice cruise to the Mediterranean with the midshipmen.
    The mean daily error in the signals for the year was 0.044 second and the maximum error was 0.24 second with the mean of the 12 monthly maximum errors for each month as 0.152 second.
    An experimental apparatus was bought for recording on a chronograph the radio time signals as received from Radio, Va., and two comparisons of this record with the record of the transmitting clock gave 0.0156 second and 0.0162 second as the correction to be added to the signal. The lag due to transmission over the telegraph lines to Key West was determined to be about 0.25 second more than to Radio, Va.
    A contract has been made for two new transmitting clocks to be installed by September 15, 1915, and to replace the two that have been in service over 40 years.
    In order to increase the accuracy of the clock corrections, since October 9, 1914, certain stars less than 10° from the zenith have been observed.

Report of Captain W. H. G. Bullard, Naval Radio Service, September 20, 1915 (for the period January 1, 1914 to June 30, 1915):
Page 263-269:
    The last report made by the Superintendent of Radio Service covered the period from the date of the organization of the service in November, 1912, to December 31, 1913, and this report is intended to cover the period from the latter date to June 30, 1915, and hereafter yearly reports will be made covering operations for a full fiscal year.
    During the greater part of the time covered by this report, the Radio Service was directly under the Bureau of Navigation, to which bureau this report is addressed. Future reports will be made to the Chief of Naval Operations.

GENERAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  APPARATUS.

A--TRANSMITTERS.

    The period covered by this report showed continued progress both in the development of apparatus for sending and receiving and in administrative and operative features. A standard is fast approaching in administrative details, but the rapid progress in material features does not indicate that the limit of means or systems of communication is yet reached. The principal development affecting material for long-distance communication has been by means of continuous undamped waves, and of the several systems used there is no complete authority yet for indicating which will give the best or most consistent and efficient results. The department for the time being placed its faith in the Poulsen system which uses an arc as the means of producing undamped waves, and its judgment has been justified from the results obtained from the new Darien station in the Canal Zone which is fitted with this system, and continuous reliable communication was at once effected between Arlington and Darien, a distance of 1,791 nautical miles. Other systems producing undamped waves are generally of the machine type, using high-frequency generators as the initial source of power. Of these machines the best-known type being developed in this country is the Alexanderson machine, manufactured by the General Electric Co., but to date not enough satisfactory data has been obtained by the department to state what place this machine occupies in long-distance work. This machine runs at a speed of 3,000 revolutions per minute and generates the desired frequency directly into the antenna. In Germany two different systems of high-frequency generators have been developed, one generally known as the Goldschmidt machine and the other as the Telefunken machine. Fortunately the department has been able to secure reliable information concerning each of these machines, and certain of the personnel of the Radio Service has had extensive experience with one machine, and will in the immediate future have the same operating experience with the other.
    The Telefunken machine generates half to one-quarter frequency required by a machine of 1,500 to 1,800 revolutions per minute, and is used in connection with a newly invented frequency transformer which steps up the machine frequency to that desired in the antenna. The Goldschmidt machine at a speed of 3,600 revolutions per minute generates the required frequency directly in the antenna. There is still another machine of American manufacture known as the Neuland machine, which is still in an experimental stage. This machine is of the "vernier" type and generates the required frequency directly in the antenna. None of these so-called machines is quite so efficient as the arc transmitter of the Poulsen system, nor as simple in construction and operation, or as compact or cheap. The Goldschmidt machine may be said to have been the first high frequency alternator to be placed in practical use, and to date has given good service, although it is subject to breakdowns due to mechanical stresses and faults in construction, which should readily be avoided in later designs.

TUCKERTON  STATION.

    On the outbreak of the present European war there was a radio station nearing completion at Tuckerton, N. J., and was being constructed by a German company for and on behalf of a French company. The station had not been licensed to operate in accordance with Federal laws, and both the French and German companies, which had formed American companies to comply with the law, applied for a license to operate. There arose at once a dispute as to the ownership and control of the station, and on account of the international character of the claimants, and of the fact that the Governments of the parent companies claiming ownership were at war, a license was not issued, and rather than have the station remain idle, and particularly in view of the fact that this station was expected to communicate with Germany, and direct cable communication with that country was interrupted, it was decided that the Government should operate the station, both for purposes of ordinary communication and to apply censorship compatible with the neutrality proclamation of the President. In the President's proclamation regarding the use of radio shore stations of the United States to communicate with vessels at sea and with other shore stations, the general requirements of censorship of radio messages was placed under the Navy Department, which was charged with the enforcement of the Executive order, a copy of which is appended marked "A." In order that certain Government officials might communicate with their home Governments in secret language, a second Executive order, appended, marked "B," directed the Navy Department to take over "one or more" radio stations for this purpose, and on account of the complications regarding Tuckerton, this station was taken over and naval personnel was at once installed for general purposes of operating and administering the station and carrying out the Executive orders of the President. Tuckerton was accordingly taken over on September 9, 1914, and has since remained under the control and operation of the Radio Service of the Navy Department. Special regulations as to censorship were adopted, copy appended, marked "C." Special word rates were put into effect, and the business of the station was carried on in an uninterrupted manner. The Tuckerton station was equipped with a high frequency generator built under the so-called Goldschmidt patents and controlled by the Hochfrequenz-Maschinen Aktiengesellschaft für Drahtlose Telegraphie, generally referred to as the "Homag Co." Shortly after the Navy Department took control, an accident happened to this machine whereby a portion of its armature coils was burned out and the machine rendered unavailable for use. Immediately the department took steps to install a system of its own purchase and put in operation a so-called "arc" set furnished by the Federal Telegraph Co. of America, which company controls the United States rights of the so-called Poulsen patents. This arc was only of 30-kilowatt rated power, and its installation was but an experiment to determine its efficiency, and, much to the gratification of all concerned, communication by its means was completed between Tuckerton and Eilvese, in Hannover, Germany, a distance of 3,382 nautical miles. This communication was only effected by crowding the arc, and later an arc of double the power was installed to replace it, and this second arc completely made communication possible through all the winter months and it only failed for a short time during the heavy static season, and then never completely, and it was seldom that its signals could not be read by Eilvese.
    A court of inquiry appointed by the Navy Department to inquire into the cause of the injury to the Goldschmidt machine found the accident was not in any manner due to the negligence or fault of any person in the naval service. Shortly after the accident, the Homag Co., whose agent was in active charge of Tuckerton when its control was assumed by the Navy Department, procured a duplicate machine, imported it into this country from Germany, and installed it in the station. Since the installation of this second machine the work of transmission has been carried on by the machine and arc in rotation, and each has performed its share, and the naval personnel at this station have received invaluable experience with two examples of high-power systems working in turn side by side. The machine is rated at 100 kilowatts and the arc at 60 kilowatts.
    Since the installation of the arc, October 27, 1914, it has, up to June 30, 1915, transmitted 7,360 paid messages, the machine 6,429 paid messages, and the confirmation of messages in general show a percentage of 76.9 for the arc and 74.2 for the machine. Considering the relative rated power of these two systems working side by side over the same distance of 3,382 nautical miles, a very good idea of their comparative efficiencies as transmitting agencies may be formed, considering the same receiving circuits and operators for each.
    Owing to the dispute as to the ownership of the Tuckerton station, and consequently the doubt as to which company should benefit from the revenues received, the department has held in trust all money received as Tuckerton's share of the profits, after deducting and paying over to the agent of the Homag Co. certain maintenance expenses after being duly certified by both the officer in charge at Tuckerton and the agent of the Homag Co. as being actual legitimate expenses. Eilvese's share of revenues received, arising from the fact that all messages must be prepaid and that there is no doubt as to the ownership of that station, will be paid directly to the agent of the Homag Co. in this country. Eilvese's share of earnings up to and including June 30, 1915, amount to $45,809.80, and Tuckerton's share, after deducting expenses above noted for the same period, amount to $38,929.47. Assuming the cost of the station as $300,000, it has earned, not taking into account pay of operators, whose services have been supplied from naval personnel, approximately 13 per cent on the investment. The amount paid on account of maintenance expense was $25,619.64.

SAYVILLE  STATION.

    At the outbreak of the European war, there was in operation at Sayville, Long Island, a high-powered radio station containing apparatus of the well-known German Telefunken system, using a spark system of damped waves. Wishing to increase the power of the station for communicating with its sister station in Germany at Nauen, the owners of this station, the Atlantic Communication Co., determined to increase its power, and accordingly built new towers to support a larger antenna and installed a high-frequency generator of the Telefunken system of 100 kilowatt rated power.
    The act of increasing the power of this station was deemed to be the erection of a new station and consequently a prohibited act according to the Hague Convention of 1907, to which the United States is a signatory power, and on the admitted evidence that the great majority of the stock of the company was held in Germany and therefore belonging to belligerents as related to the European war, a license to operate the new improved station was refused by the Secretary of Commerce, and in accordance with an order from the President based on his proclamation of September 5, that "one or more of the high powered radio stations within the jurisdiction of the United States and capable of trans-Atlantic communication shall be taken over by the Government of the United States," etc., the Navy Department took over the actual control of the Sayville station on July 9, 1915, and has continued to operate it until this present time. Naval officers are there present in their official capacity to see that no unneutral messages are transmitted or delivered and operators of the Naval Radio Service do all the transmitting and receiving.
    The word rate applicable to Sayville was made the same as that at Tuckerton, 50 cents a word, to or from any point in Germany, and 58 cents a word to or from any point beyond Germany, plus the land line charge from the stations to or from point of destination or origin.
    There being no dispute as to the ownership of Sayville, all revenues received are taken over by the Atlantic Communication Co., which company does all the accounting, but copies of all messages sent or received are forwarded to the office of superintendent of Radio Service, and regular accounting forms are also forwarded for purposes of comparison and checking.
    There is but the one high powered high frequency machine at Sayville, and there is thus no means of comparing results as at Tuckerton, but the department will and has gained considerable information as to the reliability of this machine and the system of communication used, which will be of value in determining the system to be installed in the remaining high-powered stations to be erected under the jurisdiction of the Navy Department. The distance between Sayville and Nauen over which communication takes place by Telefunken high-power machine transmitters is 3,262 nautical miles.

B--RECEIVERS.

    As all communication by radiotelegraphy depends upon both transmitting and receiving apparatus, it is difficult to determine which of these two factors plays the most important part. Transmitting apparatus of different systems for long distance work has been compared in the preceding paragraphs, but it is doubtful whether the improvements in transmitters has kept pace with the receivers. During the year the department employed Dr. Alfred Cohen for six months for the purpose of developing the Cohen patent on electrostatic coupling receivers. This receiver proved to be entirely successful and resulted in the manufacture of the Navy Receiver, Type A, which is believed at this time to be the most selective and efficient receiver in use. Associated with Dr. Cohen in the development of this receiver was Mr. G. H. Clark, the department's expert radio aid, who was of great assistance.
    In connection with receivers, Dr. Lee De Forest continued his studies in developing amplifying apparatus in connection with the audion to increase the intensity of received signals. In the summer of 1914 twelve 3-step audion amplifiers for use in amplifying spark signals were purchased by the department and gave remarkable results, to the extent of increasing by about 30 per cent the range of communication for ships and stations to which this apparatus was supplied. In collaboration with Dr. Austin, the bureau's technical expert, and Chief Electrician (now Gunner Radio) Eaton, Dr. De Forest made great improvements in his amplifying apparatus, with the result that a supply of 50 combination audion detectors and 1-step amplifiers was obtained, so constructed that either continuous oscillation waves or wave trains could be received, depending upon the position of a small switch on the receiver. Although difficulties have arisen in the oscillating circuits when connected with different types of receivers, the apparatus is in use and giving great satisfaction.
    With the first introduction of continuous oscillation apparatus, tikker detectors were issued to the service for receiving these oscillations, but they are being gradually replaced by the ultraudion detector. About 100 ships are now fitted with tikkers and 10 with ultraudions, and about half the shore stations have tikkers, while 12 have ultraudions.
    Although the department placed its faith in the arc system of the Poulsen patents as furnished by the Federal Telegraph Co. of America, it was not content to rest with the apparatus as furnished, and the experience gained at Tuckerton, Arlington, and Darien resulted in making changes which considerably increased the efficiency. Among the improvements made were--
    (a)  The use of kerosene or gasoline in the arc chamber instead of alcohol or gas.
    (b)  Connecting the arc magnet sparks in parallel instead of in series.
    (c)  Grounding towers to obtain better results with same input power.
    (d)  The use of condensers around the arc terminals.
    (e)  Development of key for greater speed with minimum sparking.
    (f)  Improved method of loading the antenna.

NEW  CONSTRUCTION  AND  APPARATUS.

    During the period covered by this report the high-powered radio station at Darien, Canal Zone, was completed and placed in regular operation June 1, 1915. This station was one of the stations authorized by Congress under a special appropriation and was built at a cost of $325,000 for the purpose of carrying on continuous communication with Arlington. Briefly the station consists of self-supporting towers with insulated bases located near the center of the Canal Zone. Each tower is of structural steel 600 feet in height. The capacity of the antenna is 0.01 mfd., resistance at natural period of 2 ohms. The transmitting apparatus consists of one 100-kilowatt arc transmitter, the first successfully operated transmitter of this power and type in existence. A radiation of 120 amperes in the antenna gives readable signals at Arlington under all conditions. Lieut. R. S. Crenshaw, United States Navy, superintended the construction of the station and installation of apparatus, and Civil Engineer F. Cooke, United States Navy, supervised the work coming under the Bureau of Yards and Docks. This station is connected by direct wire with the Navy stations at Colon and Balboa. Each of these stations was rebuilt during the year. Each consists of two 300-foot steel self-supporting towers, and each has an installation of 5-kilowatt spark-transmitting apparatus for communicating with ships at sea.
    During the year the construction of medium power stations progressed rapidly. Foundations and self-supporting towers 250 or 300 feet in height were built at Chelsea (Boston Navy Yard), Key West, Guantanamo, Great Lakes, San Juan, and Cordova, Alaska, and the necessary buildings for apparatus and personnel have been constructed at each of these stations.
    Arc apparatus was purchased for the stations at Boston, Guantanamo, Great Lakes, San Juan, and Cordova, 30-kilowatt transmitters being furnished for each station. New steel towers were erected at the Washington Navy Yard for use in communication with the low-power set at that place as an auxiliary in the event of breakdown at Arlington, and for experimental work in connection with the laboratory at that station.
    New low-power transmitters of the spark type were installed on ships and shore stations as follows:
Ships.
 Kilo-
watt.		 Kilo-
watt.

Arethusa
Baltimore
Blakely
Buffalo
Colorado
Dubuque
Ericsson
Machias
Monocacy
Neptune
O'Brien
Orion
Pittsburgh    
Vestal
Winslow
Fortune
Fulton
F-1
F-2
F-3
H-1
H-2
2
2
½
2
12
2
5
2
2
5
5
5
5
5
5
½
2
½
½
½
½
½
H-3
Morris
New Hampshire
Olympia
Palos
Prometheus
Tallahassee
Yorktown
Jason
Kanawba
K-3
K-4
K-5
Maine
Marietta
McDougal
Nebraska
Nicholson
Oregon
Paulding
San Francisco    
Virginia
½
½
5
5
2
5
2
2
5
5
½
½
½
2
2
5
5
5
2
2
5
5
SHORE  STATIONS.

Balboa
Indianhead
Colon
5
½
5
New York
Beaufort
5
2

    Considerable improvement has been made in connection with battle radio installations on ships, and all but three battleships are now or are being equipped with battle radio installations.
    Several improvements have been incorporated in the Navy wave changers for spark apparatus.

Pages 271-276:

CENSORSHIP.

    On August 5, 1914, the President issued the proclamation appended marked "A," and delegated the enforcement of the order to the Secretary of the Navy, who was authorized and directed to take such action in the premises as may appear necessary. Accordingly instructions to carry the President's proclamation into effect were prepared in the office of superintendent of Radio Service and were sent to all shore stations of the Government, private or commercial shore stations, and to all operating radio companies. A copy of these instructions are appended marked "D." Officers of the Navy were designated as special censors in certain more or less high-powered and important stations, and particularly at Sayville, South Wellfleet, Siasconsett, Belmar, and Miami. Instructions were issued to various commandants to have them detail suitable officers to visit all commercial or private radio stations within their districts, such officers being charged with the duty of explaining the requirements of the censorship orders and explaining that the stations would be subject to special inspections at intervals at which times copies of all messages transmitted and received would be submitted to them. At special places advantage was taken of the services of hydrographic officers, recruiting officers, and officers on special duty to act as censors. The question of censorship of radio stations in time of war is one that must be seriously considered, and such officers should have no other duties to perform, and in certain important stations two or more officers should be assigned. While many private stations should and would be at once closed on the outbreak of hostilities, others should be taken over and operated by the Navy Department, and while civilian operators would probably be necessary, commissioned officers should be assigned as censors. It is not politic to mention the names of such stations in a public report that should be taken over by the Navy Department, but such information has been furnished the department in a letter from this office, No. 8620-49, of February 25, 1915.
    While the radio censor regulations were general in character, certain officers charged with their enforcement interpreted them according to the needs of the locality, with the result that in one naval district all amateur stations were closed to the transmission of any radio messages of whatever character, and such stations remained closed for a time sufficient to impress upon their owners the necessity for keeping the transmission of messages to a minimum.
    The ships of all belligerent countries entering the waters of the United States were prohibited from using their radio apparatus while within the jurisdiction of the United States, and the radio apparatus of all such ships was sealed under the direction and authority of the customs officials, and in some cases the antennæ were lowered and disconnected to prevent either transmission or reception. All ships of belligerents interned in United States ports had their radio apparatus placed in such a condition that it was useless for purposes of communication. In the absence of any definite laws on the subject the only authority the Navy Department possessed was that contained in the Executive order, which was assumed to cover the whole subject of censorship, and the means adopted to prevent the sending of unneutral messages, but all departments of the Government cheerfully cooperated with officials of the Navy Department to meet the spirit of the order, and officials of the Departments of Commerce and Treasury were especially active in this respect.
    All operating radio companies cheerfully accepted the conditions imposed upon them and gave instructions to their stations supplementary to those issued by the department, and there was but one discordant note. A message was sent from the radio station at Siasconsett, in the temporary absence of the censor, which the latter reported as, in his opinion, unneutral, and on which the department took the same view. On calling attention of the transmitting company to the fact, the company held that the Navy Department had no authority to pass on such messages and practically refused to recognize the authority contained in the President's Executive order, and to test its validity sought an injunction in the United States court to prevent the Secretary of the Navy or any of his agents from interfering with the transmission of messages through any of their stations. This suit was dismissed by the court on the ground of lack of jurisdiction, but no further attempts were made in a judicial way to bring the matter before any other court. Persistently refusing to recognize the right to censorship and failing to furnish any explanation of their action in transmitting the unneutral message or to record their obligation not to repeat the offense, the Navy Department, on September 24, 1914, ordered its censor to close the Siasconsett station to the transmission of all radio messages, and the station remained closed until January 16, 1915, when authority was granted to resume business.
    Censorship under the original instructions was found to work some hardships on firms, companies, and persons transmitting purely commercial messages in which no question of neutrality could be involved, and as the original condition on which radio censorship was established, namely, that territory of the United States should not be used as the basis of naval operations, the absence of ships of belligerent powers in waters of or adjacent to the United States made the original strict censorship unnecessary, and, accordingly, new instructions were issued to relieve some of the hardships. These instructions are found appended, marked "E," and have been in force since January 1, 1915, and are giving entire satisfaction.
    Closely connected with the subject of censorship and coming to the front shortly after the first Executive order was the question of the existence of unauthorized radio stations. Many reports reached the Navy Department of mysterious radio stations that suddenly sprang into being for the sole purpose of transmitting messages in violation of the radio neutrality proclamation. These reports reached the department from many private sources, and many people constituted themselves private secret-service agencies and generally offered to reveal the existence and location of such station provided they were liberally rewarded financially. Many reports also came to the State Department from representatives of the different embassies and legations, and every such report received careful investigation and consideration. Such mysterious stations were not confined to any one locality, and each of the four corners of the continental limits of the country had its favorite, such stations being reported in the States of Washington, California, Maine, and Florida. Every report was carefully investigated, and of the very many reports received and investigated it is gratifying to report that in not one instance was a radio station found that did not have a proper legal existence or one found that had the possibility of transmission that would reach vessels at sea over the smallest possible distance. It is not intended to intimate that possible illegal stations have not existed, but certainly none of the very many reported have been found. The very air of mystery surrounding the art of radio transmission in the minds of the uninformed furnishes the best possible source of suspicion, and every good citizen deemed it his duty to bring to notice anything resembling a radio station and conceded it possibilities that could not by any chance exist.

GOVERNMENT  RADIO  OPERATION.

    The necessity for organizing the Radio Service in such way as would provide for rapid and reliable communication between the commanders in chief of the various fleets and the different detachments of such fleets, together with provision for means of supplying information to the commander in chief in the most effective manner and for keeping the department and commanders in chief in communication at all times, was early recognized and a tentative plan was outlined in which the needs of the fleet and department were set forth.
    As a result, a board of experienced officers was convened by the department's order with a view to formulating a logical plan for the administrative, operative, and material features of the service, and the board's report, which received the approval of the department, is now being placed in effect as the personnel and material become available.
    While it is not considered advisable to furnish details of the military organization, it may be said that a carefully worked-out plan for all contingencies has been evolved, and as a result improvements in naval communications are being manifested. The completion of high and medium power stations at various places under United States jurisdiction has served to put the Central Government in touch with many outlying possessions via the naval radio service, and as the facilities of this service are available to all departments of the Government for official communications the necessity of depending on commercial means of communication with such possessions is greatly lessened.

GENERAL  WORK  OF  GOVERNMENT  STATIONS.

    In many localities in the Alaskan and Bering Sea region the Naval Radio Service is the only means of telegraphic communication between the various governmental departments and their representatives at those points.
    Provision has been made for prompt warning of vessels in the immediate vicinity of obstructions at sea, as well as those vessels which will eventually pass through such danger areas during the course of their voyages, and for transmitting information to the nearest source of assistance promptly in the case of vessels in distress, as follows:
    Whenever a naval radio station receives information from a branch Hydrographic Office concerning any danger to navigation, wreck, light vessel off station, etc., that radio station immediately broadcasts such information on 1,000 and 600 meter wave lengths for the benefit of shipping in the immediate vicinity and again thereafter at the usual hours, viz, 8 a. m., noon, 4 and 8 p. m., local standard time. In all cases the station on the Atlantic coast receiving such information at once forwards it by radio to Arlington, addressed to the Hydrographer.
    The Arlington station delivers the report to the Hydrographer and broadcasts it at 10 p. m. daily on 2,500 meters. All radio stations copy this broadcast message, and each in turn broadcasts it (on 1,000 and 600 meters) at the regular hours, as given above, for the benefit of shipping in its vicinity.
    The procedure on the Pacific coast is the same, except that Mare Island broadcasts to all Pacific stations, and the reports from coast stations are addressed to Mare Island for the branch Hydrographic Office, San Francisco, and are delivered by Mare Island to the branch Hydrographic Office in San Francisco.
    If information relating to dangers at sea reaches a naval coast station by radio or flag signals from a passing vessel, that station at once broadcasts it, informs the nearest branch Hydrographic Office, if it is possible to do so by radio, and relays to the Arlington or Mare Island station, for the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, respectively, from which stations this information is disseminated through the medium of stations on the respective coasts.
    In order that the various naval radio stations may be informed as to the location of the nearest Coast Guard cutter, which in many cases is the nearest source of assistance to shipping in distress, and which has to do with the removal of dangers to navigation, the commanding officer of each cutter equipped with radio installation informs the nearest naval radio station at 8 a. m. each day of the position of his ship and, concisely, her probable movements during the next 24 hours.
    Every radio station is prepared to receive such reports, and keeps them constantly on hand for guidance in transmitting messages that may require action on the part of the cutter.
    The United States Naval Radio Service is furnishing information to vessels at sea, as follows:

TIME  SIGNALS.

    Time signals are sent out broadcast by the following stations on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States:
 
Station. Wave
length.		 When  sent.

 
Arlington
Key West
New Orleans
North Head
Eureka
Point Arguello
San Diego
Mare Island
Meters.
2,500
1,000
1,000
2,000
1,400
750
2,000
2,500
 
Daily at 11.55 a. m. to noon and 9.55 to 10 p. m., standard time, 75th meridian.
Same as Arlington, except 10 p. m. schedule omitted.
Daily at 11.55 a. m. to noon, standard time, 75th meridian.
Daily, except Sundays and holidays, at 11.55 a. m. to noon, standard time, 120th meridian.
Same as North Head.
        Do.
        Do.
Daily at 11.55 a. m. to noon and 9.55 to 10 p. m., standard time, 120th meridian.

    If for any reason the Arlington station is out of commission the time signals are sent daily at noon, Sundays and holidays excepted, by the naval radio stations at Boston, Newport, New York, Norfolk, and Charleston.
    The time is sent from the Naval Observatory, Washington, for the Atlantic coast, and from the observatory at the Mare Island Navy Yard for the Pacific coast.
    The radio sending or relay key in each radio station is connected to the Western Union lines by a relay at about 11.50 a. m., and the signals are made automatically direct from Washington or Mare Island.
    Time signals from each of the observatories mentioned continue for the 5 minutes preceding noon and 10 p. m. During this interval every tick of the clock is transmitted, except the twenty-ninth second of each minute, the last 5 seconds of each of the first 4 minutes, and finally the last 10 seconds of the last minute. The noon (and 10 p. m.) signal is a longer contact after this longer break.
    It is not necessary that an elaborate radio installation be employed for the purpose of receiving these signals nor that a skilled operator be in attendance. Any vessel provided with a small receiving apparatus with one or two wires hoisted as high as possible and insulated from all metal fittings, or preferably stretched between the mastheads, with one wire led down to the receiver, may detect these signals when within range of one of the seacoast radio stations.
    These time signals have been used successfully by vessels for rating their chronometers and have been used by surveying vessels in the accurate determination of longitudes.
    NOTE.--The lag of the Arlington signal has been determined to be about eight-hundredths (0.08) of a second and that of the Key West signal to be about thirty-three hundredths (0.33) of a second, this lag being due to the various relays in the telegraph lines over which the signal passes from the Naval Observatory. The error of the time signal is generally less than one-tenth (0.1) of a second.
HYDROGRAPHIC  INFORMATION.

    Information concerning wrecks, derelicts, ice, and other dangerous obstructions to navigation whenever received from the Hydrographic Office or from a branch hydrographic office or other reliable source is sent broadcast four times daily, viz, at 8 a. m., noon, 4 p. m., and 8 p. m., local (standard) time of station. Ships within range of a naval radio station should be prepared to receive these hydrographic messages at the hours mentioned, and should avoid sending radio messages at these times. One vessel sending may prevent several others receiving information necessary to their safety.
    Naval radio stations will furnish this information to passing vessels on request, whenever practicable, at other hours than those mentioned above. Should it not be practicable to send out this information on one of the hours scheduled it will be held until the next scheduled time and sent out as soon as practicable after each hour, scheduled.
    Each night at 10 p. m., seventy-fifth meridian, immediately following the time signal, the naval radio station at Arlington will broadcast such information relating to safe navigation as may be furnished it by the Hydrographic Office during the preceding 24 hours. The same wave length, 2,500 meters, used in the time signal will be employed.

METEOROLOGICAL  INFORMATION.

    A daily weather bulletin prepared by the United States Weather Bureau is sent broadcast by the radio stations at Arlington, Va., and Key West, Fla., a few minutes after 10 p. m. each day relating to the North Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, immediately followed by another bulletin broadcast by the radio station at Arlington, Va., relating to the Great Lakes.

Page 282:

COMMERCIAL  RADIO  OPERATORS.

PRESS  BROADCASTED.

    Through courtesy of the Associated Press and the Western Union Telegraph Co. the superintendent recently inaugurated a press bulletin service from Key West and Arlington stations daily at 8 p. m. (central time) and 8.30 p. m. (eastern time). The press is compiled at New York by the Associated Press and forwarded via the Western Union circuit to Key West and Arlington at the same time for radio transmission to naval vessels at sea. When received at sea it is posted on board naval vessels for the officers and crew. This service is of inestimable value to the naval service and is appreciated by all concerned.

Pages 289-293:

APPENDIX  A.

PRESIDENT'S  ORIGINAL  PROCLAMATION  ON  NEUTRALITY  AS  RELATES  TO  WIRELESS,  AUGUST  5,  1914.

    Whereas proclamations having been issued by me declaring the neutrality of the United States of America in the wars now existing between various European nations; and
    Whereas it is desirable to take precautions to insure the enforcement of said proclamations in so far as the use of radio communication is concerned:
    It is now ordered, by virtue of authority vested in me to establish regulations on the subject, that all radio stations within the jurisdiction of the United States of America are hereby prohibited from transmitting or receiving for delivery messages of an unneutral nature and from in any way rendering to any one of the belligerents any unneutral service during the continuance of hostilities.
    The enforcement of this order is hereby delegated to the Secretary of the Navy, who is authorized and directed to take such action in the premises as to him may appear necessary.
    This order to take effect from and after this date.
WOODROW  WILSON.    

APPENDIX  B.

EXECUTIVE  ORDER.

[Second proclamation on neutrality as relates to wireless.]

    Whereas an order has been issued by me dated August 5, 1914, declaring that all radio stations within the jurisdiction of the United States of America were prohibited from transmitting or receiving for delivery messages of an unneutral nature and from in any way rendering to any one of the belligerents any unneutral service; and
    Whereas it is desirable to take precautions to insure the enforcement of said order in so far as it relates to the transmission of code and cipher messages by high-powered stations capable of trans-Atlantic communication:
    Now therefore it is ordered by virtue of authority vested in me by the radio act of August 13, 1912, that one or more of the high-powered radio stations within the jurisdiction of the United States and capable of trans-Atlantic communication shall be taken over by the Government of the United States and used or controlled by it to the exclusion of any other control or use for the purpose of carrying on communication with land stations in Europe, including code and cipher messages.
    The enforcement of this order and the preparation of regulations therefor is hereby delegated to the Secretary of the Navy, who is authorized and directed to take such action in the premises as to him may appear necessary.
    This order shall take effect from and after this date.
WOODROW  WILSON.    

    THE WHITE HOUSE,
        5 September, 1914.
                              (No. 2042.)

APPENDIX  C.

SPECIAL  INSTRUCTIONS  APPLICABLE  TO  THE  TUCKERTON  RADIO  STATION.

    In addition to complying with the provisions of the Executive order of September 5, 1914, you will be guided by the following instructions relative to the operation of the Tuckerton Radio Station.
    (1)  The station shall be used only for transmitting to or receiving from shore stations in Europe and the United Kingdom.
    (2)  Naval officials at this station must assure themselves that the messages handled are strictly neutral in character. No unneutral message will be permitted to be handled.
    (3)  No messages in cipher or code shall be transmitted or received for delivery unless the United States officials are furnished with a key to such messages.
    (4)  No messages in foreign languages or in unintelligible terms shall be transmitted or received for delivery unless the United States naval officials are supplied with translations of such messages in the English language and the official censors are satisfied of the bona fides of the translations.
    (5)  Official radiograms from officials of the United States Government or from officials of foreign Governments on official (State) business will have priority over all other messages and will be forwarded in the order of sequence of their reception at the station.
    (6)  All commercial or private radiograms must be limited to 25 words, including the address and signature, and such radiograms must be in plain language--that is, no code or cipher messages for this class of radiograms will be received for transmission. They must not include any arbitrary terms or unintelligible matter which has not been explained to the officials.
    (7)  Radiograms involving press dispatches will not be in any way different from other commercial or private radiograms.
    (8)  All commercial or private radiograms or press radiograms will be accepted only at the sender's risk and will be transmitted in order of reception at the station, and, furthermore, there can be no guaranty given for their delivery in foreign points.
    (9)  All addresses must be in plain language and must consist of at least four words, and all radiograms must be accompanied by a signature which will consist of at least two words.
    (10)  All messages must be in the form of radiograms and shall apply the cable word count without minimum and shall not be transmitted unless fully prepaid at office of origin.
    (11)  No messages will be transmitted or delivered until they have been first paraphrased by the censors as may be necessary to insure their neutral character where they are received or are to be sent in plain language or in code, cipher, or foreign language.
    (12)  No messages shall be sent or delivered until countersigned by the censor.
    (13)  The station charges of the Tuckerton station will be twenty-five (25) cents per word, cable count, without a minimum charge.
    (14)  Accounting returns will be made monthly on the regular forms to the office of the Superintendent of Radio Service, Radio, Va.
    (15)  Cipher and code books furnished as well as the contents of all messages handled will be considered as confidential.
    (16)  The call letters of the Tuckerton station will be WGG.

APPENDIX  D.

INSTRUCTIONS  FOR  OFFICERS  CHARGED  WITH  ENFORCING  THE  PRESIDENT'S  EXECUTIVE  ORDER  REGARDING  RADIO  COMMUNICATION.

    No cipher or code messages are permitted to be transmitted to or received from radio ship or shore stations of belligerent nations by any Government or commercial radio station situated in the United States or its possessions, or in territory under the jurisdiction of the United States.
    No cipher or code radio messages will be permitted to be sent from any radio station in the United States via foreign radio stations if destined to a belligerent.
    Radio messages containing information relating to operations, material, or personnel of armed forces of any belligerent nation will be considered as unneutral in character, and will not be handled by radio stations under the jurisdiction of the United States except in the case of cipher messages to or from United States officials.
    In general, the censoring official will assure himself beyond doubt that no message of an unneutral character is allowed to be handled.
    In order to insure that censors may, in all cases, be informed thoroughly and correctly as to the contents of radio messages coming under their censorship, they will demand, when necessary, that such messages be presented, for their ruling, in a language that is understandable to them.
    In case of doubt as to the character of a message, it should be stopped and its contents, with full explanation of details, be forwarded to the department (operations) by hand line for instructions as to the proper procedure to follow.

APPENDIX  E.

FINAL  INSTRUCTIONS  RELATING  TO  ENFORCEMENT  OF  PRESIDENT'S  EXECUTIVE  ORDER  REGARDING  RADIO  COMMUNICATION.
NAVY  DEPARTMENT,            
January 1, 1915.    

    The following instructions supersede all previous instructions and will be in effect from the date of their receipt:
    1.  Radio messages containing information relating to the location or movements of armed forces of any belligerent nation, or relating to material or personnel of any belligerent nation, will be considered as unneutral in character and will not be handled by radio stations under the jurisdiction of the United States, except in the case of cipher messages to or from United States officials.
    2.  No cipher or code messages are permitted to be transmitted to radio ship stations of belligerent nations by any radio shore station situated in the United States or its possessions or in territory under the jurisdiction of the United States. Similar messages received by such radio stations from ships of belligerent nations will not be forwarded or delivered to addresses.
    3.  No communication of any character will be permitted between any shore station under the jurisdiction of the United States, and warships of belligerent nations, except calls of distress, messages which relate to the weather, dangers of navigation or similar hydrographic messages relating to safety at sea.
    4.  No cipher or code radio messages will be permitted to be sent from or received at any radio station in the United States via any foreign radio station of a belligerent nation, except from or at certain stations directly authorized by the Government to handle such messages. Press items in plain language relating to the war, with the authority cited in each item, will be permitted between such stations provided no reference is made to movements or location of war or other vessels of belligerents.
    5.  No radiogram will be permitted to be transmitted from any shore radio station situated in the United States or under its jurisdiction to any ship of a belligerent nation, or any shore radio station that in any manner indicates the position or probable movements of ships of any belligerent nation.
    6.  Code or cipher messages are permitted between shore radio stations entirely under the jurisdiction of the United States and between United States shore stations and United States or neutral merchant vessels or neutral shore stations, provided they are not destined to a belligerent subject and contain no information of any unneutral character, such as the location or movements of ships of any belligerent nations. In such messages no code or cipher addresses will be allowed except those registered prior to July 1, 1914, and certified copies of which are filed at the United States Radio Station through which the message is to be transmitted. All messages must be signed either with the sender's name or with a duly certified registered name complying with the requirements for registration of address. Radio operating companies handling such messages must assure the Government censor as to the neutral character of such messages. Such messages, both transmitted and received, must be submitted to the censor at such time as he may designate, which will be such that will not delay their transmission.
    7.  In general censoring officials will assure themselves beyond doubt that no message of any unneutral character is allowed to be handled.
    8.  In order to insure that censors may, in all cases, he informed thoroughly and correctly as to the contents of radio messages coming under their censorship, they will demand, when necessary, that such messages be presented for their ruling in a language that is understandable to them.
    9.  At such radio stations where the censor is not actually present at the station when messages are received by the radio station for forwarding either by radio or other means, messages may pass, provided they are unmistakably of a neutral character, without being first referred to the censor, but the operating company will be held responsible for the compliance by their operators with these instructions.
    Approved.
JOSEPHUS  DANIELS,            
Secretary of the Navy.    
Annual Reports of the Navy Department for the Fiscal Year 1916.

Report of Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C., December 1, 1916:
Pages 27-30:

NAVAL RADIO SERVICE:
    The name of this service will be changed to naval communication service in the near future, it having taken over the handling of all telegraph, telephone, and cable communications and generally all dispatch work of the Naval Service outside the fleet, in addition to the work of the radio stations. The Government and commercial needs have been efficiently served. As an illustration of the growth of the Radio Service in the past few years it may be noted that during the period from December 13, 1912, to December 31, 1913, there were handled a total of 12,854 commercial messages, while during the past fiscal year 97,084 commercial messages were handled. The number of official messages had correspondingly increased, the number for the fiscal year being 628,997.
    The censorship of commercial radio stations, to carry out the proclamation of the President dated August 5, 1914, and his Executive order of September 5, 1914, relating to radio, has substantially the same status as at the time of the last annual report. The regulations have been enforced so as to inflict the minimum amount of inconvenience on the public consistent with the neutrality requirements. The department has not found it practicable or necessary to station officers in each commercial station. The censorship regulations are very clear and explicit, and it is gratifying to report that owners of commercial stations have during this fiscal year generally cooperated loyally with the Government in maintaining the neutrality of the United States.
    The censorship regulations are based entirely on the President's neutrality proclamation, and should be covered by legislation in order that proper penalties may be provided for such use of radio stations as might at any time imperil the peace of the United States. The President should be given definite power to issue regulations governing the operation of all radio apparatus of whatever character under the jurisdiction of the United States, in order that necessary steps might be taken in delicate situations which might involve us in hostilities in advance of such hostilities. Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly evident that no censorship of radio stations can be absolutely effective outside of complete Government operation and control.
    The control of the fleet requires a complete and effective naval radio system on our coasts. This we now have, but with the natural rapid increase of radio installations problems of mutual interference between the Government and commercial stations, ship and shore, are increasing. Every effort is being made to keep naval ships and stations supplied with the very latest apparatus, but the problem of interference is far from being solved, and the work of both Government and commercial stations is restricted, especially in congested areas. The department sees no effective means of handling this subject of interference except by the operation of all radio stations on the coast under one control, and it is becoming increasingly evident that the Government must in the end follow the lead of almost all other Governments and obtain control of all coast radio stations and operate them, in conjunction with naval stations, for commercial work in times of peace.
    The interference between high-power stations is also looming up as a great problem of the future, and special consideration should be given this subject while the number of such stations not operated by the Government is small.
    The Tuckerton and Sayville stations have been successfully operated under naval control during the year with great profit to the owners.
    There are 51 radio stations of the service in operation ashore and on light vessels, 2 of which are high-power stations, 10 of medium power, and the rest of lower power for communication with ships. In addition, a new medium-power station has been completed and will soon be put in service at Point Isabel, Tex. This station will be of great service to the merchant marine in that section, as well as to the Government in facilitating communication with vessels in Mexican waters. Within the next year it is expected that at least two new high-power stations will be completed, namely, at San Diego and at Pearl Harbor. Work is progressing satisfactorily on the Cavite high-power station, also on medium high-power stations at Puget Sound and at Cordova, Alaska. Estimates have been submitted for another high-power station on the island of Porto Rico, primarily for use in naval operations.
    Marked improvement has been made in the radio equipment of ships and of the more important shore stations, enabling communication to be maintained over greater distances and securing an unfailing means of cross-continent communication at all times. Distant control stations have also been established at the principal stations and contribute greatly to the handling of the ever increasing volume of naval and commercial business.
    Experiments on a practical scale have been continued with direction-finding apparatus. The results have been very gratifying, and it is believed that, when perfected in all its details, the instrument will be of great service as an aid to navigation.

COMMUNICATION  BY  WIRELESS  TELEPHONE.

    The Naval Radio Service was mobilized for tests on May 6, 7, and 8, 1916, when, in conjunction with the American Telephone & Telegraph Co., the Navy Department was connected by telephone and telegraph with all navy yards and radio stations in the United States. The result of such tests was so satisfactory that the department proposes to arrange for continuous direct long-distance service by telephone and telegraph circuits between the department and the principal navy yards on the Atlantic coast.
    Shortly before 4 p. m. of Saturday, May 6, there congregated in the office of the Secretary of the Navy a number of officers of the various departments, in addition to representatives and officials of the American Telephone & Telegraph Co., to witness the opening of the mobilization. After opening remarks by the vice president of the American Telephone & Telegraph Co., to which the Secretary replied, and a short address by the chief engineer of the American Telephone & Telegraph Co., communication was at once established by wireless telephone between the Secretary and the captain of the battleship New Hampshire, then at anchor off Fortress Monroe. The Secretary then gave orders to the ship for the next day's movements, this being the first occasion that a ship of the Navy was ever operated direct from the department by wireless telephone. Many receivers were fitted so that the guests present could hear the conversation. Thus was brought to reality the prediction made to the Secretary some time previously that the time would come when he could sit at his office desk and converse with the captain of a ship at sea. This demonstration was followed by talking to various naval stations, widely separated, by long-distance land line. The circuit used between the Secretary and the New Hampshire, at anchor off Hampton Roads, consisted of land-line communication to Radio, Va., and wireless from there to the New Hampshire. The return circuit was by wireless to the Norfolk naval radio station and thence by land line to Washington.
    On the following day, May 7, communication by wireless telephone was again carried out with the New Hampshire cruising between Hampton Roads and the southern drill grounds, and the communication was extended to include Mare Island. The commandant in his office at Mare Island conversed for some time with the captain of the New Hampshire. This was done by land line from Mare Island to Radio, Va., and thence by wireless telephone to the New Hampshire; returning, wireless telephone from the New Hampshire to Norfolk naval radio station, and thence by land line to Mare Island via the department. This wonderful achievement is but an earnest of further wonders which the future may develop in this art.

Report of Captain D. W. Todd, Naval Communications Service, October 7, 1916:
Page 143-147:
    Since the end of the fiscal year the office of Superintendent of the Radio Service has been changed to that of the "Director Naval Communications" and the term "Communication Service" is used instead of "Radio Service." Since this report covers a period, prior to the above change the terms "Superintendent of Radio Service" and "Radio Service" are retained in the body of this report.

ORGANIZATION  FOR  ADMINISTRATION  AND  OFFICE  FORCE.

    Capt. W. H. G. Bullard United States Navy, has held the office of Superintendent of Radio Service during the period covered by this report. Commander D. W. Todd, United States Navy, reported as his assistant June 10, 1916, preparatory to relieving Capt. Bullard upon being ordered to sea duty.
    Capt. Bullard has been the Superintendent of Radio Service since the office was established by the Navy Department General Order No. 240 of November 9, 1912, to carry out certain provisions of the radio act approved August 13, 1912, and the International Radiotelegraphic Convention of London. The thorough organization and present efficient operation of the Radio Service is the direct result of his administration of this office.
    The work of the office is carried on under two general divisions--namely Government work and commercial work.
    Under Government work is classified all official business of the Navy Department and other departments of the Government wherein radio is concerned. This includes communication between shore stations and communication between shore and ship as well as administration, where operation of stations and their personnel is concerned. This work is under the immediate supervision of the Assistant Superintendent of Radio Service, who is also Atlantic coast superintendent, and directly responsible to the superintendent for operation of service on the Atlantic coast. This office has been held by Lieut. Commander S. W. Bryant, until June 1, 1916, when he was relieved by Lieut. Reed M. Fawell.
    The Pacific coast superintendent has similar duties on the Pacific coast, and is directly responsible to the Superintendent of Radio Service for the operation of stations on that coast. In addition, the Pacific coast superintendent is the representative of the Bureau of Steam Engineering for all radio installations on the Pacific coast. The office of Pacific coast superintendent is held by Lieut. Commander E. H. Dodd.
    The commercial work is under the direct supervision of Mr. Charles J. Pannill expert radio aid, and covers commercial work of every character handled wholly or in part by radio and traffic arrangements concerning same. In addition, international accounts as well as work connected with Tuckerton-Eilvese and Sayville-Nauen traffic are handled in this office.
    The accounting division, under direct supervision of Passed Asst. Paymaster J. H. Knapp, United States Navy, handles the accounting in connection with commercial work and is a division of the commercial branch.
    The clerical force consists of three stenographers and typewriters, who are civil service appointees, and the following enlisted men: Four chief yeomen; three yeomen, first class, who perform the following duties: One stenographer and typewriter, three audit clerks, one bookkeeper, two assistant bookkeepers.

RECOMMENDATIONS.

    Recommendations for changes in organization of the Radio Service were made in the supplementary report of a board on organization of the Radio Service ordered by the Secretary of the Navy in his letter 624-109 of May 1, 1916. In general, it was recommended that the office of the Superintendent of Radio Service be changed to the office of Director Naval Communications, and that the name "Naval Radio Service," be changed to "Naval Communication Service;" that the Director Naval Communications be charged with the duties now performed by the Superintendent of Radio Service; and, in addition, be responsible for the efficient handling of all telegraph, telephone, cable, and, generally, all dispatch work between the Navy Department and the fleet and throughout the naval service outside the fleet. In the administration of the foregoing, that he have general charge of the operation, organization, and administration of the Communication Service.
    The following general organization was recommended for the administration of the Communication Service:
    1.  Director naval communications.
    2.  Assistant for administration and Atlantic coast superintendent.
    3.  Assistant for communications and four communication officers.
    4.  Pacific coast superintendent.
    5.  Philippine communication superintendent.
    6.  Assistant for commercial traffic.
    7.  A communication superintendent for each district.
    The board further recommended that the office of the director be established in the Navy Department as soon as space could be made available. This is considered of great importance.
    The above report is of a confidential nature and the details of the organization are not set forth herein.
    Recommendations regarding the clerical force for commercial work will be made the subject of a special letter when estimates for 1918 are submitted to the Bureau of Steam Engineering. It will be noted that the enlisted men included under clerical force are performing duties which are largely commercial rather than military in nature, and while this staff is highly efficient and composed of most capable men, the regulations requiring certain sea and shore service during the enlistment of these men work a hardship on this office on account of changes in the force from time to time. As each change requires several months to make a new man proficient in his duties, due to the nature of the work being different from any work encountered in military duties, it is recommended that only civilian clerical force be used for this work, and that such of the present force who desire to take the civil service examination for their present duties be permitted to do so.
    It is recommended that a disbursing clerk be appointed from the classified service for the duties now performed by the pay officer. This change is desired because the duties performed are foreign to the usual duties of a pay officer of the Navy, so that in addition to the time required for a relief to become familiar with such duties, the pay officer is out of touch with naval duties during the time he is attached to this office. Furthermore, owing to the nature of the duties, the position should be filled by some person not required to perform sea duty. This recommendation will be incorporated in the letter to the Bureau of Steam Engineering, submitting estimates for the fiscal year 1918.

OPERATION  AND  ORGANIZATION  OF  RADIO  SERVICE.

    The details of operation and organization have undergone some development and considerable improvement. These changes and improvement have resulted from the carrying out of the recommendations contained in the report of the board on organization of the Radio Service of February 20, 1915. Such changes in the foregoing report that have not been carried out, with additional changes recommended, are covered by the supplementary report to the original board's report, in accordance with the Secretary of the Navy's order N-31/W 624-109 of May 1, 1916, to Capt. W. H. G. Bullard, United States Navy.
    It is desired to make special mention of the commercial and amateur radio operators who have volunteered their services in time of public peril. Through the cooperation of commercial radio companies, 200 applicants have offered their services in time of war and additional applications are being received regularly. Similarly, amateur radio organizations have cooperated with this office and the amateurs have been organized by districts throughout the United States, such organizations being under the immediate supervision of the district radio superintendent of the district concerned.
    The assistance and cooperation from both commercial and amateur organizations has been most gratifying.

PERSONNEL.

    The need of more radiomen for the Naval Service continues to be a handicap, but steps have been taken to provide for all contingencies.

LEGISLATION.

    The necessity for strong Government control of radio communication becomes more necessary as ship and shore stations increase in number. Interference and consequent inefficient communication will continue until such control is obtained.
    The Navy Department operates sufficient suitable stations along both coasts of the United States, Alaska, and United States possessions over seas to take over commercial business at shore stations and handle same efficiently with but little additional personnel. At present this service maintains radio stations for public reasons at some points where small commercial stations operate continuously within 100 miles, by which the naval stations are prevented from handling commercial business in accordance with the present radio act.
    To avoid interference and to centralize control of traffic, it is desirable to open all naval stations, except a few reserved for Government work exclusively, to commercial business, and the purchase of all commercial shore stations engaged in ship to shore work is essential. In time of war or threatened war all such stations would be operated by the Government, and their operation in time of peace would avoid the period of inefficiency following a sudden change from commercial to Government operation, until the new stations could be worked into the naval organization.
    It is therefore strongly recommended that the necessary legislation be requested to permit all naval radio stations to be opened to commercial traffic at the discretion of the department, and that the necessary appropriation be requested from Congress to purchase all the commercial shore stations mentioned above.
    A board consisting of members from all the executive departments is now preparing a new radio act to be submitted to Congress, which, it is hoped, will embody the above.

CENSORSHIP.

    The censorship of commercial radio stations, to carry out the proclamation of the President dated August 5, 1914, and his executive order of September 5, 1914, relating to radio, has substantially the same status as was in effect at the time of the last annual report. The regulations have been enforced so to inflict the minimum amount of inconvenience on the public consistent with the neutrality requirements.

MOBILIZATION  OF  COMMUNICATIONS.

    On May 6, 7, and 8, 1916, in conjunction with the American Telephone & Telegraph Co., mobilization of communication tests were held. The Navy Department was connected by telephone and telegraph with all navy yards and radio stations in the United States. Radiotelephone apparatus was installed on board the New Hampshire, enabling the department to be in direct communication with the commanding officer of that vessel underway off Cape Henry; and communication was effected between the commandant of the Mare Island Navy Yard and the commanding officer of the New Hampshire. The object of this test was to demonstrate the possibility of successful service by telephone, telegraph, and radio between the Navy Department, all naval stations, and the fleet. The test was highly successful. A detailed report of this mobilization was made to the Secretary of the Navy by the superintendent, under date of June 7, 1916. Particular attention is invited to the following recommendation in above-mentioned report:
    "In this connection this office strongly recommends that negotiations be entered into at once with the American Telephone & Telegraph Co. for permanent telephone and telegraph circuits between the department and important yards and stations in time of peace. The desirability of such permanent circuits has been manifested on numerous occasions."

Page 150:

COMMERCIAL  TRAFFIC.

PRESS  BROADCASTED.

    The press service furnished through the Washington and Key West stations has been of great service to the ships of the Atlantic Fleet and other Government vessels. Thanks are due to the Associated Press and the Western Union for this excellent service. It is recommended that this press service be extended to include forwarding of same by certain stations on the Pacific coast. It is also recommended that arrangements be made with the Army cable system to secure suitable press service at Cordova and Sitka for the purpose of transmitting same nightly to Government vessels and stations in Alaska.

Report of Captain J. A. Hoogewerff, Superintendent of the Naval Observatory, July 1, 1916:
Pages 269-270:

TIME  SERVICE.

    Time signals were sent by radio from stations as follows:
    Radio, Va., daily at noon and 10 p. m., seventy-fifth meridian time; wave length, 2,500 meters. Key West, Fla., and New Orleans, La., daily at noon, seventy-fifth meridian time; wave length, 1,000 meters. Key West, Fla., special signal for surveying ships daily at 10 p. m., from June 1 to July 13, 1916. Great Lakes, Ill., daily at 11 a. m., ninetieth meridian time, beginning in June; wave length, 1,512 meters. The transmission of these signals is automatic from the observatory over special wire to Radio, Va., and by courtesy of the Western, Union Telegraph Co. over their wires to other stations. Time signals were sent at noon daily by Western Union Telegraph lines to all parts of the country east of the Rocky Mountains served by that company.
    The station at Radio, Va., covers the country east of the Rocky Mountains and the greater part of the North Atlantic Ocean. The radio signals have been used by an increasing number of jewelers and of vessels.
    The mean daily error in signals for the year was 0.030 second, and the maximum error was 0.24 second, with the mean of the 12 monthly maximum errors for each month as 0.113 second.
    The lag due to transmission over the direct wire to Radio, Va., is 0.02 second, that over the Western Union wires to Key West 0.27 second.
    Two new transmitting clocks were installed, adjusted, and the first signal from them was sent from No. 1 clock at noon on March 16. These clocks replaced two transmitting clocks that had been in use for over 40 years.
    Changes and improvements have been made in the switchboard and apparatus connected with the sending of the time signal from the new clocks.
    Since October 9, 1914, certain stars less than 10° from the zenith have been observed for clock correction, giving increased accuracy.
    Time for the Pacific coast has been furnished from the time and chronometer station at the Mare Island Navy Yard by independent observations, the radio station there sending the signal at noon and 10 p. m. daily, one hundred and twentieth meridian time, wave length, 2,500 meters, and the radio stations at North Head (2,000 meters), Eureka (1,400 meters), Point Arguello (750 meters), and San Diego (2,000 meters) sending the signal at noon, except Sundays and holidays, one hundred and twentieth meridian time. This signal has been distributed by Mare Island to the country west of the Rocky Mountains by means of the Western Union Telegraph Co.

Report of R. S. Griffin, Engineer in Chief, Bureau of Steam Engineering, October 12, 1916:
Page 337:

RADIO  TELEGRAPHY.

    Work in connection with the chain of high-power stations is progressing satisfactorily. Contracts were entered into for the radio equipment at San Diego and Pearl Harbor and for the radio and power equipment at Cavite, and while the general trade condition has caused some delay it is believed that the San Diego station will be in operation by the first of next year, and that the others will follow within a few months. All arrangements have been made for the erection of experimental wooden masts at Tutuila, Samoa, and for the supply of the necessary apparatus to secure communication with Pearl Harbor. At Guam contract has been entered into for the masts and for the equipment necessary for communication with Cavite. Improvement has also been made in the equipment at Arlington, with a view to securing improved communication with the Canal Zone.
    The equipment of the stations at Boston, Great Lakes, Charleston, Key West, New Orleans, Guantanamo, San Juan, and Cordova, Alaska, has been so improved as to render those stations capable of communicating with vessels beyond the range of low-power stations, and also to relay messages across the continent. The station at Mare Island will be similarly equipped.
    New medium-power stations are under construction at Puget Sound and Cordova, and plans are in preparation for a similar station in Porto Rico and for the relocation of the Cape Blanco station at Marshfield, Oreg.
    The new station at Point Isabel, Tex., is in operation and has contributed to efficient communication with vessels in Mexican waters.
    Distant control of stations, to permit simultaneous sending and receiving, has been established at Arlington, Mare Island, Boston, and Washington, and similar improvement will be made at Charleston, Key West, Puget Sound, and New Orleans. In stations thus equipped for transmitting with a large and a small set, with facilities for receiving simultaneously the signals coming in from similar sets, the capacity for handling messages is increased fourfold.
    The direction-finding apparatus installed at Cape Cod as an aid to navigation has been productive of good results. Experiments are being conducted with similar apparatus at Fire Island.
    Marked improvement has been made in the transmitting and receiving capacity of the more important vessels of the fleet, and this work will be continued as funds permit.
    The manufacture at navy yards of receiving sets and of low-power transmitting sets has proceeded with very satisfactory results.
Annual Reports of the Navy Department for the Fiscal Year 1917.

Report of Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C., December 1, 1917:
Pages 43-48:

    I have the honor to submit herewith the annual report of this department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1917, including operations, recommendations, and estimates to date.
    Since April 6 the Navy of the United States has been undergoing the test of war. While I may not, therefore, speak in detail of the greater naval operations since that date, it may be stated that the record is one of increasing power, of developing resourcefulness, and of cooperative achievement which the American people may well survey with national pride. The spirit of the Navy of to-day was tersely expressed by a young officer, the senior in command of our first flotilla of destroyers sent abroad to combat the submarine menace. When asked by the English admiral, upon the arrival of the ships in England, when they would be ready, the American officer answered, "We are ready now." This was not the language of boasting. It was the prophecy and pledge of our service with those fighting in a common cause. In the trying months that have followed the readiness and fitness of our men and ships have been tested and established amid perils more insidious and baffling than those that ever before confronted a nation at war. During peaceful years the Navy has been quietly but steadily perfecting itself to meet the time of war. How adequate was its preparation, how efficient its personnel, how competent its machinery to carry on the multitudinous activities of war time could only be surmised and estimated. Now the hour for which it has been preparing has arrived. Our sword is drawn, and no one will dispute that the blade is keen and free from rust and its temper true. Although the naval activities in this war have been largely confined to the extermination of the submarine, our Navy has been called on to do much more than the public realizes, and in no case and in no way has it so far been found wanting either in material or personnel.

NAVAL COMMUNICATION SERVICE:
    An Executive order issued by the President on April 6, 1917, directed the department to take over such radio stations within the jurisdiction of the United States as might be required for naval communications. It also directed that all radio stations not necessary to the Government of the United States for naval communications be closed. In the enforcement of this order 53 commercial radio stations were taken into the naval communication service for naval purposes. The larger proportion of the stations taken over were formerly operated by the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. of America in connection with their ship-shore service for merchant marine, and also for service between fixed points, such as that between Japan and the Territory of Hawaii, and Hawaii and the United States. It was found that a number of the stations operated by the commercial companies could not be made available for naval uses on account of duplication of work, and accordingly 28 commercial radio stations were closed. In addition to this number, thousands of small amateur radio stations were closed, as well as several stations for service between fixed points, for which land lines were available and suitable. At the present time no radio communication is permitted on United States territory (not including Alaska) except through stations operated by this department or by the War Department.

TO  HANDLE  STEAMSHIP  TRAFFIC.

    On the Atlantic and Gulf coasts all ship-shore commercial communication was ordered suspended. In order to interrupt as little as possible the traffic of United States, allied, and neutral vessels, certain radio stations were designated on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts to handle steamship traffic only. This traffic is now being handled in code and under very strict censorship.

UNDER  STRICT  CENSORSHIP.

    On the Pacific, Great Lakes, and Alaskan coasts, as well as in the Hawaiian Islands, American Samoa, and the Philippines, the commercial service has not been suspended, but it has been operated under strict censorship. In order not to interrupt the business of Alaska, where other means of communication are limited, a number of private stations have been allowed to operate under censorship restrictions, by agreement among the three departments concerned, viz, War, Navy, and Commerce.

VOLUME  OF  BUSINESS  AND  EARNINGS.

    During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1917, there were handled by naval radio stations 814,201 messages, of which 728,041 were official and 86,160 were commercial.
    In addition to this traffic, the traffic through the stations formerly operated by the commercial companies for the period from April 6 to June 30, 1917, amounted to 103,737 messages, of which 14,797 were official and 88,940 were commercial, a grand total of 917,938 messages, of which 742,838 were official and 175,100 were commercial.
    The earnings for the commercial radio service for the first three months of this year, namely, January, February, and March, amount to $7,557.25, while for the months of April, May, and June of this year the earnings amount to $74,852.59. This money has been turned into the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts.

TRANS-PACIFIC  STATIONS  OPERATED.

    In addition to the small shore stations taken over by the department, two high-power stations formerly operated by the Marconi Co. between Honolulu and California and with Funibashi, Japan, are being operated by the Naval Communication Service. With the congestion of traffic on the single Pacific cable the importance of continuing service to commercial companies is apparent. The Federal Telegraph Co.'s circuit between California and Hawaii is also being operated.

SAYVILLE  AND  TUCKERTON  TAKEN  OVER.

    The stations at Sayville, N. Y., and Tuckerton, N. J., which furnished a commercial service with Germany under the Naval Coinmunication Service prior to the declaration of war, have been taken over by the Navy Department and are now being operated for military purposes.

RADIO  SETS  ON  MERCHANT  SHIPS.

    The policy of sealing radio sets on all merchant vessels when they enter port was placed in effect when war was declared, in order that such apparatus could not be used while in port.

SHIPS  SUPPLIED  WITH  RADIOMEN.

    On account of the necessity for strong control over radio operation on merchant ships crossing the Atlantic, all United States ships crossing the Atlantic will be supplied with naval radiomen. The Bureau of Navigation has the necessary men in training through the addition of facilities at Harvard University.

CENSORSHIP  OF  TELEGRAMS.

    In conformity with the Executive order dated April 28, 1917, a censorship of cablegrams passing out of and into the United States and its insular possessions over the submarine cables was established on April 30, in harmony with the countries cooperating with the United States in the conduct of the war and in harmony with the radio censorship previously put in force by this department. The director of naval communications was appointed chief cable censor, and this important work has been under his direction with a staff of carefully selected assistants.
    Censorship stations were at once organized and operated at New York, Galveston, Key West, San Francisco, Honolulu, Guam, Panama, Guantanamo, Cape Haitien, Port au Prince, San Domingo, San Juan, Ponce, St. Thomas, and St. Croix. All messages to or from the United States and its possessions were censored except those to or from Europe, which were reviewed by the censorship of the countries working in conjunction with the United States in the war. In addition, censorship of cablegrams passing over the trans-Atlantic cables was instituted by this Government on July 26, 1917. Since that date all messages of every character passing into or out of the United States over the submarine cables have been censored. On the basis of the information thereby gathered and furnished our Government and the Governments with which we are cooperating and the protection furnished American trade, naval cable censorship has demonstrated itself an effective military offensive and defensive weapon in prosecuting the war.

COMPREHENSIVE  SYSTEM  OF  COMMUNICATIONS.

    The Naval Communication Service has worked with the Coast Guard service in establishing lines of communication to necessary Coast Guard stations, lighthouses, and lookout points along the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts, to insure proper communications between these points, radio stations, district headquarters, and the department.
    To insure adequate protection in case war activities were brought to our shores a comprehensive system of communications has been worked out whereby events of importance may be immediately telephoned by patrols and lookout stations to the nearest section headquarters and thence relayed on to the commandants of the various naval districts and to Washington.
    As a backbone to this system special telephone and telegraph circuits under lease have been provided. These circuits, for the most part, connect the department with the various navy yards, navy stations, and district headquarters along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

COOPERATION  WITH  COMMERCIAL  TELEPHONES.

    Arrangements have been made with the commercial telephone company providing that Government business be given special service and its calls and messages receive precedence over all other business, in addition to the communication facilities under lease and used exclusively by the Navy Department.
    Activities brought on by the war have increased telephone and telegraph communications of the Navy Department by approximately 1,000 per cent. In taking care of this growth, also in providing protection circuits to take care of emergencies, every effort has been made to disturb to the least extent the commercial telephone and telegraph business of the country in order that maximum facilities will be available for all activities which directly or indirectly affect the war program of the Government.

HIGH-POWER  RADIO  STATIONS  BUILT.

    A noteworthy event in radiotelegraphy is the completion of the high-power station in the Hawaiian Islands, the third in the chain of high-power stations completed and ready for operation, and believed to be the most powerful station in the world.
    When these high-power stations were projected, it was thought that it would be necessary to erect one on the island of Tutuila and another on the island of Guam, in order to insure communication between Pearl Harbor and Cavite, a distance of about 4,700 miles. With the development in the art, and from experience obtained with Arlington and Darien, it was decided that direct communication was possible between Pearl Harbor and Cavite, and that stations of moderate power would answer every requirement of Tutuila and Guam. Plans were made accordingly; and the result of the official test of the Pearl Harbor Station was so satisfactory as to leave no doubt that as soon as the Cavite Station is ready, which it will be about January 1, there will be radio communication from Washington, via Sayville or San Diego and Pearl Harbor, to Cavite.

MESSAGE  FLASHED  FROM  SAYVILLE  TO  PEARL  HARBOR.

    Upon completion of the test of the Pearl Harbor Station messages were exchanged on the 29th of September between the commandant of the naval station and the Navy Department, the messages from Washington having been transmitted via Sayville, Long Island. At 2.30 a. m. the Pearl Harbor Station called Sayville and transmitted the following from the commandant:

TO  SECRETARY  OF  NAVY, Washington:
    I have the honor to send you the first through message to Washington, D. C., from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, radio station, and report satisfactory progress in test of plant.
GEORGE  R.  CLARK.    

To this the following reply was sent:
    Express my gratification to the authorities of Hawaii on this momentous occasion wherein the first exchange of radio messages is made possible between Honolulu and the Atlantic coast of the United States. Also I congratulate you on the successful completion of the most powerful radio station in the world.
JOSEPHUS  DANIELS.    

    This message was acknowledged at 3.03 a. m., just 33 minutes from the time the Pearl Harbor station commenced transmission to Sayville.

CAVITE  STATION  NEARING  COMPLETION.

    With the completion of the Cavite station, all high-power radio stations authorized by Congress will have been completed, and I desire to take advantage of this occasion to express my appreciation of the admirable work that has been done by the technical officers and employees of the Navy Department, and of the contractors for the apparatus, in thus putting the Navy Department in such close touch with our distant stations and the peoples of Hawaii and the Philippines.

HIGH-POWER  STATION  AT  SAN DIEGO.

    On May 1, 1917, the high-power station at San Diego, Cal., was placed in commission and after a short period of test, was placed in the regular service as one of the chain of naval radio stations. This station is equipped with the latest apparatus, and reliable communication over the ranges for which it was designed is assured.

Report of Rear Admiral T. B. Howard (Retired), Superintendent of the Naval Observatory, July 1, 1917:
Page 193:

    Capt. J. A. Hoogewerff, United States Navy, continued as superintendent to March 31, 1917, when he was relieved by the present superintendent, Rear Admiral T. B. Howard, United States Navy, retired.
    The time signals were sent out twice daily during the year, at noon and 10 p. m., seventy-fifth meridian time, both by land lines and by radio, through the operating relay at Radio, Va. The improvements mentioned in the last annual report have been completed and put in operation. The accuracy of the radio time signals, which can be picked up anywhere in the north Atlantic, has made it possible to reduce to one the allowance of chronometers for vessels of the Navy operating along the Atlantic coast. The number of requests for exemption from the order for dismantling privately owned receiving sets, coming from watch manufacturers, jewelers, and scientific laboratories and observatories, proved how popular the custom of receiving time signals by radio has become.

Page 195:

TIME  SERVICE.

    Time signals were sent out from the observatory daily at noon and 10 p. m., seventy-fifth meridian time, over the wires of the Western Union Telegraph Co., and by direct wire to the Bureau of Standards and the wireless operating relay at Radio, Va.
    Time signals are also sent out from the time and chronometer station at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Cal., over the Western Union lines to points on the Pacific coast, whence they are repeated by wireless.
    The possibility of rating chronometers by accurate wireless time signals anywhere in the north Atlantic Ocean has made it possible to cut down to one the allowance of chronometers for vessels of the Navy operating only along the Atlantic coast.
    The outbreak of war caused the dismantling of privately owned receiving sets all over the country. The number of requests for exemption coming in from watch manufacturers, jewelers, and scientific laboratories and observatories proved how popular the custom of receiving time signals by wireless has become.
    The mean daily error of signals sent from the observatory for the year was 0.036 second, and the maximum error was 0.21 second.
    Error is caused by a change in rate of the standard clock during cloudy periods, when observations of stars for time is impossible.
    The error in correcting the transmitting clock to agree with the assumed error of the standard is never more than 0.02 second.
    The new switchboard referred to in the last annual report has been installed and was first used on April 15.
Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy for the Fiscal Year 1918.

Report of Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C., December 1, 1918:
Pages 21-23:

NAVAL  COMMUNICATION  SERVICE.

    The scope of the duties of the Naval Communication Service has been greatly enlarged to provide an efficient, workable system for handling all communications with men-of-war, to provide the necessary codes and ciphers to insure secrecy, and to promulgate regulations to insure the proper receipt of orders by all vessels of the Navy. In addition to the usual duties in connection with the combatant ships of the Navy, this service has placed all radio communication with merchant vessels in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico upon a military basis. To accomplish this, such vessels have been provided with standard rules for communication, and codes and ciphers to handle same, in order to render their voyages through the war zone as free from danger as possible, as well as to insure their receiving orders at sea. This service has close cooperation with the detailing of radio men to all merchant ships crossing the Atlantic, as well as to all Shipping Board ships built by the Emergency Fleet Corporation. A comprehensive system for inspection of radio personnel, radio apparatus, and their communication records has been provided on the foregoing ships, so that they are inspected upon arrival in port, when they are given the necessary instructions to properly carry out their work.
    The expansion of the Code and Signal Section has necessarily been great. This section not only supplies men-of-war but all merchant ships in the Atlantic with codes and ciphers and coordinates the communication procedure and codes of countries cooperating with us in the war with those of our own men-of-war and merchant vessels. This enables all United States vessels to communicate with secrecy in any part of the world.
    The work of the Communication Office of the Navy Department has continued to increase during the year, and the volume of daily traffic is now over two and one-half times as great as it was a year ago. This office is handling, in addition to Navy Department business, dispatches for other departments and offices of the Government, who take advantage of the secrecy and dispatch afforded by the Naval Communication Service. During the year about 50 young officers have been trained in communication duties in this office alone and sent to Admiral Sims for assignment abroad. Capt. D. W. Todd, Chief of the Naval Communication Service and Cable Censor, has with vision and capacity rendered conspicuous service, and the live men associated with him have been equally efficient.

GROWTH  OF  RADIO  SYSTEM.

    The Navy has operated all coastal and high-power radio stations since the start of the war. While the commercial service on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts has been practically abandoned for the war, in order to handle naval and military traffic only, the commercial service elsewhere has been carried on with but few restrictions as far as ship to shore work is concerned. The Navy occupies a strong position in the commercial radio field on account of efficient service rendered, and I think presages the way for making this service entirely governmental.
    The commercial radio service between Japan, Hawaii, and San Francisco has been temporarily suspended, in order to prevent information reaching the enemy through this source. This work will be resumed when conditions warrant, in order to relieve the severe congestion of the trans-Pacific cables. Official business is still handled over this trans-Pacific radio circuit, but all such traffic passes through the hands of the Navy for proper enciphering to insure secrecy.
    The high-power radio service of the Navy has made great progress during the past year. On the Atlantic coast the Navy has completed and is operating its new high-power station at Annapolis, Md., in addition to those already in service. It is now possible to transmit messages simultaneously from four high-power radio stations to European stations and at the same time receive dispatches from several European stations.
    The Naval Communication Service is cooperating with the State Department and the Committee on Public Information in the broadcasting of information of advantage to the United States to all part of the world by high-power radio. An interesting part of this service is the transmission each night of a news dispatch entitled "Home stuff." This includes short news items from many American cities. This dispatch is received simultaneously in France and England, and and is posted in all Y. M. C. A. huts and other places where our men in foreign service congregate. It is their daily home paper.
    Official dispatches by trans-Atlantic radio are handled not only for the departments of this Government, but also between foreign embassies here with their home offices abroad. It has been the aim of the Naval Communication Service to create, for the benefit of this country and its allies, practical, fast, and exact radio communication with Europe, supplementing the cables and to a certain extent relieving them of the heavy traffic brought on by the war. The results accomplished are satisfactory.

Report of Rear Admiral T. B. Howard (Retired), Superintendent of the Naval Observatory, July 1, 1918:
Page 466:

TIME  SERVICE.

    Time signals were sent daily, as usual, at noon and 10 p. m., seventy-fifth meridian time (5 hours and 15 hours, Greenwich mean time), up to and including March 30, 1918. These signals were sent by radio from the station at Radio, Va., and the noon signal was widely distributed by the Western Union and Postal Telegraph Companies. Beginning March 31, 1918, a telegraphic signal for the use of the public has been sent at four hours Greenwich mean time, to correspond to the change of one hour brought about by daylight saving. The radio signals, which, under the present war conditions, are used chiefly by navigators, have been sent as before at 5 hours and 15 hours, Greenwich mean time.
    The mean daily error of the signals sent from the observatory for the year was 0.037 second, and the maximum error was 0.28 second.

Report of R. S. Griffin, Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering, October 11, 1918:
Pages 528-531:

RADIO  DIVISION.

Officer in charge: Lieut. Commander S. C. HOOPER. U. S. Navy, from beginning of fiscal year to November 30, 1917, and Lieut. Commander H. P. LE CLAIR, U. S. Navy, during remainder of year.

    The activities of the Bureau of Steam Engineering in radio telegraphy cover almost a world-wide field. During the fiscal year its accomplishments in this line have been marked.

RADIO  INSTALLATIONS  ON  SHIPS  AND  AT  ALL  SHORE  STATIONS,  EXCEPT  THOSE  FOR  TRANS-OCEANIC  SERVICE.

    Naval vessels.--In addition to the repair and maintenance of the radio equipment on all vessels of the United States Fleet and its auxiliaries, 1,282 new installations have been made or are provided for, as follows:
 
Battleships3
Battle cruisers5
Scout cruisers6
Destroyers248
Submarines80
110-foot submarine chasers (including 100 for the French Government)440
Eagle patrol boats112
Yachts, motor boats, etc., for auxiliary patrol250
Mine sweepers54
Seagoing tugs27
For Department of Commerce: Light vessels (40) and lighthouse tenders (17)          57
        Total1,282

    The remodeling of the radio installations on 22 units of the battleship fleet, in order to provide for their efficient operation with the British Grand Fleet, has been practically completed. A large number of the units of the fleet and its auxiliaries have been equipped with radio compasses and radio telephone transmitting and receiving sets, both apparatus being of the greatest practical value.
    The radio equipment of submarines has been replaced by apparatus of improved design, giving greater reliability and increased range of communication.
    Shipping board and other merchant vessels.--In addition to the ex-German, ex-Austrian, Dutch, and various other vessels of foreign registry, acquired or chartered by the United States Shipping Board, for which radio installations, replacements, and repairs were made during the fiscal year, the bureau has had shipped to the various naval districts radio equipment for approximately 2,500 new vessels of the United States Shipping Board, Emergency Fleet Corporation.
    The installation, maintenance, and repair of radio equipment on vessels of the Army and all other branches of the Government, and the maintenance and repair of all privately owned vessels--numbering approximately 450--of the American Merchant Marine now under control of the United States Shipping Board, have been effected under direction of the bureau.
    The total number of existing and prospective radio installations for naval merchant vessels, and those of other branches of the Government, maintained and provided by the Bureau of Steam Engineering during the fiscal year, was in excess of 4,000.
    Coastal radio stations.--Fifty naval radio coastal stations and 75 commercial coastal stations, taken over by the Government, have been maintained during the fiscal year, and various additions, improvements, and enlargements essential to the prosecution of the war have been made or provided for.
    The principal additional stations (84) which were constructed, are: Twenty-five section patrol radio stations for communication between the shore and patrol boats and auxiliaries; 30 radio stations for air stations, including those abroad; 25 radio compass stations for locating enemy vessels and unauthorized radio stations, and for assisting vessels to determine their position; 3 radio transmitting and receiving stations at isolated points in the Republic of Panama; 1 radio station at Port au Prince, Haiti, for the use of the Marine Corps.
    In addition, the naval radio station, Norfolk, Va., was enlarged owing to the establishment of the naval base at Hampton Roads, and enlargements and improvements were made at the radio station, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, for the use of the Governor, Dominican Republic, and at the United States Naval Radio Station, St. Thomas, for the Governor of the Virgin Islands. Further, the naval radio station at Newport was removed to Melville, R. I., as a precaution against possible explosions in the magazines at Newport.
    Trans-Atlantic radio communication.--During the fiscal year, four of the high-power radio stations on the Atlantic coast--Sayville, Tuckerton, New Brunswick, and Marion--have been developed into efficient transmitting stations capable of continuous radio communication with Europe.
    Again, the Annapolis transmitting station--the most powerful in the United States--was built and commissioned. This station, with the four noted above, would provide uninterrupted communication with our forces abroad if all submarine cables were cut.
    Also, a new high-power radio transmitting station is nearing completion at El Cayey, P. R., which will not only insure continuous communication with our West Indian possessions, but will be suitable for trans-Atlantic service.
    Further, a new United States naval trans-Atlantic radio transmitting station is building in France by naval personnel under direction of this bureau. This station, now rapidly nearing completion, will be the most powerful in the world.
    Finally, three trans-Atlantic radio receiving stations, capable of taking radiograms, from the principal European stations, have been established and developed, thus giving the Naval Radio Communication Service full facilities for the reception of trans-Atlantic radiograms.
    Trans-Pacific radio communication.--The United States naval trans-Pacific radio transmitting stations at San Diego and San Francisco, Cal., Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and Cavite, P. I., and also the subsidiary stations at Guam and Tutuila, Samoa, have been enlarged and improved to meet the demands for increased trans-Pacific service.
    The Marconi Co.'s trans-Pacific circuit--Bolinas-Marshall, Cal., Kohuku, Koko Head, Hawaii--which is capable of continuous communication with Japan via Hawaii, has been kept ready for immediate service, if military conditions should require increased trans-Pacific communication.
    Radio for aircraft.--A very large amount of experimental investigation and development of suitable radio transmitting and receiving apparatus for aircraft has been done, and successfully, by this Bureau.
    Prior to July 1, 1917, no service or training airplanes had been fitted with radio, owing to the difficulties met in obtaining satisfactory equipment. Subsequently, however, these obstacles were so fully overcome that 50 service and 40 training airplanes in the United States have been equipped with satisfactory apparatus. Sixty of these outfits have also been shipped to France and Great Britain, and contracts have been awarded for approximately 3,000 more. At this time, all aircraft are fitted with radio prior to their shipment abroad.
    Radio telegraphic communication from aircraft in flight to stations on land is now possible at a distance of 200 miles. Similar communication from land stations to flying aircraft is practical up to distances of 50 miles, and communication from aircraft resting on the water to points on shore can be effected at a maximum distance of 40 miles.
    The development of the radio telephone for use on aircraft has progressed to such an extent that it is now possible to communication by this means from aircraft in flight to stations on land at a maximum distance of 60 miles. The converse of this--telephone communication from land stations to flying aircraft--is now practicable at a distance of 15 miles.
    The reporting at regular intervals of the positions of patrol planes and dirigibles to shore stations, by means of radio communication, has been accomplished, for distances up to 100 miles, at several of the home coast patrol air stations.
    Results such as those noted above prove that the efforts of the bureau have resulted in the development of aircraft radio equipment of remarkable efficiency since July 1, 1917. In fact, a direct comparison of American and foreign systems shows that the bureau's apparatus accomplishes with one set what, with European equipment, can be done only by two separate sets and an additional hand-driven generator.
    Research and development.--From the foregoing outline of the great advances in radio telegraphy made by the Bureau of Steam Engineering during the fiscal year, it is manifest that a very large amount of research and development work has been necessary owing to the highly technical nature of all radio apparatus and to the imperative necessity for extended experimental investigation before alterations in design are warranted. This redesign has been required, not only to meet the varied and varying demands of naval service in general, but notably in the radio apparatus for aircraft.
    In addition to the research work on, and development of aircraft equipment, there has been a similar investigation, requiring much patient labor, for the purpose of securing the efficient transoceanic transmitting and receiving stations now in service. Further, by such work, the use of radio for fire control on naval vessels and aircraft has been so advanced as to become practical and three types of radio compasses to meet the various needs of the Navy have been designed and have proved their value, both for determining the positions of ships at sea and also for ascertaining the locations of enemy submarines or other vessels, and of unauthorized shore radio stations. The bureau has also assisted in the development of radio telephone transmitting and receiving outfits, and has equipped a large number of naval vessels with this apparatus which has been found of great practical worth. And, finally, a system of underground radio reception has been devised, thus dispensing with masts to support overhead antenna--an advance of much value, both militarily and economically.
    Employees.--It should be noted that, notwithstanding the very large amount of technical work which this progress has made necessary, there has been virtually no increase in the number--now about 20--of the technical employees of the radio division of the bureau. This long-continued and patient series of experimental investigations has been conducted with a very limited personnel.

OFFICERS  ATTACHED  TO  THE  RADIO  DIVISION  DURING  THE  FISCAL  YEAR.

    Lieut. R. G. Coman, U. S. Navy.
    Lieut. U. W. Conway, U. S. Navy.
    Lieut. R. A. Lavender, U. S. Navy.
    Lieut. G. H. Lewis, U. S. Naval Reserve Force.