FLEET RADIO COMMUNICATION IN WAR
By Lieutenant (J.G.) H. D. Kent, U. S. Navy
The battle efficiency of any fleet is vitally dependent upon the state of efficiency of fleet radio communications. This is a fact, not an opening argument. The late World War removed all doubts about the effectiveness of radio as a weapon. To-day we are inclined to measure its scope of usefulness and effectiveness by standards set up five years ago. The battle of Jutland gave us proof of radio communication's effectiveness and dependability and on that day it ceased to be an innovation or experiment. In view of subsequent development, we can now consider the radio equipment and organization of communications possessed by each side in that battle as crude. The real development of radio was brought about after the battle of Jutland. It was as much a development of organization as of material. It is the organization features that I propose to discuss herein.
Boilers will steam even though inefficiently fired; engines will turn over and propel ships even though not attended by expert mechanics. Likewise guns can be fired by untrained crews and an occasional hit scored. Communications cannot be employed in war time unless highly organized. Prior to contact with the enemy our plans would be revealed and during battle our fleet would be confused by inefficient communications.
In these days of immense fleets and central command, it is questionable whether or not these fleets could be coordinated and directed in battle except through the medium of radio communication and, even though it might be possible, it is obvious that an enemy who could utilize radio would place us at a tremendous disadvantage—all other things being equal. It will never be the lack of efficient apparatus which will handicap us on the day of battle but lack of organization. It will not be the fault of present communication and radio officers if we lack organization but rather lack of foresight and sympathy on the part of officers in high command, afloat and ashore.
To promote cooperation and understanding between high ranking officers, we have a Naval War College. The courses there are designed to correct the individual perspectives to the prevailing doctrines, principles of strategy and tactics. Many of the detached ideas of officers who attend this school may be sounder than those advanced in the course but he subordinates his own views to the ensemble of ideas of the whole because the general assembly of the latter is closer fitting and less conflicting.
In war it remains to the commander-in-chief to originate the strategy to be employed. If his plans are sound, they will contain certain reflections of the war college influence and his subordinates will be able to undertake the details of execution understandingly. The main component of strategy is secrecy. Sooner or later the plans of the highest in command must be entrusted to radio. It cannot be avoided in these days of express speed and "thousandship" navies. Unless the organization of communications is extremely efficient, some parts of those plans will be revealed to the enemy and the "prior contact" strategy evaporates. Should this revelation betray our outlines bold and our units unsurprised and ready, all is well. We are building a big navy. If we are not preparing to meet another nation of great sea power, what then are we doing?' The people of our country are giving us the weapons. Shall we assume we are only to use them against greatly inferior sea powers? No! Our communications must be organized upon the principle that eventually we will meet an enemy as strong as ourselves. All of which comes back to the fact that we must endeavor to organize for the purpose of handling fleet radio traffic as accurately, expeditiously and secretively as possible.
There is a significant relationship which always exists, to a certain extent, between the plans and movements of a fleet and the radio work carried on between ships of that fleet. The commander- in-chief is dependent to a certain extent upon radio communication for the information upon which he bases his estimate of a situation. After orders are formulated, he must distribute some of them by radio. Later he receives from his scouts information confirming his estimate or requiring readjustment of plans. His main body may be ordered under way by radio and be maneuvered by radio until physical contact with the enemy is made. At the last minute he may be required to rearrange his line or improvise quickly to compensate for unexpected distribution of strength. Radio offers the most flexible means of doing this. In battle tactical maneuvers can be directed by radio when smoke screens, fog or haze would render signals useless. Fire discipline and fire concentration can be effectively carried out by radio and aeroplane spotting will be essential, using radio to report fall of shot.
To make all this possible, radio material must be installed so that radio communication can be maintained from each ship as long as she is able to stay in the line. Duplication of antennae is the main requisite. Apparatus can be kept behind maximum thickness of armor.
Assume that the events outlined above are logical and do occur. Is it not obvious that we have confided enough to provide an enemy with a solution of our plans, provided he has intercepted all of the radio traffic of our fleet and can interpret it? Of course he will not be expected to accomplish this easily or quickly but a careful and intelligent study of our work by communication and strategical experts would certainly reveal some parts of our plans which, if correctly interpreted, would advertise the general objective. Even when radio work is most carefully handled, if it is intercepted by the enemy, it will give negative information which would limit his conjectures to a narrower field.
The layman is prone to believe that codes and ciphers, if carefully used, will insure secrecy. Most naval officers are informed to the contrary but most of them place too much confidence in codes and ciphers. Codes and ciphers, no matter how elaborate or intricate, only delay the ultimate receipt of the coded information by the enemy. The fact must be constantly remembered and the consciousness of it will place us on a pinnacle from which a true perspective can be obtained. Only a few moves can be obscured from an alert enemy and therefore the order of succession should never be indicative of the real objective. Sometimes, though, it may be policy to interpolate with "fakes" or to use a program of "fakes," a sort of a "radio feint," so to speak.
The time element or life of a code is an important consideration. No fixed rules can be laid down. Any code or cipher devised by one human brain can be interpreted eventually by another. If several experts attack the problem scientifically, the solution is hastened. No cipher or code should be given a factor of safety greater that ten days if vital information is being confided to it.
The "breaking" of a code or cipher is much easier if the conditions under which it was sent are known. It is therefore desirable that code and cipher experts be expert operators also. The indications intuitively sensed by a radio operator very seldom can be correctly conveyed to him by another party. Other operators might not perceive significant conditions which would be obvious to the expert.
The above facts do not justify any carelessness or relaxation on the part of officers and men having custody of secret and confidential codes because a diagnosis of traffic has an element of uncertainty, but if we present to the enemy a solution he has hard facts.
More code and cipher organizations are undermined in peace than in war time. During peace there are always a few persons who are careless and compromise codes because they assume disinterestedness on the part of potential enemies. The first few moves of a war may determine the outcome. If our codes are compromised at the start, it is terrible indeed. Even though new codes are substitute the evil cannot be thus remedied. The "en clair " side of a code book is as important as the code. The order of appearance of the "en clair" side will be unique and characteristic of our nation. If the enemy possesses this alone, his difficulties are greatly reduced. For this reason too great care cannot be observed in the destruction of obsolete code books.
In peace time when a potential enemy or even a friendly nation comes into possession of our codes through the diagnosis of intercepted traffic, the damage may not be in the information contained by those messages, but in the fact that he can decipher previous messages which might be very embarrassing. Regardless of the nature of the information contained in a coded message, indifferent or careless coding is most culpable. Even though we could devise an infallible code which the enemy could not break, we could not be indifferent in using it or in handling traffic.
Variation in fleet radio traffic is most significant also. Sudden increase in traffic is invariably an indication of coming fleet activity and therefore fluctuations must be avoided. This can be done by careful use of "dummy" messages, which are coded from a "dummy" code book but are devoid of meaning—in other words a "blank" However, such messages appear to be bona fide to the enemy. "Dummy codes" should be prepared in three, four, five and six-letter combinations. A definite system of releasing them should be used and the amount of traffic controlled by the flagship. Regular curves of daily traffic of the fleet must be kept and the valleys filled in with "dummies" The average hourly traffic should be kept up to the maximum demand point reached during activities of the fleet.
In addition to serving the above purpose, dummies play havoc with the enemy's code experts because the meaningless jargon can never be interpreted. These experts are bound to include many dummy groups in their respective group classifications. This inclusion makes the application of mathematics in "average reoccurrences" difficult. Also the handling of dummy messages is excellent training for operators as they become accustomed to handling peak traffic continuously and consistently. When "dummies" are used, operators must be required to handle them with as great care as is exercised in real messages.
We should always consider communications from a psychological standpoint. Anything we can do to break down the morale of the enemy's code experts should be carried out. They should be misled as often as possible by special programs. We must always assume that the enemy's commander-in-chief will not possess unlimited confidence in his code experts and communication officers. If they supply him with unreliable information he may be openly skeptical of them. This should be our object. Likewise, our own commanders must expect similar programs by the enemy. Imaginary movements are easily manufactured and staged through clever manipulation of radio sets.
The radio compass has become remarkably reliable ashore in the past two years. We hope for greater accuracy on board ships soon. The radio compass aboard ship is now dependable for relative bearings of a general nature and would often betray simple "fakes" as mentioned above. The writer understands that the Zeebrugge affair was made possible by radio compasses, which were extensively used in plotting the enemy's channels through mine fields by averaging up bearings observed upon testing submarines as they passed in and out. Radio compasses are at least 25 per cent more accurate now than in 1917, so we must consider the possibility of their employment for similar purposes in future wars.
Radio compasses in aircraft enable them to steer the shortest course to a ship at sea using radio. This fact complicates the scouting problem and makes concealment practically impossible, either of position or of strength.
It would appear from the foregoing that the use of radio at all is unwise but such is not the case. Communication experts and radio operators will never be 100 per cent efficient and not all opportunities offered will be availed of. Commanders-in-chief and other commanders for many years will be reluctant when it comes to relying wholly upon deductions from intercepted enemy traffic.
If the communication system of the enemy could be made 100 per cent efficient, strategy would be almost eliminated and all we could do would be to give battle at the most favorable point, provided he was willing to meet us there. But 100 per cent efficiency will never be obtained in radio any more than in ordnance and gunnery, so then our success in naval warfare must depend to a large extent upon difference in relative efficiency. We must assume that our potential enemy will be naturally endowed with cunning and stealth and prepare to play his own game. This requires training along special lines of the best fitted minds.
We should have a lasting communication organization afloat which will be independent of changes in fleet command. This organization requires an original definition of policies which should be governed by the principles laid down at the War College. Communications, strategy and tactics are inseparable.
Until we have properly trained communication officers we can not properly organize fleet communications. The present-day communication officers are too often accidental rather than designed. There are more communication officers in name than in fact. There are too many different kinds of organizations aboard ship, whereas every ship should be organized along the same lines.
Each communication officer organizes his force according to his own ideas, but, granting that 75 per cent of the ships are excellently organized, cooperation to the fullest extent is handicapped. These facts are too well known to have these statements construed as critical.
We need a communication college and it should be closely allied with the War College, if not directly under it. There should be initial courses and post graduate courses. The initial courses should be given to officers of suitable temperament and experience. These courses should prepare radio and signal officers. After actual service in both branches, those officers who have been satisfactory should return for a post graduate cour.se in communications and radio stra.egy. If an officer demonstrates unusual ability in communication work, he should be encouraged to remain in this work. Many communication officers are disheartened because of the fact that long tours of communication duty are jeopardizing their careers. Some arrangement should be made to allow the most skilful and sagacious communication officers to take an advanced course in radio strategy, code and cipher work and languages with the idea of fitting them for division and force radio officers. The logical communication career of an officer would be as follows:
Midshipman Naval Academy four years.
Ensign Routine duties afloat three years—engineering and line.
Lieutenant (j. g.) Eight months Communication College.
Radio and Signals.
Six months Signal Officer Afloat.
Twelve months Radio Officer Afloat.
Six months Communication College—post graduate course.
Lieutenant Communication Officer, battleship two years and then if unusually efficient to Communication College for post graduate advanced course, if desired. If not the above, then return to watch and division duties. If above the average and due for shore duty, then to duty with D. N. C. or Asst. D. S. C.
Lieutenant Commander If due for sea and has finished advanced post graduate course, to duty as division communication officer, two years.
If due for shore duty and has finished post graduate course, to duty as D. C. S. or with D. N. C.
District Radio Material Officer.
Commander Take regular War College course.
To duty at sea as Force Communication Officer.
To duty ashore—Coast Communication Supt. or Assistant to D. N. C.
Bureau of Engineering (Radio).
Captain Fleet Communication Officer.
Assistant to Director Naval Communications.
Rear Admiral Director Naval Communications.
The program above depends upon the constant elimination of the unfit and unwilling. Regardless of the period spent in communication work no officer would be handicapped in his preparation for command. As a matter of fact the British consider that communication experience is the best kind of preparation for ultimate command.
A communication staff corps is advocated by many but such a corps has many drawbacks. Communication work cannot be handled intelligently until an officer is well acquainted with line duties, fleet organization, strategy and tactics. The formation of a staff corps would tend to isolate the members from the service as a whole. It would also necessarily include many of the present line officers who might not prove to be qualified temperamentally. Subsequent vacancies would have to be filled with civilians or from the ranks. After the nucleus were well up, the lower grades would certainly be filled with officers lacking versatility in general naval work. Many advocates of the staff corps point out that the Army Signal Corps has been a success. The signal corps does little but receive and deliver dispatches and maintain the channels. The communication service of the navy is charged with the execution of liaison between departments, which requires a broad knowledge of the service as a whole. The communication officer must always keep his perspective enlarged and correct and be sensitive to the tendencies and trend of policy changes.
We also need an intelligence system reorganization which will keep communication officers informed concerning foreign communication activities, especially those of potential enemies. I doubt if one communication officer in fifty knows of a single unique feature of the Japanese communication system. As early as 19 17 the Japanese Government was educating some of their best communication officers in American colleges. I have in mind a lieutenant commander in particular who was sent to Harvard to study under Professor Pierce at Craft Laboratory. He carried back to Japan with him a very good education in radio engineering and an intimate knowledge of our communication service as well. He studied the personnel of the radio school at close range. He "listened in" upon current official radio traffic and usually gleaned some information from each of his conversations with the most astute. He saw us in action in war time. I venture to say that Lieutenant Commander Nichizaki could instruct many of our own communication officers to-day about their own system. If the Japanese have utilized this officer with their customary thoroughness, he has already instructed their whole service along these lines before now. Other Japanese officers are undoubtedly under instruction in the United States of America now. If there should be war with any strong naval power to-morrow, could those of us now on communication duty be reasonably expected to hold our own against a service so well prepared and carefully trained? Our Yankee ingenuity avails but little. Isolated cases of ingenuity are never effective and more likely to confuse our own forces than the enemy.
I have brought out many facts—some of which are not pleasant to consider. It is only fair to state unreservedly that the present heads of the communication service are above any criticism I have raised here. All of these heads are line officers of broad experience, who have been fitted for their present duties by an unusually large amount of service in communication work or its allied branches. These men have demonstrated unusual ability to organize but to get lasting results they must be supplied with enthusiastic officer material to organize upon. The present heads of the communication service deserve great credit for their accomplishment in holding communications to war-time efficiency. It has been a great task to do even that. I believe we have made progress in the last two years towards better preparation for war.
To stimulate greater progress it is essential that all higher ranking officers be fully convinced of the true importance of radio communications. They must also recognize the value of communication duty from an educational standpoint in the preparation of officers for ultimate command. If the officers eligible to serve upon selection boards will give proper credit for communication duty, it will become more desirable duty and attract some of the most brilliant minds. If brilliant minds, enthusiastic to improve conditions, are enlisted in the course, we can leave to present leaders the work of reorganization.
The present organization has been adjusted to utilize the present type of communication officer—usually one lacking experience and performing many extra duties.
The reorganization must be built upon properly trained versatile communication officers, who are enthusiastic and contented because they are confident that their accomplishments in communications will receive the same weight as those of other officers other lines.