Each station responds in order, but does not wait
more than a few seconds for the station immediately
preceding to acknowledge. If you are on gun 3, and
gun 2 does not respond in a few seconds, you
acknowledge and let gun 2 come in at the end. A
circuit test is not complete until every person has
answered and faults in equipment have been
checked
Sending
In sending a message, first call the station you want,
and then identify your own station; finally, state the
message:
“Foc’sle, bridge; prepare to anchor in fife minutes.”
“Fantail, bridge; slack off stern line.”
Receiving
When receiving a message, first repeat back the
message, identify yourself, and then acknowledge the
message.
“Prepare to anchor in fife minutes; foc’sle, aye.”
“Slack off stern line; fantail, aye.”
Both Sending and Receiving
The following are examples of sending and
receiving a message:
“Fantail, bridge; report the status of slacking off the
stern line.”
“Report status of slacking off the stern line; fantail,
aye; stern line is slack”
“Main engine control, bridge; report which boilers
are on the line.”
“Report which boilers are on the line; main engine
control, aye; wait.”
“Bridge, main engine control; boilers too, tree, and
fo-wer on the line.”
“Boilers too, tree, and fo-wer on the line; bridge,
aye.”
Repeats
When a message is not clear to the listener at the
receiving end, the receiver should say, “Say again.” For
example, damage control central wants repair two to
send a submersible pump to repair three. The central
talker says, “Repair too, central; send one submersible
pump to repair tree.”
Repair two does not understand this message, so the
talker there says, “Central, repair too; say again.”
Central repeats the message and repair two
acknowledges by saying, “Send one submersible
pump to repair tree; repair too, aye.”
Spelling
Difficult words are spelled by using the phonetic
alphabet preceded by the prowords (procedural words)
“I spell.” Pronounce the word before and after spelling
it. For example:
“Foc’sle-I spell—FOXTROT OSCAR ROMEO
ECHO CHARLIE ALFA SIERRA TANGO LIMA
ECHO, Foc’sle.”
Temporarily Leaving the Circuit
When a phone talker is relieved by another talker,
the phone talker must request permission to change
phone talkers. If a talker is exchanging a faulty set of
phones for a good set, the phone talker must request
permission to change phones.
“Bridge, after steering; request permission to
change phone talkers.”
“Bridge, combat; request permission to change
phones.”
Once the talker has been given permission to go off
the circuit and the talker rejoins the circuit, the report
given is,
“Bridge, combat; back on the line.”
Securing
Before securing the phones, you must always get
permission.
4-8
Student Notes:
