"Naval Salvo Alarm" Topic
5 Posts
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Tgerritsen | 10 Aug 2015 8:35 a.m. PST |
This is probably a simple question, and I confess that I was in the navy, but never served on ship (I was a land sailor working in cryptography, so my service was in secured rooms with no windows.) When did the salvo alarm first come into practice and by whom? (The practice of sounding an alarm just before firing a weapon.) I know it was common practice in WWII (but was it in use by all nations? Where there instances when this alarm wasn't used? Was it standard practice in WWI? How about the 19th Century?) |
spontoon | 10 Aug 2015 3:53 p.m. PST |
During the 18th. and 19th century the marine drummers would " beat" to quarters, so folk would presume firing would commence shortly. |
Tgerritsen | 10 Aug 2015 5:24 p.m. PST |
You could make that argument about General Quarters as well. When did the practice of using a horn, siren or bell to warn the crew that a salvo was about to go out? |
Blutarski | 11 Aug 2015 3:18 a.m. PST |
I will need to dive into my reference sources to confirm, but, IIRC, the IGN of the WW1 era employed a sound alert (buzzer/gong) to initiate the discharge of a salvo. There was no central key director firing in use at that time; each gun was individually fired by its gunlayer when the sound alert was given. In WW2 night actions (RN, IIRC), a sound alert slightly in advance of the firing of each salvo warned bridge personnel to close their eye to preserve their night vision. B |
ScottWashburn | 12 Aug 2015 9:34 a.m. PST |
As I recall, the salvo alarm was to warn any sailors on deck that the big guns were going to fire so they could take cover. Unprotected, they could be seriously injured or even killed by the concussion of the guns firing. This became particularly important during WWII where there were so many anti-aircraft guns mounted on the decks. I believe the men manning those guns had places of refuge below the deck level where they could take cover. |
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