Page 1 of 1

Use of Aldis lamp

Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2019 7:43 am
by Borrel
My apologies if this is a foolish question but, in the early days of the short boats, (63 and 70’) who would have used the Aldis lamp? I assume the telegraphist would usually be stationed below so did one of the officers assume the duty, a seaman gunner, or did individual boats make their own arrangements?

Re: Use of Aldis lamp

Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2019 1:16 pm
by Peter
This is a very interesting post re the Aldis Lamp. Having served aboard MTB 243 70'ft Vosper and MGB 647 D Boat in the Adriatic Campaign I cannot recall any times that this method of communication was used,' except during the time of the Greece campaign with the vast assembly of Allied Ships heading for the port of Pireus (Athens) in daylight communication between Ships was the Aldis lamp was used by our Sparker

Re: Use of Aldis lamp

Posted: Sat Sep 28, 2019 7:10 am
by Borrel
Thanks for this. From what I can gather the Aldis was more popular at the start of hostilities when R/T was not as reliable, or for less "public" messaging. I've noted several references to shaded Aldis lamps being used to send messages to vessels astern.

Re: Use of Aldis lamp

Posted: Wed Nov 20, 2019 2:18 pm
by Sludder
When was this going on exactly, Borrel?

Re: Use of Aldis lamp

Posted: Thu Nov 21, 2019 7:37 am
by Borrel
Thank you for your response, Sludder; I'm thinking of the autumn of 1941.

Re: Use of Aldis lamp

Posted: Tue Dec 24, 2019 11:40 pm
by outsider
An example of a blue-shaded Aldis lamp being used can be found in the account of Sub-Lt. R. Q. Drayson, R.N.V.R. in MTB 236 sinking the German auxiliary cruiser Komet in October 1942 (for which he was awarded the DSO). Peter Scott detailed this in his book The Battle of the Narrow Seas - and I heard exactly the same account directly from Bob Drayson a good number of years ago.
Key to the story is that Drayson committed the cardinal sin of losing contact with the MTB ahead of him when he stopped based on a blue-shaded morse signal on an Aldis lamp. There were no radios in these boats at that stage, so it was either an Aldis lamp, or stop alongside and use shout.