Could Future Naval Battles Be Fought With Morse Code?

Captain John Konrad (gCaptain) May future naval battles be waged utilizing Morse code flashed between ships? One admiral believes so.

On the third Indo-Pacific Safety Convention 2024, held right now on the Bundeswehr Command & Employees School in Hamburg, Germany, a query arose concerning the potential of navies to guard tankers and replenishment oilers within the occasion of struggle within the Western Pacific.

In a gCaptain article Captain Steve Carmel, a former Vice President for Maersk LLP mentioned america Service provider Marine is a minimum of 100 tankers wanting assembly fundamental vitality wants within the occasion of struggle within the Pacific, it would subsequently be extremely necessary to guard the few tankers and oilers we do have within the Pacific.

There are, nonetheless, a couple of main issues. Neither US Service provider Marine tankers or Navy Sealift replenishment oilers have anti-air weapon techniques to shoot down enemy missiles or drones.

Second, Navy oilers endure common upkeep at American restore shipyards however many business oil tankers- which will probably be required to refuel abroad oil storage services and ahead air bases – are more and more being repaired at Chinese language yards main some to query if adware or distant shutdown techniques might be put in whereas techniques are down.

Third, Navy owned oilers have safe communication techniques to coordinate with naval warships however business oil takes don’t.

These vulnerabilities had been raised in a query on the occasion. A senior flag officer from a significant NATO Navy ignored the potential cybersecurity threats however addressed the opposite two points.

He said that defending Service provider Delivery over such an enormous space is a difficult concern. Even when service provider ships are convoyed, a drone swarm or a barrage of missiles might nonetheless overwhelm the defenses of convoy frigates.

Communication poses a big problem too. The flag officer famous that even refined communication techniques on superior warships may be jammed by gear on enemy services and ships. Consequently, convoys and even battle teams may need to depend on Morse code by way of blinker lights.

Though seemingly old style, this methodology supplies a reliable technique to talk, much less liable to digital warfare. Blinker lights transmitting Morse code enable very important data to be despatched even throughout intense jamming. This highlights the necessity to preserve conventional communication abilities alongside fashionable expertise.

The officer, who can’t be named because of Chatham Home media guidelines, states that he has ordered his nation’s warships to observe utilizing blinker lights throughout life like sea workouts. He inspired different NATO navies to observe go well with.

A senior officer from a smaller NATO Navy encourages allies to discover each revolutionary and low-tech options for service provider ship protection. This might embrace putting in non-lethal anti-drone techniques, comparable to jammers, on service provider ships. He additionally talked about that discussions ought to start about equipping ships with anti-aircraft weapons, paying homage to these used throughout World Conflict II.