Kerala

The spurt of humour in defence signals

Three Jaguars crashed – the message spread fast on an Indian warship and an officer even started search-and-rescue procedures to save the pilots. Very soon, it was called off, as a second look at the message proved that the three fighter aircraft had ‘crossed’ the ship and not ‘crashed’.

‘I observe that you observe too much,’ read a message sent (in lighter vein) by the commanding officer of a Naval ship to an Admiral, since the Admiral had a penchant for perfection. There is no record though, of what happened to the commanding officer.

These are just two of the many interesting and humorous messages (signals in Naval parlance) that find mention in the book ‘Signal Pack - An Anthology of Signals’. It has been brought out in connection with the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Indian Navy’s Signal School, located at the Southern Naval Command in Kochi. The contents were taken from the collection of officers and sailors – serving and retired.

The book also mentions an incident where a midshipman on his second day of duty on board Indian Naval Ship (INS) Tir shouted out “An Admiral doesn’t have balls.” He was referring to the fact that as an officer rises up in the service, he loses the number of balls on his flag, with the Admiral’s flag having none. The book’s cover has another interesting message between personnel – ‘Yankee two, this is whisky four. I am pulling the target, not pushing it.’

The foreword has been written by Vice Admiral (retd) M.P. Awati, who ushered in a new era in Indian Naval communication. “Brevity has been the hallmark of Naval signals,” he writes.

In the prologue Captain M.S. Chandrasekhar, Officer-in-Charge of the School, speaks of how signalling in the Navy has advanced to mobile satellite communication, from the initial days when flags and torches were used. “A signal made at the spur of the moment offers us an insight into the actual reactions and deliberations of the man at the scene,” he says. The book looks at the historical events and everyday occurrences in the Indian Navy, derived from the signals that originated at that time.

Many of the signals have a poetic touch to it. The chapter ‘Nauty Tales’ has captured odds and ends from annals of Naval signalling, that bring a smile on face of readers. In this, INS Gaj is recorded messaging to ships in Kochi harbour – ‘Gaj beckons all, who have their pulling might tall, for a challenge on their whaler, where there’s no room for failure’. ‘Request services of mobile cane for three days commencing 13 June,’ is another from the annals of the Navy. INS Venduruthy, the shore establishment at Kochi, sent a message thanking Royal Navy Submarine Affray which was returning after her Kochi visit – ‘We are no longer affrayed’.

A ship’s commanding officer reported traces of oil slick near Mysore, following which he got back the message from the officer of another ship – ‘What you see on the water astern of me, is my bad oil – the inevitable morning soil.’

A chapter has been devoted to the brief history of signalling, followed by the portion ‘Sands of Time’ – signals made on historic occasions, beginning with the Goa liberation. ‘Capture me a Portuguese frigate please’, read the then Navy Chief’s message to subordinates. INS Betwa signalling to Portuguese Naval Ship Albuquerque to ‘Please surrender or I open fire,’ in what was to be the first gun battle of the Indian Navy; the 1965 Indo-Pak war in which the then Navy Chief directed to ‘Seek and destroy all enemy warships. Slice the maritime link between two wings of the enemy,’ too have been mentioned.

At the end of her maiden circumnavigation of the globe, just before she called at Kochi, INS Tarangini sent this message to the Naval Headquarters – ‘Indescribable is the joy of on board on sighting God’s own land after 15 months.’

John L. Paul

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