| Enclosure 29 to Kriegstagebuch I | ||
The Radio Traffic during the capture of the British Steamer |
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" MAIMOA ". |
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| On 20 November at midday the on board aircraft was set upon a sighted steamer. Radio communications were based on the Communications Order established for the aircraft (see the Communications Report on the period in the Indian Ocean from 20 August to 20 September, Enclosure 2). A change occurred when the first aircraft was lost on 5 September, 1940, along with the loss of the special "Fu.G." device, and there was no spare on board. A backpack VHF set, which would otherwise have been used for telephone calls, was not included in the aircraft to save weight. A Shortwave set was switched on and a Longwave direction finder was used in case of emergency (according to the Communications Order). In principle, radio silence was to be maintained and only for an emergency a radio message in the form of a special Short Signal (see Signal Table of the Communications Order) was issued. | ||
| At 13.43 hours the aircraft tore the steamer's antenna and sent an order to stop and not use the radio. The antenna was reset, and the steamer sent its first distress message at 14.02 hours. Since Ship 33 was not yet within artillery range, the ship refrained from jamming the messages from the steamer "MAIMOA," whose name was recognized in the radio traffic. Radio interference only began when the steamer attempted to give a description [of the raider]. The description was then discontinued, and only an RRR report with name and location was sent. At 15.45 hours, Perth repeated the R-report with the position information. This message was also broadcast on 36 meters without a signature. Since the steamer had no Shortwave station, it is assumed that this repetition was transmitted by a nearby ship. After the first salvo by Ship 33, the distress message was immediately canceled. | ||
| The auxiliary ship of Ship 33, approximately 65 nautical miles away at the time of the boarding, observed the radio traffic and assesses the interference as follows: | ||
| "The distress message from the "MAIMOA" was received at 14.00 hours, and when the steamer wanted to give a description at 15.31 hours and introduced it with the word "description," the | ||
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Click the flag to view the above page from the original German KTB |
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| jamming traffic from Ship 33 began. Ship 33 used a high-power spark transmitter (Marconi 1.5 kW). The spark transmitter's tone was very low, while the "MAIMOA" transmitter had a piercingly high tone, so that the transmitted message could be heard despite the interference. The "MAIMOA" transmission was also received louder than that of Ship 33. The Marconi spark transmitter used also had a very wide band, from 250 kHz to 1200 kHz at a distance of 65 nautical miles, and could therefore alert neighboring traffic circles. When 33 interfered with a tube transmitter, receiving the "MAIMOA" message was complicated, but still possible. The recorded description reads: RRRR MAIMOA chased - 083/20 - description - black hull white band short funnel goal post masts short topmast. At about 16.45 hours, the radio suddenly stops. | |||
| According to the radio operator on the "MAIMOA," the ship was equipped with a 750-watt transmitter. After the antenna was torn down by the aircraft, the end dangling from the foremast was first routed to the radio station and used with the emergency transmitter. Then a spare antenna that was ready was deployed by the Second Radio Operator and transmitted again from the steamer station. The messages were initiated by RR and not the usual QQQ, because the type of enemy ship was initially unclear. | |||
| On November 21st, a radio message encrypted by Merchant Navy Code was sent to all British merchant ships with the following content: | |||
| "VIP to GBMS cde 32 1306/20 form Naval Freemantle | |||
| From district naval officer Western Australia Geraldton Radio received at 09.27 GMT 20th November: begins corrupt short funnel corrupt topmast corrupt course 150 speed 11 knots MAIMOA chased 1752 ends." | |||
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Excerpt of the Radio Log Book |
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