As we've been talking about signalling and communications lately, I thought it appropriate to show off some of my pictures of the facilities aboard Iowa.
Most of Iowa's antennas are visible in this photo1
Unfortunately, radio isn't really my thing, and this post will be less informative than my usual posts on these subjects. If you want more information, I'd encourage you to get in touch with Iowa's very active amateur radio association. There are also some spaces I don't have pictures of, most notably the transmitter room on 3rd deck. It was locked when I went in 2018, and I didn't have time to visit in 2019 or 2021. Pictures can be found here at Nick England's superb website. The visual signalling gear is from the 40s, while I believe all the radios were replaced during the 80s reactivation.
The radio room aboard Iowa
A triple teletype receiver
More radio electronics
This is the main electronics unit for the special secure voice system. Red phones are found in important spaces around the ship so that the Captain or other senior officers can speak securely to shore.
Even more radio room
The HF Discone antenna, intended primarily for Link 11/NTDS
The UHF antenna for receiving satellite fleet broadcast, along with the base of what I think is an antenna for the SLQ-32 jamming system.
A signal lamp
The signal bridge
The flag locker on the signal bridge
The signal shelter, a lightly-armored compartment near the signal bridge intended to keep a signal party safe in battle so they could easily pass messages to other ships. During WWII, voice radio made this unnecessary, and it would not have been installed on any new battleships the US might have hypothetically built.
1 All photos from my collection. ⇑
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