Voicepipes

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rivnut
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Voicepipes

Post by rivnut »

It is interesting that as maritime voicepipes reached their technical peak, they were already superceded by the intercom and the interdepartmental telephones. Switchboards were generally dispersed throughout the larger ships. Meanwhile the voicepipes were visible everywhere. Electricians at the time were often in charge of these things and invariably never had to touch them. I've noticed that in many photos of the Bismarck, sets of voicepipes are placed in open conditions without obvious weather coverings. Does anyone have any background information on the use of voicepipes on the Bismarck?

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celticmarine10
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Re: Voicepipes

Post by celticmarine10 »

I'm pretty sure that telephones were used mainly, but your right in the fact that were many voice tubes, mainly for talk between local areas I think, like the FC center and gunnery computer room?
Sorry, but I don't know alot about this, though would love to find out more. Anyone else have any info?
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tommy303
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Re: Voicepipes

Post by tommy303 »

Voice tubes were provided as both a convenience in some cases where it was desirable to communicate quickly without having to go through the switchboard--such as with between bridges, with command central, chart room, etc., and as a redundancy should their be a failure of telephones or public address systems. There are several pictures showing the interior of the conning tower and the exterior in which a flexible rubber voice tube is installed through the forward vision slit so captain and other standing on the combat bridge gallery could communicate directly with the helmsman and officer of the watch in the conning tower.

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