Existing comment:
Naval Wireless Station, Point Loma:
The Navy was the first regular user of radio telegraph equipment in the United States. According to the Office of Naval Intelligence, the Navy alone provided both the demand and the funding for research and development of radio communications since 1904. By 1912, technological advances had made it possible to send and receive wireless signals reliably from one side of the ocean to the other. As a result the Navy's Bureau of Steam Engineering intended to establish a global network of high-powered radio stations for its own as well as commercial use.
To deal with the Navy's growing need to maintain contact with the expanding fleet, a radio communication network began with a small frame building atop Point Loma on May 12, 1906, which handled 3,000 messages during its first year of operation. From 1906 to 1908, the station participated in various projects that contributed significantly to radio broadcasting. Of particular importance were Dr. Lee DeForest's experiments in radio telephone communications from the USS Connecticut, then part of the Great White Fleet, which added a new dimension to Navy's tactical flexibility. |