Message Orders for Operation "Rheinübung"

[Translated from the German by Google Translate.]  Fleet Command Gkdos 90/41 A4 Chiefs.

On board, April 21, 1941

Top priority
only by officer

Message orders for Operation "Rheinübung"

( Fleet Gkdos 100/41 A1 Chiefs. of 22.4.41 .)

A.) Radio service:

I.) With home: According to the communications order of Group Command North or West.

II.) Within the unit:

a) UK channels

1.) From departure until May 9, 24:00: 10
2.) From May 10, 00:00 to May 19, 24:00: 15
3.) From May 20, 00:00 to June 5, 24:00: 12
4.) From June 6, 00:00 to June 17, 24:00: 18
5.) From June 18, 00:00 to July 2, 24:00: 9
6.) From July 4, 00:00 to July 16, 24:00: 13
7.) From July 17, 00:00 until completion or until the ordered time: 18
8.) During the duration of fuel or resupply operations, Special channels are to be ordered for direct ship-to-troop vessel traffic. The currently valid channel remains in place as a cross-connection between the warships of the squadron as long as they are within UK range and the UK connection is necessary.

b) Longwave near zone for tactical cooperation with submarines:
1.) Mondays: Lucie Toni
2.) Tuesdays: Max Paula
3.) Wednesdays: Lucie
4.) Thursdays: Nanni
5.) Fridays: Paula
6.) Saturdays: Max Ida
7.) Sundays: Max Lucie
Wave change; unless otherwise ordered in individual cases, at 0800.

c) Longwave near zone for traffic of warships with reconnaissance and troop vessels :
1.) Lucie Emil Max
2.) Lucie Max (alternative welbe)
Cross sum allocation see Appendix 1.

III.) In cooperation with aircraft:

1.) Aircraft reconnaissance wave: Anton Dora
2.) Aircraft Bismarck wave: Anton Dora
3.) Aircraft Pr. Eugen wave: Anton Gustav
4.) Air reconnaissance wave
5.) Fighter wave
6.) Direction finding and evasion wave
7.) Communication wave for fighter protection
are ordered by the commanding group command with FT, unless specified in NB's.

IV.) Prize radio service: According to the special instructions of the OKM for prizes of domestic naval forces.

V.) Radio service of supply ships and escort tankers: according to Annex 2.

B.) Key service:

1.) According to the group commands' message orders.
2.) Special short signals for longwave near zone, see Annex 3.
3.) Radio traffic on longwave near zone encrypted.

C.) Special arrangements:

1.) The longwave short-range zone of section II b) is only to be used when submarines are involved in radio communications. Therefore, it is all located below 1000 meters.
2.) In optical, UK, and longwave short-range communications, as soon as a uniform ship's time is ordered for the entire convoy, this time must be used.

D.) Radio direction finding service:

1.) According to messages, orders from the group commands.
2.) SB requests are to be transmitted on coastal shortwave radio.

E.) ES service:

1.) According to ES regulations.
2.) Conning tower roofs within the area of ​​friendly combat air power are to be bright yellow, outside this area gray. The same applies to swastika flags painted on the bow and stern.
3.) Fl.SZ (colorful beacons) red : April, June. white : May, July.
Displayed on ships simultaneously upon UK order from the task force command. Deployed task forces are to be informed by the commanding group command. Fl.SZ (colorful beacons) are to be shown only when cooperating with combat, not escort, task forces.

Distribution list:

2nd Class Test Number   Group West Group North Fleet Commander-in-Chief Operations Commander-in- Chief 2nd Admiral Fleet Bismarck Pr. Eugen Gonzenheim Kota Penang Ermland Belchen Bremen Esso-Hamburg Spichern Reserve Lorraine

1 2-4 5-7 8-10 10-13 14-16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 28-30 27

On behalf of.
Signed: Bormann.

For accuracy:

[signed]

Oblt.MAuN1

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Annex 1 to Fleet Gkdos 90/41 A4 Chiefs.v.21.4.

Cross sum allocation for radio communications of tankers and troopers.

21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34

Bismarck Pr.Eugen Gonzenheim Kota Penang Ermland Belchen Bremen Esso-Hamburg Lorraine Spichern Gneisenau Scharnhorst Heide Weissenburg

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Annex 2 to Fleet Gkdos 90/41 A4 Chiefs.v.21.4.41

Radio service of the troop ships and escort tankers.

I. Radio communication with the homeland:
according to the communications orders of the group commands.

II. Radio communication with naval forces:
With partial amendments to the orders originally issued by the group commands, the following is commanded:

a) Direction finding for rendezvous:
Troopers and escort tankers occupy the long-wave shortwave band for 30 minutes at the times they are scheduled to rendezvous according to operational orders.

The ship to be rendezvous, the lead ship in a convoy, initiates radio communication on this wave, if necessary, by transmitting "ww w" with an interspersed five-digit number group, the digital root of which is specified [assigned] to it in operational orders, beginning with the lowest transmission power. The call lasts 1 minute.

The following minute is reserved for the responding station. Battleships use only the odd minutes until contact is established , troopers and escort tankers use the even minutes, regardless of the time the radio communication begins.

If no answer is received in the second minute, the call should be repeated in the third minute with a slightly higher transmission power. As soon as the called radio station has received the call, it should reply in the following even minute with "ww w" and an interspersed five-digit number group, the digital root of which corresponds to the name of its vessel.

The reply should also begin with the lowest transmission power, which should be increased to 50 percent output in the next transmission minute until the reply has been received. The calling radio station responds with its five-digit code and, using the traffic abbreviation, indicates the volume at which it is receiving the trooper, enabling the trooper to adjust its transmission power accordingly. The connection is considered established when both stations are receiving at volume 2.

Skilled petty officers should be assigned to this radio communication, and the best receivers with the volume fully turned up should be used.

A direction-finding radio message from the trooper or escort tanker is requested by the receiving vessel using the traffic abbreviation "qobs".

At this moment, the minute allocation is complete.

The requested radio station transmits a direction-finding message consisting of approximately 10-12 five-digit number groups, the first and last of which must equal the digital root assigned to the transmitting support vessel or escort tanker. No acknowledgment of receipt is given for this direction-finding message; a new request is made by transmitting the traffic abbreviation "qobs" again.

Until visual contact is established and the radio link is thus completed, the settings on the transmitters and receivers with which the radio link was established must not be changed in order to ensure that radio communication can be resumed at any time without having to initiate a new call procedure.

b) Radio message exchange:
Radio communication is established as described in II a), unless it has already been established. The transmission of a radio message is to be announced by the traffic abbreviation "qtc", confirmed by the receiving station with "k". Radio message transmission according to the relay radio procedure. Keying according to M - General domestic waters. Radio names according to GFL.

c) Frequency change is ordered with the traffic abbreviation "qlns"...." = Switch from the longwave near zone to ....kHz

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3 Annex to Fleet Gkdos 90/41 A4 Chiefs.v.21.4.41

Special short signals for longwave near zone.

Beta   Epsilon   Bruno   C�sar   Nanni   Otto   Ulli   �se Jot   �se Karl   �se Lucie

Collect according to astronomical cutlery. Collect according to coupled cutlery (numbers included = collection square). Do you have astronomical cutlery? Yes No Take-off clearance for onboard aircraft No take-off clearance Reconnaissance according to plan ..... by onboard aircraft Reconnaissance according to plan ..... by onboard aircraft Reconnaissance according to plan ..... by onboard aircraft

All signals must be transmitted securely and repeated by the receiver. Introductory signal: period.