How did submarines receive messages during a patrol?

Although submarines couldn’t send messages over long distances, messages could be received using a very low frequency which would have a much longer range. The fleet (or Fox) broadcast was sent from very long antennae and could reach submarines thousands of miles away.

Messages in the Fox broadcast were all transmitted in a sequence and were repeated a couple times during the night. This allowed each submarine to pick off their own messages. Perhaps, they might also pick out messages for other boats in their wolfpack or in the general area to gain more information about what was going on around them. They would not attempt to acknowledge receipt unless specifically ordered to do so.

Submarines did not broadcast messages using the long, low frequency antennae running along much of the length of the boat. They could only use the higher frequency, medium range radios. Their messages would often have to have been relayed in order to reach commanders at Pearl Harbor, Midway or Australia.

There might occasionally have been a very limited amount of positive, personal information in these messages. The ship’s office on the Pampanito displays one such message regarding the birth of a child. It appears that Pampanito was returning from patrol when the message was received. Generally, care was taken not to send messages with bad news since the sailor couldn’t do anything about it at the time. There was no sense in distressing the sailor needlessly.