Senior officers recommended Somerville for wireless development at HMS Vernon, where the torpedo school already provided electrical training, expertise, and infrastructure. The experiments examined Morse transmission range, signal modulation, reliable reception, and the risk that an enemy could detect a transmission. Marconi's 1901 transatlantic transmission showed how quickly wireless was becoming practical, while Royal Navy trials had already been running aboard individual ships. The Navy now needed a defined specialist corps, so senior officers identified juniors with an aptitude for the technology and concentrated them at Vernon. Their later attachment to flagships and major exercises made the technical school a pipeline into operational command as well as a research center.
Chapter · 23:31-29:22
HMS Vernon turned aptitude into wireless expertise
At HMS Vernon, Somerville helped test wireless range, modulation, interception risk, and the practical requirements of a new naval specialty.