Military Morse Code

Morse code and the military grew up together. For about a century, if a message had to cross a battlefield or an ocean fast, it probably went out as dots and dashes. Here's how that worked, when it faded out, and where it still shows up.

One quick note before we start: military Morse code is the same International Morse code everyone else uses. There isn't a separate military version of the alphabet. What people often mean by "military alphabet" is the spoken Alfa, Bravo, Charlie list, which is something else entirely (more on that below).

The Civil War: the first telegraph war

The Union Army set up the U.S. Military Telegraph Corps in 1861. It grew to more than 1,500 operators and strung over 15,000 miles of line (Wikipedia). Operators went along with the armies and sent reports back to Washington by Morse.

Abraham Lincoln used it more than anyone. He wrote nearly 1,000 telegrams as president and spent evenings in the War Department telegraph office waiting for news from the front, sometimes sleeping there during big battles (History.com). Where the wires didn't reach, the Army used Albert Myer's "wig-wag" flag signals instead, as the NSA's Civil War signals history describes.

Radio, WWI and WWII

Once radio arrived, Morse went wireless. The U.S. Navy experimented with sending it from aircraft in 1910, and by WWII it carried long-range traffic between ships, shore stations and patrol planes (Wikipedia). Radio voice was around by then, but Morse got through static and weak signals that voice couldn't.

Ships also sent Morse with light. A signal lamp flashed short and long pulses so ships could talk while keeping radio silent, which mattered a lot to convoys hiding from submarines. The Naval History and Heritage Command still holds a signal light gun from PT-361 used in the Philippines around 1945. You can try the same idea with our Morse code light translator.

The POW who blinked "TORTURE"

The most famous military use of Morse didn't need any equipment. In May 1966, Navy Cdr. Jeremiah Denton, a prisoner in North Vietnam, was forced into a propaganda interview on camera. While answering questions, he blinked T-O-R-T-U-R-E in Morse code with his eyes. The National Archives calls it the first clear confirmation U.S. intelligence received that American POWs were being tortured. Here's how to blink in Morse code yourself.

Denton was held for almost eight years. He later became a rear admiral and a U.S. senator (CBS News). Other POWs in the same prisons talked through the walls with tap code, a knocking system that's easier to send than Morse.

In Morse, TORTURE looks like this:

- --- .-. - ..- .-. .

When the military stopped relying on it

Morse faded out over the second half of the 20th century as satellites and voice radio took over.

• The Navy had largely dropped Morse for regular traffic by the 1970s, according to a 1995 Virginian-Pilot report.
• The U.S. Coast Guard stopped using Morse on March 31, 1995, after more than 90 years. It had received only two Morse SOS calls the year before (same report).
• Merchant ships stopped needing it when the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System became mandatory on February 1, 1999 (Wikipedia).
• The French Navy signed off in 1997 with "Calling all. This is our last call before our eternal silence" (Wikipedia).

Does the military still use Morse code?

A little, yes. The U.S. Air Force still trains a small number of people to copy Morse, because other countries' forces still use it. In 2015 the course moved from Fort Huachuca in Arizona to Goodfellow Air Force Base in Texas, which expected to train about 10 students a year (Goodfellow AFB). Students had to copy 20 words per minute to graduate (Goodfellow AFB).

The Navy still teaches some sailors flashing light signals, and pilots hear navigation beacons identify themselves in Morse, such as "BAL" for Baltimore (Navy Times).

Military alphabet vs Morse code

The "military alphabet" (Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta) is the NATO phonetic alphabet. It's for speaking letters clearly over a radio or phone. The version used today was adopted in 1956 (Wikipedia). Morse code is for sending letters as signals. Each letter has both:

We cover the difference in more detail in Morse code vs the phonetic alphabet, and the full letter list is on the Morse code alphabet page.

Code talkers are another thing people mix up. They were Native American service members who spoke their own languages over radio and telephone. They didn't use Morse (National WWII Museum).

Q codes: military shorthand

Radio operators used three-letter Q codes to save time, and many are still used by hams. They date to around 1909 and were adopted internationally in 1912 (Wikipedia). A few examples: QTH (my location is), QSL (I acknowledge), QRZ (who is calling me?). NATO forces also use a separate set of Z codes. See our symbols and prosigns page for more.

Frequently asked questions

Is military Morse code different from regular Morse code? No. The military uses standard International Morse code. What differs is the shorthand, like Q codes and Z codes, that operators layer on top.

Does the military still use Morse code? Only in small ways. The Air Force trains a handful of people to intercept Morse each year, the Navy still uses flashing light signals, and aircraft beacons still identify themselves in Morse.

When did the Navy stop using Morse code? The Navy mostly dropped it for regular traffic in the 1970s. The Coast Guard ended Morse on March 31, 1995.

What did Jeremiah Denton blink in Morse code? T-O-R-T-U-R-E, during a filmed interview as a POW in 1966.

Is the military alphabet Morse code? No. The military alphabet (Alfa, Bravo, Charlie) is for speaking letters. Morse code sends letters as dots and dashes.

Related: tap code · Morse code machines · history of Morse code · SOS in Morse code · main translator