Rhode Island Radio - Topredo Station

The Torpedo Station's mission was to develop torpedoes, torpedo equipment, explosives, and electrical equipment. Through experiments conducted there, the torpedo evolved from the immobile explosive mine of the Civil War period to the efficient and highly mobile weapon of today. The Station worked on other ordnance projects, including an impractical dynamite-throwing gun, projectile explosives such as dynamite and nitroglycerine, and gun cotton. The Navy's first smokeless gunpowder was also manufactured there. The first experiments in shipboard electricity were conducted at the Torpedo Station in the late 1880s. ¹

In 1869 Rose Island was acquired for the storage of explosives and for experimental firings. ¹

In 1887 the machine shop was wired to conform with a plan for illuminating ships with electric lights. ¹

In May of 1900 Lieutenant John B Blish, the Navy's principal elecrical expert, is in Newport setting up a experimental wireless telegraph station.

Providence Journal May 24, 1900

Providence Journal May 27, 1900

Annual Reports of the Navy Department

Early Naval Radio Installations and Problems

In 1902 a wireless antenna mast 180 feet high was erected at the Station to allow tests and evaluations of wireless radio communications. ¹

The Montgomery Advertiser
August 30, 1902

Providence Journal August 22, 1902

Providence Journal October 6, 1902

Providence Journal October 24, 1902

Providence Journal November 3, 1902

At the end of 1902 the 180 foot mast was buckeled by high winds

Providence Journal December 9, 1902

Eventually the 148 foot top section of the mast came to the ground due to the weight of the snow.

Providence Journal December 27, 1902

It is decided not to replace the mast because new wireless apparatus was seheduled to be installed

Providence Journal January 26, 1903

Between the end of July and mid September 1903 the new wireless apparatus is set up and becomes opperational.

Providence Providence Journal July 29, 1903

Providence Journal August 1, 1903

Providence Journal September 16, 1903

Providence Journal
September 18, 1903

The Morning Journal Courier
September 19, 1903

Providence Journal September 23, 1903

Providence Journal September 23, 1903

The USS Topeka left the West Indies on March 30th, 1904 and returned to the United States upon her arrival at Charleston on the 5th. On 15 May, the warship reported for duty at Newport, Rhode Island, and, for the next four months, participated in wireless telegraphy experiments conducted off the New England coast.

USS Topeka

Providence Journal June 12, 1904

Providence Journal June 2, 1905

In 1905, the first use of wireless in the rescue of an American ship happened and the "HELP" (SOS had not been established as of yet) message was received at the Torpedo Wireless Station.

Naval Training Station
1905 Station Antenna
From Newport Firsts: A Hundred Claims to Fame (RI)
By Brian M. Stinson

Providence Journal
October 7, 1905

Providence Journal October 13, 1905

Providence Journal
November 8, 1905

Providence Journal
January 10, 1906

Providence Journal
April 27, 1906

In April of 1906 a distance record was broken by the station when it received a message from 1000 miles away from the Battleship Maryland.

Providence Journal April 21, 1906

Also in 1906, a young man with a homemade wireless set, modeled after Massie equipment, disrupted the powerful US Navy wirless statioon in Newport. The wireless apparatus was set up in a hen house!

Providence Journal April 21, 1906

Providence Journal
February 6, 1907

A Handbook of
Wireless Telegraph
its Theory and Parctice
James Erskine-Murray, 1907

Providence Journal
October 16, 1908

Providence Journal
November 3, 1908

Providence Journal November 8, 1908

Providence Journal
February 18, 1909

Providence Journal
April 15, 1909

Pawtucket Times June 23, 1909

Providence Journal
December 29, 1909

Providence Journal
January 11, 1910

Woonsocket Call January 15, 1910

Providence Journal January 16, 1910

Providence Journal January 16, 1910

Providence Journal January 27, 1910

Pawtucket Times
May 26, 1910

Providence Journal
October 14, 1910

Providence Journal
October 18, 1910

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Torpedo Station 1910

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Newport Torpedo Station 1910

Providence Providence Journal December 9, 1910

Providence Journal
December 11, 1910

Providence Journal
October 12, 1911

Bristol Phoenix
November 1, 1912

Electrician and Mechanic, 1912

Torpedo Station 1912

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Torpedo Station 1912

In 1912 the distance record was broken once sgain by the station when it received a message from California, Mare Island Station that was sent to Key West Florida.