D’you Hear There!

A unique approach to describing life at sea in the Royal Navy.

Despite the introduction of modern-day technology, ships and submarines of the Royal Navy still operate on the basis of main broadcast announcements, known in the Royal Navy as Pipes. Before the introduction of main broadcasts, a crew (or ship’s company) would be alerted to forthcoming ship’s activity either using a Bosun’s Call (which is a small pipe or whistle) or a bugle. Whilst those methods are still in place, and still used, a Pipe is now the term for any verbal announcement made over a ship’s main broadcast in the Royal Navy.

D’you Hear There! aims to translate their meanings, not simply to make the seemingly incomprehensible understandable, but also to conjure up often humorous anecdotes that provide an insight into life at sea in the RN. Each Pipe is provided with a brief description of its meaning followed by a longer observation of what it meant to different members of the ship’s company.