Original Item: Only One Available. This is a fantastic condition of a 1945 dated 12” US Navy Ship’s Signal Search Light with a very nice functional Morse code shutter assembly. Examples are extremely rare to come by, especially one with an original ship pedestal mount.

The back of the light assembly still has the original data plate that reads as:

GENERAL ELECTRIC
12 INCH SIGNALING SEARCH LIGHT
CAT. A158G9
NAVY MODEL NO. 95313
NAVY CONTRACT NObs - 20573
MANUFACTURED 1945
SERIAL NO. 19040

This signal lamp is in wonderful condition but remains untested. We are not sure if the light itself has working wiring, so as of right now this is a display item. It is recommended that if your intent is to have this as a working light that you have it examined and tested by a licensed electrician. There is no bulb included. The lamp on mount stands  at approximately 55” overall with the light portion measuring 12” x 15 ½”. The haze gray paint is retained quite nicely with only a few areas of paint loss now replaced by oxidation. The shutter assembly still opens and retracts as intended. Approximate overall weight of pedestal and light is 75 LBS.

Signal lamps were pioneered by the Royal Navy in the late 19th century. They were the second generation of signaling in the Royal Navy, after the flag signals most famously used to spread Nelson's rallying-cry, "England expects that every man will do his duty", before the Battle of Trafalgar.

The idea of flashing dots and dashes from a lantern was first put into practice by Captain, later Vice Admiral, Philip Howard Colomb, of the Royal Navy, in 1867. Colomb's design used limelight for illumination. His original code was not identical to Morse code, but the latter was subsequently adopted.

Another signaling lamp was the Begbie lamp, a kerosene lamp with a lens to focus the light over a long distance.

During the trench warfare of World War I when wire communications were often cut, German signals used three types of optical Morse transmitters, called Blinkgerät, the intermediate type for distances of up to 4 km (2.5 miles) in daylight and of up to 8 km (5 miles) at night, using red filters for undetected communications.

In 1944 Arthur Cyril Webb Aldis patented a small hand-held design, which featured an improved shutter.

A signal lamp (sometimes called an Aldis lamp or a Morse lamp) is a semaphore system using a visual signaling device for optical communication, typically using Morse code. The idea of flashing dots and dashes from a lantern was first put into practice by Captain Philip Howard Colomb, of the Royal Navy, in 1867. Coulomb's design used limelight for illumination, and his original code was not the same as Morse code. During World War I, German signalers used optical Morse transmitters called Blinkgerät, with a range of up to 8 km (5 miles) at night, using red filters for undetected communications.

Modern signal lamps produce a focused pulse of light, either by opening and closing shutters mounted in front of the lamp, or by tilting a concave mirror. They continue to be used to the present day on naval vessels and for aviation light signals in air traffic control towers, as a backup device in case of a complete failure of an aircraft's radio.

Modern signal lamps can produce a focused pulse of light. In large versions, this pulse is achieved by opening and closing shutters mounted in front of the lamp, either via a manually operated pressure switch, or, in later versions, automatically. With hand-held lamps, a concave mirror is tilted by a trigger to focus the light into pulses. The lamps were usually equipped with some form of optical sight, and were most commonly used on naval vessels and in air traffic control towers, using color signals for stop or clearance. In manual signaling, a signalman would aim the light at the recipient ship and turn a lever, opening and closing the shutter over the lamp, to emit flashes of light to spell out text messages in Morse code. On the recipient ship, a signalman would observe the blinking light, often with binoculars, and translate the code into text. The maximum transmission rate possible via such flashing light apparatus is no more than 14 words per minute.

Some signal lamps are mounted on the mastheads of ships while some small hand-held versions are also used. Other more powerful versions are mounted on pedestals. These larger ones use a carbon arc lamp as their light source, with a diameter of 20 inches (510 mm). These can be used to signal to the horizon, even in conditions of bright sunlight.