17 happened on July 1897: Positive results for Marconi's Radio

17/07/14

in the waters of La Spezia by Guglielmo Marconi tests with positive radiotelegraphic transmission with the battleship San Martino (commander, captain of vessel Enrico Zino) with connections maintained until 18.000 m.

The tests that will last two days, and which had no precedent in the experiments conducted by Marconi himself in Great Britain, demonstrated the possibility, hitherto questioned, of receiving Hertzian waves even in the magnetic environment of iron ships. Furthermore, it will be on the basis of the results achieved in these tests that all the major nations will start the installation, on board and on the ground, of the first radio-telegraph equipment, with the aim of collecting all the elements useful for their application in the reports. maritime. Following the positive results achieved, the ministry will arrange for the installation of radio equipment on the Trinacria and on the battleships Sicily and Sardinia mainly for experimental purposes and personnel training and will also provide for the construction of terrestrial radiotelegraphic stations (the first will be those on the islands Palmaria and Gorgona and Livorno).

[The first ground-on-board radiotelegraphic experiment in Morse code was successfully concluded on day 14 between the transmitter (a 25-meter antenna) positioned in the San Bartolomeo shipyard and the receiver on board the tugboat No. 8 .. The connection is maintained up to a distance of 12.700 m.]

Source: Military Navy