What's with those big helmets? 

Little gaffe in the narration when I say 82.6cm I meant to say 28.6cm for the helmet width. I must have been thinking of Lord Helmet =)

Talker Helmets - often used as a prop during slow watches for comedic skits based on Star Wars or Spaceballs.

Fun fact, the talker helmet was used as the base for the Death Star Trooper, Imperial Gunners, and Rebel troops in the original Star Wars.

It's not just the talker helmet that's out of place in Greyhound, but the ship itself. Almost the entirety of the Fletcher class were assigned to the Pacific due to their greater speed and range while older destroyer classes like the Porter, Somers, and Benham were tasked with convoy duty once the US entered the war.

The talker helmets were most frequently worn backwards when: The sailor needed to look upwards a lot. The sailor was wearing his life preserver at the time, because of the bulging floatation collar, which caught on the bottom edge of the helmet, and this was particularly necessary when the sailor had a short neck.

The talker helmet accidentally appears in The Battle of The River Plate (1955). The Admiral Graf Spee is played by an on loan US heavy cruiser and there is a scene where the talker helmet appears.

One of my uncles was a signalman on the Missouri. His first assignment when reporting aboard right out of boot camp was a position called “Fleet stream running light”. It was a signal light in a long tube with a code key. It was designed so when ships were running inline, signals could be sent to the following ship with little chance of anybody else seeing it. It was located on top of the after 16” gun turret. He told the story that on their first general quarters drill he got to his station, put on his headphones and one of those large helmets you talked about. He hears, “After 40mm manned and ready, port number two 5” manned and ready, etc.” So, he pipes in “Fleet stream running light manned and ready.” He hears multiple voices say in so many words, “Who the f***k is that?” Now the 16” turret swings over to one side. He looks back and all the 40mm guns behind him are now empty. But being a good sailor, he follows his last orders and stays at his post... Then the guns fired! In his words, “The f*****g helmet blew off, the headphones blew off, and my f*****g eyebrows blew off! I couldn’t hear or see anything for a few minutes.” He finds his chief who said, “Oh S**t I forgot to tell you to get out of there.” Later he hears another signalman complaining about being assigned to the main signal bridge. “Too much brass up there.” He said. So, my uncle tells him, “I know just the place you would love.” So, they swap assignments. My uncle stayed on the signal bridge and later sent the last signal of WW2 in Tokyo Bay.

As a kid watching WW2 movies I had always noticed these. When I served in the 1970's they were still in use and I got to wear it once while serving as a phone talker during a drill.

I'm not navy so this surprised me. When I was aboard DDG-101 they showed me they had multiple ports to plug in voice powered headsets. The port had switches to send the signal to different stations. One went to the bridge, one went to CSMC (Combat Systems Maintenance Center), the other went to CIC (Combat Information Center) pretty neat they still had those for emergency use.

This felt like a perfectly structured video of the right length for the topic. Thanks for answering up front. Thanks for focusing on teaching rather than monetization :)

Once again Johnny, the answer to the a question I always forget to ask. Great content.

It was a great solution to an immediate problem. Being able to communicate while being protected overrides any goofy appearance. Plus, everybody looks equally goofy, so it really doesn't matter. Great video!!!

My Grandfather told me about this when I was a Teenager. They wore them backwards sometimes because it created what was sort of like a Baseball brim, shielding your eyes from the sun when looking at distant objects on the horizon (Ships, rather than planes). It didn't block MUCH more than wearing it right way forward, but it did help a bit during specific times of day.

Hey I wore this helmet and used a sound powered phone on the flying bridge above the normal bridge during GQ, general quarters. Battle stations for you landlubbers. Was a nice view up there to see everything. Happy birthday to our guards (Marines)!

a phone that doesnt need a power source, except by the power of your own voice? thats some scifi stuff right there!

Interestingly Rod Steiger was in the US Navy in WW2 but he served in the Pacific serving as a torpedoman on destroyers. He was at Iwo Jima and survived 'Halsey's Typhoon.'

This thing is a work of genius, never knew a technology like that so interesting was being used. This video is perfect as it's just the right length.

That cleared up two mysteries, the story of the helmet itself and just what sound powered telephones were , so thanks for both .

You missed the Death Star, death ray operator guys! They had the big helmets too! In a clamshell configuration, I think? Great content. May the Swartz be with you

I had to wear those in the 90's too, due to wearing headphones to relay messages from my firefighting station.

I bet it was worn backwards so that the neck covering could act as a brim like on a baseball cap

Brilliant, like the Spaceballs clips.

Back in the late-90's, at a surplus store in Oakely, CA (which was near Suisun Bay Mothball fleet), there was a stack of talker helmets shells, all inset to each other, painted grey in the outside yard. There was no liner, and I could hear water in some of the helmets in the stack. But I still regret not going through them and at least trying to find one good enough for putting on the shelf. The next time I was in the area, mid-2000s, the store was gone :(

Perfect blend of genuine information and hilarious Dark Helmet clips. Just sublime...

I just can't get it into my brain that they designed the helmet that way so someone could wear the headphones underneath, I naturally just laugh at that oversized helmet.

Wore these helmets a lot when I was a junior enlisted man. Looked goofy but they were highly functional and worked well.

Thanks Johnny, I always wondered about talker helmets.

In the Navy on submarines, We did not use these talker helmets for the sound powered phone but we did get introduced in boot camp. The backwards helmet was great. Later. Ohhh and Johnny using clips from Space Balls was GREAT!

Thanks for that explanation. Seen these things all my life, never knew why they were so different.

I work from home. I don't know why but after I sign on and say "morning" to the team on chat at half 9 (We do stand-up at 10.15) your videos are always the first I notice when I'm trying to wake up with my morning coffee and RU-vid. Your voice will always be linked to 'I should be opening up all my 3D programs and getting ready but instead I'm listening to a guy do a high level presentation of something that I kind of already know about' Its soothing.

I've wondered what these were since the late 70's, when my local surplus store had them. I was in my teens then, bought it and took it home. I could not figure out what it was used for. It had "USN" marked on it somewhere, and of course I'd seen pictures in the encyclopedia, but the internet wasn't around then and the only vets near me were Army. Makes sense, thanks for uploading this!

Rick Moranis was such an underrated actor. Such an amazing man, and Class A performer. Not just a comedic genius but able to convey all sorts of emotions on the big screen.

Ever since I saw them in the pacific I’ve been looking for this answer, thank you

“Alright I’m Johnny, reminding you to wear your helmet the right way forward.” Austro Hungarian Stormtrooper: And I took that personally

The Sound-Powered Phone Circuit" system worked great (USN from '81-'91)! We had that for decades. Best gig I had was the 1JV phone talker on the bridge of my SSN during the Maneuvering Watch! Checking out the babes on the Isle of Palms beaches when I was supposed to be marking buoys for the Quartermaster!!!!! Seriously guys, communications were sooooooo important to the mission of the vessel. The clips I saw of Greyhound were spot-on. Never was that close to a torpedo, except when I slept next to one in the "Bomb Room" on a temporary bunk for my first year on my boat. MK-48...

Ok, missed the Star Wars referernce, hit the Spaceballs one. Approved.

You actually made a good and to the point SHORT video regarding the subject matter. Not a half an hour video novel.

Well why don't we take a five minute break? Smoke if you got'em.

Funny story. I was the LSO ( local surface operator) one 3"/50 gun mount. Our sound powered phones were connected to all of the other mounts/weapons stations on the ship. We often used the words "Roger That" when talking to each. Some time later a brand new officer came on and was put in charge of weapons division. She was in the CIC listening to our conversation and warned us that " Roger that" was not proper Navy lingo and that she would write up up if we continued to use it. Of course someone acknowled her orders with a Roger That!.

I was confused when I first saw these. For about 3 seconds and then the context made it all clear.

omg thank you! I was always so confused by them

They worked so well on the Death Star, so the Navy thought...

Thank you Johnny that was a cool Video!

Every time I went on AFT LOOKOUT , I'd sing " We were sailing along on Moonlight Bay " into the Sound Powered Phones to let the Snipes know I was on watch !!

Perhaps they wear it backwards to block the sun?

The Space Balls clip loool 😭🤣 Those big helmets are ridiculous lol

The sailor wearing the helmet backwards had to. In the short clip you can see he had very little room between the back rim of the helmet and the collar of his life preserver. He needed to be able to bend his neck some to be able to move his head and see what was happening. The other sailors wearing the helmet as designed did not have something that high on their backs.

Wow, obscure information that I never knew I always wanted.

Very interesting; thank you! Please note, though: you say the helmet had a "width of 82.6cm" - that would be a width of 2ft, 8½ inches... which would make Lord Dark Helmet's look positively narrow by comparison!

I served in the 90's on the USS Callaghan DDG-994. We still had the old style not the Mark 4.

Now I have to watch spaceballs again

This one I knew. Old WW2 vet whose house I painted served in the Navy--we talked a lot and got along well. He was a deck hand comm sailor, I forgot which ship he served with but he saw action. I always loved to talk to vets and hearthe war and post war experiences. Good quick one, JJ.

This was very interesting, and were constructed. Thanks mate.

That kind of helmet could be useful while using headphones and when it's a war.

Your usage of the Space Balls scenes was right on point! Great 😁

I always wanted one of those..!!!... but soon got over it...discovered girls and Guinness...downhill from there...great post ,Johnny

I love your humor, wonderful video. Cheers!

0:11 I always thought they looked like the darth vadar helmets from the iragi republican gaurd but yea sort of the same thing I guess?

As a WW 2 buff; thanks for answering a query I've always been curious about......

Yep Dad used one of these when he was the “bridge talker” in the Navy in Korea. One thing he shared with me was that when you were in that role you got stuff right. In the old Navy, even if the “talker” miscommunicated and order and caused a maneuvering accident the bridge officer and CO were held strictly responsible. Now it seems nobody is responsible.

Automatic and instant "LIKE" for the Dark Helmet photo, now I'll watch the video

It also resembles the Death Star Trooper helmets.

I wore one in the 1980's. I was an ABF so I had to talk to the pump rooms during an underway replenishment (unrep) The best thing about them is you don't need electricity to communicate.

Love greyhound

Today known as Telephone Talkers. Wish I had a pair of those sound powered phones.

I'd just like to add that wearing sound powered phoned for hours at a time really sucked. They were not comfortable.

Always thought these looked cool. Thanks for educating me on what they were, and what they were for.

Kinda makes sense. Check out some of the German "talker" helmets they were made for the radio men to have the ear pieces go around the stahlhelm. During ww1 I guess alot were having problems with hearing commands due to the way the helm was designed till ww2 when they made them smaller. Modern helmets atleast the usa is somewhat based of the german stahlhelm. I think Chile dress or parade uniforms youd mistaken them for ww2 german Heer

You can tell he's been waiting to use spaceballs clips

Thanks so much for this info! I've never served and no one I knew could tell me what these were. I would see them in movies and I thought it was cool as a 14 year old seeing the death star guys but never knw their purpose. Now I can die in peace! 😉

A :) nice little blast from my past. I was an ICman and I was the phone talker for every team.

The Helmet is a copy from Darth Vader to scare off rebels....??👀

Rick Moranis was a great actor back in the '80s and some of the 90s he retired before the new century. I haven't seen him or heard of him and quite a few years. Well done video I appreciate your hard production work!

Thanks I always wondered how those voice activated devices. I thought they worked differently than that. Are they that much more reliable in combat conditions?

Awesome! A concise, to the point short video. Not 15 minutes of helmet history.

They sometimes wore them backwards because the collar of their kapok would interfere with their ability to move their head. Especially when trying to look up.

A great example of 'If it is stupid and works, then it isn't stupid.'

"When will then be now??"

They look hilarious for sure. I always wondered why some helmets were so big. Thanks for the info!

Don’t think you mention this but the helmet would be worn backwards to allow for the wearer to be able to look upwards without it hitting the back of the neck

Long story short, it's so the wearer can have headphones on while still wearing a helmet.

i bet she gives great helmet

Sound-powered headsets were first invented by my great grandfather (Nathaniel Baldwin) in 1910 so that he could hear better in church meetings and later for early church radio broadcasts. The U.S. Navy had other ideas.

First

Finally the burning question in my heart has been answered I can rest now

I highly recommend a video on the Mauser rifle series.

Phone talker helmets...I remember those from when I served in the Navy back in the 1970s-1980s. Never seen anyone wear one backwards, though. One of our guys spray painted one black, painted on the ET symbol in the center front in blue paint, and attached a couple pieces of stiff wire and made them look like antennas. We all thought it was hilarious. Sound-powered phones are an old technology, though they will work when other things won't...unless a line shorts due to flooding or damage.

Copious use of spaceballs is what got me. 🙂 Got me, good sir! It got me.

I don't know what they use now but by the time I left the Navy in 1992, they were still using the same sound powered phones for decades. Nothing changed in their style. No difference in appearance from those used in WWII.

That's news to me, I always assumed the purpose of wearing this "kitchen sink" was added protection against own shrapnel since in WWII footage they were worn primarily by flak gunners. Thanks for valuable knowledge.

The Bigger the helmet, the higher the IQ - US Navy

something i wondered occasionally but never bothered to find out.. thank you internet

the talker helmets formed the basis for the design of the Rebel fleet trooper helmets in star Wars a New Hope, seen when the stormtroopers and Vader board the Tantive 4.

Hey Johnny! Awesome. I collect militaria but I'm still lacking this one. Next year I'll get it finally. I'm up to 100 helmets from 1640 to modern.

I was given 3 brand new Army Air Corp pilot FLAK helmets when I was about 12. Gave one to my friend, left one outside for years, mom took one to Goodwill. Don't give nice things to 12 year old boys. Maybe you can do a video on these helmets, Hollywood rarely shows them.

With my cotton face mask and my giant helmet, I can face anything.

When your auditioning for a part in Space Balls!!

Finally, a brief and simple explanation.

This is perfect for my History Matter addiction. Answering questions I didn't even know I wanted to ask.

"Everybody got that?" Good ol' spaceballs