Specialist Training For Radiotelegraph Officers in Spain (1910-2010): From Wireless Operators to University Graduates

Abstract

This paper describes the history of training in Spain for naval radio electronics officers. First, we explore the knowledge and conditions required of the first wireless operators recruited by the Spanish Transatlantic Company for their transatlantic steamers, and the courses delivered by the Marconi School of Wireless and the General School of Telegraphy in Madrid to train the first Spanish radiotelegraph operators. Subsequently, responsibility for delivering these courses passed first to the Advanced School of Telegraphy in 1920, and then in 1938 to its successor, the Official School of Telecommunications, where experts in modern telephones and radio introduced significant changes in the training. Then, we examine the inclusion of these courses through the Official Maritime Schools before these were fully integrated into the Spanish university system in 1988. Finally, we analyse the Bologna process, under which the current officially recognised Degree in Naval Radio Electronics Engineering was established in 2010.