Sky Lookouts

The sky lookout stations were located off the port and starboard sides of the flying bridge, positioned to give the most unobstructed view of the sky. Prior to the advent of radar, visual lookouts played an critical role in identifying threats to naval ships.  To facilitate these lookouts, during WWII special chairs were developed with a set of binoculars, bearing dial and elevation indicator.  Four such chairs were mounted, one for each 90 degree sector, two on the port side and two on the starboard side.  A telephone talker assigned to each lookout station communicated the location of contacts to the Officer of the Deck and the Combat Information Center.  These stations were manned 24 hours a day when the ship was at sea.