A CW signal carries no audio (tone) component; the radio frequency carrier is transmitted intermittantly in a dot & dash sequence per the morse code. During the spaces between dits and dahs there is no carrier transmission, hence the name CW for Continuous, but interupted, (radio) Wave transmissions. The receiver contains a BFO - Beat Frequency Oscillator - whose frequency is such that it mixes with the incoming cw signal to provide a readable tone - usually 700 to 1200 cycles (hertz). The BFO is adjustable to provide tone variations although this can also be done with the carrier frequency tuning knob. CW is the most efficient means of transmission because all the transmitter power is concentrated in the carrier. As soon as you add tone or voice much of the power goes into the sidebands and drops the carrier strength. SSB puts all the power in one sideband only (no carrier either) but still not as reliable as CW and also developed after WW2.

The QE and QM may have used very powerful tone modulated AM transmissions which would allow tone frequency changes; however, these two WW2 troopships sailed without escort because of their speed and more likely than not maintained strict \"radio silence\". They all added SSB and teletype (RTTY) after the war when the QE2 was built. Perhaps someone in the southern California coastal area can tell us what kind of radio equipment was (and still is) aboard the QE.

In 1959, I sailed round trip to Europe on the QE (July - NYC to Cherbourg) and QM (August - Southhampton to NYC). Great ships, great food and accomodations and lots of fun; also cheaper than flying in both Tourist and Cabin classes. First class started at $750 RT and UP! Five days each way and worth it!

The latest radio mode is data transmission called PSK-31, which is almost as good as CW because it is a 31 hertz carrier freqency SHIFT (on-off) for ASCII character transmissions.

Wet antenna insulators might cause arching but probably very little with short period (dits & dahs) 200 watts of RF power. The transmitter antenna tuning could compensate for SWR changes due to moisture; SWR degradation would only lower the power output somewhat. Besides the humidity in the sub probably had some minor effect on the transmitter as well till it warmed up. Generator whine would not be a problem as all the batteries provide a very good DC smoothing effect; in any case would have no effect on CW transmissions. The ionispheric effects would be far greater.