Main radio central, commonly called the radio room or radio shack, contained radio transmitters and receivers, which allowed the ship long and short range electronic communication capabilities. This space was normally manned by three men, two operators and a watch supervisor. Generally, the ship operated under radio silence and would only transmit necessary enemy contact reports.

The Fox Schedule was a constant stream of orders and messages broadcast by Naval Headquarters to all ships in the fleet. “Guarding the Fox” was the unending process of listening to these messages so no pertinent messages would be missed. As ships generally operated under radio silence, no acknowledgement was expected when a ship received a message addressed to her. A missed message could result in a ship’s failure to participate in a major action.

During World War II, operators sat at their typewriters or “mills” and typed out the messages that came over their headsets in encrypted Morse Code. Messages addressed to the ship were turned over to the communications officer, who deciphered them in the code room on the "crypto" machine and then passed them on to the captain.