View source for Elettra (1904 ship)

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{{Use British English|date=November 2020}}
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|Ship name=''Rovenska''
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|Ship builder=[[Ramage & Ferguson]], [[Leith]], Scotland
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|Ship country=United Kingdom 
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|Ship name=''Rovenska''
|Ship acquired=1909
|Ship owner=[[Max Waechter]]
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|Ship country=[[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]]
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|Ship name=''Rovenska''
|Ship owner=Gustav HF Pratt 
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|Ship country=[[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]]
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|Ship name=''Rovenska''
|Ship owner= [[Royal Navy]] – patrol & escort duties
|Ship route= Between England and ports of Brest and Saint Malo
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|Ship country= Italy
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|Ship name=''Elettra''
|Ship owner= Guglielmo Marconi
|Ship identification=Code letters and radio callsign IBDK
|Ship route= Worldwide
|Ship acquired=1919 for conversion to seaborne laboratory
|Ship homeport= Genoa
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|Ship country= Greater German Reich
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Nazi Germany|naval}}
|Ship name=''G-107, NA-6''
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|Ship acquired=Requisitioned 1943 by German [[Kriegsmarine]]
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|Ship fate=22 Jan 1944 Destroyed at Diklo near [[Zadar]] by allied fighter-bombers
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'''''Elettra''''' was the name of Guglielmo Marconi's steam yacht – a seaborne laboratory – from which he conducted his many experiments with wireless telegraphy, wireless telephony and other communication and direction-finding techniques during the inter-war period.

== History ==
Built during the early part of the 20th century, she sailed both as a private yacht and also as a naval patrol boat before passing into the hands of [[Guglielmo Marconi]] in 1919.<ref>Castelli, Cherini, Gellner|  p. 4</ref>

=== Yacht ===
The vessel was built in the shipyards of [[Ramage & Ferguson]] of [[Leith]], Scotland, having been designed by the engineering firm of Cox and King of London.<ref>Castelli, Cherini, Gellner|  p. 2</ref> She was launched on behalf of [[Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria]] under the name of ''Rovenska'' on 27 March 1904. However, the vessel herself was invoiced to his wife, the [[Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria (1862–1933)|Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria]]. The name was derived from Rovenska on the Adriatic island of [[Lošinj]] off the coast of what is now [[Croatia]], a favourite spot of the archduke and the site of his luxurious villa.<ref>Castelli, Cherini, Gellner|  p. 2</ref> She sailed under the flag of the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]] until 1909 but was then sold to Sir [[Max Waechter]]<ref>Castelli, Cherini, Gellner|  p. 4</ref> for £26,000, at which point she sailed under the British flag while still retaining her original name. During this ownership it is likely that she undertook two main voyages: one to the Adriatic and the Black Sea and another to the North Sea.<ref>Berryman, Ron (May 2012) "Sir Max Waechter's European Unity", Journal of the Richmond Local History Society, Nr 33</ref> In 1914 she was sold to the industrialist, Gustav HF Pratt.<ref>Castelli, Cherini, Gellner| p. 4</ref>

==Service during the Great War==

=== Patrol vessel ===
At the outbreak of [[World War I]], the vessel was requisitioned by the British government and converted into a patrol and escort ship for the Royal Navy as part of the [[Channel Fleet]], plying between England and the French ports of [[Brest, France|Brest]] and [[Saint Malo]].<ref>Castelli, Cherini, Gellner|  p. 4</ref> At the end of the war, she was decommissioned and auctioned at [[Southampton]], coming into the hands of Guglielmo Marconi in 1919 for £21,000.<ref>Castelli, Cherini, Gellner|  p. 4</ref>

==Service with Marconi==

=== Conversion to luxurious seaborne laboratory ===
Now owned by Marconi, the vessel sailed from London in July 1919. Off the coast of Portugal, Marconi startled the operators at a [[coast station]] with transmissions of music from gramophone records.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sassomarconifoto.it/materiale/personaggi/marconi/Marconi_e_lo_yach_%20Elettra.PDF|title="Marconi e lo yacht Elettra" (PDF), p.13 |last=Sasso & Dintorni|language=it|access-date=2020-10-11}}</ref>  The yacht arrived at [[Naples]] in mid-August, then transferring to [[La Spezia]], where she was converted for service as a laboratory.

Marconi's original intention was to rename his yacht ''Scintilla'' ('Spark') but it was felt this would prove too difficult to pronounce in English. The yacht was accordingly renamed ''Elettra'' and was entered into the Italian Registry of Shipping on 27 October 1921 with subsequent ratification under the Italian flag on 21 December. Modifications at La Spezia included increasing the height of the masts in order to rig the various wireless aerials that would be required. It was also arranged that Marconi's private cabin would give directly onto the laboratory.<ref>Castelli, Cherini, Gellner|  p. 6</ref> On deck and aft of the laboratory was a dining room with space at table for 12–14 diners. Further aft still was a large and well-appointed saloon complete with a piano. The vessel soon became famous and known in Italian as  ''La nave dei miracoli'' ('the ship of miracles'). While sailing across the [[Bay of Biscay]] in April 1920 an interesting 'first' was established – guests danced in the saloon to broadcast music coming from the ballroom of the [[Savoy Hotel]] in London.  Later, on 15 June, the voice of the famous soprano [[Nellie Melba]] was heard at a distance of 2000 miles during a broadcast from the Marconi transmitting station at [[Chelmsford]] in England.<ref>Castelli, Cherini, Gellner|  p. 7</ref>
[[File:Everything is radio on Marconi's yacht - a &quot;personal dance&quot; on board the palatial vessel while on the trip to Albany Showing Josephine Young of Riverside, Conn., and J.W. Elwood of New York, LCCN96512883.tif|thumb|Everything is radio on Marconi's yacht – a &quot;personal dance&quot; on board the palatial vessel while on the trip to Albany Showing Josephine Young of Riverside, Conn., and J.W. Elwood of New York, LCCN96512883]]

===Visitors on board===
The luxurious accommodation was deemed necessary to impress distinguished guests – these would later include King [[Victor Emmanuel III of Italy]] and King [[George V]] of the United Kingdom. In September 1920 another guest on board was Marconi's friend, the Italian poet and nationalist [[Gabriele D'Annunzio]]. ''Elettra'' had put in at the port of [[Fiume]] (now [[Rijeka]]) in an unofficial attempt by Marconi to persuade D'Annunzio to drop his demands for that city to become part of Italy. Marconi allowed him to use the ship's transmitter, whereupon D'Annunzio made an impassioned speech to the world in which he urged Italy to annexe the territory. On 31 March 1930 [[Benito Mussolini]] visited the yacht when she was lying off [[Fiumicino]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sassomarconifoto.it/materiale/personaggi/marconi/Marconi_e_lo_yach_%20Elettra.PDF|title="Marconi e lo yacht Elettra" (PDF), p.14 and p.24 |last=Sasso & Dintorni|language=it|access-date=2020-10-11}}</ref> This was followed with another visit in June 1930 when she was off [[Ostia (Rome)|Ostia]]. Mussolini, who was greatly interested in long distance wireless telegraphy and telephony, expressed a wish to be put through to London and communication was made via the Marconi wireless station, with its receivers at [[Bridgeport]] and transmitters and beam aerials at [[Dorchester, Dorset|Dorchester]] in Dorset.<ref>{{Cite web|url= https://sites.google.com/site/southdorsethamradio/history/dbs
|title= Dorchester Beam Station |last=South Dorset Amateur Radio|language=en|access-date=2020-10-24}}</ref> This formed part of the [[Imperial Wireless Chain]] that linked London with the British Empire. He had hoped to speak to Sir [[Basil Blackett (civil servant)|Basil Blackett]] but the latter was unavailable and so he conversed for a while with an operator at the station, commenting later on the clarity of the speech.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Signor Mussolini's Talk with London |url=https://www.thetimes.com |work=The Times |location= London |date=9 June 1930 |access-date=16 October 2020}}</ref>

===Crew===
With a crew of some 30, ''Elettra'' was able to sail long distances without needing to refuel; in 1922 she first crossed the Atlantic to New York, surviving the effects of a severe storm.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sassomarconifoto.it/materiale/personaggi/marconi/Marconi_e_lo_yach_%20Elettra.PDF|title="Marconi e lo yacht Elettra" (PDF), p.10|last=Sasso & Dintorni|language=it|access-date=2020-10-11}}</ref> An important crew member was the radio officer, [[Adelmo Landini]], who was known as the 'marconista', the Italian term equivalent to 'sparks' in English.<ref>The familiar term for a radio officer in the British Merchant Navy.</ref> Landini, who sailed with Marconi from 1927 to 1931, had been a wireless operator decorated for gallantry in the army during the [[Great War]]. He was not only a skilled [[Morse code]] operator but also a self-taught expert in wireless technology. As such he not only assumed the duties of the yacht's radio officer but also assisted Marconi with his experiments. Indeed Landini later became an experimenter and inventor in his own right, registering seven patents for his inventions. In 1938/39, he registered a patent concerning the bouncing of radio waves off the surface of the Moon – a phenomenon that he had first become aware of while serving on ''Elettra''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/landini.html|title=Comitato Guglielmo Marconi International|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080926192341/http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/landini.html|language=it|access-date=2020-10-11|url-status=usurped|archive-date=2008-09-26}}</ref> In 1931 while the vessel was en route from [[Cannes]] to [[Santa Margherita Ligure]], Landini lost his balance during bad weather and brushed against a high tension cable. Following this accident he left ''Elettra'' and did not return to work with Marconi.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sassomarconifoto.it/materiale/personaggi/marconi/Marconi_e_lo_yach_%20Elettra.PDF|title="Marconi e lo yacht Elettra" (PDF), p.24/25|last=Sasso & Dintorni|language=it|access-date=2020-10-11}}</ref>

===Marconi's reflections on the advantages of a seaborne laboratory===
''Without Elettra it would have been impossible to carry out my experiments in the Mediterranean and in the Atlantic; I would not have been able to continue and develop my research into short wave transmissions. With my seaborne laboratory – unique in the world – I have been able to realise my dreams. For example, how to beam (direct) a radio signal and to use radio for navigational purposes. This yacht has not only made me independent, but also freed me from distractions and the curiosity of others. I have been able to work at any time of the night and day and move around in a way that would have been quite impossible on dry land.''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sassomarconifoto.it/materiale/personaggi/marconi/Marconi_e_lo_yach_%20Elettra.PDF|title="Marconi e lo yacht Elettra" (PDF), p.10/11 |last=Sasso & Dintorni|language=it|access-date=2020-10-11}}</ref>

==Wireless experiments from the vessel==
Of particular importance were the experiments conducted from ''Elettra'' in the Gulf of [[Tigullio]] – communication being established with a [[coast station]] in one of the Gualine towers on the [[Sestri Levante]] peninsula. In honour of this, the Gulf of Tigullio was renamed the Gulf of Marconi on the official Italian navy chart.<ref>Information from the article in the Italian RetroWikipedia [https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elettra_(nave_1904)] that appears without a citation.</ref>

Marconi continued to experiment, concentrating his efforts on the [[short wave]] spectrum. In April 1923, he sailed from [[Falmouth, Cornwall|Falmouth]] to the [[Cape Verde Islands]] and monitored signals from the station at [[Poldhu]] in England, which was operating on a wavelength of 97 metres with a power of 1 Kw. It was noted that the signals disappeared at a distance of 2594&nbsp;km (1400 nmi.) but at night-time they could be heard at 4632&nbsp;km (2500 nmi.).<ref>Goodwin, WD (1995) "One Hundred Years of Maritime Radio", Brown, Son & Ferguson, Glasgow. p.43</ref>

In 1924 thanks to an improved aerial at [[Poldhu]], two-way communication from the yacht was established from the Mediterranean and the Atlantic on a wavelength of 32 metres. The same experiment also proved successful, with solid signals throughout the day, when ''Elettra'' was in port at [[Beirut]]. Another successful contact was made from the yacht (in the Mediterranean) to [[Sydney]] enabling Marconi to speak to the managing director of the Amalgamated Wireless Company.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Talks by Wireless to Australia |url=https://www.thetimes.com |work=The Times |location= London |date=5 June 1924 |access-date=16 October 2020}}</ref> These experiments using beamed transmissions convinced the British government of the viability of [[shortwave]] (as opposed to the current use of [[longwave]]) and resulted in a contract with Marconi's company for a communications network, the [[Imperial Wireless Chain]], linking stations in the British Empire with London. In 1926 a two-way communications link was officially inaugurated between Britain and Canada.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sassomarconifoto.it/materiale/personaggi/marconi/Marconi_e_lo_yach_%20Elettra.PDF|title="Marconi e lo yacht Elettra" (PDF), p.17 |last=Sasso & Dintorni|language=it|access-date=2020-10-11}}</ref>

''Elettra'' was in British waters in September 1925 when, during a run from Dover to Southampton, Marconi demonstrated the use of wireless for [[direction finding]]. On a wavelength of 6.09 metres, bearings were taken on a transmitter on the lighthouse at South Foreland. The receiving aerial on the yacht was a 2-foot length of wire suspended at one end of the bridge and reception was possible at a distance of up to 100 miles.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Direction Finding by Wireless |url=https://www.thetimes.com |work=The Times |location= London |date=5 September 1929 |access-date=16 October 2020}}</ref>

In 1929 the wireless equipment aboard ''Elettra'', which had been fitted in 1923, was replaced by technicians from Marconi's company with an updated and improved installation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sassomarconifoto.it/materiale/personaggi/marconi/Marconi_e_lo_yach_%20Elettra.PDF|title="Marconi e lo yacht Elettra" (PDF), p.23 |last=Sasso & Dintorni|language=it|access-date=2020-10-11}}</ref>

Early in 1930 wireless telephony contact was made with [[AWA Technology Services|AWA]] in Sydney and on 26 March of that year, Marconi achieved publicity worldwide when, by pressing a Morse key on his yacht in Genoa harbour, he remotely switched on the lights in Sydney for the opening of the World Exhibition.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sassomarconifoto.it/materiale/personaggi/marconi/Marconi_e_lo_yach_%20Elettra.PDF|title="Marconi e lo yacht Elettra" (PDF), p.24 |last=Sasso & Dintorni|language=it|access-date=2020-10-11}}</ref>

Further experiments were conducted off the Italian coast in the 1930s on a wavelength of 57&nbsp;cm using wireless telephony. In 1931 ''Elettra'' completed a round-the-world voyage. On 30 July 1934, with a 60&nbsp;cm transmitting beacon on shore and a receiver in the chartroom, the windows of which had been covered, he successfully navigated the yacht between two buoys off [[Santa Margherita Ligure]].<ref>Goodwin, p. 62</ref>

A four-way contact was established in November 1936 – the stations concerned being ''Elettra'' (at [[Santa Margherita Ligure]]), New York and two aircraft flying over that city.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sassomarconifoto.it/materiale/personaggi/marconi/Marconi_e_lo_yach_%20Elettra.PDF|title="Marconi e lo yacht Elettra" (PDF), p.27 |last=Sasso & Dintorni|language=it|access-date=2020-10-11}}</ref>

''Elettra'' sailed the seas of the world until, with the death of Marconi on 27 July 1937, she was acquired by the Italian Ministry of Communications for the sum of 820,000 lire.<ref>Castelli, Cherini, Gellner|  p. 16</ref>

==Fire on board ''Elettra''==
On 25 November 1936, there was a fire on the yacht while she was lying in the harbour at [[Civitavecchia]] near Rome. It was fortunate that ''Elettra'' was not at sea at the time. Firemen were soon on the spot and after several hours were able to extinguish the flames. Damage to the yacht was slight.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Fire on board ''Elettra'' |url=https://www.thetimes.com |work=The Times |location= London |date=26 November 1936 |access-date=18 October 2020}}</ref>

==Destruction during service with the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) during World War Two ==
At the outbreak of the Second World War the ship was moved to [[Trieste]] and in September 1943, following the [[Armistice of Cassibile]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sassomarconifoto.it/materiale/personaggi/marconi/Marconi_e_lo_yach_%20Elettra.PDF|title="Marconi e lo yacht Elettra" (PDF), p.17 |last=Sasso & Dintorni|language=it|access-date=2020-10-11}}</ref> was requisitioned by the Germans and armed with five machine guns, one of 15mm and four of 20mm, mounted in twin turrets. Now part of the [[Kriegsmarine]], she was brought into service first with the designation G-107 and then as NA-6.<ref>Castelli, Cherini, Gellner|  p. 18</ref> However, between September 1943 and the end of November of the same year, Professor Mario Picotti obtained permission from the Germans to dismantle and remove all of Marconi's wireless equipment. This was carried away in 19 large packing cases and deposited safely in the vaults of the Castello di san Giusto in Trieste. The equipment remained there until the end of 1947 before coming into the hands of the Milan Museum of Science and Technology where it was reassembled by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sassomarconifoto.it/materiale/personaggi/marconi/Marconi_e_lo_yach_%20Elettra.PDF|title="Marconi e lo yacht Elettra" (PDF), p.28 |last=Sasso & Dintorni|language=it|access-date=2020-10-11}}</ref>

The vessel sailed from Trieste on 28 December 1943 for a patrol along the Dalmatian coast. On 21 January 1944 she arrived off [[Diklo, Zadar|Diklo]], near [[Zadar]]. The following morning she was spotted and attacked by allied fighter-bombers. The captain decided to run her aground before she sank.<ref>Castelli, Cherini, Gellner|  p. 18</ref>

== Fate of ''Elettra'' after World War Two ==
With the signing of the peace treaty, the wreck became the property of [[Yugoslavia]] and it was not until 1959 that authorisation was given for a survey to examine the possibility of recovery and return. The necessary permission was granted thanks to intervention by [[Josip Broz Tito]] following efforts by the then Foreign Minister, [[Antonio Segni]], who would later become President of Italy.<ref>Information from the article in the Italian RetroWikipedia [https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elettra_(nave_1904)] that appears without a citation.</ref>  The ship was returned to Italy in 1962 having been re-floated and towed to the shipyard at San Rocco di Muggia near Trieste. However, the planned restoration stalled and the hulk was still languishing in the bay five years later.<ref>Castelli, Cherini, Gellner|  p. 24</ref>

The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications prepared a study for a reconstruction but the high cost resulted in a postponement and eventual cancellation of the project.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sassomarconifoto.it/materiale/personaggi/marconi/Marconi_e_lo_yach_%20Elettra.PDF|title="Marconi e lo yacht Elettra" (PDF), p.29 |last=Sasso & Dintorni|language=it|access-date=2020-10-11}}</ref>

==Locations of salvaged sections of the dismembered yacht==
[[File:Prua Elettra.jpg|thumb|Prua Elettra]]With all hope of a restoration lost it was decided that the remains of ''Elettra'' would be cut up and parts distributed around Italy to places that had been associated with Marconi and his work.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sassomarconifoto.it/materiale/personaggi/marconi/Marconi_e_lo_yach_%20Elettra.PDF|title="Marconi e lo yacht Elettra" (PDF), p.29 |last=Sasso & Dintorni|language=it|access-date=2020-10-11}}</ref> The breaking up of the yacht started in April 1977, the largest section recovered being the bow ('la prua'), which now sits in the middle of a roundabout in the [[AREA Science Park]] at Trieste. The locations of this and of other sections, including the whereabouts of Marconi's wireless equipment, are detailed on pages 33–43 of the publication ''Marconi e lo yacht Elettra''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sassomarconifoto.it/materiale/personaggi/marconi/Marconi_e_lo_yach_%20Elettra.PDF|title="Marconi e lo yacht Elettra" (PDF), p.33/43 |last=Sasso & Dintorni|language=it|access-date=2020-10-11}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite journal | title=Sir Max Waechter's European Unity League |  journal=[[Richmond, London#Societies|Richmond History: Journal of the Richmond Local History Society]] | volume= 33|author= Berryman, Ron|date=May 2012|pages=26–36}}
*Migliorini, Nanni, Iacomino. Sasso e Dintorni, Anno VIII, No 24, Città de Sasso.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sassomarconifoto.it/materiale/personaggi/marconi/Marconi_e_lo_yach_%20Elettra.PDF|title="Marconi e lo yacht Elettra" (PDF)|last=Sasso & Dintorni|language=it|access-date= 11 October 2020}}
*Goodwin, WD (1995) "One Hundred Years of Maritime Radio", Brown, Son & Ferguson, Glasgow
* {{Cite web|url=https://www.cherini.eu/pdf/Elettra.pdf|title= Elettra – La Nave de Gieulemo Marconi (PDF)|last=Castelli, Cherini, Gellner|language=it|access-date=11 October 2020}}
* Associazione Marinara 'Aldebaran' Trieste, 12 October 2000.

==Further reading==
;Relatives and company publications
*Bussey, Gordon, [https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0953896706 ''Marconi's Atlantic Leap''], Marconi Communications, 2000. {{ISBN|0-9538967-0-6}}
*Isted, G.A., [https://web.archive.org/web/20130513103349/https://googledrive.com/host/0B-UggpdTDpJEWnpUdGc5Tkw2aU0/p45.pdf ''Guglielmo Marconi and the History of Radio – Part I''], [[General Electric Company]], ''GEC Review'', Volume 7, No. 1, p45, 1991, {{ISSN|0267-9337}}
*Isted, G.A., [https://web.archive.org/web/20130513104408/https://googledrive.com/host/0B-UggpdTDpJEM3o0UnBqUlpIN1E/p110.pdf ''Guglielmo Marconi and the History of Radio – Part II''], General Electric Company, ''GEC Review'', Volume 7, No. 2, p110, 1991, {{ISSN|0267-9337}}
*Marconi, Degna, ''My Father, Marconi'', James Lorimer & Co, 1982. {{ISBN|0-919511-14-7}} (Italian version): ''Marconi, mio padre'', Di Renzo Editore, 2008, {{ISBN|88-8323-206-2}}
*Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company, ''Year book of wireless telegraphy and telephony'', London: Published for the Marconi Press Agency Ltd., by the St. Catherine Press / Wireless Press. LCCN 14017875 sn 86035439
*Simons, R.W., [https://web.archive.org/web/20130513101009/https://googledrive.com/host/0B-UggpdTDpJEQTYwV0s4VHgwLW8/p37.htm ''Guglielmo Marconi and Early Systems of Wireless Communication''], General Electric Company, ''GEC Review'', Volume 11, No. 1, p37, 1996, {{ISSN|0267-9337}}

;Scholarly studies
*Ahern, Steve (ed), ''Making Radio'' (2nd Edition) [[Allen & Unwin]], Sydney, 2006 {{ISBN|9781741149128}}.
*Aitken, Hugh G. J., ''Syntony and Spark: The Origins of Radio'', New York: [[Wiley (publisher)|John Wiley & Sons]], 1976. {{ISBN|0-471-01816-3}}
*Aitken, Hugh G. J., ''The Continuous Wave: Technology and American Radio, 1900–1932'', Princeton, New Jersey: [[Princeton University Press]], 1985. {{ISBN|0-691-08376-2}}.
*Anderson, Leland I., [http://www.tfcbooks.com/mall/more/431pir.htm Priority in the Invention of Radio – Tesla vs. Marconi]
*Baker, W. J., ''A History of the Marconi Company'', 1970.
*Brodsky, Ira. ''The History of Wireless: How Creative Minds Produced Technology for the Masses'' (Telescope Books, 2008)
*Cheney, Margaret, ''[[Tesla: Man Out of Time]]'' Laurel Publishing, 1981. Chapter 7, esp pp 69, re: published lectures of Tesla in 1893, copied by Marconi.
*Clark, Paddy, "Marconi's Irish Connections Recalled," published in ''100 Years of Radio'', IEE Conference Publication 411, 1995.
*Coe, Douglas and Kreigh Collins (ills), ''Marconi, pioneer of radio'', New York, J. Messner, Inc., 1943. LCCN 43010048
*Garratt, G. R. M., ''The early history of radio: from Faraday to Marconi'', London, Institution of Electrical Engineers in association with the Science Museum, History of technology series, 1994. {{ISBN|0-85296-845-0}} LCCN gb 94011611
*Geddes, Keith, ''Guglielmo Marconi, 1874–1937'', London : H.M.S.O., A Science Museum booklet, 1974. {{ISBN|0-11-290198-0}} LCCN 75329825 (''ed''. Obtainable in the United States. from Pendragon House Inc., Palo Alto, California.)
*Hancock, Harry Edgar, ''Wireless at sea; the first fifty years: A history of the progress and development of marine wireless communications written to commemorate the jubilee of the Marconi International Marine Communication Company, Limited'', Chelmsford, Eng., Marconi International Marine Communication Co., 1950. LCCN 51040529 /L
*Homer, Peter and O'Connor, Finbar, ''Marconi Wireless Radio Station: Malin Head from 1902,'' 2014.
*Hughes, Michael and Bosworth, Katherine, ''[http://www.bodleianbookshop.co.uk/display.asp?isb=1851243771&TAG=&CID Titanic Calling : Wireless Communications During the Great Disaster]'', Oxford, The Bodleian Library, 2012, {{ISBN|978-1-85124-377-8}}
*Janniello, Maria Grace, Monteleone, Franco and Paoloni, Giovanni (eds) (1996), ''One hundred years of radio: From Marconi to the future of the telecommunications''. Catalogue of the extension, Venice: Marsilio.
*Jolly, W. P., ''Marconi'', 1972.
*Larson, Erik, ''Thunderstruck'', New York: Crown Publishers, 2006. {{ISBN|1-4000-8066-5}} A comparison of the lives of [[Hawley Harvey Crippen]] and Marconi. Crippen was a murderer whose Transatlantic escape was foiled by the new invention of shipboard radio.
*MacLeod, Mary K., ''Marconi: The Canada Years – 1902–1946'', Halifax, Nova Scotia: Nimbus Publishing Limited, 1992, {{ISBN|1551093308}}
*Masini, Giancarlo, ''Guglielmo Marconi'', Turin: Turinese typographical-publishing union, 1975. LCCN 77472455 (''ed''. Contains 32 tables outside of the text)
*Mason, H. B. (1908). ''Encyclopaedia of ships and shipping'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=0O5AEbIB51sC&pg=RA14-PA686 Wireless Telegraphy]. London: Shipping Encyclopaedia. 1908.
*{{cite journal |last=Perry |first=Lawrence |year=1902 |title=Commercial Wireless Telegraphy |journal=[[World's Work|The World's Work: A History of Our Time]] |volume=V |pages=3194–3201 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=DoDNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA3194|access-date=10 July 2009 }}
* Raboy, Marc. ''Marconi: The Man Who Networked the World'' (Oxford University Press, 2016) 872 pp. [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54659 online review]
*Stone, Ellery W., ''[https://archive.org/details/elementsradiote00stongoog Elements of Radiotelegraphy]''
*Weightman, Gavin, ''Signor Marconi's magic box: the most remarkable invention of the 19th century & the amateur inventor whose genius sparked a revolution'', 1st Da Capo Press ed., Cambridge, MA : Da Capo Press, 2003. {{ISBN|0-306-81275-4}}
*Winkler, Jonathan Reed. ''Nexus: Strategic Communications and American Security in World War I''. (Cambridge, MA: [[Harvard University Press]], 2008). Account of rivalry between Marconi's firm and the United States government during World War I.

''The above started out as a translation based on the article in the Italian RetroWikipedia at [[:it:Elettra (nave 1904)]] but was subsequently enlarged with in-line citations being added.''

[[Category:Ships of Italy]]
[[Category:History of radio]]
[[Category:World War I electronics]]
[[Category:Italy in World War I]]
[[Category:Italy in World War II]]
[[Category:Steam yachts]]
[[Category:1904 ships]]