Publication:Sea Talk Spring 2004/Emailing our ships

Shore to ship help for families and friends

By Commander John Broadhead Director Fleet Information Support Systems Organisation

Navy provides internet email (unclassified) access between ships and family and friends by using the Defence Restricted Network (DRN) as the backbone system.

This is done by means of a firewall between the internet and the DRN so that the network is protected from viruses and deliberate attack.

The firewall is administered by Information Systems Division, in Canberra. In the vast majority of cases email is assured of making it to/from ships as long as it meets the criteria explained below.

Sometimes, due to operational requirements, a ship may need to temporarily cease the flow in either or both direction. This would normally advised to loved ones in advance by way of a group email outlining the period and perhaps the reason (unless security dictates otherwise)

Not all ships are on online 24/7, meaning that they conduct a number of email 'dumps' throughout the day (usually three or four). When ships are deployed, this may be reduced to once a day depending on port visits and short leave requirements, at the discretion of the ship.

There are also a number of other protective measures in place to ensure that the communications ' pipes' to the ships do not become clogged. For example, there is a spam filter, much the same as on any email service. There is also a file size limit of 1.5 Mb that would not normally be the case.

Photographs in particular and large numbers of attachments therefore need to be reduced to make it through this filter. During some operations, ships may choose to reduce this size to either 500k or even 200k.

Anything containing mpeg will usually be trapped for this reason. Executable (exe) are trapped as they can damage the network, and PPS files are also trapped as they were found during trial to mainly contain inappropriate material.

With regard to privacy it should be remembered that once an email enters the Defence network it effectively belongs to Defence. This does not mean personal emails are routinely read by administrators however inappropriate material can be quarantined and if found to have been originated by a Defence member, disciplinary action may be taken.

If your email is 'bounced' there should be a message advising you why. If you feel that your message is of particular importance, there is fleet.help@defence.gov.au for the Fleet Information Systems Support Organisation (FISSO) Help Desk.

Any query will be actioned by the next working day. And of course, if you don't get a reply it may simply be that your loved one is working hard and has not had a chance to check his or her email for a day or two.