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What Does SOS Mean?

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SOS is an international distress call for ships.

According to WordNet, SOS is the international Morse code distress call for ships. Contrary to popular belief that SOS stands for "Save Our Ship" or "Save Our Souls," it is not actually an abbreviation of anything.

  1. History

    • Preceded by the Morse code CQD, SOS was adopted at the Berlin Radiotelegraphic Conference in Germany in 1906. Some historical accounts explain that SOS was derived from the code SOE; however, the "E" was difficult to copy and substituted with the letter "S."

    Function

    • The Morse code for SOS is three dots, three dashes, three dots, to be repeated intermittently. Upon hearing an SOS, stations were to immediately stop traffic and handle the distress signal.

    End of SOS Code

    • The SOS distress code was used until 1999, when it was replaced by the Global Maritime Distress Safety System.

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References

  • Photo Credit ship image by Alexander Petrari from Fotolia.com

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