prior to the fleet's arrival in australia, there was only a brief report that lee de forest's wireless telephony equipment had been installed in the vessels of the great white fleet. however, while the great white fleet was in australian ports, there was surprisingly little reference to the ships' wireless telegraphy equipment. but a month after the fleets' departure, a detailed report was provided stating that all the warships were not only equipped with wireless telegraphy equipment, but also for wireless telephony. this is among the earliest recorded use of the latter technology in the commonwealth: all the ships in the american fleet which recently left australian waters are fitted with a wireless telephone, besides the usual wireless telegraph gear. the success of the installation of this system — invented by dr. de forest — has been so thoroughly established that it has been possible to establish communication thereby to distances up to 25 miles. the average working range, however, is about five or 10 miles. the system is a comparatively new one, a successful demonstration of it not having been given until the middle of last year. seeing the value of such a useful addition to the wireless telegraph, the united states navy authorities at once ordered trial sets of the instruments to be installed in the battleships connecticut and virginia, in conjunction with a shore station. it proved of such value during the grounding of the kentucky, in hampton roads, that it was decided to fit all the ships of admiral evans's fleet with it before they left for their voyage round the world. this was done with the utmost despatch, and a month or two later everything was complete. the article goes on to fully describe the aerial, the transmitting gear and the receiving gear. the lack of detailed reporting on such an important development can be explained by the fact that the us navy had found the equipment to be too unreliable to meet their needs at all sets were removed upon the fleet's return to hampton roads, virginia.