What messages did the crew get from home?

Very few, if any. Unlike today, there was no way to call or text the family back at home. There were serious concerns about security. Finally, there were concerns about servicemen getting bad news when they couldn’t do anything about it. There was no sense letting a sailor know about serious problems back at home when he couldn’t do anything at all about it.The news would be saved until the boat returned to port.

Letters were the obvious means of communications with families. Sailors might write regularly, but there was no incoming or outgoing mail when at sea. Large surface ships might get or send mail occasionally using replenishment ships. Since submarines operated separately or in small groups, there were no postal deliveries. As a result, sailors would receive mail from home in batches. They would also mail their letters out in batches.

Outgoing mail was censored. It was normally be read by one of the officers and there might be some holes where sensitive information was cut out. Naturally, some sailors would develop code words or phrases that would provide some very basic information about what was happening. However, orders were secret before departure and the crew would not normally know where they would be patrolling next. There wasn’t much they could give away.

There was one message in the Pampanito’s office about the birth of a child. That was likely sent while the boat was coming back to port. It was important to remember that the lack of some good news, such as the expected birth of a child, can be the same as bad news. It may be better practice to withhold all such news until the boat was in port or very close.