The use of communication equipment experienced immense development in the course of the World War I. All the accessible means of communication, beginning from the most primitive up to those the use of which was enabled by the latest knowledge of science, were gradually upgraded. The more primitive ones included the Italian canvas signalling device. By stretching and shrinking, the shape of the surface was changed, creating colour combinations of white and red, which produced an effect similar to that of an illuminated signal lamp. Messages could be transferred from ship to ship via Morse code. This method was also used by infantry units.