Each line could contain 80 characters, when the RM's needed to guess a character because of poor penmanship the meaning of the report could be different than intended.
I remember in Arg in the middle 60s, we had a young 3rd class by the name of Bill Forseth. Forseth considered himself pretty quick and he would demonstrate that speed on the mid watch by racing the bunny tubes from the WO desk to comm. Can't say that I recall the actual outcome but it was fun to watch. He was pretty quick.