Goliath transmitter was a VLF transmitter of the German Navy near Kalbe an der Milde in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, which was in service from 1943 to 1945. It had a maximum transmission power of 1800 kW and was the most powerful transmitter of its time.
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From 1943 to the end of World War II, Goliath was the main radio transmitter for submarine radio communications, and worked on frequencies between 15 and 60 kHz, the main working frequency being 16.55 kHz. Using up to 1800 kW of power, the Goliath transmissions could be received by German submarines operating in a wide sea area, although they could not be received when the submarines were positioned in deep Norwegian fjords.[1] [2] Goliath's transmissions could be received worldwide including submerged submarines in the Caribbean.[3]
Goliath used three umbrella antennas, which were arranged radially around three 210 metre tall guyed steel tube masts and were insulated against ground. At their edges these antennas were mounted on grounded 170 metre tall guyed lattice steel masts. Three of these masts carried two umbrella antennas to comprise 15 lattice steel masts.[4]
The design of Goliath transmitter was a model for many other VLF-transmitters throughout the world. After World War II, the fenced area of the transmitter was used as camp for imprisoned soldiers. In 1946 Soviet authorities dismantled the facility and later rebuilt it in Russia. Soon afterwards the original Goliath transmitter buildings and antennas in Germany were destroyed. Today, there is only one base of a former 170 metre mast left on the site.
According to the interview given in 2007 by the commander of the present-day Goliath facility, Captain 1st Rank Yuri Gorev, to the Nizhny Novgorod edition of Argumenty i Fakty,[5] Goliath was rebuilt between 1949 and 1952 in the Kudma River valley, in the southern suburbs of Nizhny Novgorod (Kstovsky District; ). Since then, the station has been transmitting commands and time signals RJH99[6] for the Russian Navy. Since the 1960s, it has also participated in tracking spacecraft. The nearby settlement for the staff of the facility is known under the name Druzhniy.
The antenna system of Vileyka VLF transmitter greatly resembles that of Goliath, but all its masts are nearly exactly 100 metres taller.[7]