What a ridiculous question? "How to contact a submarine"
Get a satellite phone and make a call. Commercial satellite communication systems such as INMARSAT or Iridium allow you to dial Antarctica without leaving your Moscow office. The only drawback is the high cost of the call, however, the Ministry of Defense and Roscosmos, for sure, have internal "corporate programs" with substantial discounts …
Indeed, in the age of the Internet, Glonass and wireless data transmission systems, the problem of communication with submarines may seem like a meaningless and not a very witty joke - what problems could there be, 120 years after the invention of radio?
But there is only one problem here - the boat, unlike airplanes and surface ships, moves in the depths of the ocean and does not react at all to the call signs of conventional HF, VHF, DV radio stations - salty sea water, being an excellent electrolyte, reliably muffles any signals.
Well … if necessary, the boat can surface to periscope depth, extend the radio antenna and conduct a communication session with the shore. Has the problem been resolved?
Alas, not everything is so simple - modern nuclear-powered ships are capable of being submerged for months, only occasionally rising to the surface to conduct a scheduled communication session. The main importance of the question lies in the reliable transmission of information from the shore to the submarine: is it really necessary to wait a day or more to broadcast an important order - until the next communication session on the schedule?
In other words, at the start of a nuclear war, missile submarines risk being useless - while battles are raging on the surface, the boats will continue to quietly write out "eights" in the depths of the oceans, unaware of the tragic events taking place "above." But what about our retaliatory nuclear strike? Why are naval nuclear forces needed if they cannot be used in time?
How do you get in touch with a submarine lurking on the seabed?
The first method is quite logical and simple, at the same time it is very difficult to implement in practice, and the operating range of such a system leaves much to be desired. We are talking about underwater communication - acoustic waves, unlike electromagnetic ones, propagate in the marine environment much better than in air - the speed of sound at a depth of 100 meters is 1468 m / s!
All that remains is to install powerful hydrophones or explosive charges at the bottom - a series of explosions at a certain interval will unambiguously show the submarines the need to surface and receive an important cipher by radio. The method is suitable for operations in the coastal zone, but it will not be possible to “shout out” the Pacific Ocean, otherwise the required power of the explosions will exceed all reasonable limits, and the resulting tsunami wave will wash away everything from Moscow to New York.
Of course, hundreds and thousands of kilometers of cables can be laid along the bottom - to hydrophones installed in areas where strategic missile carriers and multipurpose nuclear submarines are most likely to be located … But is there another, more reliable and effective solution?
Der Goliath. Fear of heights
It is impossible to circumvent the laws of nature, but each of the rules has its own exceptions. The sea surface is not transparent for long, medium, short and ultrashort waves. At the same time, ultra-long waves, reflected from the ionosphere, easily spread over the horizon for thousands of kilometers and are able to penetrate into the depths of the oceans.
A way out was found - a communication system on super-long waves. And the non-trivial problem of communication with submarines is solved!
But why do all radio amateurs and radio experts sit with such a bleak expression on their faces?
Dependence of the penetration depth of radio waves on their frequency
VLF (very low frequency) - very low frequencies
ELF (extremely low frequency) - extremely low frequencies
Ultra-long waves - radio waves with a wavelength of more than 10 kilometers. In this case, we are interested in the very low frequency range (VLF) in the range from 3 to 30 kHz, the so-called. "Myriameter waves". Do not even try to search for this range on your radios - to work with very long waves, you need antennas of amazing dimensions, many kilometers long - none of the civilian radio stations operate in the "myriameter wave" range.
The monstrous dimensions of the antennas are the main obstacle in the way of creating VLF radio stations.
And yet, research in this area was carried out in the first half of the XX century - their result was the incredible Der Goliath ("Goliath"). Another representative of the German "wunderwaffe" - the world's first super-long-wave radio station, created in the interests of the Kriegsmarine. Signals from the Goliath were confidently received by submarines in the area of the Cape of Good Hope, while radio waves emitted by the super-transmitter could penetrate the water to a depth of 30 meters.
Vehicle dimensions compared to the "Goliath" support
The view of the "Goliath" is amazing: the VLF transmitting antenna consists of three umbrella parts mounted around three central poles 210 meters high, the corners of the antenna are fixed on fifteen lattice masts with a height of 170 meters. Each antenna sheet, in turn, consists of six regular triangles with a side of 400 m and is a system of steel cables in a movable aluminum shell. The antenna web is tensioned with 7 tonne counterweights.
The maximum transmitter power is 1.8 Megawatts. Operating range 15 - 60 kHz, wavelength 5000 - 20 000 m. Data transfer rate - up to 300 bit / s.
The installation of a grandiose radio station in the suburb of Kalbe was completed in the spring of 1943. For two years, "Goliath" served in the interests of the Kriegsmarine, coordinating the actions of "packs of wolves" in the vast Atlantic, until in April 1945 the "object" was not captured by American troops. After some time, the area came under the control of the Soviet administration - the station was immediately dismantled and taken to the USSR.
For sixty years the Germans wondered where the Russians had hidden the Goliath. Did these barbarians put a masterpiece of German design thought on the nails?
The secret was revealed at the beginning of the XXI century - German newspapers came out with loud headlines: “Sensation! Goliath Found! The station is still operational!"
The tall masts of "Goliath" soared up in the Kstovsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region, near the village of Druzhny - this is where the trophy super-transmitter is broadcasting. The decision to restore "Goliath" was made back in 1949, the first airing took place on December 27, 1952. And now, for more than 60 years the legendary "Goliath" has been guarding our Fatherland, providing communication with the submarines of the Navy going under water, at the same time being the transmitter of the precise time service "Beta".
Impressed by the capabilities of the Goliath, Soviet specialists did not stop there and developed German ideas. In 1964, 7 kilometers from the city of Vileika (Republic of Belarus), a new, even more grandiose radio station was built, better known as the 43rd communications center of the Navy.
Today, the VLF radio station near Vileika, along with the Baikonur cosmodrome, the naval base in Sevastopol, bases in the Caucasus and Central Asia, is among the operating foreign military facilities of the Russian Federation. About 300 officers and warrant officers of the Russian Navy are serving at the Vileika communications center, not counting civilian citizens of Belarus. Legally, the facility does not have the status of a military base, and the territory of the radio station was transferred to Russia for free use until 2020.
The main attraction of the 43rd communications center of the Russian Navy, of course, is the VLF radio transmitter Antey (RJH69), created in the image and likeness of the German Goliath. The new station is much larger and more perfect than captured German equipment: the height of the central supports increased to 305 m, the height of the lateral lattice masts reached 270 meters. In addition to the transmitting antennas, a number of technical structures are located on the territory of 650 hectares, including a highly protected underground bunker.
The 43rd communications center of the Russian Navy provides communications with nuclear submarines on alert in the waters of the Atlantic, Indian and North Pacific oceans. In addition to its main functions, the giant antenna complex can be used in the interests of the Air Force, Strategic Missile Forces, Space Forces of the Russian Federation, and Antey is also used for electronic reconnaissance and electronic warfare and is among the transmitters of the Beta precision time service.
Powerful radio transmitters "Goliath" and "Antey" provide reliable communication on very long waves in the Northern Hemisphere and over a large area of the Southern Hemisphere. But what if the submarine combat patrol areas shift to the South Atlantic or to the equatorial latitudes of the Pacific Ocean?
For special cases, the Naval Aviation has special equipment: the Tu-142MR "Orel" repeater aircraft (NATO classification Bear-J) is an integral part of the reserve control system of naval nuclear forces.
Created in the late 1970s on the basis of the Tu-142 anti-submarine aircraft (which, in turn, is a modification of the T-95 strategic bomber), the Eagle differs from its progenitor in the absence of search equipment - instead of the first cargo compartment, there is a reel with a towed 8600-meter antenna of VLF-radio transmitter "Fregat". In addition to the super-long-wave station, on board the Tu-142MR there is a complex of communication equipment for operation in conventional radio wave bands (while the aircraft is capable of performing the functions of a powerful HF repeater even without lifting into the air).
It is known that as of the beginning of the 2000s, several vehicles of this type were still included in the 3rd Squadron of the 568th Guards. mixed aviation regiment of the Pacific Fleet.
Of course, the use of repeater aircraft is nothing more than a forced (reserve) half-measure - in the event of a real conflict, the Tu-142MR can be easily intercepted by enemy aircraft, in addition, the aircraft circling in a certain square unmasks the submarine missile carrier and clearly indicates the position of the submarine to the enemy.
The sailors needed an exceptionally reliable means to timely communicate the orders of the country's military-political leadership to the commanders of nuclear submarines on combat patrols in any corner of the World Ocean. Unlike ultra-long waves that penetrate the water column by only a couple of tens of meters, the new communication system should provide reliable reception of emergency messages at depths of 100 meters or more.
Yes … a very, very nontrivial technical problem arose before the signalmen.
ZEUS
… In the early 1990s, scientists at Stanford University (California) issued a series of intriguing statements regarding research in radio engineering and radio transmission. The Americans have witnessed an unusual phenomenon - scientific radio equipment located on all continents of the Earth regularly, at the same time, records strange repetitive signals at a frequency of 82 Hz (or, in a more familiar format for us, 0, 000 082 MHz). The indicated frequency refers to the range of extremely low frequencies (ELF), in this case the length of the monstrous wave is 3658.5 km (a quarter of the Earth's diameter).
16-minute transmission "ZEUSA" recorded on 08.12.2000 at 08:40 UTC
The transmission rate for one session is three characters every 5-15 minutes. Signals come directly from the earth's crust - researchers have a mystical feeling that the planet itself is talking to them.
Mysticism is the lot of medieval obscurantists, and the advanced Yankees immediately guessed that they were dealing with an incredible ELF transmitter located somewhere on the other side of the Earth. Where? It is clear where - in Russia. It seems that these insane Russians "short-circuited" the entire planet, using it as a giant antenna to transmit encrypted messages.
The secret object "ZEUS" is located 18 kilometers south of the military airfield Severomorsk-3 (Kola Peninsula). On the Google Maps map, two clearings (diagonally) are clearly visible, stretching through the forest-tundra for two tens of kilometers (a number of Internet sources indicate the length of the lines as 30 and even 60 km), in addition, technical buildings, structures, access roads and an additional 10 -kilometer glade to the west of the two main lines.
Glades with "feeders" (fishermen will immediately guess what they are talking about), sometimes mistaken for antennas. In fact, these are two giant "electrodes" through which an electric discharge of 30 MW is driven. The antenna is the planet Earth itself.
The choice of this place for the installation of the system is explained by the low conductivity of the local soil - with a depth of contact holes of 2-3 kilometers, electrical impulses penetrate deep into the bowels of the Earth, penetrating the planet through and through. The pulses of the giant ELF generator are clearly recorded even by scientific stations in Antarctica.
The presented circuit is not without its disadvantages - bulky dimensions and extremely low efficiency. Despite the enormous power of the transmitter, the output power is only a few watts. In addition, the reception of such long waves also entails considerable technical difficulties.
Receiving signals from "Zeus" is carried out by submarines on the move at a depth of 200 meters to a towed antenna about one kilometer long. Due to the extremely low data transfer rate (one byte per several minutes), the ZEUS system is obviously used to transmit the simplest coded messages, for example: "Ascend to the surface (release a beacon) and listen to the message via satellite communication."
For the sake of fairness, it should be noted that for the first time such a scheme was first conceived in the United States during the Cold War - in 1968, a project was proposed for a secret Navy facility, codenamed Sanguine ("Optimistic") - the Yankees intended to turn 40% of Wisconsin's forest area into a giant transmitter consisting of 6,000 miles of underground cables and 100 highly protected bunkers to house auxiliary equipment and power generators. As conceived by the creators, the system was able to withstand a nuclear explosion and provide a confident broadcast of a missile attack signal on all nuclear submarines of the US Navy in any area of the oceans.
American ELF Transmitter (Clam Lake, Wisconsin, 1982)
In 1977-1984, the project was implemented in a less absurd form in the form of the Seafarer system, whose antennas were located at Clam Lake (Wisconsin) and at Sawyer Air Force Base (Michigan). The operating frequency of the American ELF installation is 76 Hz (wavelength 3947, 4 km). Seafarer transmitter power - 3 MW. The system was removed from combat duty in 2004.
At present, a promising direction for solving the problem of communication with submarines is the use of lasers of the blue-green spectrum (0.42-0.53 microns), whose radiation with the least losses overcomes the aquatic environment and penetrates to a depth of 300 meters. In addition to the obvious difficulties with precise beam positioning, the "stumbling block" of this scheme is the high required power of the emitter. The first option involves the use of satellites repeaters with large-size reflective reflectors. The option without a repeater provides for the presence of a powerful energy source in orbit - to power a 10 W laser, a power plant with a power two orders of magnitude higher is required.
In conclusion, it should be noted that the Russian Navy is one of two fleets in the world that has a full complement of naval nuclear forces. In addition to a sufficient number of carriers, missiles and warheads, in our country, serious research was carried out in the field of creating communication systems with submarines, without which naval strategic nuclear forces would lose their ominous importance.
"Goliath" during the Second World War
Boeing E-6 Mercury control and communications aircraft, element of the backup communications system for nuclear submarines with ballistic missiles (SSBN) of the US Navy
