The research for this site has taken about 8 months just trying to locate photo’s showing the station as it was when Operational, I finally received some from the USA along with a whole lot of text that has filled in many missing links of information. All up I have been working on the site for over 15 months.
The U.S. Naval Supplementary Radio Station,
Adelaide River, Northern Territory, Australia, was conceived by the Fleet Radio Unit,
Melbourne (FRUMEL) in late 1942 to establish an intercept station in Northern Australia to cover Japanese shore-based and afloat communications in the islands north of Australia. The plan was formalized in a 15 January 1943 letter from FRUMEL to the Commander, Southwest Pacific Force which proposed the establishment of, “. . . a U. S. Navy Intercept Station at
Adelaide River to cover high and intermediate frequency
Orange ((Japanese)) radio transmissions from the South China Sea – South Pacific area.
A 29 January 1943 message from FRUMEL to OPNAV and COM14 reported that ENS K. E. Goodwin (for information on ENS Goodwin and other personnel assigned to
Adelaide River, see Appendix B), and Radio Electrician S. A. Burnett had departed
Melbourne that day to conduct a site survey around
Darwin and
Adelaide River for the establishment of the proposed intercept station. A request had already been submitted to the U. S. Army for a dedicated 24-hour teletype channel to be activated as soon as construction was completed.
On 24 March, a message from the U. S. Army Base Section ONE to LCDR R. J. Fabian, USN, Australian Commonwealth Naval Board,
Melbourne, reported that ground at the
Adelaide River site was to be broken on 25 March but completion, then not anticipated before 15 April, was dependent upon the arrival of the building materials. On 25 March, it was reported that the personnel and supplies from
Melbourne had arrived on 23 March 1943, and the personnel were billeted and messing at the U. S. Army Base Section ONE.
Image Could Not Be Found
On 27 March 1943, the unit was designated as Fleet Radio Unit,
Adelaide River Detachment, and its location was given as about two
miles northeast of
Adelaide River, Northern Territory, and about 75
miles south of
Darwin.
On 8 April, the station was referred to as the U. S. Naval Detachment,
Adelaide River, Northern Territory, Australia. At the same time, a Commander, SEVENTH Fleet (CON7THFLT) letter to OP-20G stated, in part, that the total initial complement at
Adelaide River was to be two officers, 18 intercept operators, one Machinist’s Mate, and two Ship’s Cooks. For operations, they would have six HRO receivers, one RAK-2 receiver and two RAS-1 receivers. A Model DAG HFDF set was available and it was planned to ship it to the station in the near future to assist in target identification.
Image Could Not Be Found
Image Could Not Be Found
On 16 May 1943, ENS Goodwin reported the new projected completion date for construction as 28 May. From his description, construction of the operations building, power house, barracks, mess hall and officers’ quarters was complete with most equipment installed and working; only finishing touches remained to be accomplished.
The land comprised about three acres situated on two slight elevations and bisected by the “Old Mount Bundy Road”, no longer in use. He also stated that the buildings had been camouflaged by the Allied Works Council personnel with a spray job of green and brown shades in irregular patches. Roof edges were staggered to preclude straight lines.
Fresh meat was usually available for issue six days out of the week with tinned fish provided on Friday. The cigarette issue was three cartons per month and the beer ration was one bottle per man per week, when available. Cigarettes, beer, and clothing were obtained from the Army Quartermaster. Some
recreation material including books, a radio, and a phonograph had been obtained from the Army and the Red Cross. Bug proofing of buildings could only be accomplished by use of an extremely fine mesh screen. Blackout of the operations room was considered practical in that no direct light could be seen from the air.
Image Could Not Be Found
LTJG Goodwin was also informed of the shipment of two Diesel generators; one slated for
Adelaide River and the second for a planned intercept and HFDF station at
Cooktown. The original generating plant provided for the station had consisted of two 5 KVA and one 18.5 KVA gasoline-powered generators. Due to problems in obtaining spare parts and increasing station power requirements, the 18.5 KVA generator was ultimately replaced by the 18 KVA Diesel unit with the two 5 KVA gasoline units in standby. In June 1944, a 20KVA 6600/440V transformer was installed by the Allied Works Council. This power source was capable of handling the station’s total power requirements with the exception of the transmitter site at the Mount Bundy
Homestead.
Image Could Not Be Found
Image Could Not Be Found
Image Could Not Be Found
Image Could Not Be Found
Image Could Not Be Found
Image Could Not Be Found
With the end of the war, action to decommission
Adelaide River was initiated. On 6 September 1945,
Action to close
Adelaide River was initiated shortly thereafter. On 21 September the U. S. Naval Detachment, FRUMEL, reported to OP-20G and FRUPAC that the equipment had been removed from
Adelaide River and was being loaded at
Darwin for shipment to the Naval Supply Deport,
Brisbane., Personnel were either already enroute or at least scheduled to return to
Melbourne, the last to arrive by 30 September, where they would await orders and transportation.
On 21 September 1945, the Officer in Charge, U. S. Naval Detachment, Fleet Radio Unit, Navy 136 (FRUMEL) officially reported to the Commander, U. S. Naval Forces, Australia/New Guinea, that the Officer in Charge, U. S. Naval Supplementary Radio Station,
Adelaide River, Northern Territory, had reported the station decommissioned effective 21 September. All U. S. Navy material and equipment had been removed and personnel had departed. On 17 October 1945, the return of the property to Australian control and Mt Bundy Station was acknowledged.
.