Wasserman-radarinstallatie bij Bergen aan Zee (cropped)

The Wasserman radar was an early-warning radar built by Germany during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The radar was a development of FuMG 80 Freya and was operated during World War II for long range detection. It was developed under the direction of

Theodor Schultes Theodor Schultes or Theodor Jakob Joseph Schultes (1901-1981) was a German engineer of radio frequency technology and a pioneer of radar technology . His best known developments include the radio measuring devices with the code names Freya, Aquari ...

, beginning in 1942. Wasserman was based on largely unchanged Freya electronics, but used an entirely new antenna array in order to improve range, height-finding and bearing precision.

Development

Seven different versions were developed. The two most important versions are: * The radio measurement equipment FuMG.41 ''Wassermann L'' (German: ''Leicht'' = light) was a constellation of four Freya antennas on top of each other, mounted on a rotatable steel

lattice mast Lattice masts, or cage masts, or basket masts, are a type of observation mast common on United States Navy major warships in the early 20th century. They are a type of hyperboloid structure, whose weight-saving design was invented by the Russian ...

. * A later version was the FuMG.42 ''Wassermann S'' (German: ''Schwer'' = heavy). For this eight Freya antenna arrays were mounted on a pipe mast in two columns, each four antennae high. The combination of the antennae in this way resulted in a concentration of the radiated energy to a smaller beam, thus resulting in a higher radiated power in the main direction (

Effective Radiated Power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would hav ...

= ERP) without increasing the transmitter power. The result was a longer range. With the L-version the horizontal opening angle of the antenna array remained the same, but the vertical opening angle was reduced (so flatter radiation pattern). Because the horizontal opening angle was not changed, the bearing measuring performance was not changed. With the S-version also the horizontal opening angle was reduced, resulting in a better bearing resolution.

Technical Info

Gebhard Aders: ''Geschichte der deutschen Nachtjagd 1917–1945.'' 1st vol., 1977, p. 357 (in German) * Search bearing: mechanical rotation of 360° * Range: depending on target altitude and station altitude, e.g.: :''Target altitude Range'' :50 m 35 km :6,000 m 190 km * Range accuracy: +/−300 m * Detection accuracy: :• Bearing: +/−° :• Altitude: +/−° (in the range of 3–18°) :• Altitude detection possible * Detection possibly up to 12,000 m * Mass: 30–60 t * Seize: Height of mast: 37–57 m * Width 6–12, 40 m * Jamming resisted due to three different frequency ranges: :• 1.9–2.5 m :• 1.2–1.9 m :• 2.4–4.0 m * Detection of Friend or Foe in cooperation with the FuG.25a Erstling equipment.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wassermann Radar World War II German radars Radar networks Military equipment introduced from 1940 to 1944