Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt is located on the North West coast of Australia, 6 kms (3 miles) north of the town of Exmouth, Western Australia. Exmouth was built simultaneously with the communications station as a support town for the base and housing dependent families of U.S. Navy personnel.
The station was commissioned as U.S. Naval Communication Station North West Cape on September 16, 1967. On September 20, 1968, the station was officially renamed to U.S. Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt in memory of the late Harold Holt, former Prime Minister of Australia, who died three months after the station was commissioned.
In 1974, the "U.S." was dropped from the station's official title with the advent of joint U.S. and Royal Australian Navy manning.
The station provides very low frequency (VLF) radio transmission to United States Navy and Royal Australian Navy ships and submarines in the western Pacific Ocean and eastern Indian Ocean. It is with a transmission power of 1000 kilowatts the most powerful transmission station on the Southern hemisphere.
The station features thirteen tall radio towers. The tallest tower is called Tower Zero and is 387 metres (1,270 feet) tall, and was the tallest man-made structure in the Southern Hemisphere. Six towers are evenly placed in a circle around Tower Zero. The other six towers are evenly placed in a larger circle around Tower Zero. All these towers are 364 metres (1,194 feet) tall.
In July 2002, the Australian Navy handed over operation of the station to the Defence Materiel Organisation.
The base is currently operated under contract by Boeing Australia, Ltd.
[edit] Cyclone Vance 1999
In April 1999, civilian dependents were evacuated just hours after the strongest winds recorded in Australia, and generated by Cyclone Vance, caused millions of dollars damage to buildings throughout northern Western Australia. While winds of 330 km/h were reported, there were confirmed wind gusts of 267 km/h, the strongest wind ever recorded in Australia.
