Huff-duff
Huff-Duff is a radio direction finder that was used during World War II . The name is derived from the abbreviation HFDF for High-Frequency Direction Finding. The device was developed by the French engineers Maurice Deloraine and Henri Busignies . They started the development in Paris and ended it after emigrating to the USA .
functionality
An enemy radio transmitter was targeted by means of a directional antenna. The corresponding alignment of the antenna was noted and passed on. Several spatially separated antennas made it possible to determine the position of the opposing transmitter very precisely using triangular bearings.
Use on the Allied side
This direction finder was used on numerous Allied ships from around 1941 during the Second World War . From 1943 it was installed on all Allied ships, as well as in coastal stations.
background
In the early years of the Second World War, the German submarines achieved some considerable success. The pack tactic stipulated that a submarine, after sighting a convoy, kept in touch and reported its position to other boats. Boats in the vicinity then tried to approach the convoy as well. The attack came later in the group, often at night. The search strips formed by the pack made it possible to monitor a large sea area with just a few boats.
Effects
In the beginning, the devices were mainly used from land to align submarines based on their radio messages. In this way, Allied convoys could be directed around known positions of German submarines. From 1942 the Huff-Duff was also installed on the Allied escort ships. This made it possible to determine the position of the German submarines much more precisely. As soon as the chasing submarine sent a radio message, it could be located and pushed away from the convoy or sunk. This technology was combined with radar location against surfaced and ASDIC against submerged boats.
literature
- Arthur O. Bauer, Ralph Erskine, Klaus Herold: Radio direction finding as an Allied weapon against German submarines 1939-1945 . How weaknesses and failures in the radio control of the submarines contributed to the outcome of the “Battle of the Atlantic”. Liebich Funk, Rheinberg 1997, ISBN 3-00-002142-6 (eyewitness reports by Alfred T. Collett, Oliver Nelson, Derekek Wellman, the German translation from the Dutch original was authorized by the author, first edition self-published by Arthur O. Bauer, Diemen NL 1997).
- Arthur O. Bauer: HF / DF An Allied Weapon against German U-Boats 1939-1945. (PDF; 327 kB) Retrieved October 25, 2016 (English: a paper on the technology and practice of the HF / DF systems used by the Royal Navy against U-Boats in World War II).
- Kathleen Broome Williams: Secret Weapon: US High-Frequency Direction Finding in the Battle of the Atlantic . Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD 1996, ISBN 1-55750-935-2 (English).
- Patrick Beesly: Very Special Intelligence . The Story of the Admiralty's Operational Intelligence Center in World War II. Chatham, London 2006, ISBN 978-1-86176-277-1 (English, WJR Gardner (introduction), Ralph Erskine (afterword)).
- JA Biyd, DB Harris, DD King, HW Welch, Jr .: Electronic Countermeasures . Prepared for the Institute of Science and Technology of the University of Michigan for the US Army Signal Corps. Ed .: University of Michigan. Institute of Science and Technology, United States. Army. Signal Corps .; et al. Peninsula Publishing, Los Altos CA, ISBN 0-932146-00-7 (English).