[Milsurplus] R-1451/WLR-6 seen on the auction place

[Mike Morrow]

Tom wrote:

>The rare wasn't in the Ebay description, it was in my post. There  
>probably aren't many more than a dozen of these around.

I suspect that quite a bit more than that were made.

The AN/WLR-6 was a big console unit with several bays for these receiver modules covering various frequency ranges.  In spite of the "L" (countermeasures) notation in the JAN designator, the AN/WLR-6 was a signals intelligence reception system that was on many/most of the US fast attack submarines in the 1960s and 1970s.  The AN/WLR-6 console would typically be customized for the particular mission assigned to each submarine operation.  It would be operated by communication techs (CT ratings), otherwise known as spooks.

The AN/WLR-6 was not part of the submarine's normal radio communications suite.  To really claim to have a AN/WLR-6, you'd need a lot more that just one of these receiver modules.

Most of the submarines that carried this system have been through the nuclear vessel re-cycling yard at Puget Sound for more than a decade now.  I'm surprised that more of the AN/WLR-6 system hasn't made it into surplus channels as these boats were scrapped.

Mike / KK5F
(US Atlantic Submarine Force, 1975 - 79)