LAMOURE, N.D. (KFGO) – It may seem odd in landlocked North Dakota, but the U.S. Navy has a high-tech facility nestled in the heart of the James River Valley, about a 1/2 off Hwy. 13 west of LaMoure, on a blacktop road called Sen. Young Drive, dedicated to the late U.S. Senator Milton Young.
The small base, which has restricted entry and is surrounded by high wire fencing topped with barbwire, is the Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station Atlantic Detachment, part of the Navy’s Network Warfare Command.
It’s a transmitter station for linking communications with the Navy’s submarine fleet. The very low-frequency signals it sends out can penetrate solid rock and deep ocean water. The tower is 1,200 feet high, and the guy wires which are part of the antenna array stretch-out a half mile. The facility is operated by civilian contractors who work 24/7, 365 days a year.
Local residents don’t pay much attention to the unique mission in their backyard. However, Larry Harmsen is very familiar with the site. He lives a mile away. He says the site was built by the federal government in the late 1960s as part of the OMEGA radio navigation system which provided directions for aircraft and ships and was operated by the U.S. Coast Guard. When GPS made the system obsolete, the LaMoure site and another in Hawaii were shut down. The LaMoure station was then converted and taken over by the Navy for submarine communications.
Harmsen says the original construction of the OMEGA Station resulted in a boom for the city of LaMoure, bringing in military staff and families, new housing, and resulted in the building of a small mall called the OMEGA Plaza, and the Omega Motel.
