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Originally Posted by 5./JG27.Farber
Could Wotan be used to detect ships, Im sure I have read this somewhere? Or am I confusing this with late war German radar, something I know nothing about.
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No, since Wotan is actually a radio beam system. The theory is quite similar to the later OBOE of the RAF, meaning one station provides the general direction by directing its beam towards the target while a second beam crossed the first over the target (or up to three - pre-signal, main signal, post signal). Aircraft using this system had two special devices on board (also known as X-Gerät) and each was locked onto one of the beams. Once both devices gave a continuous sound the target area was reached and the bombs were dropped. Only KGr 100 used the X-Verfahren in 1940 while III./KG 26 used the slightly more sophisticated Y-Verfahren (based on Wotan 2 stations) from November 1940 on. The latter was more accurate and could not be jammed - at least not easily.
Wotan stations were (at least in 1940) at Julianadorp (Den Helder), Audembert, Ecalgrain (Cherbourg) and Morlaix (Brest).