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THE 1962 SHIPBUILDING PROGRAM
The Navy’s shipbuilding and conversion program for fiscal 1962, recently passed by Congress, contains something for nearly everyone, but not quite enough of anything to make everyone happy.
There is a vastly accelerated buy of Polaris submarines, offset by what could spell eventually the beginning of the end of the fleet ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) building program. There are destroyer types, with accent on missiles, and a touch of nuclear power, and another installment of FRAM conversions to stretch the shipbuilding dollar and the life of our aging destroyer fleet.
There are nuclear attack submarines—replacing three authorized in fiscal year 1961 but not built—and modernization of additional conventional submarines.
146
In all, 16 of the 36 new ships in the program and 20 of the 22 conversions will have ASW as their primary mission. Four will be amphibious ships, significant in their new design, but numerically a modest contribution toward our readiness for limited or conventional war. Five auxiliaries—one a conversion—are for research. Of the remaining three non-combat types, only one will contribute directly to mobile logistic support of the surface fleet.
It is a well-balanced program, probably the best possible compromise between the need to replace large numbers of ships and the practical necessity of having to live within a reasonable peacetime budget.
This is an interim period we live in and the fiscal year 1962 shipbuilding program reflects it. We are not quite at peace but not at war,
CONTENTS Page
The 1962 Shipbuilding Program . . . .130
By Cdr. Edmund L. Castillo, USN
The Communist in the Cosmos............................................................. 135
By Professor C. P. Lemieux
Fleet Electronics Troubles............................................................... 138
By George Tobin, ETC, USN
The Destroyer Officer and Damage Control ............................ 140
By LtCdr. W. C. Hamm, USN
By Lt. R. E. Eckman, USN
Physical Fitness at the U. S. Naval Academy 143 By Professor Raymond H. Swartz
The Notebook
not quite fully into the age of nuclear propulsion but certainly over its threshold. We need more deterrence quickly, but maybe not quite as much in the long run as we thought we did. We need more total numbers, but while we begin to build amphibious transport docks (LPD) for the future we are also taking the LSD-1 out of mothballs for immediate use.
The fiscal year 1961 program (See “Ships for the Sixties,” U. S. Naval Institute Proceedings, November 1960) called for one attack carrier (CVA) and five SSBN’s, clear recognition of the Navy’s important contribution toward nucleardeterrence. President Kennedy showed his faith in the Polaris system by accelerating development of the A-3 (2,500 nautical mile) missile and ordering five additional SSBN’s during the second half of fiscal year 1961. These two moves were financed by reprogramming funds appropriated for three nuclear attack submarines (SSN) and by borrowing against other funds that had been appropriated for shipbuilding but not yet obligated. (Ships are funded fully in the year they are authorized, but the money for any one ship is obligated and spent over a period of years. Hence there always is shipbuilding money “in the bank,” appropriated and earmarked but not yet obligated for specific items.) The President then asked Congress to appropriate funds to repay the loan (the SSN’s were not replaced) and raised from five to ten the number of SSBN’s in the fiscal year 1962 program. This brought the total number of SSBN’s built, building, and authorized to 29.
At the same time, the administration did not ask for money to spend on “long lead time” items (nuclear and other components which take a long time to procure and which are therefore ordered a year or so in advance) beyond number 29. Defense Department officials testified before Congressional committees that they were studying the need to plan beyond that number, which now may be reached as soon as late 1964, two years ahead of the previous schedule. But while the Department of Defense would not commit itself publicly to the Navy’s goal of 45 SSBN’s, it also did not close the door to further SSBN construction in fiscal year 1963 or later if circumstances should dictate the need.
The administration asked Congress for seven guided missile frigates (DLG), each to mount a twin Terrier missile battery capable also of launching antisubmarine rocket
DEG—The Guided Missile Escort Ship is designed for optimum performance in locating and destroying submarines. These will be the first escort ships to carry guided missiles.
AS—These Submarine Tenders are a far cry from the old Canopus. Designed to service and support nuclear submarines, they have full nuclear- reactor support capability and facilities to service Polaris.
AGMR—The Major Communications Relay Ship is equipped with specially designed antenna systems. The AGMR design is predicated on conversion of an ex-CVE-105 hull.
LPD—The Amphibious Transport Dock is designed to combine the functions of an attack transport and an attack cargo ship. The LPD will also carry transport helicopters.
(ASROC), one 5-inch/54 caliber and two 3- inch/50 caliber guns, the drone antisubmarine helicopter (DASH) system, and four ASVV torpedo launchers. Congress agreed to the number but added funds to give one of them nuclear power. This brings to four the number of nuclear surface ships built, building or authorized. And it will make a total of 35 post-World War II frigates, 30 of them DLG’s.
Other ASW ships in the fiscal year 1962 program include submarines, destroyer escorts, and destroyer (DD) conversions. Of the six destroyer escorts, three are guided missile escort ships (DEG) mounting modified Tartar installations aft in place of gun mounts. They will be the first DE’s to carry missiles. All six will be equipped with ASW torpedo launchers, as well, and the ASROC and DASH systems. Mark I FRAM conversions of 14 Gearing-class DD’s will complete the destroyer-type portion of the fiscal year 1962 program.
The SSN’s will be Thresher-class attack submarines with great ASW capability. Together witli the SSN’s now built or building, this will make 32 nuclear attack submarines. The program also authorizes long lead time procurement for two more SSN’s, to be fully funded in fiscal year 1963. These components could be diverted to SSBN’s if desired. Also in the program are Guppy III conversions of six conventional submarines. Three sucli conversions have been authorized previously. More can be expected in future years as SSN construction continues to fall behind the rate at which diesel-powered submarines approach obsolescence.
For the Amphibious Force, three new LPD’s will match the three now authorized. These big ships, which look like over-grown LSD’s with added flight deck area, will take the place of both the attack transport (APA) and attack cargo ship (AKA), with the advantage of transporting troops and equipment in one ship. (Two LPD’s will carry the equivalent of one APA plus one AKA.) Funds were provided also for an amphibious assault ship (LPH), the Navy’s eighth. Three of the previous ships of this type are new construction, the first of them, USS Iwo Jima, having been commissioned, and the second, USS Okinawa, having been launched in August, 1961. The remainder have been conversions, one from a escort carrier (CVE) hull and the remainder straight-deck Essex-class carriers.
Auxiliaries to serve the fleet include the Navy’s second new-construction SSBN tender and second combat stores ship (AFS). The first AFS, a combination stores ship, stores issue ship, and aviation supply ship was authorized last year. A wholly new type in this year’s program is the AGMR, a CVE hull to be converted into a major communication relay ship. She will operate at sea or in remote locations as a substitute for—or in addition to—normal shore communication facilities, or to augment communications afloat when greatly expanded capability is needed.
The remaining non-combatants are for research: two new construction oceanographic research ships (AGOR) similar to three authorized in previous years, a survey ship (AGS), a hydrofoil research ship (AGEH), and conversion of a Victory hull into a missile range instrumentation ship (AGM). The AGEH will be a 300-ton ocean-going ship designed to study the feasibility of maintaining speed foilborne in relatively heavy seas. Last year’s hydrofoil submarine chaser (PCH) is considerably smaller and will have less seakeeping ability.
Small craft, all new construction, include four large harbor tugs, five submarine repair, berthing and messing barges (YRBM), and seven of a new type high-speed small craft. These last will be called LCSR for landing craft, swimmer reconnaissance. Each will carry a fully equipped UDT platoon.
The administration requested a shipbuilding and conversion appropriation of 52,915 million for fiscal year 1962. Congress added $42 million (to put nuclear power into one DLG), applied a 2 per cent across the board reduction (assessed against all military procurement in an effort to reduce costs) and appropriated $2,897 million, more than for any year since World War II. Navy witnesses testified, however, that the Navy should build an average of about 60 new ships a year if it is to overcome aging and obsolescence and still operate a multi-ocean fleet.
Appropriation of funds, of course, does not guarantee that the money will be released to the Navy and the ships built. 1 he funds go to the Department of Defense, which releases them in accordance with its current estimate of need. Normally, funds are released at a more or less uniform rate throughout the year, in the interest of administrative efficiency and to avoid periods of peak spending that might disrupt segments of the economy. All programs are subject to constant review. Thus there may be cuts, such as the loss of last year’s SSN’s, or unforseen accelerations, as in the SSBN program. But barring such changes, this is the shipbuilding mix for 1962.
| CONVERSIONS |
|
Number | Type | Number |
10 | SS (Guppy III) | 6 |
3 | DD (FRAM-I) | 14 |
1 | AGM (Missile Range | i |
6 | Instrumentation Ship) |
|
3 | AGMR (Major Communication | i |
3 | Relay Ship) |
|
3 1 | SERVICE AND SMALL CRAFT (NEW) | |
1 | YTB (Large Harbor Tug) |
|
1 | YRBM (Submarine Repair, |
|
2 | Messing and Berthing Barge) |
|
1 | LCSR Landing Craft |
|
1 | (Swimmer Reconnaissance) |
|
NEW CONSTRUCTION
Type
SSBN (Ballistic Missile Submarine)
SSN (Nuclear Attack Submarine)
DLGN (Nuclear Guided Missile Frigate) DLG (Guided Missile Frigate)
DEG (Guided Missile Escort Ship)
DE (Destroyer Escort)
LPD (Amphibious Transport Dock)
LPH (Amphibious Assault Ship)
AS (Submarine Tender)
AFS (Combat Store Ship)
AGOR (Oceanographic Research Ship) AGS (Surveying Ship)
AGEH (Hydrofoil Research Ship)
the communist in the cosmos
On 7 August, Pravda announced in banner headlines “A New Flight into the Cosmos.” It was further stated that Soviet citizen Major Gherman Stepanovitch Titov, “son of the Communist Party,” was in orbit around the earth in the cosmic sputnik-ship Vostok-II. The announced time of take-off was 6 August 1961, at 0900 Moscow time. Minimum distance from the earth’s surface (perigee) was 178 kilometers; maximum distance (apogee) 257 kilometers; angle of orbit toward the equator, 64 degrees 56 minutes.
As is customary with Soviet astronautical attempts, no preliminary hint of this launching had been given either in Russia or in the outside world. Although no Western observers actually had anything like first-hand knowledge of this feat, the evidence of electronic monitoring of Vostok-II leaves little doubt that the sputnik was in orbit. If some Western observers had suspicions as to the actual presence of Major Titov aboard the sputnik, they are based on the Soviet habit of telling their own people and the world what they want them to believe rather than on actual doubts as to the power of Soviet rocket boosters.
As a matter of fact, barring accounts of Party congresses or speeches of the President of the Council of Ministers, the Soviet press has rarely devoted so much space to any single event as it did to the flight of G. S. Titov. Not that the event did not merit many times the attention given it. However, when we analyze all the verbiage, the eye-witness “confession” story of Gherman himself, we find that the entire month’s issues of Pravda contain almost no data beyond those appearing in the headline of 7 August, 1961. This paucity of hard facts is not due to chance. While scientists remind us that in science there are no “secret weapons” for very long, the Soviet policy is to make sure that everything possible is done to prevent shortening the period of being overtaken. Vladimir Orlov devotes an entire page of Pravda (27 August 1961) to the “Creators of Cosmic Ships” without mentioning a single contemporary designer or constructor. “The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. awarded a second gold medal of Hammer and Sickle to 7 outstanding scientists and constructors; 95 leading constructors, supervisors of workers, scientists, and workmen received the title of ‘Hero of Socialist Labor’; 6,924 scientists and technicians of all sorts received orders and medals; and many research institutes, construction bureaus, and plants received orders.” However, the only “Heroes of Socialistic Toil” mentioned by name are the Party leaders who “directed the overall program.”
In the words of Orlov, “Many heroes of the victory over cosmos are anonymous, but the standard-bearers of the cold war will seek here in vain for evidence of the solution to outstanding creative individualism supposedly
occurring under socialism.”
Titov’s own story, entitled “700,000 Kilometers in the Cosmos,” appeared serially in Pravda of 19, 20, 22, and 25 August. From this series we learn that Gherman’s code name was Landish (Lily of the Valley), and that on hearing this call over the transmitter he prepared to land by parachute in the vicinity of the cities of Engels and Saratov on the Volga. This was, he notes, the general area of Yuri Gagarin’s landing last spring. Time in flight was 25 hours and 18 minutes, during which 17| orbits were completed. Pictures of Titov from the televised shots of the cosmonaut in his weightless state appeared in Pravda on 17 August, and enlargements of movie film exposed during the flight take up a page and a half of Pravda, 29 August. The latter were shot by Gherman Stepanovitch, supposedly for his own amusement. As he says: “My little hand camera was floating around most of the time. It was the usual journalist’s Konvas model, loaded with color film . . . I’m no specialist in photography, and the pictures are nothing to shout about, but they give some idea of the impressions during flight.”
As in Orlov’s article about the “conquerors of the cosmos,” Titov’s “impressions” avoid mention of any personnel connected with the program. Professor Vladimir Ivanovitch Yazdovski, medical specialist in charge of the cosmonauts, is the only exception to this rule. The “third cosmonaut” is frequently mentioned when a launching is in prospect or a successful landing has been made, but aside from the news that, unlike Gagarin and Titov, the “third man” is unmarried, we shall have to wait for his successful launching for the lifting of his anonymity.
The director of the whole operation, aside from N. S. Khrushchev, appears to be a Glavni Konstructor (Chief Constructor), who has planned the ship and can tell Gherman at any moment just how to behave in order to come through as scheduled. Titov himself in a concluding paragraph disclaims credit for the feat: “. . . All the glory of the new victory belongs to the Party, the people, and of course, the creators of the cosmic ship. If there hadn’t been a ship, I couldn’t have flown into the cosmos. If there hadn’t been a Titov, some Ivanov, Petrov, Nikolaev, or Sidorov would have done it.”
Gherman Stepanovitch was hastily granted Party membership while in orbit. His “Impressions of 700,000 Kilometers in the Cosmos” as reported in Pravda sound like those of a lifetime Party organizer or “agitator.” Some °f the following seem worth quoting:
In the last minutes before the start, I want to thank the Soviet scientists, engineers, and technicians responsible for this ship Vostok II.
■ ■ ■ The new cosmic flight, which I am about to make, I dedicate to the XXII Congress of °ur dear Communist Party.
I soon had to turn on the Vostok's inboard lights as we went into the earth’s shadow. On the black velvet of the sky the great cold stars crowded in, shining like diamonds. I couldn’t help thinking of Lermontov’s verses:
• • • And star speaks with star. ...”
Now the radio began coming in. Several times the “Voice of America” in Russian came over the speaker. It was saying some mumbo- jumbo about god, the angels, and saints. Some Japanese station was conducting a Russian language lesson. . . . Then I heard some gay Strauss waltzes. They faded out, and •nto the cabin poured the reckless, cacapho- nous jazz. Its drum rattle and wolf-howl saxophones were succeeded by the beautiful Russian popular song entitled “Nights near Moscow,” and then the sprightly “March of the Enthusiasts.”
From the evening of 6 August to 2 o’clock on 7 August I slept. We cosmonauts had been taught by the doctors to go to sleep instantly, at will. I fastened myself with the belts and ordered myself to sleep.
In the Far East ... I looked down at the Kuriles and the Japanese islands. Japan, I thought, is a land of volcanoes, earthquakes, and cherry orchards. Today is the 6th of August, the same day on which 16 years ago Robert Lewis of the American Air Force dropped the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. ... If the 6th of August, 1945 went into history as one of the darkest days in the history of mankind, August 6, 1961 by the proclamation of all world society would go down as one of the brightest. . . .
From all parts of the world I could hear
commentators comparing this new victory of the U.S.S.R. with the recently published project of the Communist Party program. The copy of Pravda with the text of this projected program marked with red underlinings had been my constant companion in the days of preparation for the flight. I had read it with the same rapture I experienced many years ago when I first learned the “Communist Manifesto” created by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
Looking down at the continent of Africa . . .
I was reminded of the colonial states fighting for their freedom. . . . Each continent was a different appearance; this one looks like a leopard with its yellowish surface spotted with dark green. Algeria was down there, its sands red with the blood of African patriots. Somewhere in the sands of the Sahara, the French imperialists are trying out their atomic bombs, poisoning the air of the planet with strontium. ... I could not help thinking of South Africa, where the Boers had fought against the English for their freedom.
Then there is the vast expanse of the homeland. . . . Nowhere is there anything like it! Vast fields, forested lands, mighty rivers, nowhere is there such a palette of colors, from the southern greens to the dazzling summits crowned with eternal snow. ... I could not see the rail lines . . . but I could see the artificial seas created by hydroelectric dams. These are signs of the new times, of the mighty epoch of Communist building. I remembered a composition I wrote in elementary school on Lenin’s words: “Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country.”
Such are the “impressions” of a Communist cosmonaut during “700,000 Kilometers in the Cosmos.” Like many a tourist in foreign lands, he returns to tell us what he would have said and thought without ever having gone. It is true we have not had the opportunity to speak to a Communist cosmonaut. Perhaps he would speak this way. On the other hand, we have read Pravda more or less regularly for over 20 years, and the style and content of these articles sound like all the rest.
★
FLEET ELECTRONICS TROUBLES
By Chief Electronics
Technician George Tobin, U. S. Navy
USS Shenandoah (AD-26)
In the recent past, electronics in the Fleet has undergone a fantastic number of advances, new concepts, improved equipments and, tragically, sophistication to the point of diminishing returns.
The tragedy in sophistication is that electronics has outstripped the ability of military units to maintain ever more complicated systems, built to hairline accuracy and often to standards that are questioned by field personnel. There is an increasing breakdown in the maintenance of such equipment. Less and less truly reliable electronic equipment is being supplied the Fleet.
This breakdown is caused by several factors, none of which can, individually, be completely blamed. Intricacy of electronic components and systems is an area that is causing consternation among hastily-trained field personnel. Shortage of fully qualified personnel has become a matter of grave concern and is caused, in part, by the increasing intricacy of the equipment. We seem to be in a rat-race which goes merrily on in ever-increasing circles. Unless this trend is reversed eventually both the supply of qualified personnel and reliable, intricate equipment will drop to an alarming level. When the allowance figures and the onboard count of technical rates are compared, there is reason to believe that this unpleasant situation is close at hand.
The selection of some of the electronic equipment reaching the fleet is a matter of concern. It is painfully obvious to the field technician that there are equipments in service that are neither capable of performing to the required standards nor will they lend themselves to appreciable improvements, despite constantly growing lists of field changes to be effected by the already over-burdened maintenance personnel of today’s combatant ships.
Some steps can, and should, be taken to alleviate this situation. Advances can and must be made in the area of training—especially in the training of operational personnel. It is no longer sufficient for a man to know how to tune a receiver or transmitter or determine a range and bearing from a radar repeater. He must be soundly grounded in the basic principles of electronics. Right now, personnel are required to complete successfully a preventive maintenance program named Pomsee Pomsee, although it places a finger on the proper methods for continued reliability of equipment, must fail of its own cumbersome weight unless operational personnel are given more efficient training. This of course, will take more time, but the extra four weeks of training necessary to impart some of this essential knowledge will quickly be recovered by the increased efficiency of personnel in the Fleet.
It is simply not enough to train the technician in the basic theories of electronic operation, and his training today just barely meets that requirement. He must be indoctrinated in troubleshooting techniques that will carry him along until experience is acquired. An intensive training in solid, proven troubleshooting techniques would probably entail an added four weeks of schooling. No time? The next opportunity you have to observe a new technician troubleshooting a piece of strange equipment, take note of the length of time it takes him merely to isolate the trouble to one portion of the equipment. Multiply that by 200, the approximate number of graduates from class A school that are available for fleet duty each month, and you have a fair indication of the man hours that could be saved had the man known where to start.
Unnecessarily complicated equipments should not be a cross that the military services have to bear, yet it would appear that this is often the case. Large companies responsible for the mass production of our equipments do not appear to be very interested in simplifying electronic equipment. There is, to be brutally frank, more profit in a large, complicated equipment.
Is complication then the criterion of efficiency? Hardly. There are many examples today of equipments in use that waste thousands
of cumulative man hours daily with continual breakdown, or the necessity of constant realignment and adjustment. An example is the ECM equipment used aboard ship. I do not know of a single shipboard installation that comes up to the expected standard, nor do I know of a single field technician who has had any different experience. Nevertheless, directives continue to flood the communications systems urging greater and more consistent performance; this is rather like whipping a dead horse and it’s driving disgusted young technicians from the service.
Non-standardization may appear to be a misleading area of fault in our electronic systems, since all equipments in use are supposedly built to the same standard. Unfortunately, there are few ships in the Fleet that, even though they have the same equipments aboard, operate and maintain them in exactly the same manner as any other ship. From haphazard antenna systems which vary from ship to ship in the same squadron to the location and procedures for the use of transmitters from vessel to vessel, there is a constant non-standardization that is often responsible for a widening gap in the performance of any two given ships over a period of time. Perhaps a partial answer to this has been found by Commander Sixth Fleet, who has directed that any time two or more destroyers come into port in company for more thap three days, the technical personnel, their supervisors and electronic officers get into a huddle wherein they may compare techniques, troubles and procedures. Of the few such critiques that have been held, much valuable information has been obtained. I think that such a practice would prove exceptionally beneficial if directed on a Navy-wide basis.
Perhaps one of the most discouraging things encountered in the maintenance of electronic equipment, especially from a repair facility’s point of view, is the inconsistency in supply procedures. Load lists for tenders are not made up willy-nilly, I am sure, although it often does appear so. Neither, I am certain, are allowance lists for individual operating
units produced without intelligent thought, although it is sometimes difficult to convince personnel of this. As an example, compare the commissioning allowance of three similar type ships scheduled to be regularly serviced by a tender, with the tender’s load list. In one case, in the first seven pages of the load list, 19 discrepancies were noted where the load list did not provide for parts, nor did the ship’s allowance. In one deletion list of a load list, all tubes of a type that are an absolute necessity for the operation of a widely-used radar repeater were stricken completely.
Can we improve electronics in the Fleet? We can and we must. Equipment becomes more complex, personnel become scarcer, training becomes scantier, haste to the point of panic becomes more frequent, unreasonable demands are made of equipments not built to high standards and there is a general decline of reliability. Cost alone, due to the insistence of a fantastic “safety factor” in military equipment, is prohibitive. Despite this, in the same shop, commercial-type equipments and military standard equipments of the same type belie this expensive factor. In tests that I’ve conducted not a single commercial-type equipment has broken down before its costlier military counterpart! It has been recognized, it has been commented on in high places, directives of hopeful nature have been issued, and still the casualty reports pour in.
★
THE DESTROYER OFFICER AND DAMAGE CONTROL
Assume that you are Officer of the Deck in port and senior officer aboard a destroyer assigned to the Sixth Fleet. You are in the middle of lunch on a quiet Saturday with your ship Med-moored in the harbor of Naples, Italy. Suddenly, your day is shattered by the steward rushing into the wardroom shouting, “Fire!” When you burst out of the wardroom, you are engulfed in thick black smoke that fills the ship and billows in dense clouds.
As you give the initial orders to the fire party, you realize that you, and you alone, are responsible for the lives of 235 men and a 16 million dollar ship. You have no time to contemplate what should be done or to consult the fire fighting manual and damage control book. Your actions and orders have to be fast, accurate and forceful, as an ammunition and fuel-laden ship, such as a destroyer, soon may become a massive weapon of destruction.
Is this such a far-fetched situation? It certainly is not, and every officer who is qualified as an Officer of the Deck in port should and must be prepared to cope with this ever present possibility, whether it be fire, flooding, collision, or personnel injury. It is not enough to have the duty fire parties well versed in fire fighting procedures, since one cannot expect the men to perform their best if the officers themselves do not have the basic knowledge required to lead them and make the required rapid and accurate decisions.
The question may arise, “Why should I have to know so much about damage control when the chances of emergencies arising aboard ship in peacetime are relatively slim?” This thought must be dismissed immediately, and although peacetime casualties are certainly not as frequent as in wartime, they can be fully as destructive. You must be, in fact, more cautious and on the defensive, as peacetime casualties usually occur when least expected.
How do you obtain the knowledge and assurance that is required to insure that you are able to handle any emergency in damage control? Damage control is an all hands responsibility, as both wartime and peacetime experiences have demonstrated. With this in
mind, you as an Officer of the Deck in port should know the fundamental points of damage control and certain characteristics of your ship. You should:
1- Be familiar with the repair party organization, and the names of key personnel in each party.
2. Be thoroughly familiar with your ship’s compartmentation and the location of water- ]*ght bulkheads. In the case of damage or fire in an area, you must be able to picture that area mentally in order to visualize the possible causes of damage and to determine what measures must be taken from outside the compartment to prevent further damage.
3. Know where the main cutout and riser valves of the fire main are located and on which side of each compartment the fire main runs. With a fire in a magazine area, it is too late to trace out a system to find a cutout valve and restore fire main pressure. If the man who is normally responsible for this function becomes a casualty, you could easily find yourself faced with this problem.
4. Be familiar with all damage control equipment that is found in the repair lockers, °n the bulkheads and decks. By knowing the correct names, and the basic capabilities of each, the right piece of gear, used properly in an emergency, may save additional damage.
5. While walking around the ship on your evening tours of inspection check the condition of fire fighting equipment, and look for fire hazards, and infractions of material condition. Stop by the various watertight bulkheads and determine how you would shore each of them if the situation required you to do so.
If you have not had the practical experience m damage control, figure out possible damage control problems beforehand, and you will soon be able to cope with any situation that may arise. Apply the same procedures in damage control as you do when standing officer of the deck watches, when you determine what action you will take if certain shiphandling emergencies occur.
Every line officer, regardless of rank, who is serving in a sea billet in a destroyer type, where so much responsibility is thrust on an individual, should attend a fire fighting school at least once a year. At this school, you will overcome a natural fear of fire by acquiring the practical knowledge necessary to fight shipboard fires and gain a good basic knowledge of the equipment used in damage control. Ideally, if time and ship operations permit, you should attend damage control school at least once in your career. When considering the value of a week spent at a fire fighting school, bear in mind that the finest operating ship in the Navy is of little value, if, during an in port period, she is destroyed by fire because the personnel aboard were not properly trained in fire fighting procedures.
In the peacetime Navy, great responsibility is placed on the officers and men who serve aboard destroyers, since there are less men to fill the billets and train in all phases of damage control and fire fighting. This necessitates a greatly intensified “all hands” damage control training program. Greater emphasis must be placed on a preventive maintenance program since there is less money to replace worn equipment.
As an Officer of the Deck in port, you should ask yourself, “will I react rapidly and take proper action, if and when an emergency arises?” If the answer is yes, you are the type of destroyerman who is needed to run our modern ships. If the answer is no, it is mandatory that you learn all you are able to about damage control and fire fighting procedures, so that when you “have the duty,” you will have the confidence and knowledge that you are a “qualified” destroyerman in all respects.
MEANINGFUL CIRCLES
The art of celestial navigation has suffered greatly with the advent and introduction of the new equipments such as LORAN, ship’s inertial navigation system (SINS), radar and so forth.
The enjoyment of achieving a celestial fix is still desired by many instead of receiving and reading a pushed button assortment of numbers. There are many who can punch the almanac and HO 214 for a perfunctory and fairly accurate morning or evening fix. There are, however, many other techniques that may be employed. I wish to describe one such helpful technique that may be used in this particular situation for a noon position. I he technique is particularly applicable to units operating in the Caribbean, the Western Pacific and in the Hawaiian areas between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Although this technique may be used everywhere that the situation can be made to apply, it is believed that due to the frequency of operations and the need for a good fix at noon, plus the presently available means for morning and evening fixes, this technique has merit.
Given the sun nearly overhead (87 degrees or greater), the circles of equal altitude can be plotted successfully without appreciable error. This is true as the scale of the chart (mercator plotting sheets) changes very little over a short distance, and the radius of the circle of equal altitude is small. The general position (GP) of a body is defined as that position on the earth’s surface where the altitudes of the body in two planes are both 90 degrees. The latitude of this position is the declination of the body. Thus one plane is established for the body and for plotting the GP. Longitude of the position is the Greenwich Hour Angle (GHA) of the body. (In West longitude this is the GHA and in East longitude this is 360 minus the GHA ) Thus having defined the GP in two plottable planes, this plotting may be done. The radius of a circle of equal altitude is 90 degrees minus the observed altitude. If this is converted to minutes, it may be plotted directly from the GP of the body in question.
One of the most convenient bodies for working this technique is the sun. By plotting two GP’s of the sun when it approaches and departs your zenith (latitude being declination, and longitude the GHA), two circles of equal altitude may be described. The intersection of the two nearest the dead reckoning position will determine the desired fix.
The need for advancing one of the circles now enters the problem. This is accomplished by advancing the GP for the movements of the ship. Note that errors will be introduced if the arc is advanced—per se.
It must be cautioned that in order to observe the altitude of the body accurately the azimuth of the body must be known for the sighting direction. This may be determined in advance. Normal sight corrections are applied to the raw sight sextant altitude (Hs) for obtaining the observed sight (observed altitude) (Ho) that is subtracted from 90 degrees for the desired radius.
This technique has been described for the noon observation of the sun with the same declination as your latitude and in low latitudes. It is not so restricted though. This same technique may be used for other bodies at high altitudes in various latitudes. It is also interesting to note in passing that this is, in a restricted sense, what one does when observing Polaris for a circle of equal altitude or the latitude since the GP of the body, Polaris, is, after corrections, the North Pole.
★
PHYSICAL FITNESS AT THE U. S. NAVAL ACADEMY
The present Physical Fitness Program at the Naval Academy went into effect in 1946, after recruit records of the Armed Forces in World War II indicated marked physical deficiencies ln America’s youth. Today, the Academy’s advanced and well-balanced program is a subject of nation-wide interest and study.
Every midshipman at the Naval Academy takes four years of physical fitness training.
Before graduating and being commissioned in the service, he must have made a passing grade in seven basic physical tests.
These tests begin during plebe summer, and gradually increase in difficulty until the midshipman graduates four years later. They range in scope from basic swimming strokes that prepare him for survival at sea, to stamina tests in running, and personal defense on land. If a midshipman shows a deficiency in any phase of his physical fitness ability, he is given special instruction and practice to correct it.
Through physical education drills, he is also given instruction and practice in twelve recreational and carry-over physical activities so that he can keep himself physically fit during his career as an officer.
The Academy’s varsity athletic teams are well known through national press and television coverage—however, every midshipman
below the varsity level participates in intensive athletic competition through the Sports Program, usually referred to in civilian universities and colleges as the “intra-murals.”
The Sports Program contests are conducted the year around, by seasons. This program has scheduled competition in 21 sports and during a normal year there are over 1,860 contests. Thus, a midshipman, regardless of his athletic ability, gets instruction, practice, and competition in a sport he prefers. One motivation to excel in the Sports Program is provided by credit points for his company which is in com- petion with the other 23 companies in the Brigade, to become the “Color Company,” a very coveted prize. The coaching and officiating of the Sports Program are done by the first classmen (seniors) under the supervision of the Physical Education Department. This provides excellent leadership and administrative experience for these upper classmen.
The Physical Education Department’s faculty is composed of 24 permanent civilians, all experts in their own fields. This staff has, in addition, seven young officers who are recent Academy graduates and are enthusiastic and valuable instructors in the program. In a normal academic year, the Physical Education Department schedules over 3,200 physi-
cal fitness drills, and will score over 90,000 measurements in physical fitness tests.
Never Miss Pay Day —You Can Fight Anytime
Frederick was indignant.
Frederick the Great liked to know his distinguished soldiers and made it a point personally to award decorations. On one occasion, he decided to make a test; he laid out on a table a medal and a roll of gold. After reading the citation and congratulating the soldier on his outstanding bravery in action, he pointed to the medal and the gold, saying, “You may choose one of these for your award.” Without hesitation, the soldier picked up the gold.
“Have you no sense of honor that you choose gold in preference to your country’s highest decoration?”
“Yes, Your Majesty, I have honor. I have debts and honor requires that I pay them. This (pointing to the medal), I will pick up at the next battle.”
“Well, in that case,” conceded Frederick, “you might as well take it along right now.” Contributed by Captain Roland E. Krause, U. S. Navy (Retired)
(The Naval Institute will pay $5.00 for each anecdote accepted for publication in the Proceedings.)
★
During World War II, the Physical Education Department scrapped the old system of strength test machines and other antiquated practices, and installed the present progressive physical fitness program. During the past 16 years, the physical fitness program has been continually expanded and improved. Today, every new ensign joining the Fleet leaves the Academy in the peak of physical condition.
THE NOTEBOOK
Antarctic Study Planned: The most ambitious scientific research program that the United States lias ever pursued in the Antarctic is scheduled to begin soon, the National Science Foundation said yesterday.
Early in October, nearly 200 scientists from more than 25 universities, research institutions and Government agencies will begin research projects on and around the most remote and least known continent in the world, the foundation said; cost of the projects is estimated at $5,500,000.
It will be the first southern summer for research in the Antarctic since the 12-nation Antarctic Treaty went into effect. The treaty reserves the continent for use as the world’s largest scientific laboratory.
Areas of research there this year will include biology, geology, glaciology, gravity, mapping meteorology, oceanography, upper atmosphere physics and seismology.
The foundation funds and coordinates the United States Antarctic Research Program, which is administered by the foundation’s Office of Antarctic Programs. Logistic support for the scientific work is provided by the Navy’s Task Force 43, commanded by Rear Admiral David M. Tyree.
In addition, scientists will for the first time have a floating laboratory, Eltanin, for research in Antarctic waters. The vessel will operate under a lease agreement between the foundation and the Military Sea Transportation Service. It will accommodate oceanographers, meteorologists, physicists, marine biologists and submarine geologists. (John A. Osmundsen in New York Times, 14 August 1961.)
Rocket Firer for Marines: The Marine Corps displayed today a new rocket that it expects to replace two present artillery weapons employed in close support of its ground forces.
This is the XM-70, a 115-mm. rocket that can deliver six rounds in less than three seconds. It will be in service in 1963.
This new automatic device was developed by the Army, jointly for itself and the Marines, but for a variety of reasons it is not included in the Army’s present procurement plans.
In this respect the Marines’ newest weapon
is going through the same experience as the Army-developed Ontos—a weapons carrier with six recoilless rifles—which also has a very rapid rate of fire, but which is used only by the Marines, who regard it highly.
The XM-70, still facing further development (which explains the two-year lag in delivery to the Marine Corps), carries two clusters, side by side, each with three breech- tubes. The cluster rotates into position for firing its rockets through a single launch-tube.
The aim is to save weight, and this is accomplished both by use of the single launch- tube and, primarily, by the fact that a rocket needs neither the heavy type nor the sturdy construction that standard artillery requires.
Accordingly, the new weapon weighs about 3,000 pounds, so that it can be transported from ship to shore by light helicopter, and hauled into ground position by a lightweight vehicle.
Even so, the rocket that it launches has a range slightly greater than the present standard 105-mm. howitzer that the Army and the Marines use. It has a more rapid rate of fire and greater lethality, plus the high mobility. (Mark S. Watson in Baltimore Sun, 12 August 1961.)
Ask Bids on 97 Plastic Boats: The U. S. Navy’s Bureau of Ships plans to issue invitations to bid on the construction of 97 plastic motor whale boats. Bids are expected to be invited in September of this year. (Maritime Reporter, 15 August 1961.)
Bremerton To Be Nuclear Yard: The Navy has selected Bremerton Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington, as a nuclear yard given over to the repair and construction of nuclear-powered vessels.
Special training will be required for men handling this work and will begin shortly. (Maritime Reporter, 1 August 1961.)
Supports Naval Shipyards: Assistant Navy Secretary Kenneth E. Belieu was the first witness at a hearing before a House Armed Services subcommittee on utilization of naval shipyards. He stated that the naval shipyards are key elements in national defense, and represent major national assets.
Mr. Belieu pointed out that the Navy con-
1961]
Professional Notes
147
sidered the committee’s study to be extremely important, since without the facilities offered by the naval shipyards “our ability to deliver to our modern complex Navy the things needed to meet the challenges of the times would be seriously impaired.”
“From calculations based on current prices,” he said, “it would cost the Navy about $3,000,000,000 to acquire the naval shipyards it now has. The shipyards are well situated to respond to the needs of the fleet in both oceans.” (Maritime Reporter, 15 August 1961.)
Gull Painters Discouraged: Massachusetts gull painters are getting discouraged.
It all seemed so simple when the Massachusetts Audubon Society began spraying sea gulls with harmless colors to trace their nesting habits.
The ultimate idea was to find means to make it unattractive to gulls to nest in areas which would make them a menace to planes at the big Logan International Airport.
So many reports of red gulls came in that it became obvious somebody else had been painting sea gulls red.
By an amazing coincidence, it turned out that the United States Navy hydrographic office had been using the same dye as the bird painters. The Navy was using the red dye in a study of tides off Portsmouth, N. H. The birds swam in the water and came out red.
Other untrained bird watchers were turning in reports of reddish-colored gulls which, it was discovered, were really pigeons.
A plan to paint nesting gulls on Boston harbor islands yellow fell through. All the nesting birds disappeared. Out of sheer vandalism, someone had destroyed all the gulls’ eggs. (Baltimore Sun, 16 August 1961.)
From Davy Jones’ Locker: Problem in highspeed submarines: With 100-knot hydroioils, OEM’s, and other high-speed hunt-and-kill surface craft a virtual certainty in the 1965— 1970 period, Navy submariners are wondering what they can do to up the submarine’s submerged speed to something in excess of that. Right now,' there isn’t a surface ship that can catch or outrun a nuclear submarine (whose speeds, the Commerce Department indicates, range around 35 knots). Advent of hydrofoils, etc. will reverse this situation. The Navy wants to make certain its undersea craft maintain every possible advantage. Search involves new approaches to propulsion, hydrodynamic innovations, etc. In all cases minimum noise is a requirement.
Problem in weapons: As the speeds of vehicles (both surface and submerged) go up, so must the speeds of weapons—which should maintain at least a 33 per cent advantage over their targets. As in the case of submarines, increased weapon speeds raise noise problems —particularly troublesome where a weapon’s own self-noise may obviate effectiveness of its
USS Dewey, the Navy’s first guided missle destroyer leader, now serving with the Sixth Fleet, carries a Potent antisubmarine ASROC battery of acoustic-homing rocket torpedoes.
acoustic homing guidance.
Problem in versatility: Navy right now is trying to determine just what the submarine weapon will look like in 1970. Strongly favored is a 100-knot (or better) craft with a depth capability of between 4,000 and 6,000 feet. Possible armament for this craft might be a family of weapons that would give it maximum combat versatility. For example, Navy is interested in proposals for a group of weapons firing through a torpedo tube (probably in excess of 21 inches in diameter) that would be able to: Provide strategic bombardment at a 1,500-mile range; attack surface ships; attack other submarines; plant mines; attack aircraft; and provide close-in tactical support for amphibious landings. (Ordnance, September-October 1961.)
$2.9 Billion for Navy Shipbuilding: Shortly before we went to press, both the House and Senate approved the authorization of the largest peacetime Navy program in history.
The House bill called for $2,925,000,000 to be expended in Fiscal 1962 on the construction of 35 major vessels, plus 16 miscellaneous and landing craft and the modernization of 22 existing ships. It would permit the following new construction:
4 DLG (guided-missile frigates) conventional power
2 DLG (N) (guided-missile frigates) nuclear
power
3 SS (N) (attack submarines, nuclear)
10 SSB (N) (ballistic missile sub, nuclear)
3 DE (destroyer escort)
3 DEG (guided-missile escort destroyer)
3 LPD (amphibious transport-dock)
1 LPH (amphibious assault ship)
1 AFS (combat store ship)
1 AS (submarine tender, missile)
1 AEGH (hydrofoil research ship)
2 AGOR (oceanographic research ship)
1 AGS (surveying ship)
16 various type service and landing craft
The conversions authorized would upgrade 14 destroyers and six conventionally powered submarines. In addition, one missile-range instrumentation ship (AGM) and one major communication-relay ship (AGMR) would result from the conversion program.
The Senate version duplicated the House bill with the exception that seven conventionally powered DLG’s were authorized instead of the four conventional and two nuclear-powered ships contained in the House version.
Further details of the Navy Shipbuilding Picture are covered in a separate article elsewhere in this issue. (Marine Engineering!Log, 15 June 1961.)
Battleship North Carolina a War Memorial:
The battleship North Carolina, which fought the Japanese from Guadalcanal to Tokyo Bay, has been saved from the scrap pile and will become a war memorial.
The 35,000-ton battle wagon will go to sea again 6 September when tugboats will tow her to Wilmington, N. C. where a slip will be dredged in a 30-acre park. There she will be anchored and visitors will be able to come aboard.
The 21-year-old North Carolina and her sister ship, Washington, were the first capital ships built after the 1922 Naval Disarmament Treaty. Washington brought $750,000 in a scrap auction, but North Carolina is still part of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet (“The Mothball Fleet”) at the United States Naval Supply Center in Bayonne, New Jersey.
To save North Carolina from the fate that befell Washington, the North Carolina Legislature established a citizens committee, the USS North Carolina Battleship Commission, to raise $250,000, the amount estimated as the cost of towing the ship and preparing the exhibition site.
Swampland beside the Cape Fear River is being converted into a park to exhibit the ship. More than 100 workmen in Bayonne are chipping paint, scraping rust and generally preparing North Carolina for what could be her last voyage. The Navy has agreed to place the battleship on permanent loan to the state.
North Carolina, 729 feet long with a 108-foot beam, belongs to the second largest class battleship, a type of craft now retired from service. The Iowa class displaced 10,000 tons more, and was 150 feet longer.
Keel for North Carolina was laid in 1937. The ship was launched in 1940 and commissioned in 1941. Then followed a battle record that now reads like a naval history of World War II in the Pacific. (New York Herald Tribune, 30 August 1961.)
New Record by Navy’s Jet: The Navy claimed a new world record for its Phantom II fighter plane yesterday which demonstrates the versatility of the carrier-type aircraft.
One of the twin-engine jets flew 902.769 miles an hour at White Sands, N. Y., to set a new world closed-circuit speed record.
The first record illustrated the plane’s high altitude speed and capability as an allweather fighter and the second as a low level attack-bomber, officials noted.
Ns an attack plane, the Phantom II carries external bomb-racks and requires some additional instruments, but the changes can be made quickly, officials said.
Two fliers who manned the McDonnell Aircraft plane on its low level run Monday Were decorated yesterday by Admiral George Anderson, Chief of Naval Operations, lieutenant Hunt Hardistry, the pilot, received the Distinguished Flying Cross, and Lieutenant Earl H. DeEsch, the radio intercept officer, the Air Medal. (John G. Norris in Washington Post, 31 August 1961.)
Roving Judges for Navy: An experiment with
circuit-riding Navy Judges” being conducted in Norfolk and Washington is expected to lead soon to an entirely new system of Navy court- martial procedures.
The experiment, begun in January, was to continue for a year.
Rut legal officials won’t have to wait until the end of the year to know if the system is what the Navy needs.
“It is working wonderfully,” Captain M. K. Greenberg, assistant judge advocate general for military justice, said in Washington.
“In fact, we are drawing plans now for expanding the system for Navy-wide use and making it a permanent thing,” Greenberg said.
Courts-martial boards rarely have legal training. Their function is similar to that of civilian juries.
The law officer is the presiding judge.
He handles all general courts in the district and for Atlantic Fleet commands.
During the experiment, his assignments have not been limited to these areas, however.
In the last few months his “circuit” has ranged from Honolulu to Bermuda.
“I have full time to devote to this duty. This makes it possible to get a better insight into the work,” he said.
“This experiment has proven highly favorable,” Greenberg said.
He explained that the new system is designed to minimize the number of errors in trials.
“This eliminates the cost of new trials and enhances military justice,” Greenberg said.
Plans now being prepared are subject to approval by the Secretary of the Navy. (Clarence Lane in Virginian Pilot), 2 September 1961).
Navy Opposing Single Chief: The Navy’s determined' opposition to putting all three services under a single Chief of Staff was responsible for Congress’s rejection of that plan in the 1946 defense reorganization controversy.
The plan had respected backers, including General George C. Marshall and General Dwight D. Eisenhower, plus a good many of their lieutenants who attributed some of the Army’s World War II frustrations to Navy obstinacy. The opposing witnesses were almost wholly naval officers and their affiliates.
The single-chief argument was, dominantly, that one superior high commander would reach a decision promptly. To this the most telling response was a question: “Would it always be the right decision?” This was bulwarked by evidence that history revealed a good many prompt decisions which had tragic results.
Marshall’s successors as Army Chief of Staff and General H. H. Arnold’s as Air Force Chief of Staff have generally echoed the official 1946 views, but not always so vigorously. The several Chiefs of Naval Operations have never wavered in their support of Admiral Ernest J. King’s arguments on this subject. And here a congressional majority, traditionally wary of a Man-On-Horseback, has stood with the Navy unfailingly.
Congress’s successive reorganization plans, rather, have added steadily to the powers of the civilian Secretary of Defense and his assistants, so that Robert S. McNamara has vastly more authority and responsibility than did his six predecessors. But Congress has consistently refused to transform the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs into a top chief.
1%1] Professional Notes
And although the authority of the three
service secretaries (Army, Navy and Air Force) continues to fade, Congress sees to it that the professional military chiefs of those services are not shorn of their responsibility, either to their services or to Congress.
Even so, there rise from time to time expressions of concern over the working out of today s defense set-up whereby, as from the beginning, each Chief of Staff has two enormously exacting responsibilities, one as top commander of his own fighting organization of some 800,000 or more men, the other as the service’s member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ^hich, under the President and the Defense 1 ecretary, issues orders to all the distant forces, does the joint planning, and makes the final Professional recommendations to civilian superiors.
The time and energy consumed by these
ual responsibilities are great. Asked how much of the 24 hours should be consumed by attentions to both, a Navy chief promptly replied “about 25.” And there have been times when staff lieutenants thought that 25 was a close estimate of their duty hours.
This circumstance—that both jobs are vital as well as exacting, and that critics believe 'andling both of them will ultimately be a task too tiring for even the most industrious chief last year led to revived suggestions of splitting them. One proposal was to let each chief, on retirement, move into the Joint Chiefs post, free from purely service chores yet still fully informed about his own service’s needs.
Admiral Arleigh A. Burke, then Chief of Naval Operations, stated indignantly that the jobs cannot be separated and that the man at the top simply has to accept the load.
His successor, Admiral George A. Anderson, clearly is in absolute agreement on the requirement. But in his first public remarks he gave clear indication of how he thinks the jobs can remain combined, yet be performed Within a reasonable span of hours per day, thus leaving the chief the “time to think” which an administrator must have.
His solution is to make fullest possible use uot only of his Vice Chief of Staff, Admiral James S. Russell, but of his several assistants and bureau chiefs, also of their deputies. He has encouraged all his officers in high authority to exercise all allotted responsibility, make the appropriate decisions, and see that only a minimum of troubles are brought up to either him or Russell. (Mark S. Watson in The Sun, Baltimore, 4 September 1961.)
Hazards of Cold Immersion: In a talk recently given at the Naval Medical Research Institute, Dr. W. R. Keatinge, currently doing cardiovascular research in this country and soon to return to England to continue research at Oxford University, reported observations made by the British Royal Navy and Medical Research Council in relation to hazards of cold immersion. It was found that physical exertion accelerated the rate at which deep body temperature falls in cold water regardless of whether the victim works moderately or as hard as possible, whether he wears clothes, or whether the water is agitated. Alcohol ingestion rather surprisingly failed to increase the rate at which experimental subjects’ temperatures fell in cold water; on the other hand, it greatly reduced their discomfort. He suggested that men should not attempt to keep warm by swimming when waiting for rescue from cold water and, if possible should float still with the aid of a life jacket. External protection is clearly highly important during immersions at near-freezing temperatures; even conventional non waterproof clothing gives a striking amount of protection under these circumstances. (Naval Research Reviews, August 1961.)
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New ARMSTRONG
Navy Orders Hydrofoil: The U. S. Navy’s Bureau of Ships has awarded a contract to the Boeing Company for the design and construc-
tion of a 15-ton, twin-hull hydrofoil vessel, at a cost of about SI,500,000. Work on the craft will begin almost immediately, with trial runs scheduled in approximately 13 months.
The 50-foot vessel is to be built as a test bed for the development of supercavitating winglike foils on which it will ride, with a turbo-fan jet engine providing foil-borne speeds of 100 knots. The engine will be mounted aft of the deckhouse on a platform which will connect the twin hulls. When not operating on foils the ship will cruise on the hulls, with power supplied by two 75-hp outboard motors.
Boeing engineers will seek to develop supercavitating foils which will result in a stable vapor cavity to allow higher speed foil-borne runs.
The country’s first commercial hydrofoil passenger vessel, Denison, was ordered by the Maritime Administration from Dynamic evelopments, Inc., a subsidiary of Grumman Aircraft Corporation, Bethpage, N. Y., and is almost completed. The 104-foot, 80-ton vessel, designed to carry 70 to 80 passengers at better than 60 knots, will cost more than 85,000,000. (Marine Reporter, 1 August 1961.)
Inflatable Plane: The Navy has patented its Wagmight” inflatable airplane, the controversial aircraft which the inventor says is being fought by admirals who fear it as a threat to the role of big carriers.
d be Navy also reportedly has completed a lull and unbiased” review of the plane’s capabilities as presented by its persistent inventor, Captain Cooper B. Bright. Results of the review have not yet been disclosed.
In taking out a patent last week on the accumulator” compressed air principle, the Navy reserved the nonmilitary commercial fights for Bright. The “accumulator” principle is intended to give fabric-fashioned, inflatable aircraft vertical takeoff ability.
The House Government Information Subcommittee reportedly has asked for a nonclassified presentation on the project, similar to those Bright has given in the past two weeks for top admirals.
The subcommittee became interested in the Project last May after Bright said he had been ordered the previous November to destroy pamphlets on the project. Bright said certain admirals suppressed the project for fear it might dry up appropriations for big carriers.
Bright believes the aircraft could be stored, in collapsed form, aboard merchant ships, destroyers or any sort of vessel, then inflated and launched when needed. (Vern Haugland in The Washington Post, 21 August 1961.)
No More Marching: The United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, has stopped formation marching to and from classes. The midshipmen now “walk” to classes individually.
The reason for the change is the revision of the school’s education programme. Midshipmen are now allowed to take “electives” in addition to required courses and those men who have had previous college courses in a particular subject are allowed to take more advanced courses. This has led to great variation in class schedules making formation marching from class to class too time-consuming and difficult.
During a trial period of “walking” the midshipmen handled themselves in an extremely commendable manner. (The Navy, Official Organ of the Royal Navy League, April 1961.)
Land-Sea Hydrofoil: The United States Navy Bureau of Ships has awarded a $1,158,000 contract to FMC Corporation (formerly Food Machinery and Chemical Corporation, San Jose, Calif.) for the design and construction of a new type amphibious support vehicle that will be able to “fly” across water on hydrofoils and travel on land as a wheeled vehicle.
Th& announcement was made by FMC President James M. Hait who said that the versatile vessel would have retractable foils and wheels. Foil-borne, it will skim over water at speeds in excess of 35 knots and on land will travel at speeds of more than 25 miles per hour.
Designated the LVHX2, the unique craft will be developed for use by the Marine Corps in swiftly transporting troops and equipment from ship to shore and then across the country, during the support phase of an amphibious operation.
The LVHX2 development program will be handled by FMC at the company’s Ordnance Division in San Jose, Calif. FMC will be joined in the project by Hydrofoil Corporation of America, San Diego. Both companies bring to the program a broad combination of experience in the fields of hydrofoils and amphibious military vehicles. (Maritime Reporter, 1 September 1961.)
Navy Develops A-Blast Goggles: The Navy disclosed yesterday that it has found a way to make goggles and windows that automatically cloud over during an atomic blast and become transparent again as the fire-ball fades.
If the secret new method can be perfected, it will provide automatic protection against the blinding effects of nuclear weapon blasts, both for military men in combat and civilians undergoing an attack.
Rear Admiral Kleber S. Masterson, assistant chief of naval operations (development), told of the new discovery in an address before the Armed Forces Chemical Association’s 16th annual convention at the Statler- Hilton.
“A family of inorganic materials has been found,” he said, “that, when dispersed in a transparent plastic matrix, provides a transparent system, yet when exposed to heat or light, or both, above a threshold energy level, the entire system becomes instantaneously opaque. Removal of the energy flux allows the system to revert to transparency.
“This discovery holds great promise of making possible goggles and port-hole covers which can provide automatic protection from blinding effects of nuclear weapon blasts.”
The Navy refused to say what the inorganic materials were or to give any further information about the discovery, declaring that it was secret. (John G. Norris in Washington Post, 15 September 1961.)
The "Water Donkey”: German U-boat device to deceive allied escorts in World War II. It was designed as a miniature U-boat with an exact replica of a conning tower and was towed just below the surface by an electric cable from the parent U-boat. When detected by allied escorts or aircraft, the U-boat C.O. started machinery in the dummy to make a cavitation noise. If attacked it could release air bubbles, oil and debris and could be flooded and sunk while the real U-boat escaped. Another decoy was the periscope mine which could be released by the U-boat. (The Crowsnest, The Royal Canadian Navy’s Magazine, March 1961.)
Air-Force-on-the-Nile: Egypt is making a determined effort to create a strong aviation industry, including design and production of Mach 2.5-class interceptors. To obtain the required technical knowledge and experience, the Egyptian government is offering leading West German designers and engineers salaries well above their present scale, plus attractive fringe benefits and five-year contracts. (Aviation Week, 14 August 1961.)
Bomb Detection: A cautious description of some methods of detecting nuclear explosions in space and underground was given by a leading Government scientist at today’s meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
The scientist was Dr. Ieuan Maddock, head of the Field Experiments Division of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority.
A nuclear explosion, he explained, takes place in a tenth of a millionth of a second. In that fraction of time a vast amount of energy in the form of light, X-rays, gamma rays and neutrons speed outward from the center of fission or fusion and cause a variety of electromagnetic, fluorescent and other effects.
Since seven-tenths of the energy is dissipated in the form of X-rays, one of the many ways of detecting nuclear explosions in space, Dr. Maddock said, is to probe the ionosphere (the layer that reflects radio waves at a height of about 60 miles above the earth) for “holes” caused by the ionizing or electrifying effects of the X-rays.
These “holes,” he said, can be probed directly by a vertical radio beam or indirectly by measuring the difference in the angle of reflection of ordinary radio waves and comparing them with those that are deflected by the ionizing caused by the explosion.
Results of tests on the first explosions in space have shown that spiraling particles of radio-activity cluster around the earth’s magnetic lines of force and are often detected at the distant extremities of the lines and not where the explosions took place.
The speaker explained that the burden of
Marcel Bayard—The new French cable ship can carry 1,000 nautical miles of cable. She is equipped to repair and lay submarine cables forward and can also lay cables aft.
Proof of a nuclear test in space was entirely instrumental and could be obscured or masked unusual meteorological activities such as solar flares or sunspots.
He doubted whether nuclear tests in space at great distances from the earth, 60,000,000 unles say, would be scientifically worth-while either for the testers or the test detectors because of the difficulty of obtaining results.
Hr. Maddock also explained the difference between effects caused by earthquakes and effects of underground nuclear tests. The Waves from the latter, he said, move outward In all directions from the explosion, while the earthquake effects produce a “push-pull” reaction caused by rocks sliding over each other in opposite directions. (John Hillaby in Mew York Times, 2 September 1961.)
Navigation Congress: One of the biggest and most important gatherings in Baltimore since the Democratic National Convention of 1912 will open a nine-day stand tomorrow afternoon. For only the second time in its 76-year history, a 52-nation organization regarded as the elite among the world’s maritime associations has chosen an American city as a meeting place.
Top waterway and port authorities from both sides of the Iron Curtain will be here for the Twentieth International Navigation Congress. As many as 1,000 delegates and their families will hear Secretary of State Dean Rusk address the opening session at Shriver Hall on the Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood campus. He will deliver a message from President Kennedy, who was designated high patron of the congress.
Delegates include engineers, scientists and administrators in marine commerce. The congress president will be Senator John Marshall
Butler of Maryland, and the deputy president Senator John L. McClellan of Arkansas, former chairman of the National Rivers and Harbors Congress.
Besides delegates from the principal ports of the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany and the Soviet Union, there will be representatives from the Canal Zone; Helsinki, Finland; Corfu, Greece; Djakarta, Indonesia; Ashad, Israel; Varsovia, Poland; Coatzaccoalcos, Mexico; Lourenjo Marques, Mozambique; Durban, South Africa, and Zagreb, Yugoslavia.
While they are attending the congress, delegates will have diplomatic status such as is accorded United Nations representatives. Despite their far-flung places of residence, they all have at least one thing in common: a knowledge of either English or French, the congress’ official language. {The Sun, Baltimore, 10 September 1961.)
New Meets Old in Hong Kong Ships: Two
86-foot wooden offshore trawlers, which combine the lines of the traditional Chinese junk and a Western fishing boat, are the latest advance in the post-war revolution of Hong Kong’s fishing industry.
They are a compromise between the plans of a naval architect and the generations of skill which lie in the hands of Chinese boatbuilders, who for centuries have been building sturdy, ocean-going vessels.
The new trawlers are now undergoing stability and speed trials.
The information obtained will be used in the design of four additional vessels, aimed at increasing the range of the colony’s fishing fleet.
The China coast fisherman has always been among the most conservative of men, and to
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the Western eye, seems to delight in doing things the hard way.
At the end of World War II, this British colony’s fishing industry was in a bad plight. The standard of living was at subsistence level, 95 per cent of the people were illiterate, and nearly as many heavily in debt.
Their fishing methods were antiquated. There was not a motorized junk in the fleet.
The post-war administration started a cooperative fish marketing organization, and made interest-free loans and grants to individual fishermen.
Today the fleet has more than 3,500 junks with engines.
Three times as much fish as in the early post-war years now goes through the Government-supported markets. And thousands of fishermen’s children now are going to school.
The colony’s fishing fleet now numbers 10,400 registered vessels. Fishing is its oldest industry, and supports nearly 90,000 people. (New York Times, 7 September 1961.)
Hong Kong Showboat—Mississippi Replica: The glorious days of the Mississippi River showboats are to be revived, but under very different skies. The Pacific Island Shipbuilding Co. of Hong Kong have received an order for building the showboat for use as a floating restaurant in Hong Kong. This vessel will be about 50 m. long with a beam of 11 -12 m., and will cruise in Hong Kong waters where it will be a great attraction to tourists. While it will be equipped with tall funnels, and large stern paddle wheels, it will not be equipped with steam machinery but will be propelled by two B. & W. Alpha diesel engines whose controllable pitch propellers, in deference to romance, will be cleverly concealed beneath the paddle-wheel. (Reeds' Marine Equipment News, July 1961.)
Floating Atom Plant: The floating nuclear power plant to be built by the Martin Company for the Army Corps of Engineers will supply the electrical needs of a civilian community of 20,000, Martin announced yesterday.
The nuclear plant will be placed in a rebuilt Liberty ship, Walter F. Perry. It is designed to be towed from place to place as needed whenever normal electrical supplies are cut off by peacetime disaster or wartime action.
The new nuclear system, which will generate 10,000 kilowatts, will use a nuclear fuel core about four feet in diameter. The fuel charge can be delivered by air if necessary.
This floating nuclear power plant is designed to provide a large, mobile block of generating capacity to meet priority requirements—political or military, domestic or foreign—on short notice when and where we want it, without a tremendous logistical “tail.”
The pressurized water reactor system proposed by Martin uses techniques that have been successful in a number of stationary atomic plants. Water passes through the hot core of the reactor. In a secondary loop, steam is produced to turn the blades of a turbine.
Power will be transmitted ashore through heavy cables leading from a tower near the bow of the ship. The floating plant contains quarters for a ten-man crew. (New York Times, 22 August 1961.)
Sky-Diving Patriotic: Sky-diving—parachuting from airplanes for the sport of it—is gaining new stature in the eyes of the Federal Aviation Agency. FAA Administrator Najeeb E. Halaby said yesterday that the rapidly growing national sport is an exacting pastime which could give this country a physically-fit manpower reservoir for the Army’s airborne combat divisions.
Speaking to the Army Aviation Association of America at the Sheraton Park, Halaby said there had been a tendency in the past to regard sky-diving as a “frivolous sport” for thrill-seekers.
The 45-year-old former Navy test pilot said the amateur parachutist should not be looked upon as “some kind of a nut.” He said it would be a nice thing for the Nation if more young men would become interested in attaining the physical fitness required by skydiving clubs rather than “hot-rodding or carousing around.”
POLARIS ON PATROL
To get a firsthand idea of what goes on in the sky-diving ranks, Halaby, who has been flying planes for 28 years, made his first
parachute jump from 2,500 feet near Orange, Mass., last July.
He has instituted proceedings at the FAA to set up Civil Air Regulations governing the new sport and invited sky-diving groups to submit suggestions
• Halaby told the 5,500-member Army Aviation group that this Nation lagged far behind Communist-bloc countries in precision parachute jumping. (Washington Post, 6 September 1961.)
Anti-Missile Missile: A Nike-Zeus antimissile missile was fired successfully today at White Sands Missile Range in a test of the missile itself and the missile defense system’s ground electronic components.
Nike-Zeus performed over an extended range, maneuvering satisfactorily in response to control orders issued by the command guidance system on the ground.
Other test objectives included performance the missile in flight, operation of the Zeus solid fuel propulsion system and lunctioning °f the missile-borne guidance equipment. All
were successful.
Today’s test came two years after the first test model of Nike-Zeus was fired at White Sands. (Baltimore Sun, 26 August 1961.)
Air Force Yields on Space Monkeys: The
Space Agency, after some jurisdictional negotiations with the Air Force, has emerged supreme as the bureau responsible for sending monkeys into orbit.
For months the Air Force has wanted to get into the new field of biomedical research in space by sending a monkey into orbit in one of its Discoverer satellites and then recovering the primate.
The Air Force said today, in response to inquiries, that it had canceled the planned flight of a monkey. The reason given was that it had been decided “in consultation with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration that the experiment would not make a sufficient contribution to the space program.
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In terms of civilian-military cooperation in space, the announcement was significant on two points: it demonstrated that despite some
underlying rivalries, the space agency and the Air Force can and do coordinate their plans. Secondly, it confirmed the agency’s jurisdictional claim that it is primarily responsible for conducting research leading to manned space flight.
The decision also illustrated the basic jurisdictional division drawn between civilian and military activities in space. This is that the space agency is primarily responsible for research in space and the military services are largely restricted to projects with a clearly established military requirement. (John W. Finney in New York Times, 13 August 1961.)
Will Expand Canaveral: The Cape Canaveral rocket center is to be enlarged to more than five times its present size for manned flights to the moon and comparable missions.
The decision was announced today by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The Cape area was chosen for the manned, lunar missions, it was learned, in preference to proposed sites in Texas, in New Mexico and on islands in the Pacific.
The Government will buy approximately 80,000 acres of land west and north of the 17,000-acre arrowhead that has been the launching platform for most of the nation’s major rocket tests.
The additional land will provide a ten-mile buffer to protect populated areas from the noise and blast dangers that will be created by the mammoth new rockets being developed for lunar and inter-planetary travel. Much of the land now consists of citrus groves.
New launching pads for the new rockets are expected to be built near the coast. (Richard Witkin in New York Times, 25 August 1961.)
We Must Desalt The Sea: The race to desalt the sea water is on. The Soviet Union has a high priority “rush” research program. The U. S. has just turned on full tilt its first million-gallon-a-day demonstration plant, at Freeport, Texas.
There’s a new half-million-gallon-a-day plant on the Island of Guernsey. In 1962, little Israel is scheduled to begin operating a quarter-million-gallon-a-day plant with a radical new design to water a part of its Negrev desert.
Why the rush? In the U. S., technical men warn there will be a crucial national water shortage in less than 15 years. Industrial development of key areas, especially in the West and Southwest, already is being held back by the shortage.
Water shortages make it almost impossible to develop many of the key underdeveloped areas of the world in the Middle East and Africa. Parts of Russia are believed to be feeling the pinch.
Some government scientists now see the possibility of a wide-spread drive for building water desalting plants in the late ’60s. This doesn’t mean that turning ocean water into “fresh” will be cheap by then. But so many cities and so many industries will need water so badly that they’ll be willing to pay.
Right now, desalting plants around the world are turning out about 20 million gallons of water a day. They’re in Kuwait on the Persian Gulf, in the Caribbean, California and in South Africa.
Costs of producing fresh water from these plants run from about $5 a thousand gallons down to $1.45 a thousand. The new plant at Freeport, it’s estimated, will turn salt water into “fresh” at about $1 a thousand gallons. A larger version of the projected Israel plant would also produce usable water at around $1 a thousand gallons.
Natural fresh water costs all the way from a half-cent a thousand gallons up to $6 or $7 or even more. But most U. S. communities spend about 30 to 45 cents per thousand— and sell it to their consumers at 25 to 40 cents by absorbing some of the overhead. But 70 cents a thousand is not unusual. Some consumers just outside Washington, D. C., pay 75 cents.
Desalting scientists think they one day will get costs down to 42 to 48 cents a thousand gallons. They assume:
Big plants will turn out 50 million gallons a day.
Major bugs will be ironed out of the methods they’re working on.
But the technical men say that, if there’s really going to be cheap desalted water, there will have to be some radical new solutions.
Using ultrasonics, sounds so high pitched you can’t hear them. Scientists hope that the powerful vibrations would somehow act differently on the salt and on the water, helping to separate the two.
Bubbling some types of gas through the salty water. The right temperatures and pressures form crystals with the water. The salt can then be washed off, the temperature raised and the gas bubbled. This leaves pure water.
Exploding an atomic or hydrogen bomb underneath a body of salty water. The heat and the difference in temperature, the scientists say, could be used to separate the water from the salt. (Ray Cromley in Evening Capital, Annapolis, Md., 29 July 1961.)
Urge Space Plan Care: A thousand leading astronomers have wound up their world conference at the University of California here by calling on governments to consult with them before undertaking any space projects that could foul up their astrophysical research.
Delegates from nearly 40 nations adopted a unanimous resolution in effect urging national space authorities to check with the International Astronomical Union to make sure they know what they’re doing before launching new experiments in space.
The move stems out of the IAU’s opposition to the United States project known as “West l ord” for placing a belt of hair-like copper needles into orbit around the earth to provide a reflector for long-distance radio communications tests.
The IAU has asked for full information on the experiment. Their request has the solid backing of the United States astronomers here, according to Dr. Leo Goldberg of the National Academy of Sciences and an IAU vice-president.
In a concurrent resolution, the world astronomers opposed any “contamination of space” which would be disastrous for astronomical observations. The astronomers are fearful that the United States’ plan to ring the earth with a copper belt may set up a last- mg interference with radio astronomy, as well as with optical explorations into the cosmic
realm.
“No group has the right to change the earth’s environment in any significant way without full international study and agreement,” one of their resolutions stated.
The astronomers sounded a distinct warning of the “grave moral and material consequences” which could result from “a disregard of the future of astronomical progress.”
The scientists voiced their “utmost concern” that the scheme to loft 350,000,000 copper particles into the earth’s orbit may form a permanent copper belt that would interfere with optical and radiotelescope explorations into the mysteries of the universe. (Harlan Trott in Christian Science Monitor, 29 August 1961.)
Wide Weather Satellite Study: The United States is stepping up its effort to promote international cooperation in the use of its weather satellite information.
The Weather Bureau and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced yesterday that 100 nations, including the Soviet Union, have been invited to send meteorologists to an international meteorological satellite workshop to be held here 13-22 November.
The ten-day workshop is designed to acquaint world meteorologists with the new techniques needed to interpret weather pictures being sent back by U. S. weather satellites.
The two Government agencies want to bring weather experts of other nations up to date on U. S. progress in anticipation of future plans to launch a series of more sophisticated weather satellites that will result in a wealth of new knowledge.
At present, two Tiros weather satellites are orbiting earth and transmitting useful data. Four more Tiros satellites are scheduled for launching some time this year and in 1962. By 1962, the United States plans to launch the first of a series of Nimbus satellites, and after this, a series of Aeros weather satellites. (Howard Simons in Washington Post, 17 August 1961.)
Space Balloon May Last Decade: The man
who designed Echo I, the balloon satellite that surprised everybody by staying in orbit a year, has patented a new one that he expects to last a decade. It has a shiny “rigidized” envelope less than one-thousandth of an inch thick.
Echo II, as it will be named when launched some time in 1962, can be packed into a canister 41 inches wide, but expands to a diameter of 135 feet. It was recently tested in a dirigible hangar at Weeksville, N. C.
The chief differences between Echo I and Echo II are their relative size and the stiffness of their skins. Echo I, which was 100 feet in diameter when launched, has an envelope of plastic film one-half of one-thousandth of an inch thick, on which aluminum was vapor- deposited. The successor is a sphere of laminated aluminum foil—two very thin sheets of aluminum with plastic film between. The whole is about three-quarters of one-thousandth of an inch thick.
Both balloons are passive communications satellites, or reflectors of radio waves. Echo I had transmitted about 150 communications experiments by 12 August, the first anniversary of its launching. When they shot it up and inflated it with gas, N.A.S.A. officials thought they would be lucky if it lasted two weeks. Now perforated by micro-meteorites, it has become wrinkled and less efficient as a reflector but still is transmitting signals. (Stacy V. Jones in New York Times, 19 August 1961.)
Moon Shot in Sea: In about six months a device designed to be fired to the moon is to be dropped to the bottom of the sea as a supersensitive earthquake detector.
Fitted with an atomic power plant whose lifetime is estimated at 30 years, the seismograph is expected to open new channels of information about the earth’s interior. It may also provide improved means of detecting underground nuclear explosions.
The device will presumably be put to use on earth before it is planted on the moon. It may thus prove to be the first case in which the lunar exploration program has produced dividends close to home.
Proponents of the moon projects have sought to justify them, in part, by citing the possibility of such by-products.
The instrument lias been designed to withstand the devastating shock of impact on the moon and then detect tremblings of the moon too weak even for standard instruments now used on earth.
The first oceanic test of the equipment is to be in the deep sea between New York and Bermuda.
A separate but somewhat similar project is planned next year for the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and California. It will not, however, have the benefit of nuclear power. (Walter Sullivan in New York Times, 30 August 1961.)
Seismic Wave Net: Having failed to agree on how to detect underground nuclear explosions, some of the world’s leading specialists in the field have initiated a move to form a somewhat similar agency to warn of seismic sea waves.
A proposal for such a service was made a year ago but has lain dormant, largely for lack of a response from the Soviet Union. It has now been decided to make a fresh start, particularly in view of unofficial encouragement from some Soviet scientists at the Pacific Science Congress, which ended here today.
It is felt that, if and when technical talks on an atomic bomb monitoring system are renewed, the fund of knowledge and operational experience gained by an international service to warn against tsunamis would be particularly valuable.
Tsunamis, often incorrectly referred to as tidal waves, are usually generated by undersea earthquakes.
The proposed warning service would concentrate on the Pacific Ocean, where tsunamis are most frequent and destructive, often wiping out entire towns. Hundreds of fives were taken by such waves after last year’s quakes in Chile. (Walter Sullivan in New York Times, 3 September 1961.)
Radiation Detector: A new radiation dosimeter for medical research and the general population has been developed by University of Wisconsin scientists.
Lithium fluoride crystals, which store light created by bombardment of high-energy radiation, are used in the dosimeter, Dr. J. R. Cameron, Dr. F. Daniels, Dr. Noye Johnson and Dr. G. Kennedy reported in Science.
The fight is given off by heating the crystals (thcrmoluminescence) and the light’s intensity, which depends on the amount of radiation, is measured.
The dosimeter has a wide spectrum for detecting electro-magnetic radiation and is simple to use, the scientists claimed. (New York Times, 20 August 1961.)
Basic Research: It is an obvious and epigrammatic statement that he who rules space rules the world. It is equally true, if not quite so obvious, that he who rules the weather, also rules the world. We recognize the need for basic research in space development. Undoubtedly if we had had a little more basic research in the nature and reactions of propellents, especially solid propellants, we might be even with or ahead of Russia.
The race for supremacy in space is in both the applied and basic research stages. The program constantly turns up new data, which needs to be studied, to be explored and to be understood. Again we can say epigrammatically that he who has adequate basic research will eventually rule space or come close to it.
If one had to make a guess as to which subject has had the most publicity in terms of numbers of words spoken since language began, it would probably be weather. Forecasting weather was probably the first science, but it is only recently, after 50,000 years or more, that tangible progress is being made. It begins to look as if weather could be controlled. This might confer God-like powers. One could make the Sahara desert into the equivalent of the Middle West farm belt, and conversely make the Middle West into a Sahara. One could enjoy the convenience of sending hurricanes to any spot when, as and if, it seemed desirable.
A meteorology department could be more important in terms of dollars than our ballistic missile complexes. However, we need a lot of basic research before the effective control stage is reached, research embodying many disciplines, such as physics, chemistry, meteorology, geology, climatology, oceanography, astronomy, electronics, and above all, mathematics.
The need for basic research in mathematics is very great. We cannot have too much of it. It is basic to all scientific progress. I have found that so many people think of mathematics as static science, some sort of elaborate and mysterious numerology exercise. Fortunately, more and more young people are considering mathematics as a major while at the same time the importance of mathematics teaching is being given greater consideration.
We could go on enumerating needs for basic research for some time. Particle physics research today is what nuclear physics was in the thirties. Biology, oceanography, plasmas, materials, and the many other disciplines, require basic research which will undoubtedly achieve results the nature of which and the use of which cannot now be evaluated. (Thomas Meloy, Chairman, Board of Directors, Melparing, in Signal, July 1961.)
Astronomer Sights Space Dust Cloud: An
East German astronomer has apparently found an important missing link in the story of the universe.
He detected a great cloud of seeming dust just beyond the Milky Way, the galaxy or great family of billions of stars to which our sun belongs.
This dusty veil seems to be not just gas, but contains heavier particles ranging in size possibly from the particles in smoke to meteors. Out of this, new stars and planets could perhaps condense and come into being.
Astronomers have proposed that such dust clouds may exist in the vast distances between galaxies. This could be the first discovery of an individual cloud, and it is relatively near the earth.
Dr. Cuno Hoffmeister of Sonneberg in East Germany described his findings to the International Astronomical Union meeting at the University of California. Other delegates expressed keen interest.
By some theories, new stars and even great galaxies are constantly being formed out of clouds of gases and dust. Small dust clouds have been observed within the Milky Way, and within other galaxies, but not detected before in space between galaxies.
Dr. Hoffmeister found clues to the dust cloud almost accidentally. He was studying stars which form a peculiar halo around the Milky Way.
Ordinarily, a peek in any direction beyond these stars shows many distant galaxies billions of miles away.
But, looking in the direction of the constellation Microscopium, in the Southern Hemisphere, he could see relatively few galaxies.
Something seemed to be obscuring the view.
Closer study supported the idea it was a vast dust cloud. One clue lay in the fact many galaxies have spiral arms. Galaxies with such arms could be seen through the edges of the cloud, but not through the denser center of the cloud. There, the view was too obscured.
The dust cloud has an irregular shape, and is perhaps 25,000 light years, or some 150,000 trillion miles, wide. Its distance from us cannot be determined yet, but presumably it is some 3,000,000 light years away. It could contain such chemical elements as sodium, calcium, and heavier atoms.
The cloud appears large enough to spawn many new stars, but not big enough to pro- nce the billions of stars in a galaxy, Dr. Hoffrneister said. (Christian Science Monitor, 22 August 1961.)
Scientists "Create” Life Through Transplant: University of Chicago scientists reported Thursday they successfully transplanted a virus’s chemical “brain” to a host cell where the “brain” forced other chemicals 10 manufacture the same kind of virus.
^le brain is pure deoxyribonucleic acid 'DMA), the genetic material in cells and Vlruses that controls heredity.
I he scientists said they took pure DNA com a virus known as lambda and introduced u mto a cell where it reproduced exact copies °f the original intact lambda virus.
This, they said, demonstrated that DNA cfn command the manufacture of complete viruses without the assistance of other components of the original virus.
A report on the study was prepared for delivery in Moscow to the 5th International Congress on Biochemistry.
The research was conducted by Earl Evans, Jr-, chairman of the university’s biochemistry department; Roy P. Mackal, research associate and assistant professor, and Franz Meyer, an instructor.
Commenting on the study, Evans said: “Since we have here a system in which a specific nucleic acid dictates the structure of !ts protein code, it is hoped that study of the system will yield information as to how nucleic acid of the gene dictates the structure of various proteins in the living cell.”
The DNA obtained from the lambda virus is very similar to the DNA found in the genes of living cells. Both are made up of molecules containing a chain of atoms shaped like two corkscrews intertwined.
The lambda virus normally languishes inside intestinal bacteria of man. In this inactive state, it is classed as a provirus.
In the research, the bacteria was placed under ultraviolet light. This stimulated the proviruses into activity, and within an hour and a half each particle produced hundreds of active virus particles.
Next, the virus particles were whirled in a high-speed centrifuge. The protein jackets of the individual viruses were removed by adding carbolic acid. Another spin of the centrifuge left the biochemists with a portion of pure nucleic acid, or DNA.
Next, the cell walls of the intestinal bacteria were removed by a laboratory process. Then the raw DNA was applied to these open cells. Once inside, the DNA went to work reproducing the same kind of lambda viruses from which it had come. (Robert Goldenstein in The Virginian-Pilot, 11 August 1961.)
A. E. C. Head Says "Superbomb” Would Sharply Increase Fall-out: Dr. Glenn T.
NORTHERN ORDNANCE INCORPORATED
Seaborg, chairman of the Atomic Energy
Commission, told Congress today that a Soviet explosion of one 100-megaton bomb would produce 60 per cent as much radioactive debris as did all the atomic tests from 1945 through 1958.
Meanwhile, some persons in the nuclear weapons field were reliably reported to be campaigning for the United States to develop a 1,000-megaton bomb, thus topping Premier Khrushchev’s threat to test a 100-megaton “superbomb.”
The proposal, advanced by the same quarters that in recent months have been UrStng development of a “neutron bomb,” Was reported by authoritative sources in the nuclear field to have been outlined in secret briefing given high Republican party officials. 1 hus far, it was said, the proposal has not 3een given an audience or any support within the Administration or among Congressional Democrats.
Among nuclear experts within the Administration and Congress there is a growing
e *ef that one of the principal objectives of the new Soviet test series is to develop a bomb with a yield of 100 megatons, or the explosive force of 100,000,000 tons of TNT. This would Je 5,000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima and about five times larger than the most powerful bombs now believed to be possessed by the United States and the Soviet Union.
Considerable importance was attached by officials to Mr. Khrushchev’s statement, contained in an interview printed in The New Tork Times today, that the Russians “already have such a bomb and shall test the explosive device for it.” This went considerably further than past references to the 100-megaton bomb as a drawing board concept of Soviet weapon scientists.
The Khrushchev statement gave weight to official speculation that one of the purposes of the Soviet test resumption was to develop the fission trigger for such a huge thermonuclear bomb. The other principal line of speculation has been that the Soviet tests are aimed at developing a warhead for an anti-missile niissile.
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Since Mr. Khrushchev first broached the idea of the “super bomb,” there has been a tendency among United States officials to dismiss it as a military weapon, primarily on the ground that five 20-megaton bombs would
wreak considerable more destruction. This is because the destructive range of a bomb in terms of heat, blast and radiation does not increase directly with yield but only about on a one-third ratio.
However, as Mr. Khrushchev emphasized in his interview with The New York Times foreign affairs columnist, C. L. Sulzberger, the 100-megaton bomb is designed primarily as a weapon to frighten would-be aggressors.
Some atomic weapons experts, including some scientific advisers to the Air Force, have a similar aim in urging United States development of a 1,000-megaton bomb. Theoretically, there is no limit to the power that could be given to a hydrogen bomb, but there are practical limitations in size and weight and destructive range.
The possibility that the new round in the nuclear arms race may see the development by both sides of such weapons, approaching the long suggested “doomsday Machine” capable of annihilating the world’s population, is not dismissed within Administration circles.
One of the President’s closest advisers, for example, believes that the next generation of deterrent weapons may well see each side equipped with inter-continental ballistic missiles armed with warheads in the 100-megaton range.
Dr. Seaborg’s estimate that the testing of one 100-megaton bomb would produce 60 per cent as much radioactive debris as that created in all the atomic tests from 1945 to 1958 was given in answer to a question during budget hearings by a Senate Appropriations Committee.
The estimate, which associates of Dr. Seaborg described as “a quick extrapolation,” was based on the fact that thus far the three major nuclear powers—the United States, the Soviet Union and Britain—have exploded atomic devices with a 90 megatons. It is this fission process of the atomic bomb that produces the radioactive byproducts of fall-out. In addition, there has been about 80 megatons of yield from the fusion process of the hydrogen bomb.
About 50 per cent of the yield from large thermonuclear explosions is generally considered to come from the fission process. Thus a 100-megaton explosion would produce radioactive products from about 50 megatons yield of the fission process. Each megaton of the fission process produces 110 pounds of radioactive isotopes. Most of these 200 different isotopes of about 35 elements decay rapidly, but some, such as Strontium-90 and Cesium-137, retain their radioactivity for generations and constitute the principal danger of fall-out. (John W. Finney in New York Times, 9 September 1961.)
Satellite Studies Space-Dust Peril: The Scout rocket—a two-time loser—put a “beer can satellite” into orbit Friday to study the lethal effect which speeding space dust could have on future astronauts.
Within two hours after the 1:20 p.m. launching from Wallops Island, Va., the satellite was sending back information.
It was sent aloft to make intensive studies of micrometeoroids—tiny particles of space dust believed to be remnants of an exploded planet. Hurtling through space at speeds up to 45 miles a second, they could erode or puncture a space vehicle.
It worked perfectly Friday, putting the 127- pound cylinder the size of a home water heater into an orbit almost exactly as predicted.
The new satellite was officially named Explorer XIII as it sped around the earth at more than 17,500 miles an hour. It is expected to function and send back data for a year, circling the earth every 98 minutes. It may stay aloft several years.
The National Aeronautics and Space Agency said the instruments it carries, including 160 metallic cylinders that look like beer cans cut lengthwise, are expected to give a better idea of the probability of penetration of a space vehicle by the micrometeoroids.
Such information is “vitally needed by engineers who will design future space flight systems in order to insure the safety of manned space craft destined for long missions,” NASA said.
The instrument payload was scheduled for an orbit ranging from 610 to 280 miles from earth. NASA later estimated its apogee or farthest point from earth at 565 miles and its closest approach, 275 miles. (The Virginian- Pilot, 26 August 1961.)