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Cruisers Ships with a Future
By Commander John R. Blackburn,
U. S. Navy[1]
Within the past decade it has become increasingly evident that the role of the cruiser is undergoing a major change. For the past seventy years the armored and unarmored varieties of this class of capital ship have had the glamorous and often dashing assignment of presenting an obviously potent force in being and of showing the flag to good advantage. Cruisers helped to forge and cement the British Empire together. In this political characterization, the cruiser was favored with the size and cruising radius which would not place serious logistic limitations on her operations. With these qualities, as well as adequate armament and speed to defend herself, the cruiser prior to the end of World War II, had an important part in peaceful as well as wartime operations.
After 1945, when our Navy was rolling up her wartime fleet, it became evident that the battleship was displaced by the carrier as the prime warship, and as such would have to retire, except for token numbers, to the sidelines of the reserve fleets. Because of the superiority of her eight-inch battery the heavy cruisers were, and still are, favored for fleet employment. It is expected that these heavy cruisers will be phased out of the active fleet by the seven CLG Talos conversions which will start with the Galveston commissioning next year. These medium-range, surface-to-air missile ships will fill a vital gap in the task force air defense capabilities.
The speed of approach to modern high performance bombers and the limited endurance of high performance interceptors, coupled with the appreciable distance of the high altitude bomber release point from target, renders the job of effective air defense an acute and well recognized “knotty” class of problem. In addition to providing more positive air defense, such a capability will release a proportional number of aircraft from defensive to offensive operations.
Medium-range, surface-to-air missiles such as Talos with their attendant support equipment, appear to be too bulky and heavy to be housed in anything but a cruiser hull. This limitation appears to rule out the destroyer in anything but a short-range air defense role. Short-range air defense in these days of tactical nuclear weapons, has a desperate “last ditch” quality about it which all of us would desire to avoid by using the longer range surface-to-air missile.
In the area of anti-submarine defense we find an interesting field for discussion and conjecture about future trends and requirements. Several rhetorical questions might illustrate the factors involved. What high speed carrier task force can afford to stop every day or every other day to fuel destroyers? At thirty knots plus, how effective is current sonar equipment for detection and attack? In moderately rough weather such as exists in the northern latitudes of ocean areas
most of the year, is the task group commander going to be willing to slow down to keep the destroyers from pounding themselves to pieces in the seas that are of negligible concern to carriers and cruisers.
From questions such as these one cannot help but doubt the ability of our current class of new destroyers and frigates to contribute significantly to the current and future task force. For convoy and replenishment group defense, the destroyer can still do a capable job. Just how much better they can do this escort task than a new twenty-seven- knot Dealey-class escort, especially in an ASW sense, is questionable. With the promise of long-range, higher powered, lower frequency sonar we must again turn to a hull that is large enough to carry this equipment, namely a cruiser.
Projecting these thoughts into the naval task forces of 1965, for which we must plan today, we are forced, albeit with sentimental reluctance, to bid adieu to our old friend the “general purpose” destroyer. Destroyers are too limited in their performance to run with the carrier task force. They are too expensive to construct for the job of ocean escort. The place of the destroyer will be taken over in the carrier task forces by the “general purpose” cruisers, and in the convoys and replenishment groups by the anti-submarine adept escort vessels.
The “general purpose” cruiser will have three new primary missions:
1. To provide medium-range (up to 100 miles) and short-range air defense in task force operations.
2. To provide anti-submarine protection in task force operations.
3. To provide surface-to-surface missile bombardment capabilities.
The “general purpose” cruiser will have the cruising radius, the speed, the sea-keeping qualities, the fire control and missile platform that is required for ships operating with the Midway- and Forrestal-class carriers. With her Regulus surface-to-surface missile battery she can pack and deliver a potent offensive punch against heavily defended shore targets. Surface-to-surface missiles in cruisers will help bridge the long range but inevitable transition from piloted to unpiloted weapon delivery vehicles.
The nuclear propulsion cruiser Long Beach should be well endowed with the required qualities of our “general purpose” cruiser of and with a future, and will point the way to new and more effective concepts of naval warfare.
British Favoring Low-Cost Rocket
By John Hillaby
New York Times, July 19, 1957.—British rocket engineers have disclosed what they have been able to accomplish by building guided missiles at low cost.
They are building fast, highly efficient solid-fuel burners that can be used as short- range weapons. They also will be valuable for research during the International Geophysical Year, the eighteen-month study of the earth that began July 1.
The British admit, however, that their missiles cannot go far up into the sky.
This was related at Bedford during an international symposium on high-altitude and satellite rockets. It was organized jointly by the British College of Aeronautics, the Royal Aeronautical Society and the British Interplanetary Society.
The British discussed their high-altitude missile, the twenty-five-foot Skylark. It is powered by the Raven engine developed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company.
The Raven develops a thrust of 11,500 pounds during a thirty-second flight that takes it to a height of about 100 miles. An advantage of the Skylark is that it costs only about $5,000.
The chief upper-air research rocket used in the United States is the Aerobee-Hi, manufactured by the Aero-jet-General Corporation. Its engines develop more than 20,000 pounds of thrust at take-off. The maximum altitude reached by an Aerobee-Hi, which costs about $35,000, was 193 miles.
Most of the research details about the upper atmosphere obtained by the Skylark will be transmitted by radio to ground stations during flight. The vehicle, it was said, will break up in its descent, but in later versions it is hoped that the scientific apparatus such as cameras and spectroscopes will be recovered by a parachute system.
The limitations of solid fuels were implicit in a paper on propulsion systems given by Prof. Alexander D. Baxter, deputy chief of Britain’s Royal Aeronautical College at Bedford.
He said in effect that solid fuels used in most British rockets burned fast and were better than liquid fuels, which are used in the Aerobee series of rockets in the United States. But this was true only for about twenty seconds, he said. Thereafter the liquid fuels began to show their superiority.
“From a performance angle,” said Professor Baxter, “it seems that liquid propellants are better, but for experimental purposes in which the absolute maximum [of efficiency] is not essential, the solid propellent motor may be preferable. It is a simple-packaged unit and requires less preparation for firing.”
British experts expressed hope that the relatively simple British rocket control sys- terns would be bought by other countries in preference to the more complicated types made in the United States.
Prof. H. S. W. Massey, head of the department of physics at University College, London, said that the American satellite, due to be launched in 1958, would be the forerunner of satellites equipped with television. This would provide a regular picture of cloud distribution to add knowledge of the atmosphere and help weather forecasting.
Dr. Kasel J. Bossart, technical director of Convair-Astronautics in the United States, hinted that the limit had probably been reached in building big rockets.
He said that limitations in size were set by operating economy and the cost of transportation.
But quoting his colleague Dr. Krafft Ehricke of the Convair company, Dr. Bossart said he saw no reason why relatively small rockets should not be used to assemble a station in space on the basis of the parts built out of their empty fuel tanks. This could be used to launch interplanetary vehicles, he said.
New Arctic Passage for Ships Is Found
By George Horne
The New York Times, August 28, 1957.— A Canadian patrol ship has found a new Northwest Passage in the Arctic for deepwater vessels.
Last Saturday the Labrador moved through Bellot Strait, preceded by the tiny sound boat Pogo and two helicopters, navigating the seventeen-mile waterway in two hours. The echo-sounding equipment found a good channel with a minimum depth of fifty feet.
United States and Canadian navigators had been searching for the passage to provide an escape route for ships that each year supply fifty Distant Early Warning sites strung across the northern fringe of the continent.
The route could be used in case the Beaufort Sea ice pack suddenly moved back onto the Alaskan shore, imprisoning the supply ships in Arctic waters.
Bellot Strait runs east and west between Bothia Peninsula, at the top of the North American continent, and Somerset Island.
Escaping ships in Franklin Strait could slip through Bellot into Prince Regent Inlet and proceed to Baffin Bay through Lancaster Sound.
Vice Admiral John M. Will, commanding the Military Sea Transportation Service, inspected the route by air earlier this year and urged exploration because of bad ice conditions farther north. The service’s ships supply the DEW Line sites.
Three Coast Guard vessels are to meet the Labrador in Bellot and aid in further charting the waterway and marking the channel with buoys. These craft reported over the weekend that they were still pushing against ice formations in Queen Maud Gulf and were behind schedule for the rendezvous.
Official notification of the finding of the escape route was sent to Rear Admiral Roy Gano, commander of MSTS Task Force 6, which is supplying the eastern DEW Line sites this year.
According to a Canadian Press dispatch from Ottawa, Captain T. C. Pullen, skipper of the Labrador, reported to Canadian Navy headquarters that most of the passage was clear of ice.
Two other discoveries that will require changes in Arctic charts and maps have been announced by the MSTS.
A sea channel has been found leading to Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island, which will make this major air and sea base more accessible to supply ships. The new air strip and Canadian-United States military installations at Frobisher get most of their supplies by ship. Until recently, vessels had to use a twisting, treacherous channel.
The new channel has a minimum depth of 138 feet. It is only fifteen miles long, compared with the old passage’s 27 miles. The new entrance was discovered by Lieutenant Neil Norton of the Canadian Navy and Michael Bolton, senior representative of the Canadian Hydrographic Office.
The third geographical item involves an island that is not there. Maps and charts used in current exploration of the Northern Territories above the Arctic Circle show Hall Island, a forty-mile body of land in the northern section of Boothia Bay, just west of Hecla and Fury Strait.
Canadian and United States Navy officers who have examined the area carefully agree there is no Hall Island. They have notified the National Geographic Society and commercial cartographers of their findings.
Mention of the island may have been the result of an error in early Arctic charting. On the other hand the island may have been a great ice mass that disappeared, Navy men said.
They said they did not know the author of its first surveying, but surmised the island might have been named for Charles Francis Hall, an Arctic explorer of a hundred years ago.
Neu> Sub, Missile Bases Reported Near Vladivostok
Christian Science Monitor, August 17, 1957.-—A Japanese economic journal said Aug. 17 that the Soviet Union has built two bases for launching guided missiles and is constructing a new submarine base in the Vladivostok area it closed to foreign navigation July 20.
The newspaper Nihon Keizai pinpointed the missile bases at Slavyanka and Kraskino, about 40 miles and 80 miles respectively southwest of Vladivostok. It said the Slavyanka base was completed June 3 and the Kraskino base July 20. A new sub base is ‘either near completion or being built” at Poset, about 10 miles south of Kraskino, it added.
Nihon Keizai quoted sources in the Japanese Government’s research section on its information. The section collects and analyzes foreign information for the Premier. Officials declined to comment on the report.
The Soviet Union banned navigation by foreign ships and planes in the Vladivostok bay area along a line connecting the mouth of the Tumen River on the North Korea-Soviet border and Cape Provotny. The line, running roughly southeast, extends about 200 miles.
The Japanese, British, and United States Governments have protested to the Soviet Union that the action is a “flagrant violation of international law.”
Missiles: Where the Race Stands
By Hanson Baldwin
The New York Times, September 1, 1957. —In May, 1955, a booklet appeared in Moscow that forecast coming events. The author was Marshal Pavel Zhigarev, then the No. 1 man in the Soviet Air Force and still an important figure.
In his book, Marshal Zhigarev announced the obsolescence of the strategic bomber and forecast the coming reign of the intercontinental rocket.
Moscow, in a statement plainly intended to make the maximum impression upon world opinion, announced that it had successfully fired “a super long-distance intercontinental” rocket. The results showed, Moscow contended, “that it is possible to direct rockets into any part of the world,” and that the giant missile has replaced strategic air forces and piloted planes, which are vulnerable to defensive weapons.
Intended Impact
The announcement shook—as it was intended to do—public opinion in the Western world, although it left official Washington only slightly perturbed. It intensified worldwide interest in missiles, had some political repercussions in the election race in West Germany, and emphasized the importance to military technology and political and psychological reactions of the arms race in guided missiles.
The missile—a robot that flies through the air without human pilot but with its own engine, its own guiding brain and its own nervous system—is beginning to supplement, and for some missions to replace, both the gun and the airplane as a means of carrying conventional and nuclear explosives to a target.
Marshal Zhigarev’s report of the demise of the bomber and claim by Moscow that strategic air forces were now obsolete were both premature; in fact the missile may never entirely replace the piloted plane or the gun for all missions.
But there is no doubt that in many roles— short-range air interception or point defense of ground targets, area bombardment over great distances, more precise bombardment of targets over much shorter distances—it is becoming the primary means of delivery at the expense of the anti-aircraft gun, the fighter-interceptor plane, the long-range bomber, the lighter bomber and field artillery.
Advance in Capability
The missile has far greater speed than any piloted planes now in service or in immediate prospect, and far greater range than any gun. Coupled with a nuclear warhead it has virtually unlimited destructive capability; it has, in other words, added new power to both offense and defense.
But the long-range ballistic missile, so called because it follows the ballistic free- flight elliptical trajectory of a shell, has
INTERCONTINENTAL. MISSILES
BALLISTIC MISSILE:Rocket weapon claimed by Soviet. U. S. testing Atlas, has Titan in research-development stage.
GUIDED MISSILE:Jet-engine missile like U. S. Snark, navigates itself to target by stars but at subsonic speed.
The New York Times
promised to have greater military and political-psychological effect upon warfare and global relationships than any of the rest of the missile family. This is because the giant rocket, capable of spanning oceans and continents at maximum speeds of 12,000 to 20,000 miles an hour, is the least stoppable weapon now known to man.
It is not an accurate weapon—despite the Soviet pronouncement—but its thermonuclear warhead presages such a wide area of destruction that precise accuracy against an area target is not necessary.
Contrary to the impressions of some years ago, the ballistic missile does not appear to be completely invulnerable. Some experts today think there is a chance that a countermissile system can be developed that will have some, if less than complete, effectiveness.
Nevertheless, the ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) crossing the oceans in twenty to thirty minutes, plunging from the skies far faster than the speed of sound, and obliterating cities, is the weapon most difficult to stop or intercept—a terror weapon of the first magnitude. It was used as such in Moscow’s pronouncement. And its smaller sister, the IRBM (intermediate range ballistic missile), could, at ranges of 600 to 1,500 miles, bombard many of the cities and airfields of Western Europe.
U. S. Developments
Contrary to the impression studiously and deliberately conveyed by the Moscow announcement, the United States is not a bad second in the race for the so-called ultimate weapon—the 5,500 mile ICBM—or in other phases of guided-missile competition. It has
two entries in the giant intercontinental rocket race. A single Atlas has been tested unsuccessfully at Cape Canaveral, Fla. The Titan is still in static and component test stage; it is probably six months to a year behind the Atlas.
Thus, the United States has no operational ballistic missile of longer range than the Army’s 200 to 300-mile Redstone, which is just being produced for service use.
In contrast, for quite a long time—more than eighteen months—the Russians have been test-firing intermediate-range ballistic missiles at varying ranges.
There are differing interpretations in Washington as to how far these test missiles were fired and very little, indeed, is known about their accuracy.
In any case, the facts known about these Soviet IRBM tests indicate that Moscow would appear to have a present lead in the intermediate missile race—if not in basic know-how, certainly in testing and translation of the knowledge gained into the finished hardware. Russia may not have a 1,200 or 1,500 mile ballistic missile in production today, but if she does not she can certainly have one soon.
Conditional Judgment
In the past year—and particularly in the past two to three months—there have been signs that the Soviet Union was testing or preparing to test the longer-range 5,500-mile ballistic missile. The first of these tests almost certainly occurred at least eight to ten weeks ago, perhaps earlier. There was adequate technical substantiation, but Washington said nothing. Whether or not there have been other successful long-range flights since then—as Moscow said this week— could not be learned. Certainly Russia does not yet have an ICBM ready for mass production and operation.
Thus the conclusion must be, although with reserve, that if tests are a sign of missile progress, the Soviet Union may have a slight lead in the ICBM field. That lead, if it exists, is probably not great.
In the first place, nothing is known about the all-important factor of accuracy. In the second place, the Soviet missile appears to have flown about 4,000 miles, perhaps a little more; not the 5,500-mile objective of our Atlas. Last fall, the United States flew an Army Jupiter C missile—a test vehicle of one missile superimposed upon another and with no guidance—to about a 600-mile altitude and to a distance of 3,600 miles.
Thus, at best, Russia has won a heat—but not the finals—in the race for the so-called ultimate weapon. Her anti-aircraft and defensive missiles—although increasing in number—are not believed to be adequate to nullify the United States long-range bomber superiority. The world strategic balance is not changed.
However, Moscow’s announcement is bound to have some major repercussions—if not in the inner sanctum of Washington— then certainly in public opinion and in Congressional circles.
Some of these reactions will be delayed until the next session of Congress; but then the wisdom of service budget cutting at a time of world instability and marked Soviet progress in weapons development will certainly be questioned. The entire missile program, long a subject of controversy, may be reviewed. And certainly the influence of service rivalries upon the United States’ progress will be discussed.
Impact on Public
But the greatest impact of the Soviet announcement will be, as it was intended to be, upon public opinion. Even an 800-mile Soviet ballistic missile can reach many important United States and allied bases in Eurasia; a 5,500-mile one could reach the continental United States.
The public on both sides of the ocean knows this, and European opinion in particular, recalling the Soviet rocket threat at the time of the Suez crisis last Fall, seems to be troubled by it. Yet as much or more of the Soviet success has been psychological as it has been technical.
The unreasoning secrecy about United States missiles, which is a direct result of President Eisenhower’s orders, has hampered the divulging of United States missile accomplishments. The 3,600-mile flight last fall of the Jupiter C was a real accomplishment, even though this missile was only a test vehicle.
Loss by Secrecy
It should have been announced officially with a flourish and would have won some mileage for us in the struggle to influence the minds of men. Instead, it leaked out slowly and unofficially, with little publicity and no impact.
The firing of the Soviet long-range missile, a secret known to a few in Washington for many weeks, could and should have been announced by Washington at a time of our choosing. Had such an announcement been made—as has been done from time to time in the case of Soviet nuclear explosions—the impact of the boastful claims of Moscow would have been cushioned. As it was, Moscow made public its news at a time best calculated to impress the world public.
It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that we have again fallen flat on our face in the psychological exploitation of technological developments. In those developments themselves, we are further advanced than the facts would seem to indicate, but by no means enough to be complacent.
Some Thoughts on Heavy Ships
By Captain Charles B. Brooks, Jr.,
U. S. Navy[2]
If I were a striking fleet commander, I should prefer to fly my flag on a ship of the Zewa-class. Certain modifications would be necessary to make these ships ideal for such use, but even as they are presently configured, they are the best type for the purpose.
At about this point, those who have read the foregoing paragraph will suddenly realize that the /owa-class are BATTLESHIPS! Every article one reads in today’s press on the subject is designed to convince the people of this country that BATTLESHIP is a nasty word! This type of publicity started in the day of General Billy Mitchell, and has grown to its present proportions through being repeated again and again. Today, even our own public information officers have taken up the cry.
If the supporters of such publicity are thinking of a battleline of big guns and cumbersome ships, I am among the first to agree with them. The point that is missed by these critics is that they are damning a class without proper examination and evaluation of the ships in question. If it is the name BATTLESHIP which has become an anathema, then let us change the name classification of the /owa-class of ships.
Today, we are building one nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser and have half a dozen more cruisers in the process of conversion from conventional to guided missile types. This is an indication of the continuing
need for heavy ships (heavy ships include cruiser types) in our modern navy. The normal flagships of all of our task fleet commanders at sea are cruisers. Every carrier striking force needs supporting heavy ships to be used for air defense ships, anti-aircraft defense, and surface protection. Aircraft carriers cannot provide their own protection, And carry out air defense functions without Assistance. Destroyers, extremely valuable as pickets, anti-submarine defense ships, and Anti-aircraft defense ships, do not have the Personnel, communications, or electronics equipment to carry the burden of air defense ships nor the size to carry the larger surface- to-surface missiles.
Even though there seems to be no champion of heavy ships, it appears that the need for such types is readily recognized. Grant- mg such recognition, let us return to and examine the /owa-class. THIS TYPE CAN DO
everything that a cruiser can
BETTER THAN A CRUISER. Their speed is commensurate with that of a cruiser or aircraft carrier (30 knots plus). Their sea keeping qualities in heavy weather are superior. Their defensive qualities and staying power are unsurpassed. Their cruising radius is tremendous. Space is available for large staffs, for communications and electronics equipment, and for a large store of ammunition or missiles. These qualities make them ideal ships for support roles in the striking force and as fleet flagships.
For some years to come, the majority of ships in the striking fleets must be powered by conventional oil-fired boilers. So long as this is true, the question of refueling destroyers remains a constant problem to the commander at sea. The use of cruisers for this purpose is not entirely satisfactory. The heavy fueling gear installed on the fast battleships plus the large amounts of fuel carried by them, make these ships a welcome addition to any force operating at sea.
The writer has no information on possible conversion plans for the Iowa-class. If present types of surface-to-air and surface-to- surface guided missiles were to be installed, the cost should be little more than the cost of conversion of a cruiser. It would certainly be less than the cost to complete the Kentucky as a guided missile ship.
The inherent disadvantages of the Iowa- class ships are economic. These ships require large crews to operate. The cost of maintenance and upkeep is much higher than that of other heavy ships. Recent news articles indi-
cate that all ships of this class are to be placed in the Reserve Fleets. Fundamentally, it is this economic factor which should be the decisive reason for ordering these ships to an inactive status.
For the next ten years, or until we have a nuclear-powered navy, the /owa-class will be among the most valuable ships in our fleet. We should not permit ourselves to be stampeded into damning these ships by publicity against the name BATTLESHIP, but should make our decisions solely on the potential of the ships concerned.
Sea Scar Linked to Tidal Waves
The New York Times, September 10, 1957. —The Coast and Geodetic Survey announced the discovery of a deep, long crack in the bottom of the Gulf of Alaska that may be the spawning ground of devastating tidal waves.
The crack, which is 500 to 700 feet below the ocean floor, stretches in a southwesterly direction across much of the gulf below southern Alaska. The scar, or trough, as it is referred to in submarine terminology, is known to be at least 250 miles long, and possibly 400.
The existence of the trough has been suspected for many years as a result of scattered depth soundings in the area. Its presence, however, was not confirmed until this year, following soundings obtained by survey ships as they crisscrossed the gulf between the Bering Sea and the Aleutian Islands.
The discovery may shed significant light on the source of the destructive seismic sea waves, commonly called tidal waves, that sweep southward over the Pacific Ocean with the speed of a jet aircraft.
May Spawn Earthquakes
The trough is thought possibly to be a fault or weakness in the ocean floor, and thus the source of large underwater earthquakes. Tidal waves that cause destruction as far away as California, Japan and the Hawaiian Islands may originate in the crack.
When an earthquake occurs on the deep ocean floor, the movement of earth along a fault is of minor importance. The movement, however, generates a tremendous sea wave
only two to three feet high but with a crest a hundred miles wide. The broad wave hits land with destructive impact and with speeds up to 500 miles an hour.
In the last forty years thirty-seven seismic sea waves have been recorded in the Pacific, sixteen of them since 1950. One of the most destructive hit the Hawaiian Islands in 1946.
Intersects Aleutian Trench
The discovery of the trough may help the Coast and Geodetic Survey to improve its detection and warning system for tidal waves in the Pacific Ocean.
The trough starts near the coast of southern Alaska, south of Yakutat Bay. It runs generally in a southwesterly direction and then is believed to curve more to the west to intersect the previously known Aleutian Trench near Kodiak Island.
The bottom of the trough lies 500 to 700 feet below the sea floor, which varies in depth feom 9,000 to 13,000 feet in the area. It is estimated to be about two to three miles wide fer most of its length.
Research on Supersonic Planes May solve Space Ship Problems
By Dr. F. L. La Que
The New York Herald Tribune, September 1957.—“Per ardua ad astra.” The ancient earthbound Romans did not have rocket ships in mind when they coined this phrase, hut it is nevertheless happily appropriate to the subject of space travel. In my own rough translation, I have always taken it to mean: If you work hard enough, you can reach the
stars.”
It is apparent that the objectives of those interested in space travel are attainable by sufficient effort, and in time will be realized ■^■literally, per ardua ad astra. It appears that the answers to many of the problems °I materials—particularly the metals—for space vehicles will be provided by the answers to similar problems of supersonic aircraft and long-range missiles. Thus, while jneeting today’s needs, the metallurgist also is working toward the solution of tomorrow’s materials problems.
Supersonic planes and long-range missiles must operate under conditions that in many respects are even more severe than those to he encountered by space vehicles, which presumably more readily can avoid the most destructive combinations of speed and altitude.
Heat Big Problem
It seems clear that the principal materials problems presented by the requirements for space travel involve one or more of the effects of heat. One source of the bothersome heat ts, of course, the combustion of the fuel that "dll propel the vehicle. The other sources are more complex and more uncertain.
They include principally what the scientists call thermantic or aerodynamic heating resulting from friction between the surface of the rocket and the medium through which it moves, that resulting from bringing air to rest from some high velocity (stagnation effect) and heat radiated from the sun.
This emphasizes the importance of stagnation heating and leading edge effects and shows that the requirements of materials for components subject to these conditions are much more severe than will be the case for the main bodies of the vehicles.
While aerodynamic heating is naturally related to the velocity of travel, the relationship is by no means a simple one. It is complicated by such factors as the density of the atmosphere and very greatly by whether what can be called the “air stream” in contact with the outer skin of the vehicle is in a turbulent or laminar state.
The resulting heating effect or temperature under the more likely turbulent conditions may be several times greater than if laminar flow should prevail. The maximum heating effect is achieved by the stagnation conditions that can develop along the leading edges of wings or guiding vanes or at the nose of a conical section.
Temperature Balance
The temperature actually maintained under a particular set of conditions represents an equilibrium temperature established by the balance between heat introduced from the sources mentioned and that dissipated by radiation or conduction.
The earth satellite to be launched this year will be made of a magnesium alloy with supplementary thin coatings of gold, chromium, nickel, aluminum and silicon monoxide.
While this combination of materials is expected to have a satisfactory life while traveling at high velocity in outer space, it must be protected from the more severe effects of travel through the earth’s atmosphere by the shell of the rocket in which the satellite will be transported to outer space.
The satellite will be destroyed by heat effects when it encounters a less Tariffed atmosphere on its final plunge earthward.
On the basis of today’s metallurgical knowledge, the frames and skins of space vehicles probably will have to be built of one of the precipitation hardened stainless steels or nickel-base alloys. Depending on the velocities to be provided for, there may be a place for titanium alloys, possibly with other materials for components that will have to be strong at higher temperatures.
Because of the relatively high density of these alloys, it will be necessary to take advantage of sandwich-type composites so as to achieve maximum rigidity or resistance to deformation with minimum weight.
Iron, nickel and cobalt base alloys in wrought forms can be made to carry high loads for long periods at temperatures up to at least 1,500 degrees F. Molybdenum, chromium and possibly rhenium and tungsten-base alloys offer the greatest prospect of extending this limit. Of these, molybdenum with a suitable coating for protection against oxidation, seems to have been receiving the most attention.
Other Problems
Some components of space vehicles—nose parts, for example—will have to survive temperatures so high that the melting point of the material becomes important. Here again molybdenum becomes attractive, but the problem of protecting these parts from destruction by oxidation has led to interest in the platinum metals and in non-metallic compounds with high melting points, such as oxides, carbides, borides and silicides.
There are many other problems related to materials for construction of space vehicles, including such matters as thermal stresses, or temperature variation in structural parts; emissivity, or heat dissipation from exposed surfaces, and erosion or deterioration of surfaces from meteoric dust.
France: Helicopter Flotilla 31 F
Translated from Bulletin d’Itiformation de la Marine Nationale, 20-27 August, 1957. Flotilla 31 F is a helicopter attack flotilla of the naval air arm constituted as of 1 August, 1956. Its mission is aerial support (transport and intelligence).
This flotilla is based at B.A.N. of Algiers Maison Blanche and is under the organic command of PREMAR IV. It is placed, for operational use, under the orders of the General commanding the Tenth Military Region, and to this end is incorporated in the No. 2 Group of helicopters of the light aviation of the Land Army. Since its constitution, the flotilla has been based on the field of Setif.
The Flotilla 31 F is equipped with 8 11.21 helicopters. The A.L.A.T. provides their logistic support. There are 14 pilots constituting seven crews. The personnel of the Flotilla includes: seven officers (including 6 pilots), 39 officer-seamen (including 22 fliers), and 35 quartermasters and naval enlisted men.
Since its organization 1 August, 1956 until 1 July, 1957, the 31 F effected 1,652 hours of flight on 490 missions. It transported during these missions 16,982 passengers (142 of them wounded) and 94,310 kilograms of freight.
The Flotilla operates under the most severe conditions because of the peculiar nature of its use.
During a particularly dangerous rescue Mission carried out as volunteers on 25 January, 1957, Naval Lieutenant Domergue, Pilot’s mate Lay, and assistant pilot’s mate Cre met death in a heroic attempt to save Wounded comrades of the Land Army. Air Machinist’s mate Balcon, the only survivor °f the crew, was seriously injured.
“Electric Rivers” Explored in Sky
By Walter Sullivan
The New York Times, August 25, 1957.— Scores of scientists in many lands are exploring newly discovered “rivers of electricity” in the sky.
The most clearly defined of these is the Equatorial Electrojet, which girdles the earth at the magnetic equator. Its existence has been postulated only within the last seven years and its intensity is thought to equal several hundred thousand amperes.
Present observations, designed to pin down its location and behavior, are integrated in the program known as the International Geophysical Year, an eighteen-month study of the earth by sixty-four nations. The Geophysical Year began in July.
The Electrojet seems to be part of a globe- enveloping system of electric currents generated by tidal movements of the earth’s atmosphere.
The currents are thought to flow through the thin, ionized upper air known as the ionosphere. Their patterns seem to move along the path of sunlight around the earth, causing the direction of flow in the electrojet to reverse itself twice daily at any one point. It flows in one direction in daylight and the opposite at night.
To date the currents have never been observed directly. Nevertheless their existence is the best explanation of daily fluctuations that take place in the earth’s magnetic field.
A large part of the American program is being carried out by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, which has long studied the earth’s magnetism because of its importance in orienting the compass.
While such rivers of electricity within the earth’s atmosphere seem to be continuous, many scientists also believe that, when clouds of particles from the sun strike the earth’s atmosphere, additional currents are formed.
One result is thought to be a ring current
that girdles the earth in space, at a distance of perhaps several earth diameters.
This is believed to account for some of the characteristics of magnetic storms associated with sunspot activity.
Scientists here believe that the continuing currents are generated by tidal movements of the atmosphere. Studies of the upper air have shown that it rises and falls, due to the gravitational pull of the sun and moon, in a manner comparable to ocean tides.
Electricity Generated
Our atmosphere is roughly one mile thicker at “high tide” than at “low tide.” The resulting motion of thousands of cubic miles of ionized air through the earth’s magnetic field is thought to have a dynamo effect that generates the electricity.
The sharply defined Electrojet seems to be a concentration of such currents in a narrow equatorial band. Other currents of a somewhat different nature are thought to circle the earth in both polar regions in the zones where the Aurora, or northern lights, appear most frequently.
A number of experiments in equatorial jungles, on remote islands and in both polar regions, are being carried out to explore these invisible rivers. It is even planned to attempt the firing of a rocket through an Aurora display and the current supposedly associated with it.
If the rocket-borne instruments report a reversal of magnetic components above the display, the existence of such a current will be believed to have been confirmed.
The United States is operating three groups of special stations along the magnetic equator. India has agreed to operate another such group. In each case the stations are located on a north-south line several hundred miles long. The line straddles the Electrojet and provides data, for comparison, from a nearby point that lies beyond the influence of the Electrojet.
One such family of stations has been established with the cooperation of Peru along the line of the Peruvian Andes. Its center is the observatory at Huancayo. Two substations are in operation and two more should be functioning soon.
A station has been placed on Jarvis Island, on the magnetic equator. It is linked with other observatories at Palmyra and Fanning Islands. A station on the magnetic equator at Koror in the Palau Islands is paired with one on Guam. Preliminary reports from these stations support the Electrojet theory.
The observatory at Kodaikanal in India is said to have set up two substations.
The magnetic equator is that line along which the direction of the earth’s magnetic force is completely horizontal. At the magnetic poles it is vertical.
To provide a cross-section of the auroral zone in Alaska, five automatic recording stations have been set up in addition to three regular Coast and Geodetic Survey stations and two additional manned stations.
In the university town of College, Alaska, a triangle of stations, wired in tandem, has been equipped with three differential magnetographs. This arrangement, designed by James H. Nelson, chief of the survey’s geomagnetic branch, is designed to determine the location of the currents by comparing the strength of the magnetic fluctuations they induce at each of the three instruments.
Sweden: Compressed Air as Ice-Breaker
Translated from Navires, Ports &• Chan- tiers, June, 1957.—Thanks to a new Swedish method for keeping navigable waters ice-free in winter, the Canadian ferry-boat company Prescott and Ogdensburg Co. has solved a vexing problem.
This company uses two of its three ferryboats in winter. The third remains at its moorings, where it is quickly blocked by ice. The problem is to get this vessel into use in an emergency without calling on expensive ice-breakers. The company has tried the Swedish method invented and perfected by the Atlas Copco, a company specializing in compressed air equipment. Its Canadian branch carried out the demonstration, which was entirely successful.
The scientific principle used in this Swedish process is simple: At the botton of a lake or river, even when frozen, the water reaches its maximum density and has a temperature of +4° (centigrade). Perforated plastic tubes, fed by a compressor, are placed at the bottom of the water. The compressed air causes the “warm” water to rise to the sur- ace, where it melts the ice. The movement cl the water prevents the ice from reforming. 1 he ice around the ferry-boat was .30 meter thick. In less than three days it had melted, Wlth the exception of a thin coat adhering to the rudder.
^he principal idea behind the experiment 'vas to open an immediate path for the ferry- coat in the most rapid and economical way. " he action of the “warm” water propelled the compressed air freed the 400 M2 of the shp holding the vessel, while the artificial currents working in the free water prevented the ice from forming again.
This process, which sold itself to the Canadians, will be applied on a large scale in Sweden. The city of Valteras, situated on Lake Malar and the seat of large industrial enterprises, is studying a project to link its port with Sodertalje on the Baltic 100 kilometers away. Perforated plastic tubes will be placed on the bottom of the lake and fed with compressors.
Preliminary calculations have shown that the project would effect a saving: costly icebreakers would be done away with, the flow °f merchandise would be regular, storage Would be more economical.
Thus Lake Maler, one of Sweden’s many great inland waterways, will no longer see its winter traffic blocked by ice. “Warm” water lrnpelled by compressed air will clear a way.
Lloyd’s Register of Shipbuilding for the Second Quarter of 1957 Released
Rivers and Harbors, August, 1957.—World shipbuilding was increased to a new peacetime peak level in the second quarter of 1957 as record pace of shipyard activity continued unabated, Lloyd’s recently announced. The shipyards of the world had 8,778,635 gross tons of shipping in various stages of completion on June 30, according to statistics made available today by Lloyd’s Register of Shipping. This was an increase of 396,938 tons °ver the figures of March, 1957, the previous record peacetime quarter. Under construction were 1,691 vessels of 100 gross tons and upwards. Not included in the Lloyd’s Register statistics were figures for Russia and China, for which no shipbuilding data is available. Of the total, 290 ships of 3,550,748 gross tons were steamships and 1,398 units of 5,227,439 tons were motorships. Three of the vessels, of 448 gross tons, were of wooden construction. All of the others were steel. The major part of the increase was the result of continuing high demand for oil tankers. Tank ships under construction increased by 337,074 gross tons during the second quarter, to reach a level of 4,066,208. For the third consecutive quarter Japan continued to surpass Great Britain and Northern Ireland in new ship launchings. In the quarter just ended Japan launched 502,873 tons of shipping, compared with 369,250 tons launched by Great Britain and Northern Ireland, in second place. Besides Japan, Germany and Italy, only the United States, Spain, Poland and Yugoslavia of the leading maritime nations showed building increases in the second quarter. At the end of the period the United States stood in eighth place, with 37 ships of 392,048 tons under construction.
USSR: Soviet Yards Turn to Merchant Shipping
Translated from Navires Ports & Chantiers, August, 1957.—The Soviet Information Service has just disclosed certain data on ships now under construction on yards of the USSR. They now have in production a mass- produced cargo vessel of 5,000 tons destined for the Far Eastern lines. These units have a 7,000 H.P. Diesel which provides a speed of 16 knots. One yard is said to be designing for mass production a turbine-propelled cargo vessel of 10,000 tons making 19 knots. Its length overall will be 170 meters and its width 22 meters. The prototype of this series will be ready in 1958.
The communique emphasizes the point that the new whalers of the Slava expedition which have just returned to Odessa from the Antarctic demonstrated splendid qualities during the expedition. For the transport of whale meat a refrigerator ship of 2,500 tons with a speed of 16 knots is being constructed.
Finally, Soviet yards are constructing a passenger vessel which can be used either on rivers or on the high seas. It is destined for service on the line Rostov-on-the-Don-Odes- sa-Batoum-Baku-Krasnodovsk-Makkatsjka- la and Astrakhan (speed 16 knots).
[1] Commander Blackburn, Commander Escort Squadron Three, has served on the staff of Commander Cruiser-Destroyer Force Pacific as Plans, Special Weapons, and Regulus project officer.
[2] Captain Brooks, U. S. Naval Academy class of 1931, is now serving as Chief of Staff and Aide to Commander Second Fleet.