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140 The Measure of a Harbor
By John P. Fleet Captain, U. S. Navy
144 Morale and Leadership on Small Noncombatants
By John V. Bowers Lieutenant (j.g.), U. S. Navy
149 Japan’s Naval Air Arm
By John Fricker
151 The Holloway Plan 17 Years After
By E. E. Hopley Captain, U. S. Navy
155 Notebook
A long the borders of the oceans of the world jtx. are seaports and harbors, natural and manmade, for trade and the protection of shipping. The commercial character of ports and harbors is well known by seafaring men, but few know of the true measure of safety that they can offer from the intense winds and surging waters of an intense storm or typhoon. Traditionally, under such conditions the open sea is preferred to the confined waters of a harbor, but, in light of considerable historical evidence, this concept merits reconsideration.
The harbors of the world are as different from one another as man is from man. The character of each, made up from many individual features, is the measure of the specific harbor. Conditions of weather and sea, produced by storms or typhoons, affect ships located within the confines of a harbor in relation to the degree of protection that the harbor offers shipping from the wind velocities, waves, and tides.
The history of a harbor, its orientation, the depth of water in its approaches, the length of unobstructed water surface leading to its piers, the tidal range, and the proximity to major storm tracks are all external factors which help characterize one harbor from another.
This study of the Japanese harbor of Yokosuka illustrates the extent to which microanalysis can be conducted, and is intended to lead the way for other harbor studies.
Throughout recorded history the Western Pacific Ocean and its bordering land areas north of the equator have felt the savage fury of the typhoon. Shipping schedules have been thrown out of phase, ships have been damaged or sunk, and ports and shore installations have been destroyed. However, while many lives have been lost and structures damaged or
Twenty U. S. Navy ships can be seen in this view of Yokosuka Harbor. The author contends that staying in the harbor might be the best way for them to ride out a typhoon.
destroyed throughout Japan, the damage to shipping in the Tokyo Bay area, and particularly Yokosuka Harbor, has been slight to negligible.
Since 1940, some 600 tropical cyclones have been generated in the waters of the Western Pacific, with Japan and its coastal waters being located on one of the typhoon tracks.
The highest sea level observed in Tokyo
Date | Year | Max. Wi’nJ - | Maximum Tidal Height Over Normal Sea | Name | |||
(Yokohama) | Tokyo | Kawasaki | Yokohama | Yokosuka | “ OI Typhoon | ||
|
| MPH | Feet | Feet | Feet | Feet |
|
21 Sept. | 1934 | SSW 61.5 | 2.5 | — | 1.7 | — |
|
1 Sept. | 1938 | S 60.6 | 4.3 | — | 3.1 | — |
|
31 Aug. | 1949 | SSE 74.0 | 4.6 | — | 2.7 | — | Kitty |
25 Sept. | 1953 | S 49.9 | 3.1 | — | — | — |
|
25 Sept. | 1954 | S 48.5 | 2.3 | 1.2 | 1.8 | — |
|
23 July | 1958 | SSE 65.3 | 3.4 | 2.6 | 2.4 | 1.4 | Alice |
18 Sept. | 1958 | ENE 59.7 | 3.0 | 2.3 | 2.8 | 2.4 | Helen |
26 Sept. | 1958 | SE 64.4 | 4.0 | 3.1 | 3.1 | — | Ida |
26 Sept. | 1959 | SSE 54.6 | 3.7 | 3.2 | 2.9 | 2.2 | Vera |
Bay, 7.1 feet above ordinary high water, occurred on 1 October 1917, at the Japanese Hydrographic Station 35°39.6' North, 139° 46.1' East. On this occasion the highest water in Yokosuka Port was 1.5 feet above normal. The harbor’s tidal range from lowest low to highest high is 5.8 feet. Additional Japanese harbor data on wind velocities and abovenormal tide heights created by passing typhoons is as follows:
There is no record of tidal waves caused by earthquakes ever affecting Tokyo Bay.
The Port of Yokosuka is located geographically at Latitude 35°17'N., Longitude 130° 40'E. It is a medium-sized harbor of the coastal breakwater type. Pilotage is not compulsory for Navy ships in accordance with the Status of Forces Agreement.
Port facilities in Yokosuka include:
• Moorings and docks—The inside anchorage has a capacity for six large vessels in seven to ten fathoms of water. Piers and brows are available at all berths.
• Tugs, vehicle lighters, and barges—five tugs (YTM-type) are available with 1,000-h.p. each, plus 18 pusher boats with 450-h.p. each. Four barges, two aircraft lighters and two cargo lighters are available.
• Number of ship movements by harbor master crew—4,225 moves were made in 1962, including 3,300 by pilot.
• Mechanical handling facilities—Permanent dockside cranes are available at all berths except 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, and 11, which are serviced by mobile cranes. Three floating
cranes are available to ships at anchorages and [ berths, one of 150-ton and two of 30-ton- capacity. All three are self-propelled.
• Drydocks and repair facilities—NavShip- RepFac in Yokosuka has the following dry- docks:
No. | Length | Largest Ship Width | Accommo dating Draft | Capacity Displ. |
1 | 367 ft. | 82 ft. | 14 ft. | 15 ,000 tons |
2 | 450 ft. | 94 ft. | 17 ft. | 28,000 tons |
3 | 260 ft. | 45 ft. | 7 ft. | 5,300 tons |
4 | 760 ft. | 93 ft. | 26 ft. | 64,000 tons |
5 | 1,008 ft. | 123 ft. | 31 ft. | 152,000 tons |
6 | 1,115 ft. | 168 ft. | 41 ft. | 239,000 tons |
Typhoon anchorages in Tokyo Bay (alpha anchorages) are not considered suitable. They fall within the jurisdiction of the Japanese government and may be taken on a first come, first served basis. The holding ground is poor and subject to the threat of merchant ships dragging down upon the anchorages.
Typhoons affecting Tokyo Bay approach from the south to southwest and pass to the southeast or northwest of Yokosuka. Typhoons
Depth
Yokosuka Berth No.
1 ...........................................
2
3
4
4 South......................................................
5
6 (Sherman Sea Wall)................................
7 (Sherman Sea Wall)................................
8 (Forrestal Causeway) (Carrier Berth)
9 (Forrestal Causeway)..............................
10 (Normally Cruiser Berth).......................
11 (Normally Cruiser Berth).......................
12 (Piedmont Pier) (Carrier Berth)....
13
14 ..............................................................
15 ..............................................................
16
17
18
Length Alongside Construction
& in feet
at MLW
320 ft. | 19 | Sea Wall |
492 ft. | 35 | Floating Pier 75 ft. wide |
492 ft. | 35 | Floating Pier 75 ft. wide |
160 ft. | 30 | Sea Wall |
170 ft. | 20 | Sea Wall |
450 ft. | 35 | Sea Wall |
387 ft. | 20 | Concrete Pier 62 ft. wide |
387 ft. | 25 | Concrete Pier 62 ft. wide |
837 ft. | 35 | Sea Wall |
Assigned to JMSDF | 35 | Sea Wall |
492 ft. | 42 | Floating Pier 75 ft. wide |
492 ft. | 38 | Floating Pier 75 ft. wide |
920 ft. | 36 | Sea Wall |
200 ft. | 42 | Sea Wall |
556 ft. | 42 | Wet Berths—DD No. 6 |
556 ft. | 42 | Wet Berths—DD No. 6 |
556 ft. | 42 | Wet Berths—DD No. 6 |
556 ft. | 42 | Wet Berths—DD No. 6 |
240 ft. | 24 | Sea Wall |
passing to the southeast introduce, for a brief period, southerly swells into the approaches of Tokyo Bay which are of no great significance to Yokosuka due to the divergence of energy toward the shoal water on either side of the narrow channel entrance to Yokosuka Harbor. The wind waves, produced by northerly winds funneling down the Bay counter clockwise around the typhoon center, are of greatest significance. In this respect, average winds of 50 knots with gusts up to 65 knots over a water surface fetch of 30 miles, which is the length of Tokyo Bay, will produce choppy waves 9 to 13 feet high and windblown spray to heights of 100 feet in the air.
Ship locations delineated in Figure 1, at lower right, and reports of conditions experienced during Typhoon Violet of 10 October 1961, testify to the safety of Yokosuka Harbor for the conditions indicated. It is to be noted that wave action plus some mass transport of water produces a higher water level which reached a maximum in the area of Fleet Activities Yokosuka at Berth 9. The port services officer summarized these effects as follows:
The only minor damage received during Typhoon Violet was at Berth 9 which has a heading of 139° True. Maximum winds received was 65 knots taken by the Reclaimer. This berth was accommodating the USCG Bering Strait (WAVP-382) and out board was the USS Reclaimer (ARS-42). The configuration of the ships was compatible, but small camels between the ships caused excessive pressure on the Bering Strait by the Reclaimer from the surging of the ship due to rise in the sea level and the pocketing effect at the sea wall end of Berth 9. The damage to the Bering Strait could have possibly been averted by the use of cluster fenders between the two ships instead of the small wooden camels. Also added emphasis could possibly have been from the pontoon float at the Boat Pool which undoubtedly redirected some of the force of the water in the direction of Berth 9. The pontoon floats at the Boat Pool received a surge of approximately 4 feet which caused them to part.
Typhoons passing to the northwest of Tokyo Bay introduce prolonged southerly swells which batter the shore line along the approaches to Tokyo Bay. A narrow segment of the swells enters the Bay itself, to be rein-
forced by the wind waves generated by southerly winds moving counterclockwise around the typhoon center. These waves crash against the waterfront between Yokohama breakwater and Kawasaki, leaving Yokosuka virtually unaffected.
The historical past has provided convincing evidence that Yokosuka Harbor is a safe haven for at least 37 ships in winds of 50 to 60 knots with gusts to 75 knots from any direction. Indeed, it promises safety from winds far in excess of these velocities. There are no actual cases on record where a U. S. Navy aircraft carrier has remained in Yokosuka Harbor during a typhoon. But it is the considered opinion of many people who have worked for years handling ships in this harbor that by using Berths 8 or 12, depending on which side the storm is passing, an aircraft carrier of the Forrestal type could safely ride out a typhoon with winds up to 80 knots at Berth 8 and winds up to 100 knots at Berth 12. In recent years, the largest U. S. Navy ship to remain in Yokosuka Harbor during
typhoon Condition One was the USS Piedmont (AD-17), which experienced winds up to 58 knots without difficulty.
The reader can form his own opinion as to whether he would prefer to run for the open sea and cross the “T” of an approaching typhoon and its 40,000 square miles of damaging seas, or place his reliance on the waters of Yokosuka Harbor.
The measure of a harbor is the sum total of many individual factors. It is the extent of its shelter, depth of water at the piers, quantity and condition of its service craft, and the efficiency of its port services. It is measured by the experience level of its port services officer. It is in the skill, spirit and will of his crews. It is in the emergency capability of the ship repair facility to make a ship ready for sea. It is the quality of the typhoon warning service and the lead time provided the senior officer present to make sound command decisions and to the port services officer to carry out smoothly and efficiently his flexible plan of action. Finally, the measure of a harbor is knowledge of that harbor and all that it connotes in the mind of the senior officer present afloat who, by his decisions, will stamp it as a vital refuge to be taken or as an unreliable limited shelter to be avoided as a harbor for the ships under his charge.
The decision to remain or depart will remain as always, with the person on whom the final responsibility rests. The firmness and choice of his decision will be dependent on his knowledge of the character of the threat and the measure of the harbor available.
By John V. Bowers,
Lieutenant (j.g.),
U. S. Navy,
Executive Officer,
USS Marysville (EPCER-857)
MORALE AND LEADERSHIP ON SMALL NONCOMBATANTS
The view from the weather deck of a fleet tug hints at the problems encountered by those who man small noncombatants.
Back along the constantly rolling main deck the eye is assaulted by a maze of wires, lines, booms, winches, and finally the squat fantail devoid of anything that would compliment a recruiting poster. Hundreds of yards astern, a target sled plows doggedly along in the wake. There are none of the sleek lines of the warship, steaming at 25 knots several thousand yards on the beam, lobbing 5-inch shells at the ugly sled. Nor is there any excitement. The view lasts for hours until the time comes to reel in the target and drag it back to port. Watching the fast destroyers head for home one might hear, “There goes the real Navy.” Those words, when spoken by the sailor who sees himself a part of the unglamorous, “miscellaneous Navy,” represent the great difference in the approaches to problems of morale and leadership on small noncombatants and on ships of the line.
These problems center on the mission, construction, and personnel structure of small craft. For an example, picture an experimental patrol craft, which we shall fictitiously name the USS Smalltown. Five officers and a handful of enlisted men work and live on the 186-foot hunk of 20-year-old metal. Out of obsolescence, scarcity of experience, and an intangible mission blurred by a jumble of sines and cosines, they must derive the substance of morale.
The singularly difficult task of infusing a spirit of purpose in the men attached to the Smalltown rests on the seemingly unimportant mission assigned to the ship. She steams around in circles while civilian scientists scoop marine life from the green water. This can hardly be related to any tangible military objective. Even if the men accept the fact that there is value in the scientists’ work, the daily routine at sea is deadly dull. Morale tumbles when their lives become a muddle of chipping, painting, and standing uneventful watches. A good information program explaining the reason for each operation is inadequate compensation for such extreme boredom. Realizing this, the officers of the Smalltown planned a program of events that would, as much as possible, make up for the innate deficiencies of this type of ship.
It was evident that words were inadequate. Good morale could not be “talked up” for very long. With this in mind, each officer
contributed one idea for trial. At sea, days were long and dull, with very little opportunity for operational exercises. The scientists required relative silence for acoustical experiments; measuring devices were streamed over the side. This resulted in steaming on steady courses, at slow speeds, for long tedious hours.
The operations officer, whose collateral duties included information and education, observed that if the men could not develop enthusiasm about the ship’s work, an unusually aggressive I&E program might provide a channel for sustained interest. A filmed course in American history was requested from the Armed Forces Institute along with appropriate group study course materials. Two officers “hit the books” to prepare themselves as instructors. Three times each week, at sea or in port, the lesson films were shown. More than half the crew completed the course and passed the final examination. The men took advantage of the monitored study periods provided every day after the noon meal, fired many poignant questions at their amateur officer instructors, and, with a little prodding, read the lesson assignments.
The course succeeded in generating interest in “something.” A dormant desire for knowledge was awakened, and active selfimprovement became a part of life in the Smalltown. But the “something” was not naval in nature and, because the men had chosen a naval way of life, it was important that this consideration be provided for.
The first lieutenant came up with the second idea: organize a landing party. There was no requirement for one in the Smalltown. To show the men the rationale for such a group it was explained that the training would be valuable to them when they went on to the combatant Navy and that the team was established primarily for diversion. As it happened, the small expenditure of funds for equipment paid high dividends in the improvement of morale. The team exercised ashore once each month, bivouacked overnight once a quarter, trained with small arms at sea, wore green fatigues and carried packs, canteens, and rifles with noticeable pride. The privilege of remaining on the team rested on each man’s performance as a member of the ship’s company. A captain’s mast meant automatic removal. The officers were allowed the prerogative of removing team members if attitude, professional performance, or military behavior were below expectations. Competition was keen. The landing party was an important part of the order of things that the officers and men of the Smalltown were putting together.
The engineering officer showed an unusual empathy with men when he suggested enlisted shiphandling. Initially with reservations, and finally with wholehearted enthusiasm, the captain endorsed the idea. There was very little time at sea to allot for shiphandling, but whenever the opportunity presented itself a box was thrown over the side and the Smalltown corkscrewed around it. At first the response to the captain’s invitation was weak; only a few enlisted men ventured to the bridge to accept the conn. But the word passed quickly, and it soon became necessary to establish a waiting list. The engineers especially enjoyed giving engine orders for a change, the cooks escaped the steam-filled galley, and the helmsman tried to show what he had believed all along—that he could handle the ship better than anyone else. The captain’s patience was strained at first by the unorthodox orders to helm and lee helm, but with persistent coaching by the ship’s officers, the men soon learned the proper way to conn the Smalltown.
Thus, the problems born of a nebulous mission were in some way countered. If the men could not understand or accept the purpose and value of the tasks performed by the Smalltown, then at least they could find purpose in their own daily routine.
Further attempts to maintain high morale were aimed at the ship’s role as a place for working and living. The “habitability board” was pulled out of its dusty corner in the ship’s organization manual and command emphasis was placed on living conditions. A monthly brainstorming session resulted in: a spare parts small storeroom located near the crew’s berthing compartment being converted into a lounge; the shipfitter gathering scrap metal and welding a couch frame to one bulkhead (old mattresses were modified for seat and back cushions and were covered with a plastic material); a card table being built out of scraps for the pinochle set; vinyl tile going on the deck; a few well-chosen pictures going up;
and the ship’s television set and a relocated radio broadcasting unit being brought in to finish the conversion.
No major structural changes were made so that, should it be necessary at some future time, the space could quickly be converted back to its original purpose.
On the mess deck, tablecloths became a part of the noon meal. A nominal amount of money was expended from welfare and recreation funds for plastic plates and bowls.
The old tin trays were put away for use during rough weather. As it happened, the plastic plates were no more difficult to handle than the trays, food waste was reduced, and the men generally enjoyed the meal breaks more than before. Some alteration of food service was required—bowls of vegetables were placed on the table and kept filled by messmen, and desserts were also served “family style.”
With the reduced food waste and close control of subsistence expenditures, the supply department was able to add another innovation to the ship’s routine. Every night in port, the duty mess cook would break out night rations. The food would be prepared and served at about 2100, after the evening movie. It would be a light spread—sandwiches, leftovers from the day’s meals, and milk. The cost was negligible, averaging less than five dollars a night. The popularity of the in port rations was proven as men began staying on board more than before, especially during the week. Although no survey was taken, the “stay-at-home” attitude may have had some important results—fewer official contacts with the shore patrol, an improvement in the crew’s personal finances, and a concomitant reduction in collection agency letters.
Another change was aimed not only at morale, but hopefully at eliminating the disappearance of mess-deck cups. A ship’s regulation that mess cups would be used only during meals was published and strictly enforced. The command arranged for the use of a kiln at the hobby shop ashore, and one of the more artistically talented members of the crew was elected “cup painter.” For 30 cents, each man on board could purchase two cups (the second for breakage) decorated with his name and rating badge design. The men were allowed to send these cups through the ship’s dishwashing facility and pick them up afterwards on a cup board installed in the mess deck. After the initial distribution of the personal cups, only a couple of hours a month at the hobby shop were required to provide decorated cups for new members of the crew, and for breakage replacement.
The personnel structure of the Smalltown was, at best, problematic. The ship was top- heavy with petty officers, but without any real variety. Only the basic ratings were available, limiting the seamen and firemen to a very narrow choice of skills. The scarcity of non-rated chippers and painters created a “warm body struggle” regarding advancement, especially in the deck department. Seamen found themselves stagnating as career seamen, hardly a position conducive to re-enlistment. The executive officer established a policy that any man on board could strike for any rate the service offered if he (1) possessed the mental horsepower, (2) had a clean record, and (3) completed all necessary correspondence courses before applying.
If the. man was sincerely interested in a rating not carried on board the Smalltown, the command would arrange, in one way or another, for him to receive practical instruction and to complete the required practical factors. This was done even to the point of temporarily transferring personnel to commands ashore where the desired rating was available. The ship accepted the disadvantage of the loss of a “warm body” for the few days’ absence, but only if the individual had demonstrated a serious and sincere professional interest in the rating.
The officers had difficulties as well. Ensigns fresh from Officer Candidate School reported on board and immediately assumed responsibilities normally reserved for officers with more than two years’ experience. The spanking new department head, although operating on a smaller scale than in the larger combatants, found himself facing very similar problems of leadership and administration. Lacking experience, his trial and error efforts often ran amuck and caused a worsening of esprit and morale. In the Smalltown a single misguided officer could adversely affect the morale of more than a third of the ship’s company.
The captain was wholly opposed to the “sit- down - and- I’ll- tell-you- how -to-be-a - leader’ ’
program. Certainly there were times when he was forced by a serious blunder on the part of a junior officer to speak directly on the subject of handling men. But he preferred to eliminate the cause before the effect, and to do this he turned to the Socratic method. Once or twice a month, almost without realizing the reason, the ship’s officers found themselves sitting around the wardroom or at a table at the officer’s club, talking over the business of leading men. The captain, with the nicest sense of subtlety, would make sure specific weaknesses were covered. Seldom were the individual officers aware of any personal intimation, and yet this periodic intercourse of ideas produced individual improvement.
So it was that the Smalltown acted in the cause of good morale. Accepted principles of leadership were incorporated into the program, but the key ingredient was imagination.
By John Fricker,
British Aviation Writer
JAPAN’S NAVAL AIR ARM
Japanese naval aviation has a powerful heritage, as its exploits in World War II will universally recall. During the War in the Pacific, Japan ranked with the United States and Great Britain as one of the leading proponents of carrier-borne aviation, and Japan shares with these Western nations substantial credit for the development of aircraft decklanding techniques.
In its purely defensive postwar role, the air organization of the Japanese Navy has been limited strictly to shore-based operations, but with the extensive coastline of the nation’s islands to protect, its responsibilities remain great. These were defined, on the establishment of the naval air arm as part of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) in April 1952, as the patrol of national waters and the defense of the country’s shipping and surface fleet units against submarine attack.
This antisubmarine role has remained virtually unchanged up to the present time, although in the ten years of JMSDF air operations since the force officially came into existence on 1 July 1954, its over-all strength and efficiency have greatly increased. This has resulted from extensive American assistance. The air arm of the JMSDF conforms closely to standards of the U. S. Navy and has similar equipment.
The need for self-sufficiency was recognized early by Japan which has adopted a policy of building the main operational types for its self-defense forces under license from the United States. In the case of the JMSDF, this has been built up largely on the well-tried Lockheed Neptune patrol aircraft, for which the Kawasaki company acquired a license in April 1958, after a dozen or so aircraft had been supplied directly from the United States. Mitsubishi obtained a manufacturing license for the Sikorsky S-55 helicopter, used by the JMSDF for a variety of duties, and the firm is now building the newer Sikorsky SH-3A for antisubmarine operations.
At the present time, the air component of the JMSDF has a strength of some 250 aircraft equipping ten squadrons in five first-line air groups. In addition to 62 Lockheed P-2 Nep- tunes, the main fixed-wing antisubmarine tasks are shared by the Grumman S-2 Tracker. Fifty-nine Trackers are now operating with Japanese squadrons. The First Air Group, at Kanoya, operates only Lockheed P-2H Neptunes, most being drawn from among the 42 Kawasaki-built aircraft, while the Second Air Group, at Hachinohe, has both P-2Hs and Grumman S-2As. The Third Air Group, at Tokushima, is equipped only with Trackers, while the Fourth, at Shirai, is another mixed group with both Trackers and Neptunes.
Japan is one of the few countries in the world to retain an interest in the military seaplanes, and today, limited development is continuing for a possible replacement for the present land-based patrol types. The Shin Meiwa Company has a PX-S project for a 63,000-pound, flying-boat patrol plane, and has had a two-thirds scale model, the UF-XS, in flight test since 1962. Reportedly, construction of four PX seaplane prototypes will begin next year. These planes will have four Gen-
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eral Electric T64 turboprops plus two T58 turboshaft engines for boundary layer control.
An alternative proposition to the seaplane concept has been put forward by Kawasaki for a turboprop-powered version of the Neptune. The proposal calls for replacing the Neptune’s two Wright R-3350-32VV piston engines with General Electric T64 turboprop engines and the plane’s two auxiliary J34-WE-36 turbo jets with Japanese-built J3-IHIs. Trials are now being completed with a Neptune mounting the J3-IHIs. The fully- converted Neptune will be designated PX-L.
Supplementing the long-range patrol types in antisubmarine operations is the 21st Air Group from Tateyama. This unit is equipped with 15 Sikorsky HSS-1 and HSS-1N (SH- 34G/j) helicopters, with the standard U. S. dunking sonar and auto-hover equipment, plus antisubmarine weapons for the “hunter- killer” role. The antisubmarine helicopter force is to be completely re-equipped with 23 Sikorsky HSS-2s (SH-3As), built under license by Mitsubishi, but with turbine power plants and sonar supplied by the United States under the Mutual Aid Program.
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Other helicopters in JMSDF service include 11 S-55s and seven Kawasaki-Bell 47s, while two of Vertol 107s are reported to be on order for subsequent evaluation in assault and minesweeping roles. The JMSDF is also interested in the possibilities of ship-based operation for helicopters, and it has been considering the construction of a 10,000-ton assault carrier.
Second-line backing for Japanese naval aviation is provided by a small transport unit operating four of the ubiquitous C-47s plus some of the helicopters.
The main flying training center is at Kano- ya Center. There, 15 nationally-built Fuji KM-2 piston-engined trainers are in the process of replacing 35 North American T-6s. Multi-engine training is given at Iwakuni in 33 Beech SNB(C-45) Expeditors and 11 Beech Queen Airs, which form part of the seven JMSDF training squadrons. One final component is the Omura Air Group, operating amphibious Grumman UF-2s on transport and rescue duties.
Bases occupied by the JMSDF air units extend throughout the four main islands of Honshu, Kyushyu, Hokkaido, and Shikoku, and include Kanoya, Hachinohe, Tokushima, Shirai, Tateyama, Omura, Iwakuni, and Ominato. From these, the JMSDF spreads its wings over a sizeable area of the neighboring seas as a potent force in the Far Eastern balance of political power.
By E. E. Hopley,
Captain, U. S. Navy
THE HOLLOWAY PLAN 17 YEARS AFTER
Inspired by concern with the form, system, and method of education of officers for a Navy that held promise of force levels unprecedented in peacetime history, a small group of dedicated men literally outran the War Department, the Bureau of the Budget, and the unifiers in 1946 to bring home the ninth-day signature of President Harry S. Truman on the legislation popularly known as the Holloway Plan.
Seventeen years ago this fall the first nationally screened input of “regular” Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps midshipmen entered 52 NROTC institutions under this program which introduced an entirely new concept to the heretofore pragmatic citizen- army tradition of the ROTC.
The Navy’s new idea was, at conception, only part of a larger plan developed by an inspired board of naval officers and distinguished educators headed by the then Rear Admiral James L. Holloway, Jr., U. S. Navy.* The whole focus of the Board was the preparation of a comprehensive education policy to guide the Navy in its postwar officer career planning. The Board met day and night for a period of about a month and on 15 September 1945, submitted its report. This was seized upon by the Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal as the answer to not only the education question for the peacetime Navy, but the postwar reserve integration and the regular Navy procurement problems as well.
Implementation of the Holloway Plan saw thousands of ex-reserve officers fill out their academic and professional education and other thousands of career officers move through graduate programs with tangible and gratifying results. The fine results of the NROTC portion of the plan have, unfortunately, been somewhat masked by the situation of Cold War and the consequent demand for officers in numbers well beyond the highest foreseeable estimates of the postwar planners.
Critics of the NROTC program have been quick to seize upon the periodic officer procurement deficiencies as evidence of failure of the program. The truth of the matter is that for a number of years the program has been producing high-caliber junior officers obligated for a substantial period of active duty, and outstanding, well-motivated career officers in the number originally planned and not too far from today’s optimum, as well as a Naval Reserve revitalized each year with young but experienced junior officers.
Immediately following World War II, the Navy Department was faced with the problem of preparing a force operating plan envisioning an eventual peacetime strength of close to
* The other members of the board were: Dr. James P. Baxter, President of Williams College; Dr. Henry T. Heald, President, Illinois Institute of Technology; Captain Felix L. Johnson, U. S. Navy; Captain Stuart H. Ingersoll, U. S. Navy; Captain John P. W. Vest, U. S. Navy; Captain Arthur S. Adams, U. S. Navy (Retired); Commander Charles K. Duncan, U. S. Navy, and Commander Douglas M. Swift, U. S. Navy.
half-a-million men and 50,000 officers. It was obvious that the Naval Academy was incapable of the rapid expansion necessary to cope with the additional career officer requirements. There was on foot a strong movement, supported by several senior officers and prominent educators, which would have converted the Naval Academy into a two-year General Line School. Third-year or fourth- year college students from around the country would be sent to this school to obtain permanent commissioned status. Naval Academy output of officers under this plan would thus have been doubled.
The prospect of a piecemeal college pattern and the problem of knitting together diverse collegiate backgrounds into a meaningful undergraduate experience was a matter of great concern to Rear Admiral Louis Denfeld, then Chief of the Bureau of Naval Personnel. Further, the plan would mean launching prospective officers upon their military careers at the ages of 22 and 23, beyond the optimum age for highest motivation. Finally, it would mean sacrifice of a four year undergraduate institution, the Academy whose history had seen only some 20 per cent of its graduates voluntarily depart active naval service, and whose year groups had sustained up to 16 per cent combat loss without morale impairment. At least, reasoned Admiral Denfeld, the situation warranted a second look. The result was the Holloway Board and its mission to study and recommend the form, system, and method of education of naval officers.
The Board gave serious thought to a number of courses that offered solution to the career officer procurement numbers problem, including combinations of the aforementioned “Line School Plan,” a greatly expanded Naval Academy, a second Naval Academy, and finally the use of NROTC and the existing Naval Academy while maintaining the four- year undergraduate pattern in each category. The NROTC solution appeared most attractive to both the naval officers and the civilian educators on the Board.
The objective of the new “regular” NROTC program was to place the highest-caliber young men into one of 52 colleges and universities of their choice and generously help pay their way through. Upon graduation these young men would be commissioned and have a period of obligated service on active duty. They would have to retain a commission in the Naval Reserve, either in inactive status or on active duty, for six years if they did not request, or where not selected for, retention in the regular Navy or Marine Corps. Both the Army and the Bureau of the Budget vigorously opposed the bill. The Army felt it could not afford to foot the bill for a program so extensive that was not equally applicable to both services. The Bureau of the Budget was reluctant to approve anything short of a unified, less-costly solution of the ROTC problem. However, Public Law 729 passed both houses of the 79th Congress unanimously in early August 1946.
Interestingly enough, Mr. Forrestal and Admiral Denfeld were able to see President Truman on the ninth day when the bill was very close to a pocket veto and, as they entered his office, the Assistant Secretary of War for Air, now Senator Stuart Symington, was leaving after having expressed the Department’s opposition to the bill. The President signed the bill pursuant to a gentlemen’s agreement that the Navy would hold the annual Regular NROTC Program to approximately 7,000 students.
The retention of a substantial percentage of NROTC Regulars in the Navy after completion of obligated active service was, of course, a key part of the plan. The best estimates provided Admiral Holloway and the Board indicated that a 20 to 30 per cent retention rate would probably provide the necessary career officers to supplement the Naval Academy, the conventional “contract” NROTC Program, and other sources. The future size of the Navy was not exactly clear, but flexibility of the plan promised accommodation to shifting career officer requirements.
The Navy has conscientiously lived up to the gentlemen’s agreement, limiting the total Regular Program to 7,000 midshipmen, and has commissioned and called to active duty every one of the Regular graduates from the beginning. Obligated service for the Regular has now been set at four years, a step taken by the Navy to meet current junior officer number requirements. Retention of Holloway Plan Regulars has risen steadily throughout the years in spite of the increased recruiting
for college graduates within the burgeoning civilian economy. The last year group to complete obligated service plus one year— year group 1960—showed a 42 per cent retention. The Marine Corps retention from its share of the Regular graduates was 35 per cent for year group 1960.
The flexibility of the Holloway Program as designed was a delight to the personnel planner. If sufficient numbers of Holloway Regulars applied and were subject to selection for retention, the Navy had a wonderful tool to meet Cold War cyclic changes in personnel requirements while maintaining the health of the officer rank structure. “Humps” could not occur except by design. In an effort to meet recent heavier-than-ever career-officer requirements and to eliminate perhaps the last distinction between the Holloway Regular and the Naval Academy graduate, the Navy in 1961 requested and received legislation that destroyed this flexibility. Public Law 87-100 provides for automatic retention of the Holloway Regular upon completion of obligated service in the same manner as the Naval Academy graduate. The Holloway Regular must now take the initiative to “get out” rather than to “stay in.”
Without question, an important contribution of the Holloway Plan has been the maintenance of an active Naval Reserve composed of young officers of superior talents, a high order of education, and two to four years of active experience with the Fleet. Apart from experienced men available for recall to duty in times of emergency is the support and understanding of the Navy within the civilian community by this group of Holloway graduates that did not elect a Navy career.
The selectivity of the Holloway Regular Program is high. There are on the average of 20,000 applicants who take the nationwide tests. Some 10,000 screen out. The remaining undergo physical examinations, personal interviews, and processing. Of this group, some 6,000 have their records submitted to State Selection Committees for final review and selection of the principals and alternates. Each State Selection Committee is composed of a U. S. Navy captain or Marine Corps colonel currently serving as commanding officer of an NROTC Unit, an outstanding
educator, and a business or professional civilian not directly connected with either the military or the educational fields. When final annual selection is made, the Navy has the best 2,000 applicants starting as freshmen and midshipmen, U. S. Naval Reserve.
More and more the Navy has come to realize the benefit it derives by having within its career ranks outstanding college men of diverse and superior educational backgrounds, representing a wide and catholic range of interest, imposing and introducing a critical sense of values. Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz aptly expressed his own and the feelings of the Holloway Board when he appeared before Congress during hearings on the Holloway Plan:
The question has been raised as to the relative competence, as naval officers, of graduates of the Naval Academy and graduates of civilian universities. Such a question misses the point. It assumes that because two types of educational experience are different, one must be superior. It is like asking whether a good halfback is a better football player than a good tackle. The point is that a team is strengthened rather than weakened by having members with different qualifications and different aptitudes. A graduate of the University of California or of Princeton can be quite as valuable to the Navy as a graduate of the Naval Academy, and the Navy as a whole will benefit by having both on the same team.
For 17 years, policy enunciated by the Holloway Board Report has served the naval service remarkably well. The Service Academy (Stearnes-Eisenhower) Board, appointed by Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson on 14 March 1949, confirmed the Holloway Board decision to maintain the integrity and service identity of the Naval Academy as a four-year undergraduate institution.
The Holloway Regulars from year group 1951, the first group of Holloway graduates, are now lieutenant commanders. They are holding responsible jobs such as head of department in large combatant ships and executive officer in destroyers and submarines. They are in command of minecraft and have recently started moving into command of submarines. It is sound to predict that the Holloway Plan is here to stay.
— ★
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U. S. Navy
H New Base Planned (Norfolk-Ports- mouth Virginian-Pilot, 17 May 1964): The Navy plans to build a major fleet training base at Roosevelt Roads on the west coast of Puerto Rico at a cost of nearly $150 million.
Rear Admiral George W. Pressey, Navy director of shore activities, told a Senate armed services subcommittee about the long-range plans Saturday, emphasizing the Navy does not intend to give up Guantanamo Bay, the major U. S. naval base in Cuba.
Expansion of the Roosevelt Roads base, he said, will “provide an additional base for advance training for all units of the Atlantic Fleet including Marines, surface, undersurface and air, to a location where weather is ideal and water good.”
He added that “there is no water and land nearer the United States for this training, which includes actual gunfire.”
Pressey said the new facility “won’t have any effect on Guantanamo, which is basically elementary training of individuals. And Roosevelt Roads is training for the fleet force.” He asked for authorization of $13.8 million for the year beginning 1 July for the Roosevelt Roads program.
“The missiles are coming into the fleet. New missiles will increase from 300 firings in 1962 to 2,300 in 1966,” Pressey said.
Pressey also said the United States and Great Britain are beginning a new antisubmarine program at an undersea test and evaluation center in the Bahamas
He asked the committeee to provide $4,882,000 for use in this program for the year starting 1 July. He said with completion of construction during that time the new center will be in full operation.
“This is all brand new,” he commented in referring to the project. ^
“We are sharing this with the British. The British are sharing the cost by providing the land and other facilities,” he said in answer to questions from members of the committee.
The program in the Bahamas “is highly important,” he said, adding that the Bahamas center “is for development and testing. We’ll be able to operate and keep up with subsurface weapons and track them.”
s Training Squadrons Get Improved Buckeye (Navy Times, 29 April 1964): Two new jet trainers have arrived at NAS Pensacola to begin testing for eventual use by the Basic Air Training Command.
The aircraft, the North American T2B Buckeye, is an improved twin-jet version of the T2A now being used as a basic jet trainer by Training Squadrons 7 and 9, at NAS Meridian, Mississippi, and by Training Squadron 4 here [Pensacola].
The new plane is powered by two lightweight Pratt and Whitney J60 jet engines with a combined power thrust of 6,000 pounds. The T2As now in use have a single J34 engine which produces only 3,400 pounds of thrust. The two low-cost J60 engines weigh less than the J34 in the T2A, and the additional power substantially increases the performance of the aircraft. This enables the student pilot to gain jet experience early in basic training.
See Photograph, page 768
The new Buckeye has a wing span of 37 feet, is 38 feet long, and 14 feet high. The 12,300-pound aircraft has a service ceiling of 44,400 feet, and a top speed of about 540 mph. The plane has double seating, with the instructor-pilot in the elevated rear cockpit and the student in front.
New waist-high doors on the plane enable crewmen to make inspection and repairs with relative ease. It is also equipped with dual rocket escape systems which eject both the student and instructor in any emergency.
Q Special SH-3As Ordered {Naval Aviation News, June 1964): BuWeps has placed an order for $2,050,000 with Sikorsky Aircraft Division of United Aircraft for the conversion of a number of SH-3A Sea King helicopters to a mine countermeasures version. The new version will be designated RH-3A (R for reconnaissance).
The order is in the form of a supplemental agreement to an existing contract for SH-3A helicopters. The principal modification will be the addition of mine-sweeping gear.
s Six Phoenixes for Navy TFX (Missiles and Rockets, 1 June 1964): In its announcement of the F-111A and B aircraft, the Air Force revealed that the Navy version would carry six Phoenix air-to-air missiles. They would be mounted on hard points on the nonmovable portion of the TFX wing.
H Polaris Invulnerability Upgraded
{Missiles and Rockets, 1 June 1964): Polaris submarines now have patrolled for a total of more than 5,000 days and during that time have encountered hundreds of visual or sonar contacts. However, the Navy boasts, there’s no evidence that any of these contacts have ever detected a Polaris sub. This has led Navy planners to revise their estimates of the time when the vessels will have to be replaced. They are now looking toward the 1980s rather than the 1970s.
Navy Studies Deterrent Force for 1980s (Erwin J. Bulban in Aviation Week & Space Technology, 8 June 1964): Configuration of a naval deterrent force for the 1980s to replace the then-aged nuclear submarine/Polaris weapon system will be presented to Rear Admiral I. J. Galantin, director of special projects, in a series of closed briefings by U. S. Navy’s advanced sea-based deterrent study group in Monterey, California, this month and next.
Prime area of interest to be convered will be the basing of medium-to-long range ballistic systems in the ocean in specially designed, submersible vessels capable of operating in depths of from approximately 1,000 to 11,000 feet.
This would provide the Navy with capability of operating a difficult-to-detect deterrent force from about 50% of all of the world’s ocean depths.
The advanced sea-based deterrent study group is led by special project’s chief scientist, John Craven. The group utilizes, in addition to in-house technical personnel, specialists representing all of the required disciplines, in universities and industry, covering all aspects of the ocean environment including oceanography, advanced technology in guidance, materials and propulsion, and political strategic concepts that bear on the new force under consideration. Craven reports directly to Admiral Galantin.
June-July briefings at Monterey will sum up studies begun on the advanced sea-based deterrent system by the study group in 1960. The final report will be analyzed by Navy to determine how the concept can be developed into a program and how it best can be scheduled and budgeted. Then it will be transmitted up through Defense Dept, for approval. Indications are that this process will take probably a year from this July.
Although details of the material collected by the study group are classified, certain guidelines and some aspects of the results of the research covered thus far can be garnered. These include:
• Manned systems are favored over unmanned systems, primarily because of the requirement for positive control of the weapon. The concept of a moored unmanned launcher is felt to provide poor security. Low-powered ocean bottom crawlers that will be manned by a relatively small crew which can be moved to different locations to complicate detection are being considered. Mobility is considered a prime requisite.
• Nuclear propulsion systems as well as nuclear warheads, are under consideration for the missiles. The force also may be composed of both very large missiles having large or multiple warhead capability and mediumsized missiles and warheads. Non-nuclear explosives as well as nuclear have been considered to provide flexibility of response.
• Pre-stressed glass is considered by the study group to hold major promise as a structural material for the deep-submergence vessels and their weapons. Evaluation of this technology indicates, for example, that pre-stressed glass tends to show improvement in strength as the underwater pressure loads on the materials are increased.
Ship Notes
H United States: The following ships have been placed in commission—Richmond K. Turner (DLG-20) on 13 June 1964; Tecumseh (SSBN-628) on 29 May 1964.
The following ships have been launched— Jouett (DLG-29) and Sterett (DLG-31) on 30 June 1964; Brumby (DE-1044) on 6 June 1964; Austin (LPD-4) and Ogden (LPD-5) on 27 June 1964.
The following ships have been laid down— LPH-10 on 15 June 1964; Mariano G. Vallejo (SSBN-658) on 7 July 1964; Fargo (SSN-650) on 3 June 1964; Samuel Gompers (AD-37) on 1 July 1964; LSV-9 on 19 May 1964.
The transatlantic liner SS Manhattan which served in World War II as the USS Mount Vernon (AP-22) has been offered for sale for scrap by the Maritime Administration. The Manhattan was built in 1933 and acquired by the Navy for conversion to a troop transport in 1941. She reverted to liner in 1947.
s Australia: The British destroyer Duchess, a Daring-class ship completed in late 1952, has been loaned to the Royal Australian Navy as a replacement for the destroyer Voyager which was lost in a collision with the aircraft carrier Melbourne last February.
The frigate Derwent has been placed in commission. She is the last of four “Type 12” frigates built in Australian dockyards. The Derwent is Australia’s first missile ship, being armed with Seacat anti-aircraft missiles in
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addition to two 4.5-inch guns and depth bomb mortars. The 2,100-ton, 370-foot warship will eventually be fitted with the Ikara antisubmarine missile system now being developed in Australia.
s West Germany: The merchant ship Otto Hahn, which will be fitted with a nuclear power plant, was launched on 13 June 1964, at Kiel, West Germany. She is 562-feet long, has a beam of 80 feet, and is expected to have a top speed of 16 knots. Her maiden voyage is set for early 1967.
Other U. S. Services
s Last M-l4s Delivered to Army (Army Times, 17 June 1964): A controversial chapter in Army rifle history closes this month as the last M-14 rifles are delivered to the Army by contractors.
About 1.2 million of the 7.62 mm rifles will have been produced for the Army since the Pentagon ordered the weapon into production in the late 1950s.
At one time the Pentagon planned to buy M-14s for the entire Army but Secretary McNamara ordered a halt to Army purchases of the M-14. McNamara said that the M-14 represented only a marginal improvement over the World War II M-l Garand rifle.
Production troubles with the M-14 and unfavorable publicity about Army rifle problems have given the Army a black eye.
Perhaps least sold on the M-14 have been the Marines. They have shown (like the Army) recent interest in a light, automatic weapon good for close combat.
0 Faster Copters Sought by Army (The New York Times, 8 June 1964): The Army is seeking ways to increase the forward speed of the helicopter, a craft that is considered well-suited to vertical lift but ungainly and slow in horizontal flight.
To speed its rotor-borne craft, and thus lessen their chances of being shot down by enemy air or ground forces, the Army is adding short conventional wings and small jet engines.
The result is what manufacturers refer to as a compound helicopter, a craft considered capable of flying at speeds well above 200 miles an hour—the approximate limit for most helicopters.
Several research contracts have been let by the Army. The Lockheed-Georgia Company of Burbank, California, disclosed details of one of these contracts yesterday.
A new Lockheed helicopter, the XH-41A Aerogyro, will be fitted with a stubby wing and an auxiliary engine—a forward-propelling jet mounted in a pod on the left side of the forward fuselage.
The XH-41A, developed under a joint Army-Navy contact, has attained 160 miles an hour in level flight. With a wing and auxiliary jet, it is expected to exceed 200 miles an hour.
A helicopter ordinarily propels itself forward by tilting forward so that the upward pull of its overhead rotor becomes part upward and part forward pull. The rotor supplies both lift and propulsion.
Another contract has been let with the Kaman Aircraft Corporation of Bloomfield, Connecticut. Kaman will add wings to a jet- augmented UH-2 research helicopter. The UH-2 is expected to achieve 250 miles an hour.
Both projects are expected to be completed by the end of 1964.
Foreign
s Australia Considers Phantoms (Flying Review, June 1964): The Australian cabinet is reportedly considering the acquisition of twelve/sixteen McDonnell F-4C Phantom IIs as an interim replacement for the RAAF’s Canberras pending delivery of the General Dynamics F-111A. The RAAF has now told the Australian government that it would take too long to convert air-crews and ground staff to the Boeing B-47E Stratojet, twenty- four of which have been offered on free loan to the RAAF by the USAF, and that in any case, the American bomber offered at best only a marginal improvement on the Canberra. The Phantom II, however, offers generally similar characteristics to those of the F-111A and would therefore serve to prepare the Australian crews for the later and more advanced machine. Despite denials in the Australian Parliament that the F-111A programme is slipping seriously behind schedule,
Mr. David Fairbairn, the Australian Minister for Air, stated: “There were no major difficulties with the TFX which would meet the deadline. The first flight would be in December;” there are many signs of anxiety in Australia that the contractural date of 1967 will not be met. The Phantom II could provide a safeguard against any F-111A delays.
s Visual Acuity Rule Changes (The Crowsnest, February 1964): a revised standard of visual acuity for officers has been adopted by the Royal Canadian Navy.
The new standard means many high school students who wear glasses will now be eligible for enrolment in the RCN as officer cadets under the tri-service Regular Officer Training Plan, or the Navy’s Short Service Officer Plan.
A major influence on the revision has been the increasing efficiency of the reliance on electronic “eyes,” chiefly radar, for detection and observation. These instruments have not replaced the human eye but have enormously extended a ship’s visual capability, especially at night and in low visibility. This has enabled an easing of emphasis on eyesight standards for General List officers whose careers involve varied appointments in ships and shore establishments.
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In navigation at sea, loran and similar systems have largely reduced reliance on sun and star sights. For pilotage and station keeping, almost constant visual checks or “fixes” are still required, but the enclosed bridge and the use of radar and short range navigational systems and other side aids have appreciably raised the standards of safety in poor visibility caused by snow, sleet, fog and rain. So re-
fined have those standards become that “blind pilotage” is now a part of the stock in trade of the navigator and the officer-of-the watch. It is expected that new developments will raise the safety standards even higher in the future.
The eyesight standard required for entry into the navy’s two main officer training plans has been amended to not less than 20/60, 20/60; or 20/40, 20/100 unaided distant vision correctable to 20/20, 20/30 with glasses regardless of age group. Colour vision must be normal.
Maritime General
s New Volga-Baltic Waterway Ready
(The New York Times, 8 June 1964): Oil tankers and barges loaded with iron ore and manufactured goods have started moving into the new 224-mile Volga-Baltic Canal as it begins its first season.
The complex system of seven concrete locks, four reservoirs and three hydroelectric stations, is expected to be inagurated formally this week. It completes a vast inland deepwater navigation network linking the Black and the Caspian Seas in the south with the Baltic and White Seas in the north.
Development of such an inland system is very important to the Soviet Union where railroads have carried more than 80 per cent of the national freight traffic. The government has been eager to shift a greater share to the waterways.
Large barges and tankers will now be able to traverse European Russia from north to south, carrying southern grains, coal, oil and salt to Leningrad, the Baltic republics, Karelia and the sub-Arctic, and machinery from Leningrad, iron ore and apatite (a fertilizer ore) from the Kola Peninsula and Karelia to the south.
Shipping from the sea-level Neva River at Leningrad will move through Lakes Ladoga and Onega to the northern canal system of Vytegra, where locks will raise ships 260 feet to the upper level of the waterway.
In the lower reaches of the Sheksna River, near the iron and steel center of Cherepovets, a lock system drops canal shipping 43 feet to the level of the Volga basin.
The new waterway replaces the 150-year-
old Mariinsk Canal, whose 39 antiquated wooden locks admitted barges with a maximum capacity of 700 tons.
The fleet assembled for the modernized waterway includes oil tankers and dry carriers of 5,000 tons and combined oil and ore carriers of 2,700 tons suitable for inland and coastal navigation. These will transport crude oil to the north and ore on the return trip.
The Volga-Baltic waterway is also expected to stimulate passenger traffic. Regular services are scheduled to being later this month between Leningrad and Volga river towns. A fleet of eight three-deckers will travel on vacation cruises between Leningrad and Astrakhan, a Caspian seaport, making the round trip with stops along the way in 22 days.
Reconstruction of the Mariinsk system began in 1940 but was interrupted by World War II. Work continued on low budget appropriations with interruptions after the war. It was only in the last five years that the project was given adequate priority.
s Telegraph Recorder for Engine Room or Bridge (Reed's Marine Equipment News, April 1964): An engine room telegraph recorder has been developed by Chadburns (Livingpool) Ltd., Park Lane Works, Nether- ton, Bootle 10, designed to eliminate the manual recording of engine telegraph movements both on the bridge and in the engine room, and also provide a log of orders which can be guaranteed as accurate for use in court of law should an accident occur. Basic components of the equipment, which are under
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lock and key, consist of an eight day mechanical clock movement and two synchrostep motors which move in phase with the order pointer on the telegraph receiver and the reply pointer on the telegraph transmitter.
The clock is mechanically connected to three type wheels which indicate day, year and minute with quarter minute graduations, whilst the two are connected by mechanical and electrical means to two further wheels on which are engraved the normal telegraph executive orders. Orders from the bridge and the acknowledgement from the engine room are indicated on a paper roll, showing date and time of the order, the recording being visible through an aperture in the lid. Any time differential is easily seen. The paper advances each time a recording is made, the last recording always being visible. The paper is sufficient for at least 1,200 individual orders. As the paper nears the end, the last few feet are distinctively coloured, and an alarm will sound.
To meet Lloyd’s recommendations, for vessels with bridge control of the main machinery, the recorder can be arranged to record movements of the bridge control lever.
The instrument can be linked in with any existing telegraph system, be it electrical or mechanical.
s Sea Academies Invited to Lifeboat Race (From The New York Times, 31 May 1964): The United States Merchant Marine Academy will seek to establish an annual lifeboat race between all the nation’s sea academies, Rear Admiral Gordon McLintock announced last week.
Admiral McLintock, superintendent of the Kings Point, L. I., academy, proposed the plan following a race on Thursday between three of the schools.
Kings Point lost to the New York State Maritime College crew from Fort Schuyler, the Bronx. The Maine Maritime Academy, which won the previous year, came in last.
The success of the event last Thursday prompted Admiral McLintock, to propose that all five maritime academies in the country, plus the United States Naval Academy and the Coast Guard Academy, participate in an annual contest. Other maritime academies are in Texas and Massachusetts.
In past years the competition between maritime academies has been a secondary event in the annual International Lifeboat Race, in which seagoing ships of all nations are invited to participate.
Interest in the international event has been waning, and this year it was canceled. It may not be resumed.
Research and Development
s Desalting Filter Called Success (The
New York Times, 10 June 1964): By a simple process of diffusion through a newly developed membrane, fresh water can be filtered from salt water, and the remaining brine washed away.
The desalinization process uses osmosis, a phenomenon whereby a solution flows through a membrane into a less dense solution. This passage separates fresh water from pressurized salt water. The fresh water, which can be drunk, is collected in troughs.
This method is quite different from the traditional process of desalinization by heating water to steam and collecting the condensed fresh water as it cools, and it costs only about half as much.
The membrane used in this process was developed and patented by two research engineers, Sidney Loeb and Srinivasa Sourirajan of the University of California’s Saline Water Conversion Research Program at Los Angeles.
This porous membrane, sought for 50 years, is the first successful material for work with solutions of salt in water. It is made of modified cellulose acetate with aqueous magnesium perchlorate and acetone, and may
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prove useful in biomedical research for filtration of viruses, proteins and other such material.
With a compact demonstration model, small enough to fit in a large closet, about 250 to 300 gallons of fresh water a day can be forced through the quarter-inch glass fiber tubing and be collected. About half the original water continues through the tubes with the brine in order to maintain pumping pressure and to flush out the salt.
The sea water tested contains 35,000 parts per million of dissolved solids. After it has passed through the first stage of the process, the water contains about 2,000 parts per million. The water is then cycled through a second series of tubes where it is filtered to 200 parts per million, well below the 500 parts per million recommended by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare as a desirable maximum in municipal water.
In the desalinization process, the membrane permits fresh water to pass through. When pressure is applied to the flowing salt water, the membrane can filter fresh water 100 times faster than any other previous commercial membranes. It stands up well under high pressure.
Because the system is so simple, it has been suggested that it could be used in emergency kits for life boats or in small home water conditioners.
It is estimated that less than 100,000 kilowatts would be necessary to produce the 100 million gallons of water used in San Diego. Estimated total costs of water converted by this method range from 25 cents to 52 cents per thousand gallons, in comparison to the cost of $1 to obtain a thousand gallons by the heating process.
s Skywarrior in New Role (Naval Aviation News, May 1964): A Navy A-3B Sky- warrior, powered by two Pratt & Whitney J-57 engines, has been converted into a “flying laboratory” by Douglas Aircraft.
Instrumented with optical and infrared sensor devices, it will be used to observe characteristics of vehicles re-entering the earth’s atmosphere. A turret was installed on top of the forward fuselage to house optical sighting equipment. The aircraft interior was transformed to provide for the installation of
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The R45 radar family was designed to fulfill a need for reliable, lightweight, easily maintained and versatile airborne systems at low cost. These building block systems weigh less than 100 pounds and have more than a 1000-hour inherent MTBF rate in helicopter, transport and light attack applications. Basic Ku band frequency and 60 kw power can be varied to meet customer operational requirements.
Microelectronic R45 radar circuits are designed and verified by computer analysis, thus affording an unusually high degree of systems reliability, design integrity and simplicity. Standard circuitry and modular construction, employed throughout, add to systems adaptability. They are used, for example, in the R47 radar—a 30-pound low-altitude automatic terrain following sensor. By selecting the necessary functional module blocks, specific operational modes may be added or subtracted.
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various complex monitoring systems.
The aircraft will be pre-positioned 35,000 feet over the Pacific Missile Range to take advantage of the clearer atmosphere for observations.
The A-3B is part of Project Press (Pacific Range Electromagnetic Signature Studies), a DOD program.
s Shipbuilding Concern in Oceanographic Venture (The New York Times, 30 May 1964): The Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, one of the country’s largest shipbuilding establishments, sailed this week into a new area of diversification—oceanography.
The company’s 152-foot motor ship Prospector headed out to sea Tuesday for an oceanographic voyage of about a year’s duration. After a call at Miami, she will sail into the Pacific and will be based at Honolulu.
A spokesman said that the Prospector would be used to further the company’s knowledge in marine acoustics, oceanography and ocean bottom topography and materials. The company hopes the study will yield information to improve its products and extend its diversification program.
Previously the shipyard has gone into such other areas as production of hydraulic turbines, rocket motor cases, paper machinery and gyro stabilizers, processing iron ore and making refining equipment.
The oceanographic venture is understood to represent an investment of several hundred thousand dollars.
The vessel is the former Matane of La Com- pagnie de Transport du Bas St. Laurent, a 470-gross-ton, 11-knot motorship built in 1938. While in service for the Canadian company, she operated as a cargo-passenger craft on the lower St. Lawrence between Rimouski and Sept Isles.
She was acquired by Newport News earlier this year and was equipped with radar, loran, sonar, underwater television, underwater cameras, high-speed winches and air-conditioning.
The Prospector is manned by a total crew of 14, all shipyard employes, headed by Captain George Bennett. In charge of her scientific complement of five is Dr. John L. Mero, a graduate of the Scripps Institute of
Oceanography and former head of the University of California’s Institute of Mineral Resources.
The scientific project is under the direction of J. E. Llipse, assistant to the President.
s Special Ship for Oceanic Study (Prom The New York Times, 12 May 1964): A new ship, designed specifically for studying plants and animals of the oceans, was launched in fresh water here recently.
The 117-5-foot long vessel, the Eastward, was built for the Duke University Marine Laboratory with support from the National Science Poundation.
Following the Eastward launch, the Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company will spend two to three months installing the scientific equipment, including navigation, communication and instrument handling gear. When completed, the ship will be delivered to its new home at Beaufort, N. C., by way of the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Atlantic Ocean.
The Duke Marine Laboratory at Beaufort will operate the vessel as part of its program of training students and continuing research activities in marine biology.
s New Research Ship (Undersea Technology, April 1964): The Russians have reportedly launched a new oceanographic vessel, the Baikal, at the Rostrock Neptun shipyard in East Germany. Powered by a 4,000-hp diesel electric engine, the Baikal has 19 laboratories and will house 35 scientists. The ship is described as having the “latest in nautical equipment” in addition to television and an electronic computer. The same shipyard built the Soviet research ships Mikhail Lomonosov and the Polju last year.
s Brazil’s New Oceanographic Ship (Undersea Technology, May 1964): The Almirante Saldanha, former sail training ship of the Brazilian Navy, has been converted to an oceanographic research vessel and is scheduled to sail on her maiden voyage in the new role to Ascension Island and the Gulf of Guinea in June. She has been fitted to accommodate 20 scientists, 10 students, and 30 fishermen and to carry out investigations in all phases of the marine sciences.
New From Old—North American Aviation’s T-2B Buckeye jet trainer and the guided missile cruiser Chicago (CG-11) have recently become operational. The T-2B shown here is a converted T-2A with two 3,000-pound-thrust engines replacing the single 3,400-pound-thrust jet of the T-2A. Production of the T-2B design has been ordered. The Chicago rejoins the Fleet after a five-year conversion from an all-gun cruiser. In addition to missiles, she has two 5-inch guns in open mounts.
Going To Sea—The Soviet Union’s latest hydrofoil ship is seen at left prior to launching. Gas- turbine machinery will drive her at 70 m.p.h. Passenger capacity isl 50. Sweden’s newest and largest motor torpedo boat design is shown below left. Twelve boats of this type are now being built. The 149-foot, 190- ton craft will be armed with six torpedo tubes, one 57-mm. cannon, and six flare launchers. Mines can also be carried. Their complement will number 30. Each of the 40-knot Swedish MTBs will be powered by three 4,310 h.p. gas turbines.
Underwater Contact—Scuba divers can talk with fellow divers or ships with this rig developed by Jetronic Industries. The reflector on top of the face mask directs beams and amplifies power. It weighs five pounds and has neutral buoyancy.
Plane Killer—A Redeye anti-aircraft missile is fired during field tests. The Army-Marine Corps missile has infra-red guidance equipment. The bazooka-like weapon weighs less than 30 pounds and is made by the General Dynamics Corporation. The launcher is discarded after firing.