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132 Territorial Waters, Fishing Rights, and International Law
By Charles L. Cochran
135 The Army’s Floating Nuclear Power Plant
By Major Robert M. Bunker, U. S. Army
139 Precise Positioning for Deep Mooring
By Edwin C. Buffington
143 Statistical Methods:
Aid to Supply Inspectors
By Commander C. Lewis,
U. S. Navy
Professional Notes
Edited by Captain Daniel M. Karcher,
U. S. Navy
By Charles L. Cochran Assistant Professor,
U. S. Naval Academy
TERRITORIAL WATERS, FISHING RIGHTS, AND INTERNATIONAL LAW
On 2 March 1967, the Soviet trawler Srtm 8-413 was seized by the U. S. Coast Guard cutter Storis off the Alaskan coast for intruding into Alaskan fishing areas. The U. S. District Court in Anchorage found the skipper guilty of violating territorial waters by fishing within the three-mile limit and assessed a fine of $5,000. Within three weeks, a second Soviet trawler was seized by the Storis 15 miles off the Shumagin Islands after a “hot pursuit” chase from the territorial waters into the high sea. Senators E. L. Bartlett and Ernest Gruening, both of Alaska, called on the government to assess the maximum fine of $10,000 in an effort to induce the Soviet government to forbid its fishermen to engage in such violations. The maximum fine was assessed on 25 March.* ■
The coverage given these violations in the press and the fines assessed reflect the increasing importance of fisheries and other living resources of the sea. A relatively new but rapidly expanding body of law on the subject is evolving. Impetus for the growth of the international law of fisheries is to be found in the expanding world populations and the diminishing food supply which has forced man to turn to the sea in search of more plentiful food supplies. At the same time, the development of modern technology has made the prospect of efficient exploitation and conservation of marine resources a reality. Under such circumstances, conflicts are inevitable.
The development of modern techniques to exploit the living resources of the sea has, in fact, raised the specter of over-exploitation.
* See Geoffrey E. Carlisle, “Three-Mile Limit Obsolete Concept?” U. S. Naval Institute Proceedings, February 1967, pp. 24-33.
Serious study of fisheries with a view to conservation and development has begun only recently. It is not surprising, therefore, that states have put forth conflicting claims as to the best methods of conserving and developing fisheries.
Many attempts to regulate fishing in certain areas are premised upon the idea that the fishing grounds are not capable of supporting foreign as well as local fishing interests. While the encouragement of the development of a fishing industry is a legitimate national interest, it may result in the exclusion of foreign vessels while the local fishing industry remains unfettered by any conservation regulations of substance.
In the past, claims of fishery protection were closely related to claims of the territorial sea. Originally the territorial jurisdiction of a state was claimed to extend seaward for various distances because of the necessity of self-defense. However, fishery interests increasingly are becoming a chief justification for making extravagant claims for exclusive authority over the sea.
The approximate range of a cannon in the early 18th century was three miles. The exclusive authority over the three-mile area, the area of sea that land cannon could protect, or the “marine league,” became accepted by the United States and Great Britain as well as other maritime powers in the 19 th century. Other maritime powers claimed wider areas of the marginal sea. For example, Norway claimed four miles, Portugal six, Mexico nine, and Russia twelve.
The question arises in such a situation as to who is competent to determine the width of the territorial sea. It is to be expected that each concerned state would be tempted to extend its claims to an ever wider area of the adjacent sea as one method of solving fishery problems. As economist Scott H. Gordon has put it:
A great extension of territorial waters recognized in international law would convert international fisheries into national ones and to that extent it would ease some of the practical problems of fisheries management. Such a solution has many difficulties, however, especially for a region such as the North Sea, and it is by no means certain that in the long run it would be the best solution of the problem.
In an area such as the North Sea, it becomes apparent that unilateral claims and attempts to delimit the territorial sea is fraught with complications, because of the overwhelming opportunity for conflicting claims. If each state insists upon its sole competence to delimit its territorial waters, incompatible claims are inevitable.
In contrast, the International Court of Justice has held that the state does not have exclusive competence to determine the width of its territorial sea. The Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries case in 1951 concerned the validity of unilateral Norwegian Decrees, putting into effect a series of drawn straight base-lines along the Norwegian coast. Norway claimed as her internal waters all the sea areas lying inside the base-lines. The base-lines nowhere followed the shore line of Norway. Instead, they consisted of imaginary straight lines up to 44 miles long which linked selected points on islands, small rocks, or mainland promontories.
Britain maintained that the base-lines were invalid and that British ships could therefore continue to fish in certain areas lying within the base-lines. The Court upheld Norway’s position not only on historic grounds claimed by Norway, but also on the grounds that Norway’s claims were not contrary to international law. The Court stated in handing down judgment on the case concerning a state’s right unilaterally to delimit its territorial sea:
The delimitation of sea areas has always an international aspect; it cannot be dependent merely upon the will of the coastal state as expressed in its municipal law. Although it is true that the act of delimitation is necessarily a unilateral act, because only the coastal State is competent to undertake it, the validity of the delimitation with regard to other States depends upon international law.
Nevertheless, certain countries, most notably Mexico, Peru, and the Soviet Union still hold as stated in the International Law Commission records that “each State is competent to fix its territorial sea within reasonable limits.” Difficulty arises from the fact that each country feels competent to decide for itself what is “reasonable.”
Attempts to reach an agreement that would provide for a uniform width of the territorial sea have been complicated by claims for jurisdiction over contiguous zones. Contiguous zones are a part of the high sea contiguous to the territorial sea. Britain introduced the concept in international law in the 18th century by asserting her right to apprehend smugglers on the high seas at various distances from her shore line, and beyond the territorial sea.
A Conference on the Law of the Sea met at Geneva in 1958. Although it failed to set a uniform limit to the territorial sea, it did mark a significant accomplishment. Article 24 of the Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, provides for a zone of the high seas contiguous to its territorial sea in which the coastal
State may exercise the control necessary to:
(a) Prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary regulations within its territory or territorial sea; (b) Punish infringement of the above regulations committed within its territory or territorial sea.
Article 24 went on to state that “the contiguous zone may not extend beyond 12 miles from the baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured.” The provision is important because it does limit the width of contiguous zones. Even more importantly, however, is the fact that it limits the width of the territorial sea to no more than 12 miles as well. This is done implicitly, because if the zone that is contiguous to the territorial sea can never extend beyond 12 miles from the base-line, the territorial sea cannot extend beyond 12 miles.
A second attempt was made by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada to settle the problem of the territorial sea at the Geneva Conference on the Law of the Sea of 1960. The crux of the problem was that, in the 1958 Geneva Conference, an impasse occurred because of disagreement over fishing rights. As a result, no solution on the territorial sea, except that it would not extend beyond 12 miles, or fishing rights, was reached.
In the Second Geneva Conference on the Law of the Sea in 1960, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada put forward a plan that proposed: a territorial sea of six miles and a contiguous zone extending an additional six miles with exclusive fishery rights for the coastal state. The plan also allowed the vested interests of other states in the contiguous zone, provided the area had been traditionally fished by the state, would be preserved for a period of 10 years, after which they would cease. It was hoped that a 10-year moratorium would prevent undue hardship on foreign fishermen who regularly fished in certain affected areas. The proposal failed by one vote, however.
As the result of the failure of the compromise, different states claim various distances for the territorial sea up to 12 miles. The unsettled question of the width of the territorial sea is a potential source of future conflict. The United States has reverted to its traditional claim of the three-mile limit. It has also declined to recognize any larger territorial water claims against the United States without its agreement. For all practical purposes, however, the United States recognizes as valid those claims up to 12 miles by failing to challenge those claims.
On 20 May 1964, President L. B. Johnson signed into law an Act to Prohibit Fishing by Foreign Vessels in the Territorial Waters of the United States and in Certain Other Areas. As implied, the United States claims exclusive fishing rights within territorial waters of the United States. The bill provides for certain exceptions if it were to be “in the national interest,” or if it were provided for by an international agreement.
Section two of the Act levies a penalty of not more than $10,000, or one year’s imprisonment or both for anyone found guilty of violating the provisions of the Act. The monetary value of the fish or other cargo shall be forfeited as well as the vessel itself, if the Court so decides. Insofar as the two Russian trawlers recently fined are concerned, it is noteworthy that the Soviet Union claims a 12-mile width of her territorial sea with exclusive fishery rights in that area, rather than the three-mile limit presently claimed by the United States.
The Conferences on the Law of the Sea, held at Geneva in 1958 and 1960, revealed that differences in national fishery interests were the main cause of failure to reach agreements on the international law of the sea. A resolution of the American Bar Association meeting in New York in 1964 strongly urged separate consideration of the width of the territorial sea from problems of fishery protection and that the U. S. government:
Publicly proclaim its willingness to join with other states in reaching separate agreements for: (a) Substantial uniformity of breadth of the territorial sea for the purpose of ensuring free and unhampered navigation in, on and over the maximum expanse of the high seas, and (b) Fishery controls for sound utilization and conservation of the living resources of the sea, including agreement upon reasonable zones for exclusive fishery rights in coastal states.
The idea of including a “territorial sea” in a State’s territorial jurisdiction followed from the necessity of self-defense. Fishery interests as such are not related to the use, or control, of the sea for defense. Considerations of defense and the considerations related to fisheries would appear to be divergent enough to justify separate consideration and treatment. By considering these problems on a functional approach, a large impediment to a satisfactory solution to these problems would have been removed. Such a solution is urgently needed.
The U. S. Congress has moved in that direction with the passage of an Act to Establish Contiguous Fishery Zone Beyond the Territorial Sea of the United States (Public Law 89-658) on 14 October 1966. By this Act, Congress established:
... A fisheries zone contiguous to the territorial sea of the United States The United States will exercise the same exclusive rights in respect to fisheries in the zone as it has in its territorial sea, subject to the continuation of traditional fishing byforeign states within this zone as may be recognized by the United States.
The inner boundary of the fisheries zone is the outer limits of the territorial sea, or the three-mile limit. The outer boundary of the zone is a line drawn so that each point on the line is nine nautical miles from the nearest point in the inner boundary, or, in essence, the outer boundary of the contiguous zone.
In recognition of traditional fishing grounds by the Soviet Union within certain areas of the fisheries zone, the United States concluded with that government an agreement over fishery problems. By the terms of the agreement, fishing vessels of the Soviet Union may fish and conduct loading operations in
the nine-mile zone contiguous to the territorial sea of the United States in three specified areas. (In the Gulf of Alaska between 140° 30' W longitude and 142° 30' W longitude, and in the Aleutian Islands between 169° W longitude and 173° W longitude and west of 178° 30' W longitude.) In addition, fishing vessels of the Soviet Union may conduct loading operations in several specified areas in the nine-mile contiguous zone. This allows Soviet vessels to seek shelter from the weather when transferring their catch from smaller fishing vessels to factory ships or other larger ships to transport their catch back to the Soviet Union.
It would seem, therefore, that there is a firm basis for a separate consideration of territorial waters and fisheries. Perhaps the time is ripe for Soviet-American co-operation in convening an international conference to establish a uniform law on territorial waters. At least, consideration of this problem should not be combined with problems in reaching an international law of fisheries.
THE ARMY’S FLOATING NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
The first floating nuclear power plant, the Sturgis (MH-la), docked at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, in April 1966 for final systems checkout and operational testing. When completed, the vessel, with an Army crew, will be ready for deployment.
The mission of the Sturgis is to provide the Department of Defense with a mobile, self-contained 10,000-kilowatt power generating station capable of providing bulk power to military port complexes, isolated encampments, temporary coastal load centers or civilian disaster areas where and when needed.
The Sturgis represents a logistical reduction in the hauling of about 29,000 tons of fuel oil per year, as compared with conventional plants.
A vessel of this type, a floating nuclear power plant, was first evaluated in the Army’s nuclear power program during the late 1950s, based upon the proven utility of conventional floating plants and the freedom from heavy logistical support made possible by the use of nuclear power. The first conventional floating power plant, the Jacona, was placed in service in 1929. Four others were built during World War II, and have been in demand since they were built.
A contract was placed with the Martin Company in August 1961 for the design, construction, and testing of the Sturgis power plant. Design work was completed in late 1962 and construction of the vessel began in February 1963 in Mobile, Alabama.
A surplus Liberty, the Charles H. Cugle, was removed from the Reserve Fleet to be the basic hull that would house the plant. The most important modification was the “jum- boizing” of the vessel’s midbody to protect the reactor in the event of a ship collision. A new center section 212 feet long was built to replace a section of the same length, but the new portion was widened from 55 to 65 feet. The second major modification was the removal of all of the ship’s propulsion machinery. The original rudder was replaced with a larger one.
The vessel’s superstructure was replaced with one that contained a nuclear ventilation stack, a refueling room for the reactor system, a navigation bridge, office spaces, and crew space for a 15-man tow crew. A crew’s galley and refrigeration spaces were also installed. The ship’s central control room, the operating heart of both the vessel and the power plant, was located directly below the superstructure.
The Sturgis was designed and constructed to conform to Coast Guard safety requirements for a passenger vessel and will, upon acceptance by the Army, be certificated. The vessel is now 441 feet long and 65 feet wide. She has a draft of nearly 18 feet with a constant displacement of 9,400 tons, and has a tow speed of about 9 knots when pulled by a 1,800-h.p. tug.
The basic power plant consists of two closed-cycle systems (primary and secondary) joined through a heat exchanger used to isolate the radioactive water flowing through the reactor core from the remainder of the plant. The reactor, or primary, system is a solid water loop. The electrically heated pressurizer maintains pressure on the system to prevent boiling in the core. The pumps force water through the reactor to pick up heat, through the steam generator heat exchanger to release heat to the secondary system, and back to the reactor. The heat thus transferred across the heat exchanger tubes generates steam in the secondary system, providing power for the turbine-generator. This steam is then condensed, collected, and returned by feed pumps to the steam generator. A separate raw water system provides condenser cooling.
The reactor’s primary system and main heat exchanger are located in the containment vessel. The flow of energy—heat to steam to electricity—is forward from that point. Steam is piped forward to the main machinery space containing the turbine- generator, condenser, and associated secondary system equipment. Electricity produced by the main generator is conducted forward through the electrical distribution and equipment room to the main power transformer located in an open hold at the bow. Electrical bus bars connect the transformer with the transmission tower on deck above the transformer. Power is sent ashore by overhead lines or by underwater cable.
The containment vessel, within which are located all components of the reactor core and primary system, is designed to protect both the environment and the remainder of the plant in the very unlikely event of a reactor system accident. This vessel, which is 44 feet long and 31 feet in diameter, will withstand the internal accident pressure of 135 psig (pounds per square inch gauge) with minimal leakage to the outside. All piping penetrations through the walls of the vessel are equipped with automatic closure valves to insure complete isolation in the event of accident. Another barrier, constructed of concrete, lead, and polyethylene, surrounds the containment vessel and reduces the radiation of the operating reactor to normal occupational levels.
The present nuclear core is designed to operate for one year at full power before refueling. The core consists of 32 fuel elements,
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The Sturgis’ basic power- producing plant consists of two closed-cycle systems— the primary and secondary. Located in the containment vessel, the primary system comprises the reactor, pres- surizer, heat exchanger, and pumps. The secondary system comprises the steam generator, the turbine-generator, condenser, and pumps. The former merchant vessel, having no propulsion machinery fitted, has a length of 441 feet and a beam of 65 feet.
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weighing about 300 pounds per element. These fuel elements are inserted vertically into the core in a six-by-six-foot matrix with rounded corners. The nuclear fuel is low- enriched uranium dioxide formed into pellets and stacked in stainless steel tubes 36 inches long. There are 104 of these tubes assembled into each element. Because the fuel burning rate is higher in the center of the core than on the outside, the present design requires removal of only the center 16 elements at each annual refueling. The outer 16 elements are then moved to the center and 16 new elements are placed in the outside ring. Used fuel elements have a high residual radioactivity so facilities are provided to let them cool outside of the core for approximately 120 days before shipment to a reprocessing plant. New fuel for one refueling is kept on board in a storage vault. The vessel contains all equipment required for the refueling operation and no external assistance is needed.
The reactor is controlled by 12 rods which can be moved in or out of the core. These rods contain boron, a neutron absorber. The fission process is continued by neutrons interacting with uranium so that the introduction of increased amounts of boron into the core reduces the number of neutrons available for fission. The reactor, because of its design, is load following. That is, a change in demand for electrical power automatically results in the proper resultant change of thermal power within the reactor. The control rods maintain the proper core balance and temperature.
The major piece of machinery in the secondary system is the turbine-generator set, rated at 11,500 kilowatts at 13,800 volts for 60- cycle power and, also, capable of producing 50-cycle power at a slightly reduced output. This turbine-generator, along with the remainder of the secondary system, is essentially the same in type and function as those found in any conventional power system on land or afloat. The same observation can be made relative to the vessel’s service and fire fighting equipment. All shipboard systems are operated from a 450-volt power source drawing power through a transformer from the 13,800-volt main bus. Since the nuclear plant is not operated while the vessel is underway, auxiliary power is supplied by three 680- kilowatt diesel generators as well as from an emergency 150-kilowatt generator.
The main power transformer provides additional versatility to the plant by allowing transmission ashore at 13.8, 22.9, 33, 44 or 66 kilovolts. This range of voltages, combined with the ability to produce either 50 or 60- cycle power, makes the ship compatible with the majority of the world’s power generating systems.
Once placed on operational status later this year, the Sturgis will be controlled by the Army. The complement of the crew is one officer, one warrant officer, and 44 enlisted men. Of the enlisted men, 35 are specially trained in the operation, control, and maintenance of the nuclear plant. Each of these men has completed the one-year Nuclear Power Plant Operator Course at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
The Sturgis’ organization consists of a headquarters, supply and administration section, health physics and process control section, operations section and maintenance section. The operations section is broken down into
four operating shifts of five men each, including a health physicist, while the maintenance section contains subsections for each of the maintenance specialties plus a deck operation and maintenance subsection. The vessel contains shops and equipment to perform all levels of repair and calibration on most plant equipment.
Upon receipt of orders to move, the vessel will be prepared for sea and will depart with a 15-man tow crew. An advance party of six men, including the oflicer-in-charge, will move immediately to the new site to establish liaison, arrange for electrical connections, make emergency plans, and take radiological readings. The remainder of the operating crew will be moved to the new site prior to arrival of the Sturgis.
By Edwin C. Buffington,
Oceanographer,
Marine Environment Division,
U. S. Navy Electronics Laboratory
PRECISE POSITIONING FOR DEEP MOORING
Oil wells drilled far out on the continental shelf, artificial islands built at sea, and military structures installed on the sea floor are only a few of the efforts which mark the nation’s increasing exploitation of both the near-shore and deep marine environment. In all these, a common denominator is a need for precise navigation or positioning. A high-quality star fix, which once represented the ultimate in precision for the ship’s navigator, no longer suffices. Electronic systems must be used. Further, until satellite and inertial navigation systems become practical from the economic standpoint, electronic systems, used in a wide variety of techniques, provide the only present-day practical and economic answer to this need.
The techniques of precise position mooring of a submerged object are particularly applicable to situations where a high degree of accuracy may be required or where a need exists to reoccupy previously determined positions. This account may be of interest to those individuals involved in a multi-ship, minimum- budget type of operation which is not too far from shore, but which requires on-the-spot decisions dependent on ship position.
Several complex moors in deep water have been completed by the U. S. Navy since World War II. Two of the more complicated of these were the subject of detailed articles in the Proceedings (see pages 66-75, October 1963; pages 26-39 and 128-131, June 1967). Emphasized in the discussions was the importance of precise positioning. For in the final analysis, this factor controls the placement of moor anchors within minimum and maximum limits and ensures the integrity of all the other dependent moor design parameters.
An interesting moor made in early December 1965, was that of a 134-foot model submarine, called the Squaw, a rehabilitated survivor of Operation Wigwam, the underwater atomic test concluded some 11 years ago. The purpose was to provide a realistic sonar target for both submarines and ASW vessels, thus freeing for Fleet assignment those submarines which had previously performed this job. A unique feature of the moor plan was that the Squaw would eventually lie at a depth of 33 fathoms beneath the sea surface, and there would be no surface marker to show her position.
The moor was designed by the Bureau of Ships and had a planned life of five to ten years. The Task Unit that was to moor the Squaw comprised one fleet ocean tug (USS Quapaw), one salvage ship (USS Reclaimer), one submarine rescue ship (USS Florikan), one auxiliary ocean tug (USS Koka), two small craft (LCM), and a 65-foot steel-hulled tug converted into an oceanographic research vessel (T-441). For the mooring, T-441 was equipped with a precision echo-sounding system (accurate to one part in 3,000), and with Moran Electronic Surveying Equipment, a short-range navigation system used by the U. S. Navy Electronics Laboratory in some of its near-shore oceanographic work. The system has a practical, relative accuracy to 20 feet or less as demonstrated by the fact that it is possible to use it to conn blindly a small ship back to a previously measured spot and to touch the marker physically.
In the planning stages of the moor, the Marine Environment Division at the U. S. Navy Electronic Laboratory (NEL) was asked by the Bureau of Ships design engineer and the Task Unit Commander for assistance. The following requirements were outlined:
(1) A precise bathymetric survey of the moor area (a three-mile square). A correction curve to convert to true depth from echo-sounding depth was also needed.
(2) Measurement of surface currents at the time of the moor to check the correctness of the designed azimuth of the moor axis.
(3) Emplacement of reference buoys for aid in maneuvering.
(4) Means for accurate measurement between ships (within ten yards or less).
This was necessary for ensuring proper scope for tensioning of anchor cables.
(5) A means whereby all ships of the Task Unit could quickly and easily plot both relative and absolute positions within the moor area.
Previous experience showed that the first four items could be met. For the fifth, there was an excellent chance that a workable technique could be devised. NEL agreed to provide the assistance.
The key to the control was the Moran system which established ship’s (master station on T-441) positioning by intersecting two line- of-sight ranges measured from two shore stations. The co-ordinates of the shore stations were known with geodetic precision; thus, the base-line between them could be calculated to within a fraction of a foot in length, and a fraction of a second in azimuth. At 20-mile range, the Moran read out aboard ship could be accurate to 11 feet. Ten feet is the
smallest distance readable on the digital counters by the operator. The eleventh foot represents the combined tuning and electronic delay errors, which can be kept minimal by a constant monitoring of transmissions frequency. All fixes and positions taken during both the pre-moor survey and the moor itself were referred to and recorded at these shore stations.
The bathymetric survey was made two months prior to the moor, with continuous echo soundings on a Precision Depth Recorder keyed to approximately 120 Moran fixes. The results were plotted on a chart constructed at scale 1:12,000 (one inch equals 1,000 feet). Isobaths were drawn for each fathom and a sound-velocity correction curve for the area appended. The chart was duplicated for each ship on a nondimensional plastic (Mylar) which was not affected by heat and moisture.
To fulfill the fifth requirement, a curvilinear grid overlay was constructed which could be collimated and superimposed on the bathymetric chart. A computer at NEL was given the precise geographic co-ordinates of the two shore stations and the center of the moor area; it was then programmed to plot, concentric range circle segments from each shore station at 2,000-foot (two-inch) intervals. The computer was also programmed to terminate each range-line segment at the border of the moor area. Thus, for example, any point on line 100,000-A (Ashburn) would be 100,000 feet from shore station Ashburn, and any point on line 104,000-S (Soledad) would be a corresponding distance from station Soledad. Given two ranges, the only remaining need was to provide a means for quick plotting. This was done with a simple plastic plotter which was a six-inch square of |-inch thick Lucite with a beveled hole in the center and engraved with annular rings. Each successive ring increased in radius by ttp inch from the center to the outer ring which was four inches in diameter and represented 4,000 feet on the grid and chart scale. Every fifth ring was annotated. With two ranges known, the plotter was adjusted to a rangeline segment until its center hole indicated the exact range from the appropriate shore station. Then, maintaining this range, the plotter was moved tangentially to the first range-line segment until its center intersected the appropriate range-line segment from the second shore station. At this point, the hole represented an intersection of the two ranges and a fix was plotted. With practice, positions could be plotted on the chart in less than 30 seconds.
Although only T-441 had Moran receiving equipment, all four of the larger vessels had the bathymetric chart, a control grid overlay, and a plotter. Further, a special FM communications link tied all vessels and shore stations together. The commander of the Task Unit (CTU) had a portable beacon similar to those of the shore stations. This permitted the measurement of distances separating T-441 and the beacon. T-441 acted as a floating reference point by coming close alongside a vessel and could communicate ranges from which the absolute position could be plotted.
One day prior to departure of the major elements of the Task Unit from port, T-441 proceeded to the center of the moor area and lay to for two hours. The set and drift of surface current were determined by positions at start and finish of the drift period. A dead, flat calm precluded the need for considering wind factors. Moor azimuth was determined and was found to coincide with that made in the original plan. Short-scope buoys were planted close to the estimated up-current anchor, down-current anchor, and moor center positions. Ranges were recorded and later passed to the Task Unit.
With the arrival of the remainder of the Task Unit the next day, the first event for the Reclaimer was to plant the down-current anchor. This anchor was lowered until it was approximately 200 feet off the bottom. At this juncture, T-441 put her bow within 10 feet of the cable and instantly communicated ranges. CTU was not satisfied with the position and pusher boats were requested to move the stern of the Reclaimer a small distance. T-441 again moved in for another fix. The procedure was repeated until CTU was satisfied with an accurate set of facts. The anchor was then dropped to the bottom. A final fix was taken. The Reclaimer then steamed along the moor axis, walking out a specific and predetermined length of cable. This accomplished, she held the cable and attempted to set the anchor by turns on the
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propeller while T-441 held the anchor-drop position. Ranges from T-441 to the Moran beacon on the Reclaimer were reported. A limited increase in range, followed by an abrupt stop, without reduction in turns, indicated the distance necessary to set the anchor. This main anchor failed to hold on the first attempt. It also broke loose on the second attempt. The third attempt, with modified gear, was successful. The second anchor-drop position was determined by measuring along the moor axis the horizontal design distance between anchors and adding the distance needed to set the first anchor.
The second anchor position was located and controlled with the Moran gear and T-441 by the same method. This time the anchor was lowered by the Florikan. Small boats made slight adjustments and the final drop was made and checked on the desired position. The Florikan proceeded down the moor axis, paying out cable, and tested that the anchor was holding. This accomplished, she passed the cable to the Reclaimer which was then held in a two-point moor. A hold- off leg was buoyed 60° relative to the moor axis. To take advantage of the versatility of the Moran equipment, the portable beacon was set up on board the Reclaimer and T-441 took station within 10 feet of the stern of the Quapaw as she dropped a third anchor and led its cable to the Reclaimer. The purpose of this leg was to winch the Reclaimer away from the moor center after completion.
After the Reclaimer was secured in the three-leg moor, the first and second anchor cables were tensioned. The Squaw was brought alongside the Reclaimer and the tensioned cables, plus two counterweights, were passed to her. Prior to submerging the Squaw [A future article will describe details of the submerged moor.] T-441 closed her amidships and checked the final surface position. The position was converted to geographic co-ordinates and immediately reported to CTU.
The position of the Squaw is known within ten feet relative to the two shore stations and her geographic co-ordinates are correspondingly accurate. This high degree of position accuracy is neither critical nor particularly useful, considering the size of the target, but the accuracy in measuring the length of each moor leg and testing anchors was considered by CTU to be a basic factor contributing to the rapid, efficient, and economical emplacement of this moor.
The entire moor was completed in five days. Four of these were blessed with an unseasonably flat calm which permitted the close maneuvering of T-441 to the working vessels. In addition, a pre-established baseline, already surveyed, afforded a tailor- made control base. The present model of the Moran equipment is range-limited, but within these limits it provides excellent information with a high degree of reliability and a minimum number of operating personnel. Although not operating at its extreme range, it proved ideal for the requirements of this moor, and especially for use with the multiple ship plotting scheme.
The techniques of this moor were used in conjunction with a short-range electronic positioning system. They are equally adaptable, however, to systems operating at greater distances if the ranges to the two shore sta-
tions can be measured with comparable accuracy. The techniques might also be used for military installations, for example, in the recovery of a defunct bottom-mounted ASW acoustic transponder or the precise location of an advanced type of Sealab where surface markers were impossible or undesirable.
Before sea floor mining can even be seriously considered, detailed evaluations of mineral deposits in limited areas must be made. These will, without question, require techniques for keeping a constant and accurate plot of the surface ship’s position.
For scientific research and exploration, precise positioning finds wide application in the establishment and recovery of anchored instrument buoys, both surface and subsurface, bottom monitoring sensors and in the selection of descent sites.
By Commander C. Lewis, U. S. Navy Staff, Commander,
Carrier Division Three,
Pacific Fleet
STATISTICAL METHODS: AID TO INSPECTORS
In many of the large commands, the task of conducting a thorough military inspection or audit of the physical “assets” in terms of quality and quantity is almost beyond a military stafFs resources. Assets, such as the state of enlisted training, corrosion free spare parts, or structures that have not reached a certain fatigue point, are becoming increasingly difficult to inspect, audit or quantify. To what level of confidence do we know that squadron A’s administrative records are better than squadron B’s and how much better?
A management tool that private industry has been using with increasing frequency to inspect field activities is the operational or internal audit’s use of statistical methods as opposed to the accountant’s fiscal audit. The correct use of statistical methods has direct application to many military inspection formats. Our sometimes intuitive interpretation of inspection results—without first testing our results for statistical validity—can lead to erroneous interpretations of the apparent variances or trends which in reality may be nothing but a randomness of events or the perversity of the numbers involved. Or, we may miss a trend or try to correct for a variable which does not exist. For example, a 10 per cent increase in the corrosion problem of the A-4E in the Western Pacific could introduce a new maintenance preservation procedure, but is 10 per cent significant? What was the sample size, what was the mean, what was the range and the standard deviation? In this example, a 10 per cent change in corrosion for one month in the A-4E most likely would not indicate a trend.
If we have a typical military inspection format which states “pull 10 enlisted and 10 officer health records at random for examination,” we have the problem that if the command were, say 200, and we only took a sample of 10, we would only have a 66 per cent chance of detecting a 10 per cent error. However, if we increase the sample size to only 25 enlisted records, we would have a 94 per cent chance of detecting a 10 per cent error. Since the inspection cost in effort of examining 15 additional health records is small, from a statistical measuring standpoint we should increase the sample size to 25; 10 is too small.
Or to illustrate with another example, a current administration inspection question is “Are micro switches, hinges, zerk fittings, and bolt heads free from rust and corrosion?” Again, when inspecting a carrier squadron, there are too many items to permit 100 per cent inspection, therefore the inspector usually checks those items which he can get at within the allotted time. He should have an advance sampling plan to ensure a realistic measuring of the total potential corrosion situation. He should also have a systematic random sampling plan.
Even if a policy requires a 100 per cent inspection plan (i.e., complete annual physical inventory of stock levels) this, too, can be of questionable value and often leads to diminishing returns. The cost of a 100 per cent inventory can be high and the accuracy can be less than that obtained by a well designated sampling plan (100 per cent sampling plans dilute management and clerical talent and due to human frailties are often less accurate than inventories based on samples when the population is very large).
In order to apply statistical theory to the process of developing inferences from sampling techniques, there is just one rule that must be followed. The selection of the members of the population which will comprise the sample must be done on a random basis, that is, each member of the population must have the same chance of being selected. Without a random sampling, the method cannot be statistical.
Next, what should our sample size be? This question can be answered if we establish or have a feel for the following: (1) confidence level desired expressed in terms of percentage; (2) discrepancy level or error proportion which is the point at which the condition of the field is judged unacceptable and; (3) precision levels expressing a range within which the true condition exists; (4) maximum discrepancy rate expected which is an estimate made by the inspector to ensure a sample of adequate size and; (5) point at which an irregularity or defect renders the item under observation unacceptable.
Or, to state this another way, what is adequate? Do we wish to know the proportion of discrepancies in the population? Or, do we merely wish to know whether or not the proportion of discrepancies is above a certain allowable level? Suppose an inspector wished to know what proportion of an inventory of 4,000 different spare parts are either missing, not on order, improperly stored, or improperly accounted for. He judges the population of sufficient importance that a 95 per cent confidence level is justified and decides that if there are 4 per cent discrepancies, then the inventory is unsatisfactory. He estimates that the maximum expected discrepancy rate is 8 per cent. He then decides that a precision range of plus or minus 3 per cent is necessary.
The sampling plan must also consider the mistake of rejecting when the whole population is within the limits and the mistake of accepting when the population is beyond limits. Statistical audits usually consider three statistical approaches: estimation, acceptance, and discovery (exploratory).
Estimation samplings answer the questions of how many or how much. Acceptance sampling is a technique by which a lot is accepted or rejected as being good or bad. This is established by selecting a sample of a given size from a field of documents and examining the sample for errors. If the sample contains more than a specified number of errors the field is rejected; if not, it is accepted. The objective of discovery sampling is different. The purpose is to give reasonable assurance to the inspector that if some type of event (errors, evasions, fraud) has occurred in the field with a measurable minimum frequency, he will observe at least one example of such an event in his sample.
This all means that a number of decisions must be reached prior to any attempt to use sampling. We must consider what to sample, how to do it, sample size and the meaning of the results. The larger the sample the greater the accuracy, but also the greater the cost in money and effort. Furthermore, increases in sample sizes are not accompanied by proportional increases in accuracy.
Broadly speaking, the objective of statistical control charts is to obtain assurance that operations are proceeding according to plans. Controls, in this sense, are indicators of evidence. They serve as warning signals when quality falls below limits such as absenteeism, accidents, or scrap rate, which could rise to specific heights, or become too numerous. Basically, this is a system of selective sampling. Its fundamental characteristic is the selection and evaluation of a periodic sample selected from a population, the limits of which we are attempting to control. Its merit lies in the fact that this technique helps identify assignable causes of variations from the standard which might otherwise remain undetected. Using any standard statistical book as a reference source, we can establish some means of measuring our inputs (money, men, equipment, etc.) and our outputs (rejections on the quality of maintenance, accidents, or absenteeism, etc.).
In many cases, the inspector may desire information as to the factors which may contribute to some observed variation in a process. If the activity has disciplinary offenses at a level which warrant investigation, to what extent are they accounted for by low GCT, age, educational attainment or marital status? This is essentially a correlation problem and correlation and variance analysis are closely related, that is, correlation is a special case of variance analysis. Correlation refers to the degree of dependence between variables over and above that which might occur by chance. Variance analysis gets its name from the fact that the variance in question is calculated and expressed in terms of squared deviations or variances. Variance analysis measures total variance and then identifies and differentiates the proportions of that total that may be associated with or accounted for by each of the factors represented in the analysis. Then, by having knowledge of the relationships between the factors, controls can be established, predictions made, or more meaningful recommendations made.
In summary, whenever we are attempting to observe and measure the association between two or more variables, we have a correlation or variance analysis situation. There are many approximate methods for handling the situation (scatter diagrams with visual inspection, high-low point methods, moving average, etc.) but in the more complex situations some statistical tool of correlation calculation must be considered, if the command expects to have a reasonable fit between inspection observation and actual performance. Again, without this approach, military inspectors may miss relationships between variables or, worst of all, interpret trends that are not there except by chance alone.
Statistical methods have a great potential for enhancing the quality of military inspections. Sampling would obviously involve more than could be accomplished in a one- day inspection. However, there is nothing to prevent the making of such tests at convenient times in advance of the inspections. It would be necessary for the criteria to be established by officers in a position of responsibility and authority. Once these decisions were made, however, the procedure lends itself to being continued by people armed with standard instructions and guidelines to locate discrepancies. Staff members could gather all of the data needed for the inspector and calculate the results.
As an audit tool, statistical sampling has not been adopted without resistance in private industry, the most prevalent criticism being that it seeks to replace the exercise of sound judgment with sets of tables and probability formulae. Counter to this is the argument, that the use of probability theory actually supplements and enhances the ability of an auditor or inspector to bring the full power of his judgment to bear on the problem. The point is that by the use of statistical sampling control charts or other statistical methods the inspector is first forced to define his problem and to determine whether his data are sufficient, rather than relying on an intuitive approach, which usually cannot be validated. If the activity to be inspected, audited, or supervised is large and complex and produces a standard output over a long period of time, then statistical methods are ideal as a management or command tool. Applications of statistical methods to inspection formats of small combat activities is not as easy. When this method can be used, however, it represents an approach whereby the inspector can assure himself that the data which he accumulates truly represents the state of the records or equipment examined. These methods are but limited tools to aid the inspector. They do not represent any magic formula which would remove the responsibility of interpreting the results. If anything, these statistical methods will require the exercise of a higher order of judgment but, at the same time, the results will provide greater confidence and reliability to validate the results. Statistical methods offer a substitute for 100 per cent verification, are free of bias, and when used with the proper control size, the control limit or correlation application can indeed be a most helpful management tool.
★
Notebook
U. S. Navy
Q Midshipmen Win Bendix Prize
{Navy Times, 19 April 1967) Midshipmen in the student chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Naval Academy have received first prize in the annual Bendix Corporation-AIAA Student Branch national competition.
The $300 prize was awarded to the midshipmen for their proposal on the design and construction of a water-based two-passenger glider. The glider, to be constructed by the 200-member AIAA branch at the Academy, will use the waters of the Chesapeake Bay as its runway and landing strip.
The unique lightweight design of the hydroglider will enable it to become airborne at a speed of about 15 miles per hour. In addition, a simplified control system will reduce weight and improve the handling characteristics of the glider.
s Navy-Marine Pilot Shortage Acute
(George W. Ashworth in The Christian Science Monitor, 13 April 1967) Shortage of Marine and Navy aviators may not be overcome before the early 1970’s, if the war in Vietnam continues.
The Senate preparedness investigating subcommittee concludes that shortages in the Marine aviation field will require the return of pilots to Vietnam at a faster rate than other Marines. And the subcommittee said in its fifth report on the situation in Southeast Asia, “The problem of pilot shortages can only be solved in Washington.”
Like previous reports, the latest includes comments from the Defense Department on various points. Dealing with the Marine pilot question, the Pentagon said that the Marine Corps “will receive 573 newly trained pilots in 1967 and 1968 and 673 in 1969. In addition, steps have been taken to retain regular pilots during the duration of the conflict. Additional increases are under study.”
As Pentagon officials doubtless knew, the specifics given do not answer whether the shortages will be overcome. The committee, noting this, referred to testimony given by
Gen. Wallace M. Greene, Jr., Marine Corps Commandant, who said that the projected shortage of pilots in fiscal 1968 is 1,021. According to the committee report, officers in the field in the Pacific believe that the shortages will be a problem for at least two years, no matter what is done by the Pentagon.
Admiral David L. McDonald, Chief of Naval Operations, has told Congress that the Navy was short 2,430 aviators early this year. Cockpits are being filled, he said, by keeping some people out of school and by not filling certain nonflying jobs. At the current training rate, the admiral said, the Navy won’t catch up until 1974.
More Ships Asked for Vietnam War
(R. W. Apple, Jr. in The New York Times, 22 April 1967) Adm. Roy L. Johnson, Commander of the United States Pacific Fleet, said that at least eight more destroyers were needed for the war in Vietnam.
Speaking at a news conference, Admiral Johnson disclosed that he had asked the Defense Department to send him another squadron, consisting of eight ships, as soon as possible. Five squadrons are permanently assigned to the Pacific Fleet, and a sixth— drawn from the Atlantic Fleet—has been added temporarily because of the war. Of the 46 to 50 “tin cans” included in these units, about 30 are assigned, on a rotating basis, to duty in waters east of Vietnam.
Asked where the additional ships could be obtained, the admiral replied: “The logical place would be the mothball fleet—ships that have been retired from service. You can’t just denude the Atlantic, even though they don’t have a war going on at the moment. They have contingency responsibilities.”
Although he declared that the Navy could fulfill its responsibility here with the ships now deployed in the Gulf and in the South China Sea, Admiral Johnson said this could be done only by risking excessive wear-and-tear on the ships and the possibility of deteriorating morale. Many of the destroyers are at sea three months out of four.
Admiral Johnson also said, in response to questions, that he had asked Washington for additional heavy firepower—either cruisers with 8-inch guns or battleships with 16-inch- ers. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara is reported to be studying the possibility of reactivating one of the battleships now in the mothball fleet. A decision is expected later this year. Asked whether he would prefer battleships or heavy cruisers, the admiral replied: “Both.”
0 Rickover Makes Plea for Nuclear Ships
(George W. Ashworth in The Christian Science Monitor, 20 May 1967)
Abolish Congress?
The mere thought would have sufficed to boggle a congressman had it not been clear that the admiral speaking was not serious.
The subject of the moment was Pentagon’s cost effectiveness. Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee was Vice Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, who has been keeping pace with his own different drummer for years, to the delight of Congress and the dismay of the Pentagon hierarchy.
Admiral Rickover told the attentive committee, “I am convinced that the cost-effectiveness syndrome is not going to last forever. Realities will inevitably intrude themselves.” The issue at point in the admiral’s testimony was the question of the need for nuclear power in surface warships. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara has generally opposed it, arguing that the increased costs would not be compensated for by increased effectiveness. Admiral Rickover argued that the lifetime costs for surface escort warships should be only 20 to 25 percent higher if nuclear power is used. No one disputes the Navy contention that nuclear ships would be faster, more effective, and less troublesome.”
The admiral pleaded with the committee to fight for nuclear power, asking, “For how many more years do you wish to keep on getting studies which merely show that nuclear power costs more than conventional power?” Despite the efforts of Congress, the admiral said, there are numerous studies on the matter but very few nuclear warships, the Navy having only one nuclear carrier and three nuclear escorts: the Enterprise, the Long Beach, the Bainbridge, and the Truxtun.
s Nuclear Escort Urged For Carriers
(Joseph R. L. Sterne in Baltimore Sun, 9 May 1967) Congress was urged today to override the Defense Department by authorizing the construction of nuclear-powered escort vessels for nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.
Representative Chet Holifield (D., Cal.), top-ranking House member on the Joint Atomic Energy Committee, said national security is more important than the “futile cost comparisons” which have caused Robert S. McNamara, Secretary of Defense, to label nuclear powered escort vessels too expensive.
“Nuclear propulsion has the fundamental advantage of permitting our warships to go anywhere in the world, to deliver their combat load and return all without logistic support, Holifield told the House. The congressman spoke out as the House prepared for debate tomorrow on the $21,235,032,000 defense authorization bill for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
Although the Administration requested funds to build two conventionally powered destroyers, the House Armed Services Committee voted instead for two nuclear frigates.
s Bainbridge Makes High-Speed Run
(Office of Assistant Secretary of Defense Public Affairs, 5 April 1967) The nuclear- powered guided missile frigate USS Bainbridge proved its capability again last month when it completed a more than 6,000-mile cruise from Subic Bay, Philippines to Fremantle, Australia, and thence back to Yankee Station off the Vietnam coast, at an average speed of 27.6 knots.
During the first leg of the cruise—Subic Bay to Fremantle, a distance of 2,996 miles— Bainbridge averaged 26 knots. On the return trip Fremantle to Yankee Station, a distance of 3,673 miles—the ship averaged 29.2 knots.
Other U. S. Services
SI NASA to Probe X-Ray Stars
(The Christian Science Monitor, 9 May 1967) A new scientific spacecraft called SAS-A—a small astronomy satellite A—has been added to the launching list of 1969.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said the satellite will cost about $9 million. Its principal function will be to map stars that emit X-rays.
NASA said it is the first flight unit of a new program aimed at charting X-ray stellar sources within and outside our galaxy. Data obtained from above the earth’s atmosphere, through SAS-A, could lead to selection of the more interesting sources of celestial radiation that can be studied in detail in later years by more sophisticated spacecraft, NASA said. Celestial X-ray energy sources were discovered in 1962.
0 ABM Defense Keyed to X-Rays
(Aviation Week & Space Technology, 15 May 1967) A new type of nuclear warhead, designed to destroy an enemy missile with high-intensity X-rays, is the cornerstone of present U. S. hopes for a feasible antiballistic missile area- defense. The new warhead design would be used in any operational deployment of the high-altitude, three-stage Spartan missile, but not in the low-altitude Sprint point-defense missile.
The new concept was disclosed by Dr. John S. Foster, Jr., director of Defense Research and Engineering, in closed hearings before the Senate Disarmament Subcommittee, under the Foreign Relations Committee, held earlier this year. A heavily censored transcript of the hearings was made public last week.
Approximately 80 per cent of the energy of a conventional nuclear warhead is given off in the form of primary thermal radiation, most of which consists of lower-energy (soft) X-rays. When the explosion occurs in the earth’s atmosphere, the X-rays are quickly absorbed by the air and converted into an intensely hot fireball.
At altitudes above 70 mi., where the air density is only one ten-millionth of that at sea level, the X-rays can travel for several hundred miles before dissipating their energy. At such altitudes, where Spartan will operate, the X-rays would therefore not be converted into a conventional fireball and blast effects are not available to destroy an enemy warhead.
In a conventional nuclear warhead, designed to create a large fireball at lower altitudes, most of the X-rays produced are the lower-energy variety. Foster’s testimony indicates that a new warhead for the Spartan is designed to produce the more penetrating, higher-energy type X-rays. “The advance which made area defense feasible was a change in the concept of the nuclear warhead,” Foster said.
There are several possible ways in which the high-energy X-rays might function to destroy a warhead. One is by impacting on the vehicle and causing the release inside it of secondary X-rays which could disrupt avionic circuits used for guidance and detonation of the warhead. Semiconductor devices, such as transistors and diodes, are relatively vulnerable to radiation damage, unless protected by heavy shielding.
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0 Army Brigade Formed for Vietnam
(Neil Sheehan in The New York Times, 12 May 1967) U. S. Department of Defense officials announced today that a 5,600-man Army infantry brigade to be formed this month at Fort Hood, Texas, would eventually be sent to South Vietnam.
Officials declined to say exactly when the brigade would go, but Army officers estimated that it would take at least five months for the new unit, designated the 198th Infantry Brigade, to be organized, fully trained, and shipped to Vietnam.
Defense officials suggested that the decision to send the brigade was taken some time ago and was not in response to a recent request by Gen. William C. Westmoreland, United States Commander in Saigon, for additional troops beyond the 480,000-man ceiling set by the Administration last fall.
During his visit here two weeks ago, General Westmoreland was reported to have asked President Johnson for a total of 555,000 troops by mid-1968 at the latest. There are now 442,000 American servicemen in South Vietnam.
The decision to send the brigade, officials said, “should not be taken as an indication that this involves anything beyond the troop strengths included in the 1968 budget already presented to Congress.” The budget provided for a Vietnam ceiling of 470,000 to 480,000 armed forces personnel.
0 Air Force Orders 493 FlllA Aircraft
(Charles W. Corddry in Baltimore Sun, 11 May 1967) The Air Force today signed a $1,821,938,561 contract with General Dynamics Corporation for production of 493 F-l 11 aircraft, one of the most publicized warplane types in history because of a year-long, inconclusive Senate investigation into the selection of the contractor.
Known formerly as the TFX (Tactical Fighter Experimental), the plane is in production for the Air Force, Navy, British Royal Air Force and Royal Australian Air Force, all these users to be supplied under today’s contract.
General Dynamics, of Fort Worth, whose selection by Robert S. McNamara, Secretary of Defense, sparked the Senate inquiry, has been working under an informal “letter contract.” Today’s definitive order will enable the company to make a 9 per cent profit if it meets the target cost of $1,671,503,267 for the 493 planes.
Pentagon spokesmen explained that today’s contract does not include the cost of turbofan engines and certain other items furnished the airframe contractor by the government from separate contracts. Consequently, it would be wrong to assume that the unit cost of the planes will be merely $3,695,616 as the announcement might indicate.
While unit costs for the various types of
F-lll’s to be produced are not yet definite, the best available estimates, as recently given Congress, are that the Air Force fighter craft will cost $5,000,000 each and the Navy interceptor version, which includes a highly advanced Phoenix missile system, will cost $8,000,000.
0 C.G. "Monster” Buoys at Expo 67
(Ocean Science News, 3 March 1967) U. S. Coast Guard’s monster buoy is now scheduled to be the featured oceanographic attraction at the Expo 67 world’s fair in Montreal, Canada, this summer. This is the 40-foot diameter discus buoy ordered by USCG from Convair Division of General Dynamics Corp. to replace the Scotland lightship at the entrance to Sandy Hook channel (southern route into New York harbor).
A major consideration delaying this decision was USCG’s and Convair’s reluctance in delaying the buoy’s at-sea evaluation period. If it works as well as anticipated in this role, both USCG and Convair would like to get on with a full-fledged program to replace all the lightships and offshore towers scheduled but not yet constructed. The 50-ton, battery- powered buoy is 40-feet tall with a 5,000 candlepower beacon 30 feet above the water.
@ A. F. XB-70 Program Goes to NASA
(Neal Stanford in The Christian Science Monitor, 25 March 1967) The United States Air Force has come full circle on the XB-70, that supersonic, 250-ton airplane which started its existence a decade ago as the B-70. The Air Force is stepping out of the picture of that high-flying bomber that was to have been the manned missile marvel of the future.
It transfers its interest in this Mach 3 (three times the speed of sound) plane, lock, stock, delta wing, and hooded-cobra look to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The Air Force will continue to cooperate with NASA in research and test projects with the XB-70 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Air Force pilots will continue to participate in the flights. But the Air Force’s concept of a string of some 200 B-70 bombers that could fly 80,000 feet up at a speed faster than the earth’s rotation is finished.
Of three experimental craft originally planned, one was scrubbed at the start for cost reasons; the second was destroyed in a mid-air collision June 8, 1966. One is left, and that now goes to NASA.
Why is the Air Force bowing out of the XB-70 picture? There are two principal reasons: money and obsolescence of the B-70 concept. In a sense the two are related. The Air Force, which has more than enough ways to spend the billions it gets, is out to save every million it can. Some $1,300,000,000 already has gone for research and development on the XB-70. But a fleet of 200 would have cost some $10,000,000,000 more.
Since the Air Force first began considering B-70s (actually in 1955 when design competition started among six companies), the United States has amassed thousands of ICBMs. The B-70 was out of a job.
53 Satellites Guide Vietnam Pilots
(The New York Times, 14 April 1967) American bombers are being guided to targets in
North Vietnam by daily photographs received from United States weather satellites. The Air Force said today that photographs of all Southeast Asia had become one of the most valuable guides to United States bombing and that the North Vietnamese might be receiving them, too, using them for air defense planning.
The weather photos from the ESSA survey satellite and the Nimbus satellite, both orbiting more than 600 miles up, are monitored by Air Force weather stations in Saigon and in Udon, Thailand. So important are the pictures that wet prints are frequently rushed to the United States air commander in Vietnam, Lieut. Gen. William W. Momyer, while strikes are headed north.
By spotting breaks in the clouds, General Momyer can divert planes to areas that are unexpectedly clear. With satellite photos sometimes taken minutes before, he has a grasp of the weather situation that is impossible to obtain by conventional forecasting.
The electronic satellite photos are received by standard television techniques somewhat refined to give more detail. The standard United States screen, for example, has 500 lines an inch while satellite pictures are 800 lines an inch. The two satellites usually furnish two photos daily of Southeast Asia.
Maritime General
53 Collisions Outnumber Strandings
(J. H. Beattie in The Journal of the Institute of Navigation, April 1967) There are several authorities which endeavour to list all marine casualties reported and all of these show that the number of collisions now far exceeds strandings. In this report, reference is made to one official source, which is the U. S. Coast Guard annual report on U. S. marine casualties. This is an extremely detailed report and it shows in the fiscal year 1965 there were a total of 3,095 marine casualties reported to them. 633 (20 per cent of all) casualties were groundings, whereas 1682 (55 per cent) were collisions. However, 438 of these collisions were with fixed objects.
Another official reference might have been chosen, that of the U. K. Board of Trade annual report on U. K. registered shipping casualties. These figures are typical of recent
U. K . experience where there are now twice as many collisions as strandings. Forty years ago, U. K. strandings were believed to have far outnumbered collisions.
Since 1946 there has been little change in the level of total U. K. collision casualties, but the rate of U. K. strandings was halved between 1949 and 1955, probably as the result of the widescale fitting of electronic navigation aids. A report from an underwriters’ association also again shows there are more collisions than strandings. The Liverpool Underwriters Association casualty return on all casualties over 500 gross registered tons reported in 1963 shows:
Collisions Strandings
Total losses 21 71
Partial losses 1,793 978
Total casualties 1,814 1,049
The Working Groups on Traffic Separation at Sea were not principally concerned with producing precise collision indexes for the world or special areas even if these have any real relevance. They were concerned with providing a solution to the existing collision problem in converging areas. They were aware that these collisions in the ‘open sea’ form a relatively small proportion of all collisions but that experience shows that these collisions are generally of a much more serious nature than those in terminal areas. It is believed the Working Groups were also concerned with establishing a traffic pattern in converging areas for the future of world seaborne trade. Clearly they had in mind the operation of very large and fast ships in the future with an increasing number of ships at sea. So far they have only concerned themselves with trying to deal with problems encountered in the ‘open sea’ as opposed to the ‘terminal or port areas.’
s A 12-Man Tanker Predicted
(The New York Times, 17 May 1967) The oil tanker of the future, according to expert opinion among tanker operators and shipbuilders, will be manned by a crew of 12, fueled by ordinary crude oil and capable of transporting enormous quantities of oil. This picture developed yesterday during the annual tanker conference of the American Petroleum Institute. The three-day meeting was held at Absecon, N. J. The papers and presentations were made public here.
Two Sinclair Refining Company executives, a company in the forefront of developing efficient liquid bulk carriers, described a vessel that could be operated by a crew of 12. The ship, proposed by Capt. Charles M. Lynch, general manager of Sinclair’s marine transportation division, and Thurland T. Wilkinson, manager of marine operations, represents a big step beyond the 52,150-ton tanker Sinclair Venezuela, a highly automated motorship that can be operated with a crew of 25.
The 12-man tanker would be a 1,165-foot, 17.6-knot vessel with a cargo capacity of 200,000 tons and would be driven by a marine gas turbine. The gas turbine’s normal power output would be 40,000 horsepower and its maximum power rating 60,000 horsepower, making it one of the most powerful marine applications of aircraft jet engines.
H Super Tanker Ports Limited
(Baltimore Sun, 18 May 1967) The number of ports which will handle the cargo imported on mammoth oil tankers will probably be limited to four or five, the Army Corps of Engineers said today.
And, judging by the cost and practical limitations placed on future dredging projects by Army spokesmen here, Baltimore will not be included in the select group.
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Lieutenant General William F. Cassidy, chief of the Corps of Engineers, urged members of the American Petroleum Institute to
use “ingenuity” in resolving the difficult question of how and where to handle the huge tankers of the future which will have drafts of 80 feet and more.
“We cannot continue to deepen harbors to accommodate the ships you are planning to build” he said, adding, “someplace there is an economic limit to what we can do.”
Brig. Gen. F. P. Koisch, a member of Cassidy’s staff, pointed out that there were other practical factors which will limit the amount of additional deepening the Corps of Engineers can undertake. These include the already existing harbor tunnels in port areas such as Baltimore, Hampton Roads and New York, which in effect put a floor under possible channel projects.
He said deep-water sites “maybe two in the Gulf and two in the Atlantic” would be selected to handle the tankers whose lengths will range well over 1,100 feet. Among the criteria for site selection, he indicated, would be the availability of natural deep water and proximity to existing refinery facilities.
@ Barge-Carrier Bids Asked
(Charles Coveil in the Washington Star, 14 May 1967) Like the railroads, the United States merchant marine may find its salvation in the piggyback business. Authorization has just been announced by the Maritime Subsidy Board of Prudential Lines, Inc., and Pacific Far East Lines, Inc. to go ahead with the construction of 11 LASH (lighter-aboard- ship) vessels at a cost variously estimated at between $150 million and $200 million.
Spyros S. Skouras, Prudential president, and Leo C. Ross, president of Pacific Far East, said that invitations to bid on the con
struction are being sent to leading American shipyards.
The vessels are described as the biggest cargoliners in the world. Each will be 814 feet long with a beam of 100 feet. The Prudential vessels will be capable of carrying 58 loaded barges and 128 containers and the Pacific Far East ships, 49 barges and 356 containers. The barges will be pre-stowed with cargo. When the ship arrives in port they will be lifted aboard, eliminating the necessity of lengthy port time. The shipping lines say that a full complement of barges and containers may be loaded in less than 24 hours, compared to the present loading period of approximately 10 days with conventional cargoliners. LASH vessels also will not require pier facilities, for the loaded barges may be lifted on or off from an anchorage in a harbor.
As a subsidy to offset the difference in cost between building the ships in the United States and abroad, the Maritime Administration will pay up to 55 per cent of the $150 million to $200 million involved.
s Company Plans 12 Nuclear Ships
(Helen Delich Bentley in Baltimore Sun, 18 May 1967) The Waterman Steamship Corporation revealed today that it has advised the Maritime Administration it wants to build and operate 12 nuclear-powered merchant ships to sail on various trade routes.
In testimony opposing the layup of the N. S. Savannah, Herbert Hansen, vice president in charge of Waterman’s Marine Department, said the company feels that nuclear power and containerships offer an unbeatable combination. At the present time, most of Waterman’s ships are World War Il-built C-2s.
Hansen, who worked on the N. S. Savannah as project marine superintendent when it was under operation by the States Marine Lines and also served as consultant on the Savannah for the Maritime Administration for three years, revealed the information concerning Waterman’s plans in testimony calling for continued operation of the Savannah.
The House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, headed by Representative Edward A. Garmatz (D., Md.), is holding hearings on the Administration proposal to mothball the ship in order to save $1,000,000 annually in operating expenses.
Foreign
s RAF Ends Bomber-Fighter Commands
(Armed Forces Management, April, 1967) Plans to reorganize the command structure of the U. K. home-based armed services have been revealed by the Ministry of Defence.
In the Royal Air Force, the Fighter and Bomber Commands are to be abolished, and a new Strike, Reconnaissance and Defence Command is being established instead. The existing Transport Command will stay, but will be widened to provide tactical air support for ground forces. The two main commands for the Navy are still being finalized, but are expected to be an Operational Command, directed by the Commander in Chief, Home Fleet, and the Administration Command, under the Commander in Chief, Portsmouth.
The Army is to have a Strategic Command in the south of England in place of Southern Command, and Scottish and Northern Irish Commands will be downgraded to Districts. The aim of the changes is to streamline the command structure into a more functional system, saving both money and manpower and bringing the top-level commands more into line with defence thinking.
s Britain’s Second Assault Ship Sails
(iShipbuilding and Shipping Record, 23 March 1967) The Royal Navy’s second assault ship, the Intrepid, was commissioned at the Clydebank yard of John Brown & Company on March 11. A sister ship to the Fearless, she completes the programme put in hand five years ago for two assault ships, which will powerfully reinforce the British amphibious warfare squadron deployed in the Far East.
Assault ships combine the role which were individually undertaken during the second world war by the landing ship dock (LSD), landing ship infantry (LSI), and landing headquarters/fighter direction (LSH/LSF), and are thus versatile vessels able to undertake a wide variety of tasks. They will not necessarily be deployed on their own. Their basic provision is to land troops up to brigade strength, together with their armoured fighting and transport vehicles, under operational conditions on any coast, and exercise the necessary military and naval command facilities required by such an operation.
In view of the widely varying slope gradients that can be experienced the vessels are not designed to beach, but ferry heavy armour and transport ashore by means of four landing craft mechanised MK. 9 stowed in a floodable dock compartment aft. Troops are put ashore by means of four landing craft vehicle/per- sonnel (LCVP) stowed under davits amidships each able to accommodate 35 fully equipped troops—which they man at upper deck level, and the LCVPs are so hoisted and lowered for each flight, or by helicopter.
The hull has three main divisions; the fore part for crew accommodation, two vehicle decks amidships, and the dock compartment aft. The dock walls and wing compartments abreast the vehicle deck are used for troop accommodation. Special ventilation is needed to keep the vehicle decks clear of fumes, and they are separated by an air-tight cofferdam from adjoining compartments. The need to ballast down to flood the dock compartment imposes penalties in weight and space, and consequently a deep double bottom extends over the whole length. Over 7,000 tons of water ballast can be pumped in or out, at a rate of 10,000/5,000 tons/hr.
Main propulsion is by two English Electric geared turbines, each developing 11,000 s.h.p., taking steam at 550 p.s.i./850°F from two Babcock & Wilcox boxed-in boilers. The forward machinery unit has the boiler to port and the turbine to starboard, and the arrangement is reversed in the after unit. Each unit has a separate control room for the remote operation of main and auxiliary machinery.
The upper of the two vehicle decks are used for heavy armour, and the after end is sloped down to provide an apron against which the
LCM(9)s can lower their bow ramps. A hinged ramp connects the lower vehicle deck with the upper one, and the after part is of restricted height as the crown of the machinery compartments project into this space. When not required for operating helicopters the flight deck can also be used as a vehicle park, and is provided with a hinged ramp at its fore end linking it with the upper vehicle deck.
A squadron (16) of the heaviest tanks can be carried, equally disposed between the upper vehicle deck and two in each LCM(9). The latter craft are all of recent construction, of which 12 were ordered following the completion of two prototypes by Vosper Limited, Portsmouth, and have a full load displacement of 176 tons, dimensions of 85 ft o.a. / 77 ft b.p. X 21 ft X 9J ft depth / 55ft draught, and are powered by two 6-cylinder Davey Paxman type YHXAM diesel engines totalling 624 b.h.p. turning twin screws for a speed of 10 knots. To improve maneuverability the screws are enclosed in a Kort nozzle.
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Research and Development
s Propeller Aircraft in a Jet-Age War
(Tom Buckley in The New York Times, 11 May 1967) “We tell people that we grease the body and wings to make them go faster,” Maj. Ed Maxson was saying as he climbed into his cockpit, “but the plain truth is that the engine sprays oil over everything.”
He was talking about the 20-year-old Douglas A-1E Skyraider, which the First Air Commando Squadron flies from its base here in the uplands 230 miles northwest of Saigon.
The Skyraider is the only propeller-driven fighter being used in Vietnam. For as long as the Skyraiders fly at 140 knots, the men who fly them will argue that their planes can still do some jobs better than the jets.
“Hell,” said Major Maxson, “we can put our ordnance within 50-foot tolerances. We can stay in the air for five or six hours at a time. We can operate when the weather isn’t good enough for jets.”
The commando squadron is the only Air Force unit in Vietnam that flies Skyraiders. The Navy, which ordered the plane designed and built, has three squadrons, about 60 planes, aboard its carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin. Until a few weeks ago the South Vietnamese Air Force of about 100 combat planes was equipped only with Skyraiders, but it has received its first squadron of F-5 jets. More are scheduled to arrive until the change-over is complete.
The air commandos and the Navy squadrons have one mission in common: to assist in the rescue of fliers downed over North Vietnam. The rescuers try to keep away ground forces with cluster bombs and bursts from their 20-mm, cannons—four mounted in the wings of each plane—until helicopters can arrive.
s New Institute for Sea Study
(Washington Post, 12 February 1967) Catholic University has established a new Institute of Ocean Engineering, the Most Rev. William J. McDonald, rector, announced yesterday. The Institute will work closely with the Naval Research Laboratories here and the Marine Engineering Laboratories in Annapolis through an interchange of facilities, research problems, faculty and other professional personnel and students, Bishop McDonald said.
Dr. Frank A. Andrews, CU research professor in the mechanics department of the School of Engineering and Architecture will serve as Institute director. A retired Navy captain, he led the successful search for the nuclear submarine Thresher after it sank in 1963. Andrews noted yesterday that a long range program in marine science, now being studied by a Presidentially-appointed Commission of Marine Science, Engineering and Resources, will require increased numbers of graduate ocean engineers.
Bishop McDonald said with the new Institute, the University’s School of Engineering will offer an interdisciplinary graduate program leading to the M.S.E., the PH.D., or the Doctor of Engineering in Ocean Engineering.
0 University Course for Fishermen
(iShipbuilding & Shipping Record, 9 March 1967) In response to a demand for fishermen with proper education to take advantage of new techniques, larger vessels and complicated, automated equipment, the University of Rhode Island, has established a two-year associate degree course programme in commercial fisheries. The first 40 students will be enrolled in the autumn to begin a curriculum of theory and practice ashore and afloat.
With the intention (as the prospectus says) of training young men to be competent fishermen at sea, sound businessmen ashore and giving them a profitable career, the curriculum will cover the operation of modern fishing vessels and their equipment, the maintenance of the vessels and their equipment at maximum efficiency and safety, the distinguishing of valuable species of fish, the use of electronic equipment to find the fish, the understanding of hydrographic conditions and fish behaviour, the catching of fish by various old and new methods, and an appreciation of the economics of food production and marketing and of maritime legislation.
This university has a College of Agriculture already with an active programme in marine food and resource economics. It also has a reputation as a centre for ocean sciences. Facilities include a graduate school of oceanography, with an ocean-going research ship; a marine experiment station, an institute of marine technology, a department of ocean engineering and an international law of the sea institute.
s New Steel For Safer Submarines
(Allen M. Smythe in The Oakland Tribune, 9 April 1967) After four years of research, U. S. Steel is presenting to the Navy new tough steel for stronger and lighter submarines that could prowl the oceans at greater depths. A $167,000 subcontract for final testing of this alloy steel of 130,000 pounds per square inch has been given to Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. This includes the building of a “structure” 20 feet long and 8 feet in diameter of the new steel, called HY130, that can De tested for severe undersea strains.
Tests of similar “structures” are scheduled to be made at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics at Groton, Conn, and at the Mare Island Navy Yard in California. These are the three top qualified shipyards for building Polaris type submarines.
The tests which will be completed this year will be followed by destruction tests on submarine sections 40 to 50 feet long and 25 feet in diameter. The Navy expects six of these to be demolished in the three shipyards before any operating undersea vehicle is built.
s Israel to Open Ocean Study Unit
(James Feron in The New York Times, 5 March 1967) A marine biological laboratory will open soon at Elath, Israel’s port on the Gulf of Aqaba. The new structure will be one of the few such laboratories available for study of the flora and fauna of tropical waters.
Built by Hebrew University with some Government assistance, the nearly completed Elath station was shown recently to members of the Scientific Committee of Oceanic Research meeting in Israel. [The Embassy of Israel in Washington reports that the facility “exists” though a war was fought in the area.]
These biologists and others have long pressed for an all-year facility at Elath. They said that the scientific climate already existed in Israel and the nation had convenient access to two different ocean systems—the Atlantic and Indian. The new $220,000 marine facility is a two-story structure built on columns to accommodate 15 scientists and technicians.
Progress
Phoenix in Flight—The Navy’s new Phoenix missile takes off for its first test flight on the F-lllB. The missile, in firing position under the wing, was designed for use on the new, swing-wing interceptor.
Hughes Aircraft
Modern Monitor—A monitor of the U. S. Navy’s River Assault Flotilla One is seen in the well deck of the USS Comstock (LSD-19). This boat, converted from a standard LCM-6, has been heavily armed and armored for service in the Mekong Delta and the Rung Sat Special Zone in South Vietnam. Notice her new spoonshaped bow and her 40-mm. gun mounted forward.
Don McCartney, J01, USH
JFK Christened—On 27 May, the conventionally- powered attack aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CVA-67) was christened by Caroline Kennedy. The ship was launched by flotation and after the christening was taken from the graving dock into the James River. The keel was laid 22 October 1964. The modified America-class carrier is scheduled for delivery in 1968. The flight deck covers 4.56 acres and has four elevators and four catapults. The 61,450-ton ship has an over-all length of 1,051 feet and a beam of 2 52 feet.
Newport News Shipbuilding
Russian Giant—One of a series of Russian Mil helicopters, MN-10 was demonstrated at Gatwick Airport in England to promote sales abroad. Claimed to be the world’s largest helicopter, it can carry up to 2 5 tons between its spider legs and cruise at 130 m.p.h. Sovfoto
Tri-Service Uniform—Canada’s Armed Forces this summer began testing a new uniform that will eventually be worn by all services. Dark green in color with gold buttons, it is made of polyester fiber and wool. The cap badge designates the service, but officers of brigadier and above wear a common badge. The guard at Expo 67 is the largest single group to try the uniform. Represented are: an Air Force sergeant, an Army captain, and a Navy able seaman.
Canadian Dept, of National Defense
Workboat—The Beaver Mark IV research submarine, now under development by North American Aviation, features portable pilot controls, 10 view ports, two manipulator arms, portable manipulator controls, dry personnel transfer ports, and a diver lockout chamber. She measures 2 5 feet long by eight feet wide by nine feet high, and the 27,000-pound craft has a submerged speed of five knots with a depth