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Although the Aleutian Island Survey Expedition of 1935, known to its members as ALISEX, is nearly 40 years past, the "overfall” phenomenon encountered then is still a potential hazard for those who would navigate the Aleutian waters in surface ships or submarines.
The operating force for the survey consisted of the minelayer Oglala, six bird-class minesweepers, an aviation unit, a hydrographic survey party with sounding boats, and an aerological unit. Our area of concentration was the Rat Island group, including the principal islands Kiska, Rat, Amchitka, and Semisopochnoi.
The experience with an "overfall” took place in Oglala Pass, lying between Amchitka Island and Rat Island. An unabridged Webster’s Dictionary will not define the meaning of this noun "overfall” completely. However, a shorter Oxford English Dictionary will define my meaning of the word as "A turbulent surface of water with short breaking waves, caused by a strong current or tide setting over a submerged
ridge or shoal, or by the meeting of contrary currents.”
The term apparently entered the vocabularies of nautical writers early in the 16th Century. American writers have submerged the term within the general heading of "tide rips,” or else they are unaware of it.
The Oglala Pass is roughly 10 miles wide on a bearing northwest from Bird Rock on the northwest end of Amchitka. I took the tiller of a sounding boat to cross the pass and add support to the minesweeper USS Kingfisher in her work around Rat Island.
It was a beautiful day, the sea was smooth, and there was a breath of breeze out of the northwest; but there was a long heavy swell moving through the pass out of the Pacific to the southwest. Rat Island was plainly visible and we were heading for Ayagadak Point on the southeastern end of Rat Island.
At about mid-pass we began to get a marked southwesterly set. I held up more to the north to counteract this set and still clear Ayagadak Point by a com
fortable margin. The Kingfisher had reported foul ground to seaward of the point.
The set grew stronger, and soon I was heading due north, while astern of us a line of white water had appeared on the face of the sea. I held on my northerly course a while longer, but it was to no avail. Our set was stronger than our speed, and in the meantime the white water had moved closer in on us. Looking aft, I could see that the onset of white water proved to be several lines of breakers extending for miles athwart the pass and moving toward the northeast. We came full about and headed for them. There was plenty of water in mid-pass. It had been wire-dragged by pairs of minesweepers for obstacles and was navigable for vessels of any draft in a channel three miles wide in mid-pass.
There was little time to observe things. As the overfall approached and we headed into it, our water became as smooth as a mill race. It seemed to plunge down and under the first breakers. The breakers, about four feet high,
Professional Notes 111
peaked and broke as if they were moving against a smooth sandy beach with spurts of froth and foam racing on ahead, rushing up the slope of our glassy water. We passed over and through the first breaker line easily. We took a little water forward, and our engine raced briefly, so we still had full power to meet the second line of breakers. The first breaker had spent most of its energy in peaking and falling over before we went into it.
We were not so fortunate with the second breaker. We met it as it peaked. Solid water came over our stem, filling the forward compartment. When our bunch shuddered clear and the breaker passed under us, our propeller raced, but the engineman throttled back to idle. As we pitched down into the second trough he returned to full power.
A swirl hit us in the second trough, and we met the third breaker broad on the port bow. It had not peaked, and tn the face of a terrifying roll which caused us to ship water fore and aft over 'he starboard rail, we managed to cut °tit and over the crest, even as a surfer cuts out of a wave he doesn’t care to tide.
That ended the breaker phase. We "ere safely afloat but now in the midst °f a violent tide rip. We could do noth
ing to help ourselves using power or rudder. We spun around in swirls of current. We pitched, rolled, and yawed. In a quarter of an hour or so the tide rip subsided and it seemed to have moved off to the northeast. We began to have a set to the northward so we resumed our way to Gunner Cove on Rat Island with no further difficulties.
For days following the experience described, I tried to evolve a theory to explain its causes. What were the environmental factors surrounding Oglala Pass on the day it occurred?
South of the Aleutians is the abyssal Aleutian Trench. The Oglala had sounded south of Amchitka, Rat and Kiska, establishing the 1,000-fathom curve within five miles and 100-fathom curve within three miles of the islands. Oglala Pass had been wire-dragged and was free of pinnacles and shoals in mid-channel. Oglala Pass provides a simple unobstructed channel for vessels of any draft between Pacific and Bering Sea waters. Bering Sea water is colder and more saline than Pacific water. It was a time of spring tides during the dark of the moon. Warmer and less saline waters are carried in the warm Japanese current along Asia’s eastern seaboard as far northward as the 50th parallel. There, the Japanese current
diffuses into the wide west wind drift on the northern side of the semipermanent massive North-Pacific anticyclone. The west wind drift passes eastward immediately south of the Aleutian Island Chain. That, briefly, is the environment of Oglala Pass.
I concluded that the causes of the phenomenon were mainly hydrographic, contributed to by the atmospheric factors of heavy swells emanating from a storm to the southwest and a steep barometric gradient existing across our area from north to south. Ocean and atmosphere are two unique fluid environments in contact at their mutual interface. Inevitably, interactions and feedbacks occur across the mutual boundary.
In addition to the hydrographic and atmospheric causes, there were incidental contributions from meteorology. It was a period of spring tides during the dark phase of the new moon. Bering Sea waters are denser than Pacific waters. The tide in Oglala Pass apparently was at or near low-water slack. The higher atmospheric pressure over Bering Sea was literally squeezing Bering Sea water southward through the pass and causing our set to the southwest. This was contrary to general experience in the Aleutians. Ebb tide usually is not as strong
as flood. Its duration is shorter, and frequently a northerly set persists during the entire ebb; thus permitting Pacific water to "seep” through the passes in spite of the ebb. This does not preclude a net transfer of Bering Sea water southward. It only hides the current from the surface observer and causes a submerged shear zone between the opposing currents. While velocity vectors within the opposing currents permit smooth stable flow at the shear zone, turbulence (indicating the transition from smooth stable flow to the turbulent unstable flow) is not observed at the surface. The gradual decline of turbulence we observed in the tide rip following the overfall no doubt was the result of deeper submergence of the shear zone as the Bering Sea water plunged down the steep slope of the bottom toward the Aleutian Trench. On
the other hand, these speculations may explain how tide rips may occur in deep channels, such as Oglala Pass, without shoals or irregular bottoms resulting from submerged ridges and ledges. The tide rips are the results of shallow shear zones between conflicting currents after smooth stable flow has broken down into turbulent unstable flow.
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In addition, I call attention to the probability of subsurface turbulence inside the 100-fathom curve in Pacific waters south of the Aleutians and in the passes between them. The same warning is probably relevant to the waters of the Kuriles and Tierra del Fuego as well. Submarine commanders cruising submerged in these regions, and perhaps in all regions having similar environmental controls, can well experience turbulent instability at any depth above the ther- mocline.
The writer has referred to two editions of the United States Coast Pilot■' Alaska-Aleutian Islands [Special First (1944) Edition] and Pacific and Arctic Coasts [Seventh (1964) Edition], In each, nothing even vaguely resembling an overfall is called to the attention of navigators. Tide rips are mentioned frequently as occurring in the passes of the Aleutians and in other localities around the coasts of Alaska. Tide rips are usually ascribed to swift currents moving over shoals or irregular rocky bottoms, high winds and following seas moving contrary to the currents of tidal flow, but no reasons are given for tide rips in waters of great depth on days that are relatively free of winds and weather. These two editions of Coast Pilots cover a lapse of 20 years. The characteristics of a phenomenon I choose to label "overfall” still remain undescribed.
Oil and the Beneficial Uses of Water
By Lieutenant Commander D. H.
Fluharty, CEC, U. S. Navy, Public Works Officer and Officer in Charge of Construction, Naval Regional Medical Center, Oakland, California
A recent cartoon in a national magazine showed two boys standing on an ocean beach. One boy held a large shell and said to his companion, "If you listen very close, you can hear the oil.” This is indicative of the public opinion of oil pollution from ships, and that opinion has resulted in social and political pressure to curb pollution from oceangoing vessels. The oil well leaks off the California coast, the collision of two tankers in San Francisco Bay, and the disastrous wreck of the Torrey Canyon off the coast of England have brought considerable attention to oil pollution, principally because esthetic values are violated, recreational areas are damaged, and consequences to waterfoul are obvious.
However, what are the effects of oil on all beneficial uses of water when the oil is the result of routine operations, and is not from the large quantities associated with a catastrophe? What are the effects of small spills and of spills over a long period? Because officers in
many branches of the naval service are affected by public criticism of spills from routine operations, the actual effects should be known and appreciated.
In the last half century over five million tons of oil has been spilled on the sea at various times. Nature has disposed of this oil either by dispersal or destruction.
Oil is dispersed by evaporation, sinking, and, rarely, beaching. The volatile constituents of spilled oil evaporate within several days, and the non-volatile material spreads into a layer only a few molecules thick. Acids and inorganic salts dissolve in the water, and the remainder is converted into emulsions. Emulsions are the dispersal of small droplets of one liquid within another, usually with a third material acting as an emulsifying agent or emulsifier. Oil- in-water emulsions are stable, very miscible with sea water, and disperse rapidly in the volume of the water. Water-in-oil emulsions are easily broken up but with
absorption of sand, clay or other heavy particles, will sink and then be more susceptible to the process of destruction.
Oil is destroyed by such processes as spontaneous chemical oxidation and oxidation by micro-organisms. The resulting compounds are heavier than water and will sink. Chemical oxidation is rapid for oil-in-water emulsions or oil floating in thin layers. However, microbial oxidation is up to ten times faster. Different species of organisms attack different classes of hydrocarbons. The rate of decomposition depends on those variables which influence bacteria reproduction and growth; e.g., light, heat, and oxygen content. As protozoa feed on the bacteria, the densified oil sinks. This process can take weeks and sometimes months, but it disposes of enormous quantities of oil.
The use of a detergent as an emulsifying agent in cleanup operations forms and stabilizes high amounts of emulsions that facilitate rapid disposal of oil
by dispersal, but directly contribute to the death of many plants and animals. This creates some controversy over the effects of oil on the ocean because of the damage done by emulsifying agents applied, the wreck of the Torre)' Canyon being most notable. Emulsifying agents can slow the total removal process by killing bacteria and thereby impeding microbial destruction. (Adding nutrients accelerates the decomposition and may have applications to shallow water spills.)
Oil on water violates the esthetic standards of the public. The accompanying table gives the quantities of oil required to form a film on one square mile of area of water with resulting differences in appearance. The films disappear by dispersal and/or destruction. Films up to 30 millionths of an inch do not persist for more than five hours, and films of 40 millionths of an inch thickness disappear in less than 24 hours. For uniform discharges of oil, it has been concluded that ten gallons discharged per hour uniformly distributed over one square mile would not be visible. In harbors, however, currents for uniform distribution are rare, and the concentration of ships often results in sufficient oil discharge to create an appearance objectionable to the public. The spilling of one 55-gallon oil drum Would cause visible oil for many hours as distribution over the water surface and disappearance progress.
Health effects on humans and mam- ttals are almost non-existent because oceangoing vessels are seldom in waters Used for domestic supply. Furthermore, mgestion of oil in toxic or even injuries amounts is highly improbable since
the water would be unpalatable from taste and odors. Concentrations of oil in water at one-part-per-million produce taste beyond human tolerability.
Odors from fuel oil on water are objectionable to the majority of people at one part per 500,000 and detectable at concentrations as low as one part per two million. Since odor is a function of volatility, the odor increases with temperature, and lower concentrations can be objectionable. As the volatile elements decrease, the odors slowly decrease with time unless the biological destruction processes described earlier take place. Biodegradation can cause objectionable odors at one part per million.
With virtually every major oil spill there are reports of large fish kills, and these result in public outcry. The public then views all oil pollution as a menace to fish in particular and to aquatic life in general. There is little doubt that even small concentrations have some effect (perhaps only the movement of fish to other areas), but the degree of
Professional Notes 113
pollution is very important in discussing fish kills.
There are so many factors influencing toxicity, and their interactions are so complex, it is not possible to express the effects for the general case. In 1953 the report of the Committee on the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil of the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation of the British government concluded that while in general damage to fish and shellfish is slight, oil pollution undoubtedly discouraged the inshore fishing industry and causes occasional hardship. That is, there was no evidence that fish were killed by oil pollution but there were a few instances where fish in inshore waters had become tainted and unfit for sale. It further stated that, in spite of many complaints, there was no evidence that oil causes damage to shellfish beds unless deposited in large quantities such as from a ship aground. These conclusions are consistent with the following information when "oil pollution” is limited to the minimum discharge of oil during routine operation of vessels.
Free oil and emulsions may adhere to gills of fish and interfere with respiration, but fish can secrete a mucous film to wash away irritants in light concentrations. However, if the concentration is too heavy, such as from an unusually large spill, the gills can be coated and cause asphyxia. Organisms such as oysters, clams, and sea anemones are not injured by brief submergence in oil, and their respiration is not affected by light concentrations of oil.
Thickness of films in millionths of an inch | Gallons of oil per square mile | Appearance of Oil |
15 | 25 | Barely visible under most favorable light conditions |
30 | 50 | Visible as a silvery sheen |
60 | 100 | First trace of color may be observed |
120 | 200 | Bright bands of color |
400 | 666 | Colors begin to dull |
800 | 1332 | Colors much darker |
For light concentrations, direct toxicity of fish and other large aquatic life is not a problem, but effects of chronic toxicity are extremely difficult to meas-
114
ure. In oysters, the rate of feeding has been found to decrease in direct proportion to the oil concentration. However, light concentrations can kill or retard growth and reproduction of smaller organisms, thus reducing the food supply. Navy-grade special fuel oil is toxic to several organisms including barnacles. Free oil and emulsions can coat and destroy algae and plankton, again sources of food. Settleable oily substances may coat harbor or river bottoms destroying benthal organisms and/or interfering with spawning areas. The biological action on the oil may deoxygenate the water sufficiently to kill or drive away aquatic life. Soluble and emulsified materials ingested by the organisms taint the flavor, and this can last for some time, e.g., several months in mussels.
Why, then, does the public associate fish kills with oil pollution? The publicity has been related to large concentrations which have proportionately larger effects, but the most important factor is the use of emulsifying agents. It was concluded at a symposium by the Field Studies Council at Orielton Field Centre near Pembroke, England that the effects of the oil are far less than those resulting from use of emulsifiers. The direct toxic effect of the emulsifying agents is even more devastating to the smaller organisms. In laboratory experiments with amoeba, the lower hydrocarbons (such as in fuel oil) had little effect, and more volatile substances caused only immobility and insensitivity to external stimuli. Emulsifiers killed the cell. The use of carbonized sand or other agents to sink oil slicks in harbors permits localized concentrations to reach toxic levels that may not exist before the addition of the agent. Although rare in occurrence, large quantities of oil that persist on the surface for long periods can interfere with the natural processes of reaeration and photosynthesis.
The effects of oil pollution or emulsifiers on plant life are also hard to determine as each species is affected to varying degrees. Emulsifiers definitely kill many types of fauna, while other types are injured but recover with time. One large affect of the wreck of the Toney Canyon was the killing of large numbers of sea urchins and other "grazing animals” which resulted in an abnormal
growth of kelp.
Oil becomes a hazard to waterfowl when the waters used as a refuge and habitat become covered with floating oil or emulsions. The oil coats the feathers and causes the down to "glue up.” The protecting air stratum is then so thin that it will not produce insulation. Their flying powers are decreased, often so much that the birds must swim. It is generally concluded that only a small percentage of birds affected by a large spill at sea ever reach land and that a bird once oiled is doomed in nature. Even at cleaning stations, a low percentage survives, e.g., about 450 of the 7,849 treated after the Toney Canyon disaster survived, and it is believed that between 30,000 and 100,000 birds perished. It must be noted that light concentrations have little effect on waterfowl.
Because it affects the public directly, the oil coating of beaches and recreational areas is highly objectionable. Floating or emulsified oil may also foul boats, fishing gear, piers and quays. The affect on these beneficial uses of water is the primary reason for using emulsifiers to remove large quantities of oil from the surface. As seen previously, the biological effects of emulsifiers can be great and should be carefully weighed when their use is contemplated.
Floating oil has been known to burn but the hazard is remote. This "hazard” is of importance as being the basis of an Appellate Court decision in 1936 that oil interfered with navigation. This decision is used in Federal Courts to prevent the discharge of oily substances from vessels in navigable waters.
Ironically, the slightest trace of oil is
Professional Notes 115
undesirable in the feed water for the boiler power plants on ships because it can cause foaming, priming, overheating and coating of tubes, and poor transmission of heat.
In conclusion, there is a positive and a negative reason for halting all oil spills. The positive reason is the application to violations of the environment of logic best expressed by Sir Walter Scott: "When a man has not a good reason
for doing a thing, he has one good reason for letting it alone.” In the above described effects there are no cases where an oil spill adds to any of man’s beneficial uses of water.
The negative reason is that the public will not tolerate spills of any size even though unenlightened in the actual effects of small spills. The very sight and smell of oil violate esthetic beneficial uses of bays and harbors. Appearance and clean air are becoming more impor-
tant as the total environment is harmed by other pollutants. Because the highly publicized major oil spills have violated esthetic values and have resulted in catastrophic damage (whether caused by huge quantities of oil or the means of removal) the public now views all oil on water as pollution and harmful. Even the smallest spills can be seen, and minor spills can produce odors.
Prevention is the only acceptable solution and must be the goal.
Remotely-Manned Systems: Technology’s Helping Hands
By Commander Nicholas Newman, Royal Australian Navy
While a man’s best friend may still be his dog, man’s best friends may very Well become the remotely-manned systems he creates to do for him the things that are too dangerous for him to do himself. The "robot” bomber is one such synthetic surrogate. Because of the exchange of information by radio between "pilot” and aircraft, an individual can perform and react with the aircraft as if he were in the cockpit. Thus, the remote location can be regarded as manned, but not inhabited.
The remotely-manned interdiction bomber is an attractive concept due to the high cost of ensuring a reasonable mortality rate when attacking through ground-to-air defense networks. Attempts at optimum selection of performance, reliability, armor and payload seem to result in an ever-increasing size of aircraft with a related rise in cost. Physical removal of the pilot gives a vast change in design criteria, with the consequences of a theoretically smaller and cheaper vehicle. Disposable aircraft could be used in "Kamikaze” attacks and driven very accurately into their targets.
In 1972, a U. S. Navy fighter pilot, sitting on the ground, piloted a modified Firebee drone during a dogfight with an F-4 Phantom. The remotely manned fighter executed six-G turns Without loss of altitude, evaded Sparrow
and Sidewinder missiles from the Phantom, and scored several simulated "kills” against the manned opponent fighter. Press releases have indicated that a remotely manned fighter is being considered for development which costs about $200,000, has an 18-foot wingspan and a gross weight of some 3,500 pounds with an armament of rockets, missiles and possibly a laser ray gun; it could have a 200-mile combat range at Mach 0.9, with a pursuit capability of Mach 2.5 for two minutes. A high resolution zoom lens on the television camera could enable the pilot to identify the enemy at a 20-mile range. Reputed analyses of such an aircraft indicate that it could turn and fly down the tail of an opposing fighter, pulling some 12 Gs in only 20 seconds after a head-on encounter, a maneuver that would take as much as two minutes for the 112-million, manned F-15 fighter currently being developed.
The first remotely-manned systems to be actively employed, shortly after World War II, were entirely mechanical, being the master-slave manipulators used to handle small objects in radioactive hot cells. Remote control of manipulator arms, by means of conventional switches and knobs, proved to be very tedious and expensive with breakages and accidents involving highly contaminating substances, even though the op-
erator had excellent visual view of the operation through lead glass ports. Mechanical coupling, by means of wire rods and tapes, between the identical motions of a master and slave manipulator permitted the operator to feel the mechanical interaction between the hand of slave manipulator and the object being manipulated. This significantly reduced operator tedium and accidents, making the manipulation of objects in hot cells a comparatively efficient task.
The sense of feel is essentially an indicating response to the human of the progress of mechanical work he has initiated against his environment. Man with his hands, or with tools or weapons held in his hands, reacts with and endeavors to alter his vicinity to his liking. Feel guides him in the optimal use of energy. Additionally, coupled with the sense of position and vision, he can establish derived information about objects such as weight, surface roughness, size and mechanical compliance. The importance of feel to the developing child in aiding the appreciation of his world was only fully recognized when considerable resources and talent were used in attempting to overcome the legacy of the Thalidomide incident.
The need to physically secure hot cells from their surroundings was limited by the use of mechanically coupled master-
slave systems, due to passageways for the cords. Development of electrically coupled master-slave systems, where the electrical umbilical could be adequately sealed during its passage through the hot cell wall, was the next logical step. The freedom of mobility given to the remote slave was not matched by direct vision, so a closed circuit television system was developed, which had head mounted receivers for the operator and automatic follow of the slave cameras to match the positioning of the operator’s head. Development was scheduled of more sophisticated devices for maintaining and servicing nuclear aircraft engines when this project was aborted. Several projects allied with the nuclear aircraft engine development program have been spasmodically developed since, such as several remotely-manned vehicles with associated manipulator arms and the man-amplifier project. The man- amplifier is a distinct off-shoot, as its concept is one of increasing the physical limits of man, by encasing him in a mechanical system which amplifies his muscular power.
Developing exploration and exploitation of the sea, limited by man’s physical capabilities, first saw the adoption of nuclear work manipulators to manned submersibiles and then, a steadily increasing development of manipulators specifically for underwater work. Manned submersibles, with their associated support facilities, proved too expensive for all but the most affluent organizations and the challenge of remotely-manned underwater vehicles was met with a variety of devices. The limited bandwidth of sonar communication channels, coupled with the variability of sea water as a path for acoustic messages, has limited the mobility of most remotely-manned vehicles due to the necessity for an umbilical cable.
The CURV, (Cable-controlled Underwater Recovery Vehicle), used by the U. S. Navy for the retrieval of missiles
from the sea floor, is guided above the object by sonar and television cameras using small propulsion units, and a grapple locks onto the object; the CURV and its load are driven back to the operating vessel. RUM, (Remote Underwater Manipulator), developed by the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, is based on a weapon carrier chassis and crawls along the ocean bottom under the guidance of the operator who uses television and operates the manipulator arm to maintain sea floor equipment, or to collect samples when on a reconnaissance mission. Shell Oil Company supported the development of one general purpose man-like remotely manned underwater machine, the OMEGA, and one specialized underwater wellhead maintenance remotely manned machine, the UNIMO. More recently the petroleum industry has developed a specialized fixed underwater maintenance complex which uses hydraulic slave manipulator arms, incorporating an accurate sense of feel, so permitting replacement of complete valve assemblies when water conditions prevent the use of television. The Komatsu Company in Japan has developed underwater bulldozers from modified land ones. They were initially used for wading operations in mud flats and, due to the severe disturbance caused by bulldozer operations on the clearness of the water, which prohibited the use of television, they have developed a sonar system to replace the sense of vision. The submarine bulldozer is driven by electric motors supplied by an umbilical cable, which also provides the link for the remote manning of the machine. The Alcoa Seaprobe uses a pipe column suspended from the ship to support a remotely manned complex at its end, which can react with objects on the sea floor.
Recent experimental attempts at mineral recovery from the deep ocean floor, for manganese nodules, indicate
that remote manning appears necessary for adequate control of the collecting head.
RYAN
Interest in the extension of a manlike (or anthropomorphic) image with arms has given rise to several developmental machines. NAT, or Naval Anthropomorphous Teleoperator, is perhaps the most pertinent. Coupled with suitable television and audio transposition, this device permits a man to sense a remote locality in a form similar to his natural state, whence it gives him close to the full range of one of his greatest attributes, that of adaptability. The possible application of such a device to many aspects of civilian and military tasks is immense. Such tasks as bomb disposal, which has a high degree of risk, with attendent degradation of performance if given as a task to the vast majority of the populace, could become routine for the most timorous of remote operators.
In the long term, remotely-manned systems may have a significant effect on the learning of manual skills. It is suggested that skill of hand is an individually acquired attribute, and that only method and technique are passed on by instruction. It may be possible to develop sophisticated manipulator arms which, when combined with recording and playback facilities, will be able to react with the student’s hands and rapidly aid the development of a particular skill.
It can be seen in perspective that the concept of remotely-manned systems is a return of the machine to man. Man’s early development was such that some of his characteristics, such as his thumb, are directly attributed to his growth with his tools. Specialized industrialization, mechanization, and automation relegated man to the task of machine feeding and supervision. Limitations of logic, pattern sensing ability, and adaptability of the machine, indicate that if further major developments of the machine are required, it may be necessary to ensure that man is integrally incorporated with them. However, remotely- manned systems show promise as a significant development of man’s tool and weapon technology, and the attempts that will be made to justify the sobriquet "Tool of the Twenty First Century” should provide much interest.
What’s in a Name?
By Commander Tyrone G. Martin, U. S. Navy, Special Assistant to Production Officer, Long Beach Naval Shipyard
Over the years since World War II, a widening circle of people has become accustomed to reading about Soviet naval activity in articles that routinely identify the ship types involved by generally Russian-sounding names. So common has the usage become that only infrequently does one find included a note that many of the names have, in fact, been assigned by NATO because the Soviets rarely announce class, or even individual ship, names.
The identification of submarine classes by single letters predates World War I and has had wide usage. Between world wars, the Soviets employed this system in the designation of the D (Dekabrist), L (Leninets), SHCH (Shchuha), M (Malyltka), P, K, and S classes. Therefore, when NATO became aware of a new class of Soviet submarines around 1950, it was logical to assign it an identifying letter. Since the Soviets had proceeded (roughly) through the alphabet, what letter should it be? S was the last one they had used. At the time, the Royal Navy had T, U, and V class boats. So, avoiding any confusion in or out of NATO, we arrive at the W class.
The next design out of the yard somehow became known as the Z class. Not using X can be explained by the fact of its common usage as an experimental model identifier. Why Y was not used then is less clear. After that came Q (1954), N (1957), R, G, H, and F (all 1958), E (I960), J (1964), Y, C, V, and B (all 1968), A (1970), P and D (1973), and a new class designated T.
In this outpouring of new submarines since World War II, 17 letters have been used by NATO to designate them. Besides the experimental connotation of X, the letters I and O probably have been omitted due to their similarity to one and zero. Y was
finally used upon noting the outward similarity of the Russian to our Polaris submarines. The latest two designations made public, P and D, repeat letters used in the pre-war Soviet Navy. With no T class submarines remaining in the Royal Navy, that letter is the one assigned to the newest class noted above, to be followed in the future by L, K, S, and M. At the rate the Soviets are spawning new designs, NATO may be forced to go to the Cyrillic TS, ZH, SH, CH, and SHCH before W, Z, and Q become available again.
Among the initial surface warship designs to appear after the war, it seems the Soviets publicized a number of the names either in their news media or through the rash of naval visits, principally to northern European ports, in the early 1950s. Chapaev, Sverdlov, Skoryy ("Swift”) seem to have been derived in this way. (In a paper written in the mid-1960s discussing destroyer development in his navy, a Soviet officer used the name Smelyy ("Daring”) in identifying this DD class.) The Kola and Riga class designations are of obscure origin, however, and may relate to the locales wherein they first were reported, or to an earlier attempt to systematize a means of identification by naming new classes after Russian ports. The lone Tallinn unit of 1954 apparently got its class name the same way.
From this distance in time, it is apparent that sometime in 1954 or 1955 the NATO nations came to an agreement on the current system for designating major Soviet surface combatants. Beginning with Kotlin in 1955, there have since followed Kildin (1957), Krupnyy (1958), Kynda (1961), Kashin (1962), Kresta (1967), Kanin (1968), Krivak (1969), and Kara (1973)—all beginning with a K and being the proper names of seas, islands, bays, and similar maritime geographical features. While not
certain, the K root may have come from Admiral Arleigh Burke, then CNO, who was insistent upon spelling all things Red, "Kommunist.” The sole exception to the practice during the intervening 18 years has been the Moskva-class guided missile helicopter ships, but given the advance publicity the first unit received, and the special significance of its name, it is not surprising. Similarly, the first Soviet aircraft carrier, Kiev, already has achieved considerable noteriety and will most likely be the class name—especially since it has a phonetic kinship to the system.
In any event, when a NATO name becomes established, it is not changed to the Soviet designation should that become known. Plamenyy ("Ardent”) remains just a unit of the Kotlin class, rather than the class leader, and Varyag ("Viking”) one of the Kyndas.
Flexibility has been built into the naming system to account for variations and modifications; thus we have Kresta Is and Kresta Ils, and E-ls and E-iis, to account for major variations within the class. But a change in the mission (or major weaponry) apparently calls for a name change, so that when some Krupnyys lost their SSM battery in favor of a SAM battery and increased ASW weapons, they became units of the Kanin class.
Under the NATO system, diminutive forms of given names have been allocated to identify the various classes of escort, patrol, and mine warfare units where the official Soviet designations are unknown. The establishment of the name category may have occurred coincidentally with that of the major combatants, but since the Poti class name follows the Kola/Riga/Tallinn pattern, it seems that this was not implemented until about 1961—shortly after Poti appeared. Beginning with Petya ("Pete”) and Mirka (a nickname for
Vladimir), there have appeared Vanya ("Johnny”), Yurka ("Georgie”), Grisha ("Greg”), and Stenka ("Steve”), as well as Natya, Nanuchka, Alesha, Misha, and Sasha.
In the decade of the 1960s, the Soviets also produced the Komar and Osa guided missile patrol boats, the Pchela hydrofoil patrol boats, and the Shershen
Submarines
Major combatants (rated DD and up by NATO)
Escort, patrol, and mine warfare units
Fast patrol craft
fast patrol ("torpedo”) boats. In English, these become "mosquito,” "wasp,” "bee,” and "hornet”—all stinging insects. (In passing, it is significant to note that the heir-apparent to Osa and Komar "outgrew” the fast patrol boat category and was designated Nanuchka. Note, too, that Osa and Stenka are the same hull, but differ in mission/ armament.)
Amphibious units Auxiliaries
With the revitalization of the Soviet Naval Infantry, a series of new amphibious units began to appear—and NATO was ready for them: Alligator is an obvious amphibian in either language, while Vydra becomes "otter” to us. The other amphibious design of the 1960s is called the Polnocnyy class, and its name seems to relate to the fact that it was produced in Poland, unlike all the other classes thus far discussed, which were uniformly of Soviet construction.
Somewhat paralleling their origins, class designations for Soviet naval aux-
iliaries reflect a number of name sources. An overwhelming favorite with NATO nomenclature experts has been rivets, with most of the famous streams in Russia accounted for: Dnepr, Don, Ugra, Prut, Amur, Lama, Oskol, Uda, and Pevek, among others. Mountains seem to be the second most popular, with Kazbek, Pamir, and Altai for examples. After that, one can find a desert (Khobi-Gobi), a watershed (Valdaii), a Roman god (Neptun), a number of carry-overs from the Soviet pre-conversion civilian identities (Telnovsk, Okean, Mayak, etc.), and a variety of Soviet commemoratives (Kosmonaut Vladimir Komarov, Akademik Kurchatov, Nikolai Zubov, et al).
All of the foregoing may be summarized in the following table of the deduced current NATO naming system for Soviet naval units:
Name Category
Selected random letters
Proper names beginning with K from
maritime-associated
geography
Diminutives of given names
Biting or stinging insects
Amphibian animals
Irregular; principally rivers and mountains
Thus, in the absence of any other information, the assessed type/mission of a new Soviet naval unit may be derived from the character of its NATO nickname, as can the impact of any modification to the original design.