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Captain Walter S. DeLany, Jr.,
U. S. Navy Associate Editor
130 New Aircraft Shown at the Paris Air Show
By Chief Journalist
John D. Burlage, U. S. Navy
133 The Black Tide of the
Torrey Canyon
By Commander
Thomas B. Wilson, Jr., U. S. Navy
138 Polaris A3 Launching System
By Commander
R. W. Dickieson, U. S. Navy
140 Officers Submarine School
By Commander
G. E. Synhorst, U. S. Navy
NEW AIRCRAFT SHOWN AT THE PARIS AIR SHOW
The 27th International Aeronautical and Space Salon, held from 26 May to 4 June at Le Bourget Airport outside Paris, France, has been called the most complex air show ever held. While this may or may not be an accurate supposition, the French sponsors of the ten-day “air fair” can lay claim to staging an event that was a focal point for the best efforts of the 16 participating nations to display some of their newest and finest aircraft, space vehicles, and aerospace hardware.
Along with the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France, the United States was amply represented at the biennial show. For the first time, each of these major aerospace powers had its own pavilion where decidedly nationalistic displays were presented.
The United States accounted for 38 of the more-than-130 space vehicles and aircraft displayed and the more than 150 different types of aircraft flown over Le Bourget during aerial demonstrations held the last two days.
Of the 38 American aerospace vehicles at Le Bourget, 24 were military. Nine were contributed by the Navy, nine by the Air Force, and six by the Army. Aircraft were shown because they had not been displayed at a major air show before, or because they set one of the several record-making flights. The most important aircraft included:
• The Ling-Temco-Vought A-7A Corsair II. Two of the Navy’s newest light-attack jet aircraft were flown non-stop from NATO Patuxent River, Maryland, 3,327 nautical miles, to Evreux, near Paris, in seven hours and one minute without refueling. It was the first such flight made by single-engine, light- attack aircraft. Although it looks for all the world like a shortened version of the Navy’s well-known F-8 Corsair jet fighter (the Corsair was, in fact, based on the existing
Crusader design), the A-7 was built to supplement and eventually replace the A-4 Skyhawk as the Navy’s primary, light-attack jet aircraft. It recently completed carrier suitability trials and is now being flown by operational squadrons.
• The General Dynamics F-111A (TFX). Possibly the most controversial U. S. aircraft at Le Bourget, the well-known variable-wing, twin-jet fighter-bomber being built for the Air Force [F-111B is being built for the Navy] made its first Atlantic crossing—also non-stop and unrefueled, 2,724 nautical miles from Loring AFB, Maine, to the air show. Actually, two of the aircraft were at Le Bourget; one was placed on static display, and the second was flown during aerial demonstrations. In flight, the F-lllA passed over the airfield twice, once with its wings extended in the low-speed configuration and once with them swept back for high speed. (France caused a stir while the show was in progress by unveiling a prototype of her own variable-wing Mirage G jet fighter; this plane however, was not shown at Le Bourget. After the show, France announced she would not go into production of another swing-wing jet. France and Britain originally had intended it as a major fighter aircraft for the two countries. The English, conversely, have contracted to purchase some 50 F-llls for the Royal Air Force.)
• The LTV-Hiller-Ryan XC-142A. Powered by four turboprop engines driving conventional propellers, this V/STOL (Vertical/ Short Takeoff and Landing) aircraft was seen in static display and gave an impressive demonstration, hovering and flying at the same time the F- 111 was performing. A triservice experimental aircraft, the “tilt-wing” craft may one day provide the basic airframe design for a V/STOL aircraft designed for quick transportation of such cargo as assault troops and supplies. It was transported to the Mediterranean on board the USS Saratoga, then flew to Paris via Rota, Spain.
• The Sikorsky HH-3E Sea King. Making the first non-stop, 3,615-nautical-mile, transoceanic flight for a helicopter, two of these amphibious transports, used by the Air Force Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service, landed at Le Bourget after a flight from NAS New York that took seconds over 30 hours,
46 minutes. Nicknamed the Jolly Green Giant
by the Air Force, the HH-3E is based on the Navy’s SH-3 primary ASW helicopter.
• The Lockheed XH-51 rigid-rotor helicopter. One of the most interesting helicopters on display at Le Bourget, because of its amazing aerobatic capabilities, the XH-51 was sponsored by the Army but was originally ordered by both the Army and the Navy as a test-bed for potential rigid-rotor aircraft. Its features include high maneuverability, stability, and speed.
•The North American YOV-lOA Bronco. Built for the Department of the Navy as a LARA (Light Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft) but carrying a tri-service designation at Le Bourget, the YOV-lOA was designed specifically for counterinsurgency missions. LARA aircraft are presently being integrated into the Fleet Marine Force organization.
•The Douglas TA-4F Skyhawk. Now one of the Navy’s major advanced jet trainers, the TA-4F is a two-seat version of the sturdy, little A-4 Skyhawk.
Other newer U. S. military aircraft displayed at Le Bourget included: the Grumman E-2A Hawkeye, which is a carrier-based AEW (Airborne Early Warning) aircraft; the Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion cargo helicopter; and two Army helicopters, the Hughes OH-6A Cayuse, used for observation, and the AH-1G Huey Cobra, built by Bell as a “gun ship” that is capable of high speed and great maneuverability.
The United States was, of course, by no means the only nation to display new military aircraft, although, the emphasis this year seems to have been on civil transport and space.
In the latter category, for example, Russia’s eye-stopper was a mock-up of the Vostok rocket booster that sent cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into orbit. The Soviets gave much display space in their otherwise austere pavilion to their space achievements.
America was also well-represented in the space department. Aside from pavilion displays on this topic, the U. S. had a walkthrough model of the Titan IIIC rocket booster, and mock-ups of the SV-5J Manned Lifting Body and the X-15 rocket plane.
France also emphasized her own expanding space program. The pavilion was flanked by two of their latest missile launchers and a pair of ballistic missiles, which included the Diamond and the Sapphire. Also shown were several orbiting vehicles and the Catherine, the first stage of a new launch vehicle called Vulcan.
However, some of the military aircraft that were shown at Le Bourget warrant special attention.
• The Hawker-Siddeley P. 1127 Harrier (British). An advanced jet V/STOL tactical fighter aircraft, the P. 1127 mounts two pairs of rotatable jet nozzles that are mechanically interconnected to give vertical lift and power in conventional flight. About 42 feet long, its modified delta-platform wings span 23 feet. It has undergone tripartite testing by the United States, United Kingdom, and West Germany, and, during U. S. tests (then it was designated XV-6A), it made carrier landings on board the USS Independence.
•The SAAB 105 (SK 60) (Swedish). A multi-purpose, light twin-jet aircraft, it normally seats two pilots and is used by the Swedish Air Force as a trainer. Another version, the A-60, is configured for light attack missions.
•Hawker-Siddeley Andover C.Mk 1 (British). Powered by two turboprop engines, this military transport was first flown as a production aircraft in mid-July 1965. It features rearloading and an ability to take off and land with heavy loads in adverse field conditions. It is 78 feet long and has a wing span of just over 98 feet.
•L-29 Delfin (Czechoslovakian). This tandem, two-seat jet trainer has been produced for several Iron Curtain countries, and may be the basic design for both an advanced swept-wing attack and a counterinsurgency aircraft.
• Breguet 941 (French). Designed for either civil or military transport, the 941 is a four-engine, turboprop, STOL aircraft that is just over 78 feet long and has a wing span of almost 77 feet.
•Dassault Mirage (French). Several aircraft of the Mirage family were displayed and some were flown at Le Bourget. Included was the F-2, a two-seat, swept-wing attack fighter that provided the basic design upon which the Mirage G variable-wing fighter was based, and the Mirage M5, an export configuration of the Mirage 5 attack aircraft. The latter is a Mach-2, delta-wing jet based on the Mirage 3, which in turn was originally designed to operate from small airfields as a high-altitude interceptor with ground support capabilities.
•Breguet/BAC Jaguar (Anglo-French). Shown as a full-scale mock-up at the air show, the Jaguar is expected to enter service in both Britain and France in the 1970s as a light, strong aircraft useful as a trainer or for attack and reconnaissance missions. Simple but sturdy, it is 53 feet, 9 inches long and has a
wing span of almost 26 feet. The swept-wing, supersonic aircraft is powered by twin turbofan engines.
Although many of the smaller nations participating in the air show were understandably limited in their military displays, there were several good attempts to enter the field. Italy, for instance, brought out the Aermaochi 326G, a training or counterinsurgency attack version of the basic 326 jet trainer, and the AM-3, a three-seat monoplane which was first shown in model form during the 1965 Paris Air Show. The AM-3 now serves the Italian Air Force as an observation aircraft.
From Sweden came the Viggen (Lightning), a Mach-2 plus STOL aircraft, with four delta wings, that was displayed in model and cockpit mock-up forms.
Also shown for the first time was the concept for the German-American AVS (Advanced Vertical Strike) aircraft, an ambitious proposal that features a plane with both swing-wings and vertical jet lift.
Russia seemed satisfied with her space displays, helicopters, and the first showing in the West of the YAK-40 jet transport, although she did bring along the YAK-18, the standard Soviet Air Force primary trainer. The Soviets seemed to be saving their guns for Russia’s own air show at Domodedovo Airport near Moscow, recently concluded.
By Commander Thomas B. Wilson, Jr.,
U. S. Navy,
Fleet Maintenance and Support Officer,
U. S. Naval Forces Europe
THE BLACK TIDE OF THE TORREY CANYON
At 0911 on Saturday, 18 March 1967, the __ ss Toney Canyon was reported aground on the Seven Stones Reef between the Isles of Scilly and Lands End at the southwest tip of England. She was bound for Milford Haven, Wales, with a cargo of some 117,000 tons of crude oil. It is believed that she struck the reef when traveling at about 17 knots. Thus, a new phase in marine salvage was ushered in.*
There followed a nasty spectacle of acres of black oil oscillating back and forth with the tides as the ship broke up and the thick oil came gushing from her tanks. The oil later spread and became widely dispersed in patches stretching along the Channel, very thinly connected and opalescent. Brown patches were soon to appear in coves and beaches along the southwestern coast of England and later off the coast of France.
Within two hours, the Royal Navy was on the scene surveying the situation from a helicopter. The Toney Canyon was built in the United States as a 65,000-ton deadweight tanker and was later jumboized to 118,285 tons. Owned by the Barracuda Tanker Corporation, she was chartered to the Union Oil Company of California and registered in Liberia. She was manned by a 36-man Italian crew on a single-voyage charter, and carried a cargo for British Petroleum Limited in her 18 tanks. The threat of oil pollution on a scale which had no precedent anywhere in the world was evident.
That night, ships of the Royal Navy and, later, chartered commercial vessels, began spraying detergent on the oil to disperse it;
* See John M. Marshall, “The Black Wake of the Toney Canyon,” U. S. Naval Institute Proceedings, pages 38-44, December 1967.
Alumni the USS Monitor: IMi 2
The letters of Paymaster William F. Keeler edited by Professor Robert W. Daly, U. S. Naval Academy. List Price $6.50. Member's Price $5.20. A U. S. Naval Institute Publication
"Amidst the plethora of Civil War memorials now hitting print, this publication stands out like a first-order lighthouse on a clear and sparkling night."
—American Neptune
large scale preparations were made to deal with oil pollution on the beaches.
The salvage crews of the Bureau Wijsmul- ler, a Dutch salvage firm, first boarded the ship on 18 March. Heavy swells, however, during the first two or three days made it hazardous to get any craft alongside the ship in order to transfer the equipment needed for inspection. It was also impossible to transfer the oil to other ships because of the heavy seas and the danger of explosion. On Monday, 20 March, when the Chief Salvage Officer of the Royal Navy, Peter Flett, joined the salvage crew on the ship, it became clear that many of the cargo tanks were damaged and that an estimated 30,000 tons of oil had spilled into the sea. All assistance possible was rendered by the Royal Navy, including a hydrographical survey of the area, lifts by helicopters from the salvage vessels to the ship, and the continuous ferrying of salvage personnel.
Because of the hazards of rough seas and whirlpools of oil, divers were unable to inspect the damage. It is estimated that the
ship was aground for 50 per cent of her length; a long section of the starboard side was ripped open, and only 4 of the 18 tanks were still intact. In spite of this damage, the ship retained a certain amount of buoyancy, because her decks were completely sealed; the oil remaining in the tanks was lighter than sea water and was held in place by the pressure of the water below. The salvors intended to increase this buoyancy by pumping compressed air into the tanks, probably through the steam smothering system common to tanks in ships of this type. Three air compressors were brought aboard. It is speculated that air was being pumped into the tanks on Tuesday, 21 March when the Dutch salvage master, Captain Hans Stahl, lost his life in a thunderclap explosion, which was blamed on an electrical short circuit setting off an explosive mixture formed in the en- gineroom. The threat to the beaches had increased, since the oil now covered an area of over 100 square miles. Pollution of the beaches would bring financial disaster to southwestern England, a magnet for hundreds of thousands of Easter vacationers.
The wind changed to the southwest on Thursday and conditions worsened on Friday, 24 March. On Saturday, the drifting oil began to arrive on the Cornish beaches; 100 miles of coastline were affected. On Sunday evening, high seas and a strong wind caused the ship to break her back, releasing another 30,000 tons of crude oil. The ship eventually broke into three parts from the action of the sea. On Monday, 27 March, the British Government decided that all hope of minimizing pollution by towing away all or part of the ship must be abandoned. After warnings had been issued to ships and aircraft, and the Seven Stones Lightship moved, the Toney Canyon was bombed by Royal Navy and Royal Air Force aircraft. The mission was to open the tanks and set fire to the oil remaining in the ship.
The question of how to minimize pollution dominated. There were three choices for disposing of the oil within the ship: First, to pump the oil into other ships; second, to refloat the ship and to tow her away with as much of her cargo on board as possible; third, to burn the oil in the ship on the reef.
It was impossible to pump the oil out with
the ship’s equipment, since her machinery Was inoperative; ancillary equipment could not be moved aboard. There was the constant danger of explosion from the vast quantities of crude oil and gas which were constantly escaping. The possibility of getting another large ship alongside without grounding was not worth trying. There was an alternative choice, a small pumping ship might stand off the Toney Canyon and feed to another tanker standing in safer waters. This would have been a prolonged and extremely hazardous operation even in calm water, and was considered impractical under the prevailing conditions.
The idea of cutting the ship into sections and towing her away was advanced and rejected because of the difficulty in getting the necessary heavy equipment aboard and because of the great risk of explosion in the cutting operation. The fact that the ship eventually broke into three parts and remained hard aground indicated that this decision was probably a wise one. In addition, one problem remained, who would have allowed the derelict sections in their territorial waters? To sink the ship at sea would merely postpone the problem of escaping oil later on.
For a fire, it is necessary, of course, to have fuel, heat, and oxygen. Heat, when applied to a potential fuel would cause it to vaporize. Vapors combine with the oxygen and if the heat is sufficient, either a fire or an explosion occurs, depending on the mixture. Crude oil is a complex mixture of many constituents of varying vapor points with varying flash and fire points. Getting the heat to the oil along with sufficient oxygen was the problem. In an enclosed tank once the fire is started, heat can be retained, but the problem of how to supply sufficient oxygen becomes major. With the oil floating on the sea, oxygen is plentiful, but there would be the problem of maintaining sufficient heat to sustain vaporization and combustion. In addition, many of the lighter and more volatile constituents would escape to the atmosphere, leaving behind only the heavier products which have a higher vapor point.
Setting the oil in the ship on fire had been considered from the outset, but it had several drawbacks. Obviously at the beginning, it
would have been more desirable to tow the ship away intact as far as possible. Discouraging, too, was the awareness of a previous incident, in which a tanker had caught fire in the Persian Gulf and burned for over two months, consuming only a little more than half of its cargo while leaving behind an obnoxious tarry residue.
So long as the ship remained intact, an attempt to set the oil on fire might be only partially successful and might indeed increase the risk of pollution. In addition, a situation on this scale was without precedent; it was bound to take time. To have tackled this problem on board would have involved a delicate piece of surgery in opening the deck and exposing the oil to the atmosphere.
On 28 March, after the ship had broken apart and all hope of salvage was gone, high explosive bombs were dropped to open the covers of the tanks. Bombing was only feasible at low tide, when the cargo tanks were clear of the water. A number of the bombs failed to explode and still remain a hazard. Aviation fuel, napalm, and sodium chlorate were used to feed the fire, which had to be rekindled several times. By 30 March, it is believed that practically all the oil in the ship and in the immediate area had been destroyed. As a result of the bombings, the three sections did sink.
How much oil actually remains on board or is still floating at sea will never be determined. Small-scale contamination of the English beaches continues to occur. The month of April was kind to the English coast in that the steady northeast winds reduced further contamination, which might have been much worse.
Burning the oil that had escaped on the open sea was another matter. What method would you use to burn weathered crude oil, at sea, that had been partially acted upon by emulsifiers, that had absorbed some water, and that had lost its most volatile constituents to the atmosphere? As an experiment, one thousand gallons of Kuwait crude oil were discharged on a lake and artificial winds and waves were created to simulate the conditions around the Toney Canyon. All but one per cent of the oil was destroyed when set on fire by exploding sodium chlorate bombs. The idea was tried at sea and failed.
A chartered BEA helicopter lowers a large compressor onto the deck of the grounded Torrey Canyon in an attempt to refloat the ship. Fingers of black oil from the tanker float on the sea near Mont St. Michel. Oil deposited on the beach at Margion, Cornwall.
Many unorthodox ideas were suggested: The use of floating “wicks” such as telephone poles wrapped in burlap; the injection of gasoline or butane beneath the surface of the oil; the use of surfacants to promote frothing; the application of sodium pellets, sodium peroxide or ethyl aluminant; and the use of liquid oxygen bombs with proximity fuses. The failure, however, of the sodium chlorate bombs coupled with the uncertainty of how to dispose of the combustion residue apparently discouraged any further attempts along this line.
The basic problem of how to dispose of the oil at sea was whether to disperse it or to concentrate and collect it for disposal. Understandably, until the ship broke up, it was considered more desirable to contain the oil. Yet, even if the oil had been contained in the ship, extensive pollution would have been inevitable because of spillage and seepage. Various devices for containing oil within the immediate vicinity of a ship had been tried in the past. The U. K. government made plans to accomplish this with an expandable boom of neoprene blocks placed around the ship. Such devices had proved successful in the calm waters of the Arabian Gulf and elsewhere, but had not been used on the high seas. It is believed that this would not have been successful in more than one-foot seas. Containment of the oil by instantaneous gelling of the oil slicks’ edges was also suggested, but it had not worked before in sea water, either. Gelling or similar treatment of oil with common solvents is expensive, toxic, complicated, and dangerous to employ.
The lifetime of an oil slick will naturally vary with the amount of oil. It will gradually disappear due to oxidation and bacterial action. Laboratory tests show that a two- millimeter layer of oil on salt water is perforated by bacteria in one to 2 weeks, and will disappear in 6 to 12 weeks. Some polymerization, or the combining of lighter molecules to form heavier compounds, can be expected with the subsequent sinking of the heavier tar residues. But there are many unknowns involved, such as the effect of sea life on a thin film of oil from the photo-chemical standpoint. To get rid of oil at sea, then, two choices appear available: it can either be sunk, or collected and disposed of later.
Craie de Champagne, chalk mixed with one per cent stearate, used by the French on the oil, appeared to attract a red marine organism called noctiluca. This prevented marine bacteria which live on oil from destroying the mass. Experience may dictate that the best approach is to do nothing and let nature solve the problem for us.
Cleanup experience to date has been largely limited to harbors, still water, and the protection of beaches through the diversion of oil. In ports, oil is collected and boomed, and then picked up by piston-driven sludge pumps and transferred to other containers for disposal.
The use of detergents to disperse the oil has to be carefully evaluated and is at best limited to areas at least 50 miles off shore. Detergents are toxic to plankton and other marine life even in small concentrations. When oil that has been treated with emulsifying detergents hits the beaches, it arrives laden with these detergents and decaying marine organisms in layers up to three feet thick. Additional masses arrive to replace those removed. The resultant emulsion is found to be easily moved by the wind. Many brand name detergents are available, but the process is expensive in addition to creating its own problems, if the treated oil hits the beaches. Other methods of dealing with oil at sea are avail-
able; they include absorbing the oil with materials that then coagulate and remain on the surface, and those that cause the mass to sink. The surface method offers the least risk, since the oil carried to the bottom by the “sink” method may reappear.
Where there is little danger to marine life and beaches, sinking of the oil by use of absorbers such as carbonized sand (developed and produced by Norfolk Naval Shipyard) which can absorb four to five times its own weight and then sink, foundry sand, silica powders, alumina soaps, fuller’s earth, fly- ash, and cement may also be considered. Dry pulverized coal has also been shown to offer promise under tests. Again, it must be stressed that little is known of the life of the agglomerate under water. The slow release of the oil over a long period of time could create an even worse situation than would otherwise exist.
Coagulation of the oil for collection on the surface can be done with many low density products and materials. Straw, vermiculite, sea weed, tubular plastics, sawdust, and other proprietary products are available. The French, in tests in Le Havre harbor, have found that sawdust works effectively and have placed major reliance on it. They have found that it produces an agglomerate which can then be collected with nets, is free of toxic effects on marine flora and flauna, and is relatively cheap and plentiful as compared with other commercial products.
As the oil approaches the coastline, the situation becomes more critical. Apparently, deep-water fishing is unaffected by the oil and there is no health hazard from eating the fish, but inshore there is a negative effect. Oil and detergents affect the plankton in surface waters in the local areas that have been heavily treated. In estuarial waters, they
could affect lobsters, shell fish, and some oyster beds might have to be moved. Booms would have to be erected to protect streams or creeks where oyster beds were not moved.
Once the oil has reached the beaches, the problem changes again. Prior preparations, in the form of ground compaction, protective mattings or straw, would facilitate later removal of the oil. The washing of immovable objects with detergents might also be done. The basic method is to work with bull-dozers, pumps, shovels, and buckets to remove the oil for burial in trenches, pits, and abandoned quarries. Buried oil is known to leach to the surface with the passing of time. Near-shore skimming would probably be useful for a considerable period of time when the oil is buried in a tidal zone. The job is a nasty one.
Of this we may be certain, in marine salvage, the Toney Canyon has ushered in a new phase. Oil has been present on the sea before, but never in such vast quantities. Against the possibility of other Toney Canyons, decisions must be made on how to dispose of the oil in such instances, to transfer it, to tow the ship away, or to set the ship and the oil on fire. The same is true of the oil on the water, do you disperse it or do you collect it? If it is dispersed, where should it go and what would be the effect? If it is collected, should it be sunk at sea or should it be coagulated with light materials for further disposal? If the oil gets into coastal waters and on the beaches, what safeguards should be taken to protect marine and wildlife? How might damage to the beaches and harbor installations be minimized?
The Toney Canyon did little to answer these questions. Instead, it brought the questions to the fore; many nations are now working on them. The Brattelle Memorial Institute, Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, Washington, is conducting a survey on the control and removal of oil spillage for the LJ. S. Coast Guard. Sir Solly Zuckerman, Chief Scientific Advisor to the British Cabinet, is preparing a “white paper” on all aspects of the Toney Canyon. The Marine Biological Association Laboratory, Plymouth, England, and other private and government organizations are now researching aspects of the problem; solutions, or at least, a better understanding of the question is on the way.
• The cost of countering the threat posed by the release of such vast quantities of oil must be assessed and met. Direct charges by the
governments involved in the Toney Canyon incident will eventually come to light, but the losses sustained by private interests, of one kind or another, will be difficult to determine. Certainly, it is desirable to prevent a recurrence; the lessons learned should be put to work. From this case, international teams of technical experts should gather information on the programs that were successful or partly so and outline future procedures to be used, recommending short and long-term corrective action. Research to solve the technical problems of oil disposal should be carried out. A big decision will be in determining the correct international group to co-ordinate the efforts.
It would appear that as a minimum, the rights of coastal and other interested nations in the event of accidents outside their jurisdiction must be defined under international law. Compulsory liability insurance, including third party liability for costs incurred in fighting pollution, should be made mandatory. In addition, measures to minimize the risk of another incident by specifying operating procedures and crew training for large tankers, operating routes and navigational aids, testing of installed navigational and safety equipment, and special features in design and construction to minimize the release of oil in an incident appear prudent.
Commander R. W. Dickieson,
U. S. Navy,
USS Kamehameha (SSBN-642)
POLARIS A3 LAUNCHING SYSTEM
The Polaris weapons system has received wide publicity, but very little has been said about one of its major subsystems, the launcher. The loading, on-board care, and firing of a Polaris missile are evolutions upon which hinge the success of the ballistic missile submarine’s mission. Loading the missile is a deliberate, cautious event; maintenance on patrol is meticulous and routine; launching is thrilling and awe-inspiring, and brings reassurance to the claim that Polaris is a significant deterrent weapons system. Now follow me through a brief description of the pieces of equipment installed and the operational sequence that leads us to the dramatic climax: “16 missiles away!”
A mount tube is like a gigantic, 31-foot vertical torpedo tube. It forms part of the submarine’s pressure hull and has a muzzle hatch at the upper end, into which the missile is loaded and from which it is fired. Accesses and fittings on the tube permit routine maintenance to be performed on the missile while it is in the launcher. Electrical and mechanical interlocks prevent the opening of doors, hatches, and valves in the wrong sequence that could cause flooding into the submarine. Inside the mount tube is the launch tube which protects the missile from horizontal and vertical shocks. The A3 missile is cushioned except immediately prior to firing. At that moment, cylinders and liquid springs become rigid to establish alignment between the inner and outer tubes. Provision is made to monitor continuously conditions of temperature, relative humidity, and presence of water in the bottom of the tube; auxiliary equipment maintains the climatic conditions exactly.
The missile is brought aboard in its container. Preparations to receive it include the posting of armed guards, careful scrutiny of visitor access lists, meticulous cleaning of the tube, attaching ground cables to eliminate static electrical charges, and enforcing no smoking. At advance sites, such as Guam in the Pacific, missiles are received from specially configured submarine tenders. A huge crane picks up the shipping container and sets it down on the upper lip of the mount tube. Inside the container is an independent, electrical hoist from which the missile is suspended. Gentle handling and old-fashioned deck seamanship combine to set the missile on its support ring in the tube, oriented in proper fore-and-aft alignment. A missile hold-down clamp grasps the bottom of the missile to prevent vertical motion before launching. Removal of the shipping container permits installation of a special diaphragm and shutting of the muzzle hatch. The umbilical cables, through which are sent guidance and other signals prior to launch, are connected. The
missile is given a final and thorough check-off by the weapons department prior to leaving on patrol.
While on patrol, the missile components are monitored continuously to ensure that the missile will be ready, if needed, and corrective action is taken immediately, so that all 16 missiles might be fired should the order from the President be received.
Launching involves the following sequence. The tube is pressurized to slightly above sea pressure with an inert gas, permitting the muzzle hatch to be opened. The hydraulic
system rotates the locking ring and pushes open the hatch to a greater than 90-degree angle. The diaphragm, mentioned before, keeps the sea out of the tube. (It need not be strong because the sea pressure on top of the diaphragm is balanced against pressure around the missile beneath it.) When the missile has received all the information it needs from fire control, it may be launched. A solid propellant gas generator of the missile ejector group is ignited to send hot gasses and steam into the chamber under the missile. As the missile lifts off the support ring, the diaphragm is ruptured by an explosive charge imbedded in its periphery. The A3 is forced out of the tube like a giant projectile and rises swiftly to the surface of the ocean. During the ascent, the air inside the missile expands as sea pressure decreases with decreasing depth. The expanded air is forced out of holes in the missile structure, keeping the internal components dry. The missile’s first stage propulsion motor is then ignited at the proper moment to propel it to its target.
But consider now what has happened to the trim of the submarine. A tremendous weight, greater than 15 tons per missile, has been off-loaded. Now, with the missile tubes full of sea water, an even greater weight has been taken on board. This is compensated for by shutting the muzzle hatch and blowing sea water out of a valve in the bottom of the tube. When the water in the tube weighs the same as the missile that was fired, the blowing is stopped. The firing and compensating sequence continues rapidly until all 16 missiles are away.
While the success of launching missiles rests extensively on hardware, it also greatly depends upon the men who man the missile battery. These are men who have passed extensive screenings, conducted to ensure that only stable, reliable, intelligent men are assigned such grave responsibilities. They have graduated from advanced technical schools; they are dedicated to the Navy and its assigned role in the country’s defense. Men and machinery perform smoothly together to ensure that Polaris is on station, and ready.
By Commander G. E. Synhorst,
U. S. Navy, Director,
Basic Submarine Officers Course,
Submarine School
OFFICERS SUBMARINE SCHOOL
For 50 years the Submarine Force of both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets has trained its new officers on the bank of the Thames River in Groton, Connecticut. The curriculum in the Basic Submarine Officers Course for new officers in the submarine fleet, has expanded over the years to fill the needs of the growing submarine force, which has changed greatly since the Navy bought its first submarine in 1900.
The Basic Submarine Officers Course is now only one department of the large submarine school complex in Groton. There also is a school for new enlisted submariners, a course for prospective commanding officers, and refresher training courses for the crews of new and recently overhauled submarines. Polaris submarine off-crews are trained here, and, in addition, a host of specialized courses are offered to seasoned submariners with special needs.
Today more than 20,000 men are trained annually at the Submarine School; 500 of them are young officers coming new to the force (generally directly from college, with mostly engineering degrees), to enter the six-month Basic Submarine Officers Course. The course convenes four times a year with about 125 men in each class. The graduates are then assigned to Atlantic and Pacific Fleet submarines.
Submarining is a proud profession where most new officers come to stay. Since the school was started in 1917, nearly 50 per cent of the officers graduating from the Basic Officers Course, when reaching proper seniority, have gone on to the lonely and exacting task of commanding a submarine. More than 75 per cent of those graduating have chosen careers closely associated with submarines and submarining; for example, deep submergence, sonar specialities, construction, and electronics.
Perhaps the most dramatic change is the school’s use of trainers ashore—simulation devices for team training. The technique is, however, not new, being introduced early in World War II. Student submariners have learned to make torpedo approaches in shore-based teachers since before World War II. Diving trainers, familiar to most of us as the place where first we learned the fundamentals of diving and surfacing, were mostly built in the late 1940s and now are being replaced and augmented by electronic simulators that more closely reproduce conditions on modern submarines. New submarines are intensely committed to vital missions; a new ballistic missile submarine, because of being on patrol, is not able to make hundreds of dives and surfacings for training. The serious nature of today’s duties on deployment normally precludes even firing practice torpedo tubes. This fundamental evolution was once taught at sea to every submariner. These basic techniques are now taught ashore by simulators.
In a training simulator at the Submarine School, Groton, Connecticut, the diving officer points to the array of dials and indicators monitored by those "piloting” a modern submarine.
The nuclear submarine is, per unit volume, the world’s most expensive ship. She is just too expensive and too important to the defense mission to be used as a training platform. Her crew must be highly trained before they report on board. More than half of our afloat submariners now go to sea on nuclear power.
Curiously, realism is another reason for greater use of trainers ashore. Our newer generation of weapons, ASROC and the new breed of torpedoes, for example, are so expensive that they are rarely fired at sea under realistic combat conditions. Future torpedoes will travel at such high speeds and will be so deadly that firing these at another manned target at sea would be unthinkable because of the danger, though an exercise head has been substituted for the warhead and the torpedo has been set to miss. In ever-increasing numbers, seasoned submariners return to trainers ashore to practice their skills through refresher courses.
The key to all this is the ubiquitous computer. The submariner in his trainer sees the same instruments and touches the same controls that he would on the submarine. The computer digests his actions, predicts the result and displays this on its gauges and dials, and, in the optics of his periscope, it also reflects his actions in the roll and pitch of the deck on which he stands. '
Submariners are practical by nature, perhaps even a bit reactionary, seasoned by long years of handling valves and rigging submarines for dive. ”Know your boat’ has been the watchword. Rarely have submariners allowed a complex training device to be thrust upon them; the need has almost always preceded the device. Yet the new submarine officer learns by doing at submarine school as never before. He performs a variety of simulated drills, in which he: fires torpedo tubes, dives and surfaces, makes firing preparation checks on new generations of torpedoes, operates air revitalization equipment, and practices at fire control skills.
There are other vast areas of change at Submarine School: propulsion, atmosphere, and intelligence. First came nuclear power; machinery no longer needed air from the outside world. Next came the efforts in atmospheric habitability which mean that today’s submarines revitalize their own air. This has successfully divorced the submarine’s personnel from dependence on the earth s atmosphere. The last, and perhaps the largest step, is to divorce the submarine from the needs of electromagnetic radiation or the sending of electronic impulses for gathering intelligence; that wave form so practical and so widely used in the earth’s atmosphere, yet which does not behave as well when broadcast through water. Man, a creature of the earth’s atmosphere, receives more than 80 per cent of his intelligence by electromagnetic .radiation through his eyes. In the past, the submarine has been tied to the earth’s atmosphere and its electromagnetic medium for sight, communications, and navigation. Now all of this is rapidly changing. Texts, new courses and new techniques are now taught at the school in keeping with the advances in this vast area.
The wave form of the ocean is, of course, sonic. Sonic energy can be modulated for voice or CW (continuous wave tone) communications. Ships and fish can be watched and tracked by the sonic energy that inadvertently spills from them and leaves a trail, much as one might follow the path of a man on a dark night by the light of his cigarette. Sonic energy is beamed from the water to the submarine with higher and higher intensity, like high-powered, long-range lights. The luture holds much more: sonic beacons to take the place of buoys and lighthouses, fixed communications, and fixed sonic underwater “lighting” systems guarding key straits and passages and for navigating the existing landmarks on the ocean’s bottom. The possibilities are staggering.
We have had pieces and snatches of all this before, for example, sonars, fathometers, and elementary short-range communications devices. In recent years, evaluations of the latest nuclear submarines as ASW vehicles have taken place without these ships ever receiving any information by electromagnetic radiation for days on end. Under-ice operations rely almost entirely on the sonic wave form. Just as the fish and water mammals before us, submariners are adapting the sonic wave form for gathering the total picture. Most obviously one sees this change in the submarine’s topside appendages, the lessening size of the sails that house the masts which receive and transmit electromagnetic information. The new sensors have fewer appendages, and they are sonic and often imbedded in the slick skin of the submarine.
The Submarine School is teaching its new officers about this watery world of the sonic wave form, and, as advancements in the science occur, scarcely a month goes by without new additions to the curriculum. For example, new texts have been prepared to teach the fundamentals of ship quieting. A lower noise level on the submarine thereby increases the sensitivity of the sonic receiver. We have become quantitative in predicting how far we can see a certain target, in a certain ocean, in a certain month of the year. Directly related is the fact that no adequate mathematical models or analogous model existed to handle the sonic wave form and the submarine force has developed its own.
Most important of all is the change in the caliber of young officers entering the Basic Submarine Officers Course. The result is remarkably regenerative. Once taught by rote, this method suffices no longer. The student today seeks to know the practical along with the theory, or why an engineering concept was adopted. And as a natural evolution, the brighter students have become higher caliber instructors. Added strength in one part of the course has, by contrast, shown weakness in another, which must be improved; and the process recycles.
More than half of the new students are either nuclear trained or selected for that training. The average student has a degree in engineering, physics, or mathematics from a first-rate university. A typical class has a liberal sprinkling of officers with postgraduate training. Adding to the teacher’s challenge is the fact that the average student has not served at sea, except for short indoc- trinational cruises, and is not a qualified officer-of-the-deck.
Although Submarine School is distinct from the nuclear training, which teaches the operation of the reactor plants of our submarines, a comparison of the respective curricula does come up in the minds of our students; and sometimes shows plainly in the constructive comments solicited from each Submarine School graduate. The school does not admit to competition with the nuclear power training program. Yet the presence of the nuclear training program has spurred us on and has caused a good deal of introspection.
★
The demand for well-trained officers is great. Never has the U. S. Navy had a wider variety of types of submarines; never have they been so complex; never have the missions been so vital, and never have the opportunities for training at sea been so few.
Submarine Tender—The
USS L. Y. Spear (AS-36) is the first of a new class of ships designed to service nuclear attack submarines. The ship was christened on 7 September from the keel section of her sister ship, the Dixon. The tender is 644 feet in length, 85 feet in beam, and displaces 22,640 tons. She is scheduled to join the Fleet some time next year.
New Utility Craft—Originally developed for commercial use, this harbor utility craft, designated YFU, has 2,700 square feet of deck space. She can carry various liquid cargoes, in tanks, and serve as a tow boat, lighter, or freighter. The diesel-powered, twin- screw craft has a draft of 7.5 feet, a gross tonnage of 250 tons, a length of 125 feet, and a beam of 36 feet. Pacific Coast Engineering is building 12, 6 of which will be specially modified for service in Vietnam.
No Wheels—A new concept in aircraft landing gear incorporates use of an inflatable rubberized "doughnut” and an air cushion formed by hundreds of air-jet nozzles in the "hole,” of the doughnut. Power for the air cushion landing gear (ACLG) is provided by a 72- pound auxiliary engine.
Ambrose—Old and New- On 24 August the familiar red Ambrose lightship was replaced by the Ambrose Offshore Light Tower. Located seven miles off Sandy Hook, N. J., the new beacon is 136 feet above the water and its six-million-candle- power light is visible for approximately 21 miles. (See pages 131-133, October 1967 Proceedings.)
U. S. Coast Guard
Sea Sparrow—Crewmen of
the USS Enterprise (CVA (N)-65) ready a supersonic Sparrow HI missile for surface-to-air shipboard defense test. The Sea Sparrow is a version of the standard air-to-air armament of aircraft such as the F-4 Phantom in the background.
Raytheon
Helical Hull—Unusual design of the Maritime Administration, called The Helical Ship,” uses mostly straight frames and many large flat plates, a large portion of which are interchangeable, permitting mass production techniques. V-
Notebook
U. S. Navy
s Grumman Gets Navy VFAX Contract
(Armed Forces Management, July 1967) In spite of the fact that the program has not been approved, the Navy has awarded a small $65,648 contract to Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp. for study of its VFAX aircraft. The VFAX, a tactical fighter that would combine the air superiority and attack missions into one airplane, is considered so similar to the Air Force FX fighter that the two are now under study by a joint panel to see if the requirements can be blended.
If they can, or if Defense believes they can, a single development program, like the F-lll might result. The Navy, no matter which way the decision goes, feels it should develop the aircraft because of its more stringent carrier suitability requirements. The Air Force disagrees.
s New Bomb Eyed for Vietnam Use
(George C. Wilson in Washington Post, 10 September 1967) The United States has developed a new bomb which some military and civilian officials see as a means of isolating Haiphong without running the grave international risks of bombing or mining the port city itself.
The bomb carries a TNT type warhead and is nicknamed “Destructor.” Tons of them, under a plan now in the works, would be dropped on roads to block the transport of cargo from Haiphong and other North Vietnamese ports.
Destructor is one of several new weapons which are changing both the character of the air war and the arguments between military leaders and Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara on North Vietnamese targets.
The new bomb buttresses the case for two opposing viewpoints within the Administration. It strengthens the case of those who side with the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the feasibility of restricting supplies by bombing the North. But it also can be cited as an argument against those military leaders who favor bombing or mining the port of Haiphong itself.
One Administration official commented: “They can reopen roads, but when you make ten cuts instead of just one cut, it’s a lot harder.”
Destructor is a pressure bomb which does not blow up until an object of a specified weight passes over it or it is jarred into action by vibrations from nearby vehicles. Neither defense industry nor military sources would go beyond this on secrecy grounds. Such a mine-like bomb, specially designed for roads and trails, is advertised by its backers as tremendously useful at night when the North Vietnamese transport the bulk of their war goods.
Destructor is one of several new weapons changing the old targeting formulas for figuring out gains versus risks. Among them are precision missiles and bombs which make the bombing of cities safer for the pilot in the sky and the civilians on the ground.
The Navy has developed a whole series of what are called “Eye” bombs—Walleye, Snakeye, Weteye, Sadeye—for special purpose bombing.
The one which has been discussed the most in connection with North Vietnam is the Walleye. It is a bomb which the pilot drops while a safe distance away from anti-aircraft defenses. The pilot can actually watch the bomb’s flight on a small TV screen in his cockpit. If the bomb is going off target, he manipulates a lever which sends signals to the bomb so it can move its fins to change course.
s Navy Drops Plan to Merge Districts
(The New Fork Times, 14 August 1967) The Navy has advised Congress that it has dropped its controversial plan to reduce the number of naval districts and district headquarters from 10 to 7. Paul H. Nitze, Deputy Secretary of Defense, made the announcement Friday in a letter to Senator Henry M. Jackson, Democrat of Washington, chairman of the Senate Military Construction subcommittee.
The plan, disclosed last January, had called for merging the First District at Boston and the Third District at New York, into a new district with headquarters in New York; the Fourth District at Philadelphia and the Fifth
District at Norfolk, Va., into a new district with headquarters at Norfolk, and the 12th District at San Francisco and the 13th District at Seattle, into a new district with headquarters at San Francisco.
Congressmen from the areas where headquarters would have been abolished had disputed the Pentagon estimate that $1.5-million a year could be saved by the consolidation.
Mr. Nitze, who was the Secretary of the Navy before his recent appointment as Deputy Secretary of Defense, told Mr. Jackson that the Pentagon had re-evaluated the plan and had decided that the economies it sought could be achieved without consolidation.
s Oceans Get Smaller, Legally
(Orr Kelly in Washington Star, 22 August 1967) The world’s oceans are getting smaller. Physically, they have been about the same size for a few millennia. But legally, they are shrinking—and U. S. naval officials are worried.
Although the spectacular success of Israel in the air and on the ground in the Middle East war tended to draw the attention of the world, it should not be forgotten that it was an issue of freedom of the seas that sparked the war. The United Arab Republic closed the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba and Israel, it would now appear, responded with its full military might just as soon as it could mobilize its forces.
The second issue of freedom of the seas came in the midst of the war when Israeli jets and torpedo boats attacked the USS Liberty and killed 34 of her American crew.
While public interest immediately centered on the question of why the Liberty was operating so close to a shore where a hot war was going on, U. S. Navy officers were outspokenly outraged that the ship had been attacked on the high seas—regardless of what she was doing there.
Navy officials fear, with perhaps as much emotion as reason in this particular case, that their freedom to operate on the high seas has been whittled away just a little bit further. They are not at all pleased, for example, that—at State Department insistence—the Indonesian government is notified when U. S. warships pass through straits in the Indonesian archipelago while traveling between the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Both Indonesia and the Philippines claim that the waters surrounding all of their islands are internal waters and that they have the right to control their use.
Some of the straits are quite narrow and the State Department understandably thinks that the unexpected appearance of a warship in one of them could lead to an unpleasant incident.
But Navy officers fear that “notice” of the passage of a ship might gradually come to be considered the same thing as a request for permission to pass through the straits. And once such a precedent is set, other countries may begin following the practice.
For years, the United States has been worried about the efforts of other countries to push their territorial limits out further into the ocean. The United States has traditionally favored a three-mile limit even though this now means that Soviet trawlers loaded with electronic gear can operate freely within sight of U. S. military installations and missile launching sites while the Soviet 12-mile limit keeps U. S. ships further away from her shores.
The Soviet Union, a land power, traditionally has supported the 12-mile limit and even gave its okay to the Indonesian claim to control of the waters surrounding her islands. But it might well be that Soviet leaders will take another look at the situation as it now stands.
They now have a growing naval power— and thus a growing interest in the freedom of their ships to move about the world. They might also note that Indonesia’s ideological leaning has shifted abruptly from pro-communism to virulent anti-communism. They might, finally, look at the map and wonder what problems they might have in moving ships of their Atlantic, Black Sea and Mediterranean Fleets through the Indian Ocean and into the Pacific.
Si Ship Notes: U. S. Navy Ships
The following listing shows U. S. Navy ships under construction or modernization and the dates on which they are expected to be put into service. Listed are their hull numbers, names, shipyards, and estimated commissioning dates, from 1 February through December 1967. (See “Ship Notes,” Notebook, pages 137-139, January 1967 Proceedings).
warships
CVA-41 | Midway Modernization | in 15 Feb. 1966 |
| San Francisco Bay N.S.Y. | out 15 Nov. 1969 |
CG-10 | Albany Antiair Warfare | Modernization |
| Boston N.S.Y. | in 1 Feb. 1967 |
|
| out 1 Oct. 1968 |
DLG-17 | Yarnell [1] Antiair Warfare Modernization | |
DLG-18 | Worden *Antiair Warfai | re Modernization |
DLG-19 | Dale *Antiair Warfare | Modernization |
DLG-21 | Gridley *Antiair Warfare Modernization | |
DLG 22 | England *Antiair Warfare Modernization | |
DIG-24 | Reeves *Antiair Warfare Modernization | |
DLG-30 | Horne | 4 Apr. 1967 |
| San Francisco Bay N.S.Y. |
|
DLG-31 | Sferetf | 8 Apr. 1967 |
| Puget Sound N.S.Y. |
|
DDG-27 | Brisbane for Australia | 16 Dec. 1967 |
| Defoe Shipbuilding Co., | Bay City, Mich. |
DDG-31 | Decatur (former DD-936) |
|
| Boston N.S.Y. recommissioned 29 Apr. 1967 | |
DDG-32 | John Paul Jones (former | • DD-932) |
| recommissioned with delays Sept. 1967 | |
| Philadelphia N.S.Y. |
|
DDG-33 | Parsons (former DD-949) | 1967 |
| Long Beach N.S.Y. |
|
DLGN 35 | Truxtun | 27 May 1967 |
| New York S. B. Corp., Camden, N.J. | |
SSN-614 | Greenling | 28 Oct. 1967 |
| General Dynamics Corp., | Quincy, Mass. |
SSN-615 | Gato | 28 Nov. 1967 |
| General Dynamics Corp. | , Quincy, Mass. |
SSN 621 | Haddock | Nov. 1967 |
| Ingalls S.B. Corp., Pascagoula, Miss. | |
SSN-650 | Pargo | 11 Nov. 1967 |
| General Dynamics Corp., | Groton, Conn. |
SSN-661 | Lapon | 19 Dec. 1967 |
| Newport News S.B. & D. | D. Co. |
AMPHIBIOUS WARFARE SHIPS |
| |
LPD-7 | Cleveland | 21 Apr. 1967 |
Ingalls S.B. Corp., Pascagoula, Miss.
AUXILIARY SHIPS
AD-37 Samuel Gompers 1 Jul. 1967
Puget Sound N.S.Y.
AFS-3 Niagara Falls 29 Apr. 1967
National Steel & S.B. Co., San Diego, Calif.
AOE 2 Camden 1 Apr. 1967
New York S.B. Corp., Camden, N.J.
PATROL SHIPS
DE-1049 Koelsch 10 June 1967
Defoe Shipbuilding Co., Bay City, Mich.
DEG-2 Ramsey 3 June 1967
Lockheed S.B. & Const. Co., Seattle, Wash.
DEG-4 Talbot 22 Apr. 1967
Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine
PG-88 Crockett 24 June 1967
Tacoma Boatbuilding Co., Inc., Tacoma, Wash.
Other U. S. Services
s U. S. to Construct Vietnam Barrier
(William Beecher in The New York Times, 8 September 1967) Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara announced a decision today to construct a barrier of barbed wire, mines and electronic devices along the northern border of South Vietnam.
The barrier would be placed below the demilitarized zone. Mr. McNamara would not say whether the strip—designed to impede the flow of men and arms from North Vietnam—would extend westward into Laos across the Ho Chi Minh trail.
Informed sources said, however, that such an extension was not contemplated at present. The trail is believed to be the principal infiltration route into South Vietnam.
Mr. McNamara said the barrier’s “objectives will be consistent with those of our present air campaign against lines of communications.” He indicated that there would not be any effect on the bombing in the near future.
The Secretary said operation of a number of classified devices was not to begin until “late this year or early next year.” He described the devices as “highly sophisticated” and then turned back all questions. He said he had told military and civilian defense officials not to discuss the devices for fear the information might help the enemy to “defeat the system once it is installed.”
Mr. McNamara noted that work had begun on clearing a 15-mile stretch of jungle south of the demilitarized zone. It consists of barbed wire, mine fields, and bulldozed stretches about 600 yards wide affording better visibility and fields of fire.
DROP
FORGED
Presumably, the barrier will be fortified with a number of advanced anti-infiltration devices and extended westward at least part of the way through the more rugged jungles and mountains to the Laos border. The six- mile deep demilitarized zone runs along the border between South Vietnam and North Vietnam about 40 miles from the South China Sea to the Laos frontier.
Published accounts have told about experiments with radar and acoustical and infrared detectors designed to sound an alarm when the enemy approaches. Depending on the terrain, such intruders might then be attacked by aircraft, artillery or infantry.
One of the military criticisms has been that such a barrier would be bypassed unless it was extended across the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos. This major infiltration route is now attacked only by air.
s Cause for Rising U. S. Casualties Cited
(Hanson W. Baldwin in The New York Times, 13 August 1967) Some unnecessary casualties in Vietnam are probably being caused by rapid personnel turnover, and the consequent lack of professional experience of the troops there, some Pentagon sources believe.
The increasing number of American casualties is a cause of considerable concern to all the services. Officers point out, however, that it is a direct reflection of the increased number of United States and enemy troops now in action, the transfer from the South Vietnamese to the United States forces of a greater share of the combat burden, and the recent utilization by the enemy—particularly along the demilitarized zone—of artillery, rockets, mortars and many types of modern, heavy weapons.
The first United States combat units that were sent to Vietnam—the initial Marine battalions and the 173d Airborne Brigade— were thoroughly professional and well- trained, with officers and noncoms of considerable experience. The units had been trained in jungle warfare and acclimated in Okinawa, and they gave a good account of themselves in their first year or so of action in Vietnam.
They point out that company and platoon commanders rarely command their companies more than six months or so in Vietnam; they are either replaced or are casualties. Experienced noncoms are so scarce that the Army will start on 5 September a 90-day “crash” course for them at Fort Benning, Ga.
Both the Army and Marines have found it necessary, at certain camps and posts in Vietnam, to order all ammunition supplies to be turned in by off-duty soldiers to a central storage area, there has been, it is said, too much wild firing—the mark of inexperienced troops. Many rifle battalions, both Marine and Army, but particularly the Marines— are below strength, and many of the men are so tired from continuous action that they become easy victims of heat exhaustion.
Officers believe that the one-year tour of duty in Vietnam—13 months for the Marines —is a great morale-builder, and that it is essential, given the policies under which the war is being fought. Some naval officers link the four fires that have occurred aboard aircraft carriers off Vietnam to the personnel turnover, and to the inexperience of some of
the crews. _
Many others, who do not agree with this opinion, point out that the Navy, like the other services, has given top priority to Vietnam and that it tries to send its most qualified men there.
During this fiscal year, between 550,000 and 600,000 servicemen—Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force—will complete their tour of duty in Vietnam and must be replaced— considerably more than a 100 per cent turnover. During the same year, about 821,000 enlisted men, more than a quarter of the
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combined enlisted strength of the armed services, are expected to leave the services as their draft terms or enlistments expire.
Some 70 to 80 per cent of the wounded, by far the largest category on the casualty lists, return to duty in Vietnam, statistics show, and of these more than half are never hospitalized. Their wounds are so slight that they are treated by their unit medical facilities.
From 1 Jan. 1961 through 29 July 1967, cumulative United States casualties in Vietnam resulting “from actions by hostile forces” totaled 12,269 battle deaths, including men killed in action, men who died of wounds, or men who died while interned or captured. The nonfatal wounded for the same period totaled 74,818.
On 31 December 1966 the figures amounted to 6,644 dead and 37,738 nonfatal wounded. Thus in the space of 28 weeks. U. S. casualties have increased by 5,625 dead, 37,080 wounded, or an average for 1967 of about 1,525 a week.
Extended for a year, American casualties would be about 10,400 dead, 68,848 wounded, which is about 17.2 per cent of the 460,000 men now in Vietnam. Actually, although the total casualties in the course of a year approximate almost one-fifth of the size of the force maintained there at any one time, the figures do not reflect the true casualty rate, since personnel turnover means that perhaps 900,000 to 1,000,000 men actually serve in Vietnam during the course of a year.
General William C. Westmoreland’s command made a study of 30,000 wounded in action in the period from January 1965 through October 1966. The study found that 45 per cent returned to duty without hospitalization. Of the remaining 55 per cent, 72 per cent returned to duty in Vietnam; 22 per cent were still hospitalized at the survey’s cutoff date, 3 per cent were medically discharged, and 2.5 per cent had died. This meant that as of the cutoff date only 4,620 men out of 30,000 wounded had not returned to duty.
In a study of combat casualties in Vietnam from 1 July 1965 through 28 February 1967, before some of this year’s heaviest fighting, the Army found that the rate for its troops was 19.6 deaths for each 1,000 men a year (due to hostile action).
S C.G. Ships Foiled in Arctic Passage (J. Y. Smith in Washington Post, 1 September 1967) The United States announced yesterday that it has halted an attempt by two Coast Guard icebreakers to make history’s first sea voyage completely around the Arctic Ocean.
The effort was called off because the Soviet Union refused to let the ships enter what it claimed were Soviet territorial waters. The ships had been forced to change their original course due to ice packed as high as their superstructures.
The State Department denounced Moscow’s action as a violation of international law. In a statement issued by Carl E. Bartch, a department press officer, the Soviet government was also accused of frustrating “a useful scientific endeavor” and thus depriving “the international scientific community of research data of considerable significance.”
The United States also made its views known in Moscow. On Wednesday, according to Bartch, the U. S. Embassy delivered to the Soviet Foreign Ministry a diplomatic note “strongly protesting the Soviet position.” The Soviets felt that the American ships, the Edisto and the Eastwind, would violate Soviet territorial waters if they entered the Vilkitsky Straits. The Russians maintained that their regulations required 30 days notice from foreign naval vessels wishing to enter their waters.
Each of the ships carries twin-mounted five-inch guns on its bow, and standard Coast Guard armament, according to the State Department.
The straits connect the Kara and Laptev Seas, two bodies of water of almost incredible extremes of cold and bleakness. They are bounded on one side by the Taymyr Peninsula, the northernmost point of the mainland of Siberia, and by the Severnaya Zemlya islands on the other. The straits are 22 nautical miles wide—about 25 statute miles—at their narrowest point. The Soviet Union claims that its sea frontiers extend 12 miles from land and that they thus overlap in the Vilkitsky Straits.
In its statement yesterday, the United States asserted that the ships of all nations have a right of innocent passage through Vilkitsky Straits since they connect two parts
Morison
of the high seas. It said this was true whether the straits were territorial waters or not. Moreover, the statement continued, the Soviet Union was a party to the convention of 29 April 1958, in which this principle is clearly set forth.
The U. S. position is the same as the one it has taken during the Middle East crisis in respect to the Strait of Tiran, through which Israel has access to the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aqaba.
U. S. officials said, however, that the protest against the Soviets was in no way an effort to strengthen the U. S. position in the Middle East situation. They noted that Moscow has generally supported the same position in other cases.
The Edisto and the Eastwind are both steelhulled and 269 feet long. Both are veterans oi the Arctic. The two ships joined forces off Trondheim, Norway, on 15 Aug. The course they plotted would have been an 8,000-mile journey to take them north of Novaya Zemlya, the Soviet nuclear testing ground, north of the Severnaya Zemlya islands, and north of all other Soviet territory.
According to a radio message received at Coast Guard headquarters, the ships made two efforts to batter their way northward around Severnaya Zemlya. On the second attempt, they were stopped by pack ice 8 to 12 feet thick.
The Soviets were first told of the plans to change course on 24 Aug. In their reply to that information, the Russians first claimed that the straits were territorial waters. But it was not until 28 Aug., in answer to a routine message from the icebreakers about their intentions, that the Russians made it clear that the ships would be refused passage. From 16 Aug. onwards, the Coast Guard said, Soviet planes shadowed the ships. Some came within 200 feet of the vessels.
U. S. officials noted that the scientific data collected on the trip would have been made available to the Soviet Union.
s ABM Contracts to Be Let in 6 Months
(George C. Wilson in Washington Post, 21 September 1967) First big contracts to start production of the anti-ballistic missile system will be awarded in about six months, Pentagon officials said yesterday.
Funding for the $5 billion anti-ballistic- missile (ABM) defense announced on Monday will probably not jump above the billion dollar mark until late 1968 or early 1969.
Reason is that it will take some time to gear up for production. Engineering drawings and special tooling can be financed from money now available for the ABM. President Johnson put $377 million in his current (fiscal 1968) budget to start the ABM production in case missile freeze talks with Russia failed.
Besides that $377 million, the Pentagon can draw down the $177 million Congress appropriated last year to finance the preproduction step. Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara had refused to take that step until Monday.
The Pentagon has declined to say how many missiles it will buy with the $5 billion. But spokesmen there yesterday did state that $3.5 billion of the total would go for the Spartan and $1.5 billion for the Sprint.
Spartan is the long-range anti-ballistic- missile under development. It would carry a hydrogen bomb more than 400 miles from
{ Samuel Eliot
. ) America’s foremost naval historian writes X the full, amazing story of the 19th-cen- V) tury’s most versatile sailor ... a major A biography to stand beside his Pulitzer V Prize-winning John Paul Jones and Adi ) miral of the Ocean Sea.
“Old Bruin”
its launching pad, exploding it out in space in the path of the enemy missile. Spartan is an improved version of Nike Zeus.
Sprint is the short range missile—the second line of defense. It is designed to whoosh up and hit any warheads which might get through the Spartan net.
Even more complicated than the antimissile-missiles themselves are the eyes of the ABM system. Big radars will be put along the U. S.-Canadian border to detect and track any missiles flying toward the U. S. from either China or Russia.
s ESSA Surveys Undersea Mountain
(Commercial Fisheries Review, August-Septem- ber 1967) The new oceanographic survey ship Discoverer of ESSA’s Coast and Geodetic Survey conducted an oceanographic research expedition to a submerged mountain in the North Atlantic, midway between Bermuda and the Grand Banks off Newfoundland.
The submerged mountain is the Gregg Seamount, which rises 13,320 feet from ocean floor to within 2,880 feet of the sea’s surface. The 303-foot, 3,800-ton Discoverer, the Nation’s newest and most completely automated oceanographic research ship, departed from Boston 17 July for Gregg Seamount. She remained over the seamount for three days, then returned to port at Jacksonville, Florida.
s C. G. Icebreaker Sets Arctic Record
{Coast Guard News, 22 September 1967) The Coast Guard Cutter Northwind, a 269-foot icebreaker out of Seattle, Washington, has set a new record in the penetration of “Arctic West” by an American surface ship. “Arctic West” is that area above Alaska and Canada. The ship reached a point, 79 degrees, 25.5 minutes North Latitude and 168 degrees, 01 minute West Longitude, some 634 miles from the North Pole. The previous record was set in 1962 when the icebreaker Burton Island, then operating under the Navy, reached 76 degrees, 30 minutes North Latitude. Extremely heavy ice and the quickly advancing winter season made it inadvisable to try to penetrate further north.
The Northwind was attempting to resupply ice island T-3, a scientific research station under the Office of Naval Research. The extremely heavy ice and a four-foot-long crack in the hull of the ship prevented it from getting any closer than 42 miles from the ice island. Even through the ship was not able to reach T-3, the feat is still considered to be remarkable, by the Coast Guard. The crack in the hull is a quarter-inch wide and temporary repairs were made.
One reason why the Northwind was able to penetrate so far north is the fact that the Arctic ice flowed in a southerly direction toward the Eurasian continent, somewhat relieving the pressure in Arctic West.
Research and Development
0 'Bubbles’ Float a Sunken Vessel
(The New York Times, 3 September 1967) A Danish merchant ship, sunk in 114 feet of icy Greenland water, was raised recently by a new salvage method that employs small plastic balls. The salvage method, developed by Danish engineers, uses small polystyrene bubbles that are created by turning powdered polystyrene into pressurized, air-filled bubbles. The plastic is boiled to form the bubbles, which are then pumped through a hose into the hull of a sunken vessel.
The vessel raised by this method was the 3,080-ton Martin S., which broke from her moorings in the harbor of Sukkertoppen, West Greenland, in April and settled in 114 feet of 32-degree water after a hole was made in her bow.
The job was complicated by two factors— the short season of favorable weather, May through August, and the fact that the vessel was lying very deep in very cold water. At that depth and at that temperature, divers can only work for periods of not more than 30 minutes.
Nine divers started in mid-May to strengthen the hatch covers and decks on three of the ship’s holds before introducing plastic bubbles into these three spaces. This was necessary to counteract the upward pressure of the bubbles against the undersides of decks and hatch covers. Then holes were burned into the sides of the ship and pumping operations begun.
By mid-June the three holds had received their quota of polystyrene bubbles and early in July two salvage craft started using their lifting gear and managed to raise the ship three feet off the bottom.
The pumping of the bubbles continued until the strain on the forward salvage vessel had reached tolerable levels. By the time the two craft brought the ship to the surface the plastic bubbles supported about 90 per cent of the ship’s weight.
Work was delayed by a 300-foot-long iceberg, which drifted into the area, broke in two and caused a heavy swell that damaged salvage equipment. The Martin S. was then towed to Nakskov, Denmark, where she arrived about two weeks ago for repairs.
According to a spokesman for Phs. van Ommeren Shipping (U.S.A.) Inc., the use of polystyrene bubbles for marine salvage is not expected to replace conventional salvage methods but will be reserved for special circumstances.
The spokesman added that the plastic bubbles are likely to be used in cases where a wreck lies at such depths as to preclude normal use of divers to seal off compartments. All that needs to be done with plastic bubbles is to close off large hull openings to keep the bubbles inside.
Another advantage of employing the bubble method, the spokesman said, was that they can be easily removed after a ship has been brought to the surface.
So far, the spokesman added, this method of raising vessels has not been used on this side of the Atlantic. However, the United States Navy had an observer present at the raising of the Martin S.
H New Ocean Science Center Established
{Navy Times, 23 August 1967) The Navy has established the new Maury Center for Ocean Science at the Naval Research Laboratory. The mission of the center will be to bring together a number of ocean science activities under a single director.
The purpose of the center is to: achieve maximum use of available resources; increase interaction between Navy contract and internal programs; improve information exchanges, and provide a broader basis lor definition, review and assessment of the total Navy ocean science program, its response to Navy needs and relationship to other national programs.
The nucleus of the center, which is primarily a coordinating facility, will be formed by four groups now at the Naval Research Laboratory. They are the Ocean Science and Technology Group, Office of Naval Research; Ocean Science and Engineering Division, NRL: the Research and Development Department and the Undersea Surveillance Oceanographic Center, both of the Naval Oceanographic Office.
The Maury Center will be under the jurisdiction of Rear Adm. Thomas B. Owen, Assistant Oceanographer of the Navy for Ocean Science and Chief of Naval Research.
a UN Control of Oceans Hit
{Christian Science Monitor, 15 September 1967) The National Oceanography Association (NOA), a private organization, voiced opposition today to what it termed “a move by an international organization of lawyers to have the United Nations take control of all deep-sea mineral resources beyond the continental shelf.”
It said Rep. Richard T. Hanna (D) of California is introducing legislation to oppose any UN take-over at this time.
NOA said an organization called the World Peace Through Law Center, at a conference in Geneva, had passed a resolution calling upon the United Nations to take over the ocean resources by proclamation.
Terming the action “shocking to most Americans,” the NOA also issued a statement by its own president, John H. Clotworthy, of the University of Miami.
“This is a serious threat,” said Mr. Clotworthy. “Mr. Rhyne has told us that the
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International Law Organization is doing everything it can to bring the deep-ocean mineral resources under the control of the United Nations.”
NOA said oil companies in the United States already have the technology to recover oil from the sea bed at a depth of about 600 feet. But it said the action urged by the lawyers’ group would not let American oil companies drill beyond that depth without going to the United Nations for permission.
Foreign
@ IMCO Studies Tanker Casualties
(Safety at Sea International, July/August 1967) The Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organisation is studying measures to be adopted in the event of another Toney Canyon casualty. They include these points:
•Examine urgently the procedures for states to co-operate at short notice to provide manpower, supplies, equipment and scientific advice to deal with discharge of oil, or other noxious or hazardous substances.
•Continue and intensify research and exchange of information into means of preventing pollution, and destroying the polluting agent without harm to flora and fauna.
•Examine to what extent it would be possible to meet the wishes of a state, which has been affected by a casualty to a ship not under its flag, to take part in the official inquiry into that casualty.
•Consider how a state directly threatened by a casualty which takes place outside its territorial sea should be enabled to take measures to protect its coastline, harbours or amenities, even if these measures may affect the interests of shipowners, salvage companies, insurers and even flag governments.
s Spain Moves Fishing Limits to 12 Miles
(■Commercial Fisheries Review, August-Septem- ber 1967) Spain extended its fisheries jurisdiction to 12 miles, measured generally from the low-water mark along the coastline, by law number 20/1967, 8 April, 1967. However, provision also was made to draw straight base lines between certain nautical points less than 24 miles apart.
The extension was in accord with the principles of the Western European Fisheries Convention approved 9 March 1964, by representatives of Spain and 12 other countries.
Under the law, traditional foreign fishing in the 6-12 mile zone may be continued at a level not exceeding the habitual catch, provided reciprocal rights are granted Spanish fishermen by the foreign countries involved. (U. S. Consul, Bilbao, June 14, 1967, and other sources.)
Expansion of the Spanish distant-water fishing fleet continued in 1966 with the addition of 32 vessels over 250 gross tons. The long-range freezer fleet operated mainly off South Africa and increased its landings by 46 per cent to 195,000 metric tons. This gain was offset, however, by lower landings in the coastal fishery. Total landings in 1966 of one million tons were about the same as in 1965.
In recent years, fleet development has been stimulated by a Government loan program. Its aim is to create a modern fleet by 1970 capable of catching 1.5 million metric tons a year.
s South Africa Lets Submarine Contract
(French Shipbuilding Association, 15 July 1967) On 26 June, the Government of the South African Republic signed a contract with Dubigeon-Normandie S. A. which is to build for the South African Navy three 870/1,040-ton submarines of the Daphne type. These submarines will be assembled at the builders’ yard of Nantes-Chantenay.
Dubigeon-Normandie had been previously chosen by the French Navy to give the finishing touch to the plans of the Daphne class submarines, three of which have already been launched for the French Navy.
Dubigeon-Normandie are presently building for the Navy of Portugal four sister vessels, the first of which will be delivered next October.
In 1966, Pakistan allocated to the Chantiers Navals de La Ciotat two Daphne type submarines to be completed in 1969 and 1970. A third unit will be built at Brest.
The Spanish Navy has also chosen the Daphne type for its next submarines, which will be assembled in Spanish Navy yards with French technical assistance. Two have already been ordered, two more should be built in the near future. At the present moment, there are 25 units of the type built, building or on order, including eleven to French account and fourteen for the navies of Portugal, Spain, Pakistan, and now South Africa.
Merchant Marine
a Contra-Rotating Props for Cargo Ships
{Marine Engineering/Log, August 1967) Another “first” has been incorporated in Lykes Bros. Steamship Company’s “SeaBee” class vessels. These 36,000-shp ships are including contra-rotating propellers in the design. This will be the first commercial application of this propulsion device in the world. It has been used experimentally in two U. S. Navy submarines but for much lower horsepowers.
Contra-rotating propellers offer many advantages. These include: greatly reduced power requirements, which means fuel savings in the order of 10 per cent; reduction in propeller cavitation, which means longer propeller life and greater efficiency; reduction in propeller-induced vibrations; higher available ship speeds; and increased cargo deadweight due to the lower fuel requirements.
The principle of contra-rotating propellers has been known for years. It involves driving a pair of screws in opposite directions of rotation by two concentric shafts. This system of propulsion has been under research for several years by the U. S. Navy, the Maritime Administration and several foreign countries.
s Training for Sea Termed Outdated
{The New York Times, 23 September 1967) “Fresh approaches” are required to the training of the men who sail the world’s merchant ships if automation is to be “widely practicable” at sea, according to a study by the International Labor Organization.
It also finds that the developments now taking place in the shipping industry require “more elaborate manpower planning, including assessment of the future requirements ol the different categories ... of seafarers.”
France, an I.L.O. report says, is the only country that has introduced a “complete reform” in the training of seamen to meet the developments in the industry. The study urges that the working conditions of seamen be improved “to induce the right type of men to come into the industry and stop the drift from the sea.”
It suggests that the maritime commission explore the possibility of reducing the on-and- off nature of employment in the shipping industry. This might be achieved, it says, by “progressively offering company service contracts.”
The report also proposes that discussions be held on the “much needed simplification in the methods of calculating wages and overtime.”
This could eventually result, it continues, “in the elimination of the practice of many seafarers relying for a substantial portion of their earnings on payments for overtime.”
The report notes that the speedy turn- round time in port of new types of vessels leave the crews with much less time to go ashore than on the older ships. “This is a problem,” it finds, “which seems to have a direct influence on the drift from the sea and therefore deserves serious consideration.”
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[1] A contract was let to Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, on 8 Sept. 1967 for the antiair warfare modernization of six DLG's of the DLG-16 (Lephy) class. No reporting date for the ships has been released.