This html article is produced from an uncorrected text file through optical character recognition. Prior to 1940 articles all text has been corrected, but from 1940 to the present most still remain uncorrected. Artifacts of the scans are misspellings, out-of-context footnotes and sidebars, and other inconsistencies. Adjacent to each text file is a PDF of the article, which accurately and fully conveys the content as it appeared in the issue. The uncorrected text files have been included to enhance the searchability of our content, on our site and in search engines, for our membership, the research community and media organizations. We are working now to provide clean text files for the entire collection.
United States............................................................................................................................................. HO
Des Moines Trials—Pensacola Sunk—Visit to Argentina—Argentia Assault Exercise—New St. Albans—“Drone” Ships—Industrial Mobilization Plans.
Home Fleet Tests Defenses—New Admiral of the Fleet—Lord Hall Praises Fleet—Fleet Notes—Sub for Portugal—Heligoland for Bombing—Prize Money.
Naval Budget.
14,500 Planes—Navy Increased Pilot Output—Navy Joins Airlift— XP5Y-1—XF7U—New GCA’s for Navy—Canadian Jet—British Powerplant Development.
Merchant Marine..................................................................................................................................... 125
Repairs for Reserve Fleet—Tanker Fleet—Coast Guard Trains in Merchant Marine.
Medical Problems in New Submarines.
International........................................................................................................................................... 131
North Atlantic Defense Pact.
UNITED STATES Trials of Des Moines
New York Times, Nov. 16.—The United States Navy cruiser Des Moines, rated as the world’s most powerful, put out to sea today in Massachusetts Bay on a builder’s final trial. The 17,000-ton vessel will be commissioned tomorrow.
Built at the Quincy yard of the Bethlehem Steel Company, the Des Moines is the first of a new class of heavy cruisers and carriers having the first completely automatic, rapid-fire battery of nine eight-inch guns. The vessel has a speed “in excess of thirty knots.”
Although Navy sources declined to say precisely how fast the guns would fire, it was admitted that they were “four times faster than any guns of the same or larger caliber.”
It was said, however, that this could mean a salvo of nine 334-pound, armor-piercing projectiles every three seconds, or even less, somewhat like giant charges of buckshot.
Ordnance experts explained that the automatic firing also eliminated one of the most dangerous and difficult phases of naval warfare. Heretofore such projectiles and propelling charges had been handled separately and chiefly manually. The projectile would be shoved into the breach, then the powder bags.
Now, aboard vessels of the Des Moines class and other newer craft, these projectiles are handled in unit rounds, like rifle cartridges.
In addition to the eight-inch battery, the Des Moines has a secondary battery of twelve twin-mount, five-inch guns, an anti-aircraft battery of twenty twin-mount, three-inch guns and twelve twenty-millimeter machine guns.
Pensacola Sunk
New York Times, Nov. 12.—Twelve thousand men and $1,000,000,000 worth of assorted naval ships and planes sank the veteran heavy cruiser Pensacola today after pounding it for six and a half hours.
Sixteen destroyers, three aircraft carriers and the cruiser Tucson joined in the attack. Bombs ranging up to 500 pounds and thousands of rounds of lighter ammunition were fired.
Navy officers said the Pensacola could have been sunk almost immediately, but it was decided to prolong her final day to afford “the maximum amount of practice to the maximum number of ships and men.”
Accordingly, she was towed Tuesday to a point about ninety miles north and west of the Washington coast and there cast adrift early today.
Bombers and gunners, handicapped by a 37-knot wind and a heavy haze, missed the target 90 per cent of the time. It was a different matter when the destroyers and Tucson moved in to a range of about seven to nine miles and opened up with five-inch guns. Salvo after salvo was right on the target, and those that missed were very close. The damage to the thick hull, and superstructure was apparently negligible, however.
The mast appeared to lean a little. A smudge of smoke rose here and there when paint caught fire. The seaworthiness of the Pensacola seemed unimpaired. The same result was noted when the ships moved in closer to open fire with light weapons.
The air fleet moved in for the second time with heavier bombs. She caught fire and for a while was almost obscured by smoke and the heavy haze.
At 1:15 p.m. the order was given for firing a torpedo from the destroyer William C. Lawe. The “tin fish” knocked off part of the bow and the Pensacola rapidly settled until the forward deck was awash. The sinking slowed to a snail’s pace then, and forty-five minutes later the Lawe fired a second torpedo. The aim was either bad or the torpedo a dud as no explosion occurred.
The Pensacola then developed a sharp list to port, nosed slowly down and plunged into the 8,400-foot-deep waters at 2:25 p.m.
Ships Visit Argentina
New York Times, Nov. 3. Buenos Ayres.—- Ships of the United States Navy began a second courtesy visit to Argentina when the light cruiser Huntington and the destroyer Douglas H. Fox tied up in Buenos Ayres Harbor this morning. Last January the heavy cruiser Albany and the destroyer George K. Mackenzie paid a similar call.
The Huntington, which is the flagship of Rear Admiral James F. Foskett, commander of Cruiser Division 12, and the Fox, which is under Comdr. James H. Brown, came here from South Africa and will leave a week from today for Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro and Trinidad on their way to their home bases. In command of the Huntington is Capt. Arleigh Asa Burke.
The officers and men will be feted extensively while in Buenos Ayres. There is a reception tonight at the United States Embassy residence for various naval aggregations stationed in the Argentine capital, and on Saturday and Sunday the enlisted men will be guests at a tea dance in the Embassy residence.
President and Senora Peron will visit the Huntington Saturday morning to return the staff officers’ visit to Casa Rosada Thursday. Ambassador James Bruce will accompany them to Casa Rosada.
The American colony has planned a whole series of events for the officers and men.
Assault Exercise on Argentia
New York Herald Tribune, Nov. 5.— Aboard U. S. S. Missouri.—Submarine “attacks” on Vice-Admiral D. B. Duncan’s cold- weather task force have been so destructive that under war conditions the amphibious assault on Argentia would probably have to be abandoned, staff officers said today.
More than half the troop transports have been theoretically sunk, reducing the supposed force of 7,500 Marines to 3,500. Casualties in escorts and supply ships have been heavy, while the specialized hunter-killer group has been destroyed twice over.
This has been accomplished, it is true, by the loss of all the submarines committed to the operation. But the impressive fact is that they defeated the attempt to “invade” the Argentia base before the force got within 500 miles of its objective. Under the rules, vessels “sunk” can re-enter the exercises four hours later, and the amphibious operation will go on as planned.
New York Herald Tribune, Nov. 9.— Argentia, Newfoundland.-—A Marine force representing a reinforced brigade stormed ashore here at 11:30 A.M. today, completing the second phase of the Navy’s cold-weather exercises. The first phase brought a fleet here from Norfolk, Va., and the third and last phase will carry it on to Davis Strait, between Greenland and Labrador.
Today, after standing out to sea during the night because of high wind and driving mist, the battleship Missouri and the cruiser Fargo closed in and laid down simulated fire, minesweepers cleared the channels and underwrater demolition teams, which landed last night, laid out markers for the landing vessels.
For the purpose of the exercise small landing craft were not used. Instead, two LST’s (landing ship, tanks) nosed up to the selected beach while the small craft milled around off another beach where a feint was being put on to draw the defenders’ attention away from the real attack.
The Marines jumped ashore wearing a newly developed variant in rubber and leather of the jackets used by sportsmen and lumbermen, with furlined parkas with hoods.
The Marine group used in the operations was a reinforced battalion of the 2d Marine Division, simulating a force of 7,500 men, which was about the size of that which was originally sent in to take Guadalcanal.
The Marines will spend the next two days consolidating their positions here and establishing their perimeter. Then they will pull out, to scatter among various Canadian ports for liberty, while the Missouri and accompanying carriers and other vessels will head for Davis Strait.
New St. Albans Hospital
New York Times, Nov. 3.—The Navy announced yesterday that construction work had started on new buildings for the Naval Hospital in St. Albans, Queens, under the largest hospital contract ever awarded by the Bureau of Yards and Docks.
The $14,823,000 project includes nine buildings and will be completed in two and a half years, according to the contractor’s estimate. St. Albans is the only Naval Ilospital in this area. The new construction will replace temporary structures that have been in use since the war.
“Drone” Ships
New York Herald Tribune, Nov. 14.—The Navy tonight officially removed from the secret list Project Stinger, in which unmanned, radio-controlled vessels loaded with high explosive are launched against enemy harbors and beaches.
Drone ships, ranging in size from cargo vessels, capable of carrying up to 7,000 tons of explosives, to small amphibious sea sleds, had been prepared as a surprise before the end of World War II, the Navy revealed. Their only operational use, however, was in the 1944 invasion of southern France, where drone LCVP’s (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel) were used against several invasion beaches.
In its announcement the Navy gave its first official hint of the possible use of television in amphibious operations, including opposed landings. The Navy still will not comment on the current use, if any, of television in such operations, but its announcement today said of the World War II operations:
“The larger ships in the (Project Stinger) program could be equipped with television cameras, mounted to give the distant operator a full view of what lay ahead of the drone. The same television transmitter could also flash to the operator a view of the drone’s compass, and a card indicating the speed of the ship, taken from the propellor shaft speed.”
Drones would be controlled from specially designed and equipped command ships, which lie well offshore screened from beach defenses by planes, destroyers, landing craft and rocket ships, and, in large operations, covered by the heavy guns of battleships and cruisers lying even further off-shore.
Ships assigned to the Stinger one-way missions, the Navy explained, were to be guided into enemy beaches to be sunk and exploded in the best positions to demolish underwater defenses and clear a channel for landing craft, thus saving lives of American fighting men at the cost of the ships and explosives.
Smaller craft in the program were developed for a variety of purposes, the Navy said, including amphibious vehicles which
could fight on land through radio directions.
“The latest of these craft, and the only one produced exclusively for the program,” the Navy said, “was the x-craft. These small sea sled hulls known as salamanders, powered in water by conventional propellers and on land by tank-type treads, were capable of speeds over seventeen miles an hour in water and over fifteen miles an hour on land.
“Carrying 1,200 pounds of explosives, they could be directed from the water onto the beach, to be exploded among the enemy’s land defenses. They could start, stop, turn, slow and speed up completely under control of remote operators.”
Other craft equipped and tested for the Stinger program, the Navy said, included destroyer escorts, PT’s or motor torpedo boats, and LVT’s or Landing Vessels, Tracked.
Virtually all the vessels in the program could, at the will of the remote operator, drop buoys which would mark the scene of their destruction and thus, for the guidance of the following craft, the location of the channel blasted in enemy defenses. Larger vessels also could drop depth charges when desired without detonating their entire explosive charge.
“To avoid the dangers possible if the enemy seized control of or destroyed the control vessel,” the Navy said, “most of the drones are equipped with a mechanism which automatically detonated them if the proper radio signal was not received from the control craft for a specified period of time.”
Significantly, the Navy announcement made no reference to current developments in Project Stinger.
Industrial Mobilization Plan Progressing
By James Minifie
New York Herald Tribune, Oct. 27.— While the Munitions Board’s stockpiling program is disastrously behind schedule, the board’s other functions are being skillfully and systematically carried out. These are to prepare plans for industrial mobilization and to eliminate overlapping facilities in the three armed services.
A vast amount of research, tabulation and preparation has gone into the industrial- mobilization plan. Elimination of overlaps has proceeded in several ways, partly through the services concerned, with the Munitions Board acting only as a “catalyst of co-ordination,” and partly in close association with the Research and Development Board within the national military establishment and with the National Security Resources Board outside the establishment.
The Munitions Board has been headed since Sept. 22 by Donald F. Carpenter, former vice-president of the Remington Arms Company. Thomas J. Hargrave, president of the Eastman Kodak Company, preceded him.
The board has two general approaches to the national industrial mobilization problem, based on big and small business needs. Its dealings with General Motors may be taken as characteristic of its method with the big businesses.
Output Capacity Allocated
Representatives of the Munitions Board meet General Motors executives and review their production capacity. Then, acting along lines suggested by the G. M. people who are in the best position to judge, they allocate blocks of productive capacity to the various services—for example, Allison engines to the Air Force—in the event of war.
In any block thus allocated, the service in question will have full responsibility in war time. This would eliminate the difficulty which often arose in the last war when the representatives of Army, Navy and Air Force were all on the neck of the same factory manager.
At the same time, acting on determinations of the National Security Resources Board, which has to split up productive capacity between the fighting services and civilian needs, the Munitions Board would be able to reserve blocks for that need. Planning does not appear to have reached that stage.
With small companies the Munitions Board acts chiefly through trade associations and endeavors to allocate so many factories in a given area to each service. A tremendous effort has gone into listing and checking the capacities of these small plants. Between 16,000 and 20,000 of them have been tabulated, and the work is still going on.
There is no question of placing pilot orders with these plants—almost all are going full blast on civilian goods. The idea is to give them a general idea of the type of product they would be expected to turn out in war time so that production managers and foremen will know what to expect. Munitions Board people point out cogently in this regard that it is highly important to stockpile raw materials of the type and quality to which industry has been accustomed.
Machine Tools Ordered Definite orders are being placed with machine-tool makers for certain types of basic machine tools, which will always be necessary in war production. This is possible because the machine-tool industry is not at present overburdened with orders.
A guide on industry-military procurement planning issued by the Munitions Board last June emphasized that “plants as such are not to be allocated; allocation is made only on productive capacity to produce a specified item at a specified rate of production.”
The guide is intended to start plant managers thinking about such questions as these: Was your plant operating to capacity during World War II? . .
Were your products those best suited to your facilities and abilities?
Did you have trouble in obtaining and holding adequate and properly skilled man power?
Should the occasion arise again, what would you want to do differently?
In the elimination of duplication the Munitions Board has co-operated very closely not only with the three services, but with the other divisions which were set up when the unification act was passed last year.
Savings Are Estimated A glance at the work being done by one of these, the Research Development Board, will show how personal contacts cut across red tape, and how close co-operation between the two boards facilitates the task of stockpiling and helps insure that the right things—or as much of them as can be obtained—are stockpiled. In the process of doing this, some peculiar results of the long traditional solitary development of the Army and Navy were brought out.
Officials estimate that in the first two years of its operation the Research and Development Board saved $125,000,000 in cutting out duplicating research projects alone. The figure might have been twice as much, since the accounting methods of the three services are so diverse it is very hard to know accurately what they do spend on research.
Most of these things are cut out in the three-service panels and committees before they ever get up to top level or into the statistics. Here is an example: When the Research Board got going, it found that the three services had nine projects under way for the development of a single variety of electronic tube. Two would have been good as competition. The other seven were just waste of money and abilities.
One of the great difficulties which gives officials a feeling of complete frustration is the lack of uniformity in the accounting and reporting of the three services.
Common System Sought
The present accounting methods in the three services do not permit evaluation of the division of expenditure to come within 50 per cent of the facts. To obtain real control, the methods should be so standardized that expenditures could be checked to within 5 per cent or at least 10 per cent. As one official put it: “It’s like dealing with quicksand. You take up a shovelful from this section and add it to that, but before you know it it’s all leveled out again the same as before.”
A common system of accounting is recognized as so important that an ad hoc committee has been appointed to study the problem and recommend ways of dealing with it.
Another cause of serious dissatisfaction among officials in the military establishment is the alleged failure of the Central Intelligence Agency to supply the informed and reliable scientific intelligence which is urgently needed. Dr. Vannevar Bush, who recently retired as chairman of the Research and Development Board, was severely critical of Rear Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter’s organization on this score. The quality of scientific intelligence is improving, but it is still described as highly unsatisfactory, although a special section to deal with that was set up last year.
Special arrangements for the supply of scientific intelligence have been made by the research board with its Canadian counterpart, and reasonably good intelligence is received from the United Kingdom. But outside those countries very little information comes in, and virtually nothing from behind the Iron Curtain.
A Serious Handicap
Lack of intelligence about scientific developments abroad is a serious handicap both to stockpiling and to development.
The Research and Development Board does important work in bringing new and potential developments to the attention of the Munitions Board. For example, if certain developments in jet engines work out successfully, titanium oxide, which is now in plentiful supply, may become in short supply, hence it is advisable to lay in stocks of it now.
This exchanging of ideas and co-ordination of effort goes on now on a personal level among the various interlocking committees and boards. It was this business-like and efficient contact that the unification act was designed to set up. There are signs that it is beginning to take hold. That is one of the highly encouraging features of the new national military establishment.
GREAT BRITAIN
Home Fleet to Test Britain’s Defense
New York Herald Tribune, Nov. 8.-—The British Navy’s defenses against atomic bombs will be tested in exercises off the southern English coast when the Home Fleet returns from a cruise to South Africa and the West Indies early in December.
Bombs which produce a brilliant flash on explosion will simulate an atomic attack. Referees of the mock battle will assume the bombs are destructive over a wide area of the sea. The special problem of the war games will be to determine whether a power with a strong air force and many submarines can effectively defend itself against a strong maritime power.
The Admiralty said it will be strictly a “no holds barred” affair. All modern weapons will be used. Great quantities of blank ammunition and torpedoes fitted with practice heads will be provided.
Flying his flag in the 35,000-ton battleship Duke of York the commander in chief of the Home Fleet, AdmiralSirRhoderickMcGrigor, will attack Plymouth. The port will be defended by Fleet Air Arm and Royal Air Force planes and a large number of submarines and small surface craft.
A New Admiral of the Fleet
London Times, Oct. 25.—The King has approved the promotion of Admiral Lord Fraser of North Cape to Admiral of the Fleet. In consequence the following promotions and retirements have been approved, all to date October 22.
Vice-Admiral Sir Charles E. Morgan (Retd.) to be Admiral on the retired list.
Vice-Admiral Sir William G. Tennant to be Admiral in His Majesty’s Fleet.
Rear Admiral A. G. N. Wyatt to be placed on the retired list and promoted to ViceAdmiral.
Rear Admiral the Hon. Guy FI. E. Russell to be Vice-Admiral in his Majesty’s Fleet.
Rear Admiral M. M. Denny to be ViceAdmiral in His Majesty’s Fleet.
No Retired List
Our Naval Correspondent writes:—Admirals of the Fleet, like Field-Marshals, have no retired list but remain on the active list for life. There is no fixed establishment of Admirals of the Fleet such as those which govern the numbers of lower grades of flag officer; vacancies for promotion are governed by the rule that three Admirals of the Fleet and no more than three shall be of less than five years’ seniority. Lord Tovey completed five years as Admiral of the Fleet last Friday, thus creating a vacancy which made possible the promotion of Lord Fraser.
Admirals are eligible for promotion to Admiral of the Fleet only if they have commanded one of the principal fleets for not less than a year or have performed notable war service. Lord Fraser is qualified under both heads.
Sir William Tennant is Commander-inChief of the America and West Indies Station; Vice-Admiral Wyatt is Hydrographer of the Navy; Vice-Admiral Russell commands the 2nd Cruiser Squadron, which is part of the Home Fleet.
Lord Hall Praises Fleet
London Times, Oct. 9.—H.M.S. Duke of York, flagship of Admiral Sir Rhoderick McGrigor, and other ships of the Home Fleet which are now on their autumn cruise will arrive at ports in the West Indies today.
Lord Hall, First Lord of the Admiralty, who is in the Duke of York, gave an address to officers and men yesterday in which he said that the main purpose of his visit to the Home Fleet had been to ascertain how far— after the drastic run down in the post-war years—the Fleet could be brought back to that high degree of efficiency and preparedness that had always been one of the oldest and strongest traditions of the Royal Navy.
During his short stay he had been tremendously impressed with what he had seen. Through the joint effort of all the officers and ships’ companies and the excellent understanding that had been built up between all officers and ratings, a progress had been manifest which was indeed remarkable. He was confident that by the time the exercises had concluded it would be possible to say that the cruise had been of inestimable value and that the rebirth of the Royal Navy, after a most trying, difficult depression period, was being achieved in accordance with the plans laid down some 12 months ago by the Board of Admiralty. This would give great satisfaction, not only to the British people and to the Commonwealth, but also to all peace-loving people the world over.
The second object of his visit had been to acquaint himself with as many of the problems affecting officers and men as he could in the short time available, and to hear from their own lips of the difficulties over which they were specially worried. He had been particularly impressed by the care with which the officers watched the welfare of the men, and the concern which they evidently
had for the well-being of the younger members of the ships’ companies.
Fleet Notes
London Times, Oct. 11-Oct. 14.-—Barbados extended a great welcome when H.M.S. Duke of York and the destroyers St. James's and Aisne steamed into Carlisle Bay on Friday evening. Lord Hall, First Lord of the Admiralty, and Admiral Sir Rhoderick McGrigor, C.-in-C. Home Fleet, were received on landing with a guard of honour. They called on Sir Hilary Blood, the Governor. Before leaving for Trinidad accompanied by Sir John Lane, Permanent Secretary to the Admiralty, Lord Hall said he was sure they would heartily welcome Sir Rhoderick McGrigor and his officers and men.
Admiral McGrigor said that he was glad to revisit Barbados after 17 years and that his officers and men were looking forward to their stay in the island.
Port of Spain, Oct. 10
Three cruisers and six destroyers of the Home Fleet, including H.M.S. Diadem with Rear-Admiral Guy Russell, Flag Engineer Commanding, 2nd Cruiser Squadron, arrived here yesterday for a nine-day visit, after which they will go to Tobago.
Most of the Mediterranean Fleet has returned to Malta at the end of its second summer cruise after the fleet regatta at Aranci Bay, Sardinia. The Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Sir Arthur Power, arrived at Toulon on Sunday in the cruiser Liverpool, and will proceed to Tangier before returning to Malta.
It is officially stated that the aircraft- carrier Implacable is to become flagship of the Home Fleet in place of H.M.S. Duke of York, after the return of the 'Fleet from its autumn cruise to the West Indies.
Lord Hall, First Lord of the Admiralty, arrived at London Airport yesterday from New York after watching the first phase of the Home Fleet’s cruise.
The submarine Auriga, Lieutenant J. N. Elliott, R. N., arrived at Portsmouth today after serving two years in the 4th Submarine Flotilla of the Pacific Fleet. She was the first A class submarine to visit Australia. She is to pay off.
The 3rd Aircraft Carrier Squadron of the Home Fleet, under the command of Rear- Admiral M. J. Mansergh, on its way to South Africa, passed close to the island of St. Helena on Tuesday, and the opportunity was taken to regale the inhabitants with a sight which many of their more youthful members had never before seen, of aircraft circling the island and flying past Government House at Jamestown, the capital. Sea Furies and Fireflies took off from H.M. ships Theseus and Vengeance as they passed, with the destroyers Corunna and Jutland. Afterwards the Corunna went close inshore, and her captain, Commander T. D. Herrick, went ashore to lunch with the Governor while the island’s mails, normally received and dispatched only at intervals of some two months, were collected for forwarding. During lunch, an aircraft from H.M.S. Theseus dropped near the luncheon table on the lawn of Government House a bag containing photographs of Jamestown Harbour taken during the morning’s flying.
The visit and the unaccustomed spectacle gave immense pleasure to the St. Helenians, especially the school children. In a letter to the Rear-Admiral, the Governor, Mr. G. A. Joy, wrote: “The whole population of this island join me in salutations to you and the carrier squadron and its attendant destroyers for your thoughtful action in taking our mails and showing the squadron to this outpost of Empire.”
Submarine Handed Over to Portugal
London Times, Oct. 12.—Portsmouth.— At the submarine depot, Gosport, today, the Duke of Palmella, Portuguese Ambassador, received on behalf of the Portuguese Government the submarine Saga, now renamed Nautilo, one of three submarines which have been bought by Portugal from Great Britain.
The other two are the Spur and the Spearhead; the latter has been renamed Nepluno and is now on her way to Portugal. Among those present at the handing-over ceremony were Vice-Admiral G. E. Creasy, Fifth Sea Lord.
Heligoland as Bombing Ground
London Times, Oct. 6.-—Berlin.—The concern caused in north-west Germany by the decision to continue using Heligoland for R.A.F. bombing practice was the subject of a statement by the British Military Government issued here today. Some time ago the Land Governments of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, and Lower Saxony pressed for a return to the normal life of the island, which was a favourite holiday resort before the war.
The British statement points out that very little remains of the township on Heligoland, and that the island was abandoned because of air-raid damage and the demolition after the war. In its present condition Heligoland is the only convenient place offering suitable targets for the training of a bomber fleet. The decision to retain it was taken after long discussions with the Air Ministry and the Foreign Office.
In future there will be only two forms of bombing exercises there: the dropping of high-explosive bombs by single aircraft and mass raids by heavy bombers using indicators and flash bombs only. Practices are expected to be limited to two or three a month.
Heligoland, which contains no natural resources that would contribute to German recovery, must in any case come low on the list of priorities for reconstruction. In the meantime not more than 48 hours’ warning can be given to fishing vessels that may wish to take refuge there in rough weather, as bombing practices depend on short-term weather reports.
Prize Money
Manchester Guardian, Nov. 1.—Provisions for the payment and distribution of prize money from the sale of captured enemy vessels and cargo during the war are contained in the Prize Bill, the text of which was published on Saturday. The bill, which was presented to the House of Commons on
Friday, contains a clause abolishing prize money in future, and authorizes the setting up of two separate prize funds—one for the Royal Navy and one for the R.A.F.
The naval fund will amount to £4,000,000, to be distributed individually, while the R.A.F. will receive £1,250,000, to be used “for the benefit of persons who are or have been members of any of his Majesty’s Air Forces.” The funds will be under the control of the Admiralty and the Air Council respectively.
Provision is also made for payment out of the Supreme Court prize fund deposit account to Dominion countries, including India, Pakistan, and Ceylon.
FRANCE
Naval Budget
Revue de defense Nationale, Oct., 1948.— The political circumstances that delayed the vote on the budget have prevented the Navy from learning before the end of August the exact amount of credits at its disposal for the period of 1948. According to the government proposals, debated since July 9, these credits amount to 32 billions, 390 millions (in round numbers) for ordinary expenses and 14 billions, 115 millions for reconstruction and equipment, and over 3| billions for the common section. But these figures are hardly more than an indication. Aside from the fact that they constitute a budget for marking time, the only kind conceivable in the financial crisis the country is experiencing, they will probably undergo, by the effect of that crisis itself and such legislative measures as the public welfare may require, certain new fluctuations.
The work in progress includes the completion of the Jean-Bart and the laying down of the Carrier 28, christened Clemenceau, whose plans have been completed and allotment of steel plate provided; the reconstruction of the port of Brest, where progress is being made on the rebuilding of the graving- dock, the dam, the shipping and flotilla wharves, the regrouping of the demolished ships and the layout of a subterranean electric plant; and finally the fitting out of the major base of operations at Mers-el-Kebir, whose north pier is completed and the east one started, not to mention the beginning of the program of the tidal-basin and the future yard. After the National Assembly, the Council of the Republic took a strong stand against any dispersion of credits concerning yards and docks, insisting on their concentration, at least for the present, on the principal ports.
As for the future, the Secretary of State, resolved to maintain a fleet of 400,000 tons and 20 aeronaval flotillas (presupposing the existence of 4 aircraft carriers), announced the submission to the Parliament in 1949 of a naval program, the “so-called transition plan of 1950,” calling for 25,000 tons of light craft. The effort will concern chiefly naval aviation, submarines, and destroyers, which are scarcely represented in our fleet today, apart from units of foreign origin, German or Italian. An expense item of 2 billion, 300 millions will probably be incorporated in the 1949 budget to accelerate the work on the Clemenceau (only 100 millions were assigned to this construction in the 1948 budget).
Finally, whereas Dakar at this moment can do little but shelter convoys, refuel and supply an intervention force, and repair a few light ships, a plan has been established for transforming it, as soon as circumstances permit, into a first-class strategic base, capable of answering all the needs of fleets operating in the tropical Atlantic and of great transoceanic convoys.
AVIATION
Navy’s 14,500 Planes
New York Times, Oct. 27.—The Navy reviewed today the last year in naval aviation, found it making “unparalleled progress,” and promised a force of 14,500 planes and new jet fighters to support its sea power by July of next year.
An accounting of the Navy’s present and future aircraft strength was made public on the eve of Navy Day, marking the 173d anniversary of the provision by the Continental Congress in 1775 for defense of the colonies against attack by sea.
To maintain vigilance in the air as well as on and under the oceans, the Navy announced that it would build 1,154 new planes in 1949. Of these, 576 will be jet fighters of the newest and deadliest design. The 1949 procurement program, according to the service, also provides for 454 attack aircraft, eighty-two patrol planes, sixteen transports and thirty-seven helicopters.
The total fleet, authorized last spring by Congress, will be reached not only with the aid of some of the new planes, the Navy reported, but also with 3,000 World War II vintage planes taken out of storage. It added that to meet the manpower needs of the forthcoming 14,500-plane “Air Navy,” about 2,000 youths would be taken into the Naval Aviation Cadet Training program by July 1.
The Navy also said that the introduction of jet planes into operating fleet units, development of “faster and more powerful” fighters and attack planes, and the four- year building program for the 65,000-ton aircraft carrier, “the world’s largest and most powerful,” has rounded out a period of singular achievement for the Navy’s fleet fighting forces.”
The service listed as a few of its “Air Arm Accomplishments” the development of better fuels, research in guided missiles, expanded reserve pilot training programs and advancement in the production of both conventional reciprocating engines and jet power units. It added that the first step in organizational progress toward a “faster and more powerful air striking force” had been the forming and use of the first carrier-based jet fighting squadrons with operating fleet units.
Two of the new jet craft regarded by the Navy as a significant addition to its air
power have just completed their experimental flight tests. One is the Douglas XF3D- Sky Knight, a twin-jet, shipboard “all weather” fighter. With several new electronic devices, the Sky Knight is expected by the Navy to be “one of the most versatile of jet aircraft, capable of carrying out fighter and bomber missions of numerous types.”
The Navy’s “latest entry” in shipboard aircraft is the Chance Vought XF7U-1, a high-speed fighter now undergoing test flights at the Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Md.
With these and other fighter planes and attack bombers—the combination conventional engine and jet-powered North American XAJ-1, the Martin AM-1 Mauler, powered by the world’s most powerful reciprocating engine, and the lethal Douglas AD-1 Sky Raider-—the Navy is vying for a competitive position with the Air Force as the nation’s air defense arm.
Supplementing the shipboard aircraft will be the bombers operating from the new 65,000-ton super-carrier, which the Navy expects to have finished by late 1952.
The Navy’s review of the year said that exercises in March “proved that jet aircraft are practical for carrier operation,” and sounded the note that jets would “play an increasingly major role in modern carrier warfare.”
Navy Pilot Training
New York Herald Tribune, Nov. 21.— Pensacola.-—America’s output of Naval pilots is being increased from 1,000 a year to 2,600 annually, it was learned here today.
In official documents Naval aviation is being described as “the heart of the Navy.” Rear Admiral John W. Reeves, Jr., chief of Naval air training, disclosed that there had not been a fatal accident in Navy basic air training for the last eight months.
Admiral Reeves, an authority on air transport of military cargo, also revealed that the tempo of Naval reservist training is increasing considerably. Reserve pilots, according to Admiral Reeves, are “the atomic age version of the Minute-Men—and just as important to national defense as their Revolutionary War predecessors.”
As compared with the 2,600 regular Navy pilots which will be graduated each year from training schools and go into fleet squadrons, approximately 49,000 reserve pilots will participate this year in air training.
New Carrier Wright Used
During a cruise just ended in the Gulf of Mexico, this correspondent witnessed the 20,000th landing to be made by a student pilot aboard the recently completed carrier Wright. This flattop, named for the Wright brothers, is in constant use qualifying students flying basic-training aircraft in carrier operations as well as pilots from advanced training flying combat-type aircraft.
The pilot making the 20,000th landing aboard the Wright was one of the Navy’s numerous “prairie tars” from the Middle West, Lieutenant (junior grade) F. J. Bruestle, of Little Pelican, Mo. The Wright, commanded by Captain Dale Harris, has a speed of better than thirty knots and would be an important unit in a fast carrier task force or anti-submarine group.
Pensacola, where the Wright is based permanently, is a major Naval air station providing logistical support for near-by auxiliary air stations of the Navy air basic training command. Also under Admiral Reeves are Naval air advanced training with headquarters at Corpus Christi, Tex.; Naval air reserve training and marine air reserve training with headquarters at Glen View, 111.; Naval air technical training, based at Memphis, and the Naval school of aviation medicine and the pre-flight school, both based here.
Admiral Reeves said today that although one of the most powerful weapons in the entire national defense organization is the fast carrier task force, representing a more complete revolution in naval war than that which resulted from invention of the submarine or torpedo, there was no one-weapon way to win a war.
Might Be Only Weapon
“There are situations in which a fast carrier task force—which cp.n put in the air between 1,000 and 1,500 combat planes and remain at sea for months at a time with its
own defense units, housing, berthing, air strips, fuel, ammunition and other essential units capable of attacking a powerful enemy, •—might be the only weapon,” Admiral Reeves explained.
There are other situations in which it might play only a subordinate part.
“Undoubtedly an atom bomb hit on a carrier could sink it or make it unusable,” he said. “Similarly one atom bomb hit on an air base ashore could make it unusable for the duration of your lifetime or mine or even longer, and a land base is easier to hit. The conclusion from these possibilities is not that we should do away with either carriers or land bases but that we must constantly provide more effectively for their defense against atom bombing.”
Schnorkel submarines in the hands of a determined and aggressive enemy, according to Admiral Reeves, would constitute “a most serious threat and require the greatest effort the nation could put forth to overcome it.” Both World Wars I and II came close to being lost through enemy submarine activities, Admiral Reeves recalled, and the situation might become even more delicate in the future because of the tremendous improvement in submarine characteristics.
It would require a combined and co-ordinated effort of air, surface and underseas units to beat an enemy submarine threat, according to Admiral Reeves, but it would have to be done, because the nation depends on sea-borne transport for essential raw materials and for supply of overseas air bases.
Navy Joins Airlift
New York Herald Tribune, Oct. 27—Two squadrons of Navy transport planes, totaling twenty-four aircraft, will join the Berlin air lift as part of the sixty-six-plane addition recently authorized by President Truman.
This will be the first use of Navy planes on the direct lift from Frankfurt to Berlin. However, a sizeable part of the support for the operation has been owned by naval planes on the North Atlantic run, the Air Force said in announcing the new plan.
The twenty-four Navy planes will come from the Pacific division of the Military Air Transport Service. Triple crews will be provided for each of the four-engine transports. The order for the transfer was issued tonight.
XP5Y-1: Latest Navy Flying Boat
Aviation Week, Nov. 1.—Convair XP5Y-1 {Aviation News, June 2, 1947) is the first of the Navy’s new family of high-performance flying boats based on wartime research data that promises performance comparable to land-based bombers.
The turboprop-powered giant is capable of performing the same type of combat job as the Boeing B-50, current standard medium bomber, and has the additional advantage of operation from water runways any place in the world. Prototype has been completed at Convair’s San Diego plant and is scheduled to fly early in 1949.
Ten-Ton Bomb Load—The P5Y can carry a 10-ton bomb load for 4,600 miles at 210 mph. at 25,000 ft., performance superior to the Lockheed P2V Neptune, standard Navy land-based bomber and the Boeing B-29, standard Air Force land-based light bomber. The P5Y has a top speed of 392 mph. at 25,000 ft. and 375 mph. at sea level. It can climb from takeoff at the rate of 3,000 ft. per min.
The engines are four Allison T-40 turboprop units developing 5,000 hp. plus 800 lb. thrust at takeoff and rated at 4,500 hp. plus the same static thrust. This tremendous power is absorbed by 15-ft. Aeroproducts dual-rotating propeller assemblies mounted in streamlined nacelles with jet nozzles at the rear.
Boat Specs—The 70-ton flying boat has a span of 146 ft. and is 130 ft. long. It stands 45 ft. high to the top of the fin. Normal operating weight is 65 tons. The aircraft ordinarily carries 9,500 gals, of fuel.
Major feature of the P5Y, and the one that provides its extremely high performance, is the use of a high fineness ratio hull which is long and narrow. This hull form reduces drag in the air considerably while not impairing water handling characteristics. It features a sloping step which reduces water suction forces, thereby permitting rising on the step more quickly and reducing “porpoising” tendencies on landing.
Auxiliary Turbine—Interior design of the P5Y has stressed “sea-keeping” ability which will permit the craft to remain on the surface at sea for periods as long as several weeks. A small gas turbine engine, economical to operate, provides air pressure for the operation of air-driven current generators to operate lights, heating and cooking units and engine starting. Special lightweight air-driven units have been designed for the new flying boat.
Several versions of the P5Y will be available including long-range bombardment, anti-submarine patrol, mapping and photo reconnaissance, troop or cargo transport. The prototype will be equipped for day and night sea search and anti-submarine warfare duties.
Powered Models—Design of the P5Y is based on a series of powered flying models, one of the first projects on which this new method has been used extensively. The models included a static model mounted on an automobile driven at high speeds to provide lift, drag and pitching data and a dynamically similar model used in extensive water takeoff and landing tests. The models were powered by small electric motors and weighted to reproduce as closely as possible the mass distribution of the full-scale aircraft.
XF7U-1 Under Test
New York Times, Nov. 20—-The Navy’s newest carrier-based fighter, the Chance Vought XF7U-1, revealed at Patuxent Naval Test Station on Thursday, turned out to be one of the most radically-designed aircraft ever produced, more resembling a vaned rocket than the conventional fighter planes which surrounded it.
It is powered by two axial-flow Westing-
house turbojets, snugged in close to the narrow fuselage. Their twin-tail pipes, whence the thrust derives, emerge side by side at the plane’s rear and at the inboard end of the swept-back wings’ trailing edge.
In the conventional sense the plane has no tail. Relatively small lateral stabilizers and rudders rise from the wings’ trailing edge, their bottoms extending forward to provide the wells into which the main landing gear retracts in flight. Vertical control is maintained through combined elevators and ailerons, called “ailevators.” All controls are power operated. Despite the sweepback, the wings fold as do those of all carrier planes.
The designed speed of the plane is still a secret and Capt F. M. Trapnell of Elizabeth N. J., Navy test pilot who is flying it in basic tests over Chesapeake Bay, has not yet worked it to top speeds or altitude. He said, however, that he expected it would be “the fastest of them all.”
Paul Baker, who designed it for the Chance Vought division of United Aircraft and will supervise the construction of the nineteen ordered at the new Dallas plant, described the speed as “over 600 miles an hour,” which he added was “higher than the speed of current fighters.”
The plane’s nose, extending sharply and far beyond the wings’ leading edges, with the pilot well to the fore part in the bubble canopy with ejectable seat, gives the plane a further rocketlike appearance. Its longlegged nose wheel keeps it in a nose-high attitude on the deck. Captain Trapnell said that despite its high speed, weight and power, it could be flown off under proper circumstances into the wind over a carrier’s deck in from 400 to 600 feet.
New G.C.A.’s for Navy
New York Herald, Tribune, Nov. 18—The Navy announced today that it has ordered twelve improved radar units to help planes to land regardless of weather conditions.
The ground control approach (C. G. A.) systems, to be built by the Bendix Aviation Corporation, Baltimore, at a cost of $2,800,000, will replace war-time units now in use at Navy establishments. In all, the Navy has thirty-six G. C. A. sets, nine of them outside the United States.
G. C. A. is a war-time development that enables ground crews, using a series of radar scopes, to see and orally direct pilots to safe landings through heavy overcasts. It has helped spell success for the Berlin air lift.
Bendix spokesmen said the units have numerous improvements which cannot be publicized for security reasons. They did say, however, that the antennae of the postwar units are not subject to damage from high winds, and that the scopes have moving target indicators (M. T. I.) to help in identifying planes that appear on them as blips.
The search portion of the G. C. A. units picks up a plane thirty miles from a landing point, from which it is guided to a spot eight miles out. There the operator of the precision scope takes over the plane and “talks” it in.
Commercial air lines are testing the radar system at New York, Chicago and Washington. They put primary reliance at present, however, on electronic I. L. S. (Instrument Landing System) which throws up radio beams to lead pilots down to runways. With I. L. S., the pilot retains control of the landing approach while with G. C. A. control is transferred to the ground crews.
Canadian Jet Fighter
Aviation Week, Nov. 8—Canada is producing its first pure-jet fighter.
First details reveal that the Avro Canada XC-100 is a tandem-seat, all-weather fighter powered by two 6,500-lb. static thrust Rolls- Royce Avon axial-flow turbojets, capable of a speed of 675 mph. The XC-100 is built to a Royal Canadian Air Force specification.
Designer—Prototype XC-100 now nearing completion at the Malton (Toronto) plant is primarily work of J. C. M. Frost, British designer, who worked with Chief Designer Bishop on the de Haviland D. H.- 108 swept-wing craft that broke the sonic barrier.
If the XC-100 proves the success that Avro Canada expects, it will be offered to both British and American governments.
Fuselage—An all-metal low-wing monoplane of between 23,000-27,000 lb. (according to range), the XC-100 employs a fuselage refrigeration system which keeps skin temperature, at high speeds, to 80° F.
Nose portion carries American night interceptor radar, four cannon, and a rearwardfolding nose wheel leg.
Crew of two is protected by an optically flat cannon-proof windshield and a one piece canopy.
Fuel is carried in tanks situated behind the rear crew member.
Wing, Tail—A high conventional tail- plane and straightforward fin and rudder are employed.
The wing has no dihedral but incorporates the German “droop-snoot” leading-edge flap.
Landing Gear—Dowty liquid-spring units are employed, the main gear using small diameter twin wheels which retract inward and fit snugly into the underside of the fuselage and bulky wing root.
Jet Units—Although the new Avro Canada T. R. 5 Orenda axial-flow turbojet was first considered, the British Rolls-Royce Avon model will power the prototype, delivering a total of 13,000 lb. static thrust or an even higher total if present development continues in England.
Most novel feature of the XC-100 is the mounting of the jet units above the wing root and close to the fuselage.
Several German projects of 1944 favored this particular external positioning of the jets. Avro engineers decided on this course because wind tunnel tests in the early stages proved satisfactory.
The circular intake was decided upon in preference to the narrower oblong and more streamlined entry because of the greater, and more equally distributed air flow.
Armament—Utilizing four 30 mm. cannon the XC-100 will be one of the most powerfully armed jet fighters in existence. The 30 mm. gun was developed from a wartime German design and the XC-100 will be the first airplane to employ this newly developed unit.
Application—The Canadian government has been impressed by the possibilities of the XC-100, which incorporates all the latest ideas culled from winterization and sub-zero experiments carried out by the RCAF in recent years.
The British have no all-weather fighter and the combination of speed, range, adaptability and firepower may prove an important factor in the ordering of this airplane for mass production.
British Power-Plant Development
The Aeroplane, Oct. 15—Some new facts discovered by Rolls-Royce during recent power-plant development at their Flight Development Unit at Hucknall were given by Dr. E. W. Still, B.Sc., A.F.R.Ae.S., Deputy Manager (technical), in a paper delivered in Birmingham on October 6 to the Royal Aeronautical Society. Dr. Still opened by expressing the hope that the engine designer should not have to clear the engine for operating in climatic conditions not reached in practice. Rolls-Royce have succeeded in starting piston engined at temperatures down to —40 degrees C. in a refrigerator, but they cannot find an airfield on which to prove further development in practice.
He mentioned some improvements in the type of matrix used in radiator design which can be realized with light-alloy radiators and oil coolers (in our report of the S.B.A.C. Farnborough static exhibition we described some of these cooling units). Tests have been made on both pure aluminium and mixed copper aluminium which show conclusively that excessive corrosion need not be expected with light-alloy systems. Changing from copper to aluminium cooling units on a four- engined aircraft may well save 900 lb. of payload. And this advantage is combined with a reduction in drag. The oil system has been complicated by the need for satisfactory cold starting by diluting the engine oil with petrol up to 30 per cent.
On the subject of engine mountings, more accurate load simulation shows from tests that an excessive safety factor has been used in all old mountings and hence a substantial weight saving can be achieved. There has been considerable developmment of exhaust assemblies, and, to prevent flaming, the temperature of the gas had to be reduced to 400 degrees C., which was found to be impossible even by providing an air blast over the exhaust stubs. The final- solution was reached by thinning the exhaust stream to
about 0.3 in. wide, which resulted in its becoming chilled by the cooling air blast. Inconel and stainless steel were the only two materials to stand up to these conditions.
Steps taken to achieve proper fire protection include the use of flexible hoses which, besides being fireproof, must remain flexible at —40 degrees C. up to 120 degrees C. If a fire occurs, detectors will operate in less than 2 seconds, depending on the magnitude of the fire. The pilot’s action is to close the throttle, feather the airscrew, shut off the fuel and oil and press the extinguisher button. The airscrew should stop in 15 seconds and the fire should be out six seconds later.
A short feathering time is essential, and a big step in the right direction is the use of feathering oil supplied from the oil tank hot pot through the main engine filter instead of cold, unfiltered oil from the body of the tank. On Tudor and North Star powerplants, fire can be extinguished with the radiator flaps left open. In the case of jet engines, existing equipment can cope only with forced-landing fires, i.e., without excessive airflow through the engine. By using high-pressure (400 lb./sq. in.) extinguisher systems and very large pipes it may be possible to blanket the engine and intake for perhaps two seconds and snuff the fire in the air. Dr. Still hoped that we should use piston engine experience and he recalled that piston engines have been working for years with metal temperatures of 300 degrees C., yet jet engines may not have metal surface temperatures over 175 degrees C.
Comparing jet and piston-engine noise, he said that piston-engine noise is greatest at low frequencies and decreases steadily up to 10,000 cycles per second. Jet-engine noise is low at low frequency and increases up to levels of 30,000 cycles per second. He said that it was perhaps wrong to call this a noise level as it is well beyond the aural point, but vibration might have some effect on the life of the engine and the health of the pilot. On the other hand, a pressure cabin can give adequate protection from such noise.
He recommended that aerodrome buildings should be placed outside the objectionable noise area—which makes a cone of maximum noise roughly 45 degrees to the jet axis and does not drop to a comfortable level at less than a radius of 100 ft. from the engine under take-off conditions.
So far as airscrews are concerned, noise level is a direct function of rotational speed and is more acute with turbine engines cruising at 90 per cent maximum speeds than with piston engines at 75 per cent.
Dr. Still ended with some notes on results obtained with the Nene Lancastrian flying in artificially created icing conditions. A typical flight record shows that the 2 grammes per cubic metre icing spray had to be turned off after 9| minutes because of the steadily increasing jet-pipe temperature.
This lecture was an historic one, for the occasion was the first on which a main Royal Aeronautical Society lecture has ever been given in the Provinces. Among those who travelled to Birmingham to hear Dr. Still’s paper were the President of the Society, Dr. H. Roxbee Cox, and Mrs. Roxbee Cox; Mr. N. E. Rowe, Vice-president; and Capt. J. L. Pritchard, Secretary. In future, two main lectures will be given in the Provinces each year; the next will be at Portsmouth in April.
MERCHANT MARINE Repair of Laid-Up Fleet
New York Herald Tribune, Oct. 22-—A joint Army-Navy-Maritime Commission Plans Committee has decided on a priority list of about 258 vessels now in the laid-up fleet for which it will seek to obtain funds to repair, it was learned yesterday.
The ships are former Army troopships and Naval auxiliaries built during the war and since returned to the commission for reserve lay-up. The planning committee has selected them for repair priority believing that they are an absolute minimum which should be available in operating condition for a possible emergency.
The committee’s decision to request funds for such a priority list follows a recent White House refusal to allot funds for repairs to some 910 of the 1,818 ships in the commission’s reserve fleet. This request was turned down by the Bureau of the Budget due to “insufficient priority.”
The committee, acting through the Mari-
time Commission, had asked for $165,000,000 to bring these ships up to operating condition. The plan envisaged spending about $182,000 a ship. The commission also seeks $350,000 for administration expenses in connection with specifications, etc., and had informed the President that the repair facilities of the Navy were available to accomplish the project on about a fifty-six week schedule without involving overtime.
The original repair-plan request estimated that dry docking time would average nine and two-thirds days a vessel. Owing to lack of appropriations and insufficient personnel the commission had asked that the armed services conduct the repair cost surveys.
Tanker Fleet
New York Herald Tribune, Nov. 12—The nation’s active tanker fleet will settle down from the 7,387,000 deadweight tons in service now to “no less than 6,000,000” tons of large and speedy vessels by 1953, according to a survey made public yesterday by the Association of American Ship Owners, 90 Broad Street.
This figure, which is 2,000,000 tons more than that forecast during the war by the Maritime Commission and the Harvard Business School survey, would mean that tanker tonnage would comprise more than half the United States merchant marine. The survey was prepared by the association in response to a request by the subcommittee on the oil shortage of the Senate Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. Copies of the report have been forwarded to the subcommittee and to the Maritime Commission, the Interstate Commerce Commission and other industry organizations.
The oil transportation problem, acute during last winter, has been solved “for the moment,” the survey continues. The entire oil supply line, however, from the sinking of wells to the fuel consumer, is stretched so thin that it is still especially vulnerable to a wide range of disturbances.
The association’s report cited the rapid construction of pipe lines in the Middle East and the new construction of foreign-flag tankers as contributing factors in diminishing the world need for American tanker tonnage.
“Today the American-flag tanker occupies a prominent position in our foreign trade routes, but it cannot always be so,” the study asserts. “As the foreign fleets are expanded, American flag vessels will be displaced in overseas trade in much the same way as our dry-cargo tramps are already being displaced. In the future we must be prepared for the retirement and flag transfer of our oldest and least efficient units.”
Weekly News Report, Nov. 10—A training program for Coast Guard officers has been started to acquaint them with operating problems in connection with merchant vessels. The program calls for the assignment of Coast Guard officers for tours of duty, lasting a year, to steamship companies operating tankers, dry cargo and passenger ships. The object of the course is to familiarize Marine Inspection and Navigation officers with operating conditions. The Army also has a program of a similar nature in force on the west coast.
SCIENCE
Medical Problems of Future Submarines
The Military Surgeon, May, 1948.—By Captain O. D. Yarbrough (MC), U.S. Navy. The turning point in German submarine design was reached in the summer of 1943. At this time, Allied counter-measures were holding the German submarine fleet in check. Leading submarine designers and engineers from all main building yards were conscripted in late 1943 and ordered to the little town of Blankenburg in the Harz mountains where the central design agency for the Type XXI program was established under the Speer ministry. The solution proposed was the design of a highly maneuverable, high-speed vessel which could remain submerged most of the time and which could operate at greater depths than previous conventional submarines. The problem was attacked with characteristic energy, and the result was a revolution in submarine design philosophy. The most interesting example of the new trend is the well-known Type XXI.
The vessel had a large battery capacity (372 cells, 11,300 ampere-hours). The hull was designed for a depth of 120 meters, and one of these vessels had submerged to a depth of 190 meters under full control. Type XXI was the first German submarine to have six bow tubes with a capacity of 20 torpedoes.
Although a total of 119 of these boats were delivered by the assembly yards, none got out on war patrol.
A still later type, the Type XXVI, was the ultimate in German submarine design intended for continuous submerged operation, which was to be a vessel of approximately 775 tons, 177 feet in length. Walter, a submarine design engineer, at this time, was able to speed up the acceptance of his hydrogen peroxide or Ingolin submarine. He had experimented on the use of hydrogen peroxides since 1935 and had built and operated an 80 ton experimental model. It performed in accordance with his design and realized some twenty-five knots submerged speed. Later he built five operational models of 380 tons surface displacement. These never had a war patrol because there was never enough peroxide to permit them to so operate. The design of the Type XXVI included, in addition to the Walter Turbine, three other modes of propulsion; namely, a Diesel engine of 1,200 horsepower, an electric motor of 580 horsepower and a creeping motor of 35 horsepower which drove the main shaft through a multiple system of V belts. These vessels were expected to make about 25 knots submerged on the turbine, and 10 on the electric motor; while for the Diesel power on the surface the speed was to be 14 knots.
In general, the new concept of a submarine was a vessel which could remain submerged for a long period of time without radical changes in the design of the ventilation, air purification or oxygen renewal systems. The use of the snorkel at periodic intervals for charging batteries provided sufficient air renewal and ventilation. In fact, the total blower capacity in all German submarines, including the newest types, is relatively low; but the operational doctrine was such as to eliminate any demand for greater blower capacity. This should have affected the comfort of the crews, but apparently this condition was cheerfully accepted by them as necessary to permit safe operation with a minimum use of fuel.
In earlier German submarines, no air conditioning was installed, and the large majority of operational submarines during the war had no means of cooling or drying the air in the vessel. In the Type XXI, an air cooling and dehumidifying system was provided which could be used also as a heating system.
Plans for future submarines in the U.S. Navy indicate that the present fleet type is indeed obsolete, and to replace the vessels which made such an enviable record in World War II, there will be items of conversion and items of new construction. The conversions consist of altering present fleet type submarines in order to obtain additional submerged speed and protection by snorkel for Diesel engine propulsion and battery charging when submerged.
New construction’s goal is primarily production and perfection of an American version of the Type XXI, with the ultimate goal of reproduction and perfection of an American version of the Type XXVI, as an approach to the true submarine with all operations submerged and being capable of a high submerged speed. Generally speaking present type submarines may be described as surface vessels capable of submerging, while the new vessels’ description is more aptly a submerged vessel which rarely operates on the surface.
In order to appreciate the general living conditions in undersea craft, it appears pertinent at this point to portray the day to day existence briefly. Prolonged residence in specialized craft such as submarines where sunlight is nil and the outside ventilation is reduced to only part of the day and where there is close association in the sleeping and working spaces, when enhanced by the presence of heat and humidity presents ideal conditions for the spread of disease. Life aboard is monotonous for long periods. For many weeks one must be able to bear failures and when depth charges are added life becomes a war of nerves. The situation is somewhat analogous to the flier in the air who is attacked, let us say, by three fighters. This man must be able to hear clearly every
shot which is intended for him, even if it misses; yes, even if it misses by several thousand yards. Therefore he feels not only the shots that hit home, but every single shot that is fired. All these blasts have a tormenting intensity. Then the lights go out and he sits in the dark and when it is dark all men become more and more afraid. Unlike the plane the submarine can not fly away. It has to remain motionless without being able to defend herself or to shoot back. All that requires stout hearted men. To this must be added that life aboard a submarine is unnatural and unhealthy compared to life on a sailing vessel. Just as unhealthy as city life compared to life in the country. There is no constant change between day and night, for the lights have to burn all the time inside the
boat. There are no Sundays and no week days. Therefore life is monotonous and without rhythm. There is no regular time for sleeping since a large part of the fighting is done at night. The stench on board, the racket, the motion of the ship all add up to produce a bad state of morale. Smoking and drinking of strong coffee are also factors which must not be ignored, for both affect the men’s stomachs and nerves particularly if they indulge in them at night on an empty stomach.
The medical problems to be encountered in these new ships will not be unlike those current in the present fleet type vessels with some notable additions. Inasmuch as there appears to be some correlation between personnel casualties and the number of days submerged it does not seem unreasonable to expect a multiplication of all the present submarine ills. In addition, ventilation for engine combustion and compartment replacement by snorkel will probably produce some difficulties. Ear damage is the main pathology resulting from experiments in loss of depth control. Aside from the purely physical ear effects, it must be realized that there is no way at present, in which to abolish the entire crew’s constant awareness of the changing ambient pressure, incident to closure of the snorkel head valve, when the water level approaches the intake. Instead of the ventilation period heretofore accomplished on the surface, being one of comparative calm, except as heightened by danger of detection by aircraft, and surface vessels, there is now an added tension factor, possessed of a constant reminder of the ear’s sensitivity to pressure change. It is possible that personnel will accustom themselves to these changes, but there remains the banging noise incident to head valve closure as a warning sign. It seems pertinent to emphasize that ear effects are not manifest during the period of closure of the snorkel head valve and accomplishment of the lowered barometric pressure, but rather appear when the snorkel emerges and pressure increases toward the former surface level. If return to snorkel depth, subsequent to loss of depth control, is sudden as sometimes occurs, because of overcompensation, those who can not equalize because of eustachian closure will experience considerable pain and ear damage. It is not possible to predict the daily state of patency of the eustachian tubes, even if such were possible it would be impractical to effect daily elimination among those with temporary closures. It seems equally impossible by selection in accord with physical standards to evolve personnel who will be totally free of temporary eustachian blockage. It is true that the maximum physical effects are only pain and drum rupture but another potential mental hazard appears to be created which will probably be finally labeled not temperamentally adapted. Experience teaches that the opening of the inner end of the eustachian tubes in the presence of decreasing barometric pressure is an automatic venting process, while the opening of these tubes in the presence of increasing barometric pressure is a conscious process requiring voluntary effort on the part of the individual. Experimentally, there is confirmation by increased ear pathology among those asleep during simulated loss of depth control. Production of submarine insomniacs would destroy the last avenue of daily escape from the monotony of continued submarine residence. The implications are evident.
Experiences of the last war indicated the need for refitting of both men and machinery after 60 days. The incidence of personnel and engineer casualties increased sharply if war patrols were continued for more than two months. It must be remembered that such incidence occurred when only the daylight hours were spent submerged. Therefore, it does not appear unreasonable to expect that the new vessels, with continued submergence, may produce some shortening of effective patrol duration.
In the past, carbon dioxide and oxygen percentages when submerged, have not been matters of too great concern; at least they have not been factors limiting endurance, possibly due to the efficient ventilation accomplished during the night surface operation periods. The new types, minus the opportunity for surface compartment air renewal, may produce unacceptable percentages in both oxygen and carbon dioxide. In this connection, and of more importance, is the fact that the lowered barometric pressure occurring in actual snorkel experiments in loss of depth control, has been of the order of 18 inches of mercury, equivalent to an altitude of about 12,000 feet. Should lowered oxygen percentages be existent during loss of depth control, oxygen partial pressure incompatible with consciousness might be encountered. It suffices that the new vessels will present such a mass of complicated machinery that rigid education will be required of all hands for normal navigational and attack operations; no time will be available to devote to the status of these gases. The need for continuous recording methods and automatic counter-measure initiation is apparent.
The efficiency of air conditioning and ventilation, and the status of humidity under snorkelling conditions, are at present an unknown quantity and are not precisely comparable to the German installations because of basic differences in design.
The diseases peculiar to submarines have been ascribed to consist of colds, constipation, skin diseases and various physical complaints of neurogenic or psychic origin. The appearance of this quartet of maladies appears likely to continue unabated, or to be increased in the new designs. The submarine medical officer, therefore, is concerned chiefly with preventive medicine, and his field of greatest usefulness is in the selection of personnel. It is not only mandatory that crews of submarines be composed of personnel who are free of actual and potential disease, but also that they possess a high degree of natural or acquired disease immunity. Probably more important is the necessity for a stable or even phlegmatic psyche. Reasons underlying these standards are obvious: (1) The limited facilities for treatment aboard the submarine itself; (2) The inability to request medical aid for fear of disclosing the vessel’s location; (3) The usually remote location of patrol areas and, thus, remoteness from treatment centers, and the desirability of not having the vessel abandon its mission to make the long return journey to seek medical assistance for the sick; (4) The need for each crew member to be physically self-sufficient and to be able to perform his allotted tasks without reliefs which can not be carried; (5) The need for stable alert personnel to perform highly technical tasks during high tension episodes; (6) The very nature of submarine residence in its capacity to propagate and disseminate illness, wherein a focus of a single diseased person is a most undesirable factor.
Training and facilities for escape are still a necessity for submersible type vessels because, in spite of present perfection, accidents involving trapped live personnel are still a possibility and an actuality as late as 1944, when one of our own vessels was sunk by erratic performance of its ordnance weapons. Submarine escape is divided into two types: (1) individual escape, consisting of rising through the water from a submerged hulk by use of the submarine “lung” or by free escape with no breathing apparatus; and (2) collective escape with the rescue chamber or bell. Submarine medical officers are vitally concerned with escape training, especially free escape or escape with the Momsen lung, principally because of the respiratory physiology involved and the nature of the resulting accidents. In fact, submarine escape training methods are considered a valuable adjunct in personnel selection and are utilized as such. Men’s reactions underwater provide visible indices to their stability in stress situations.
During war patrols, dumping of garbage and sewage during the daylight hours or during any period when any craft are likely to be in the immediate vicinity is precluded for fear of disclosing the submarine’s location. Such materials must be stowed for later disposal in sanitary tanks, along with the water from the clothes washing machine. This waste accumulation subjected to agitation from the ship’s motion is productive of offensive odors which permeate the boat during submerged periods. Vapors from cooking, hydrocarbon vaporization from the machinery and bilges together with body odors plus the factor of age of accumulation accentuates the degree of offensiveness. These odors represent a factor thought to be distinctly detrimental to morale. Successful counter-measures are now imminent. At present they remain as a submarine problem in the submarine medical officer’s field.
The submarine medical officer’s role in procurement of select personnel appears to remain as his most vital function. The effort expended toward personnel selection seems to have been warranted as may be attested by: (1) Japanese submarine personnel without comparable selection exhibited crews with the following disease incidence: tuberculosis 10%; skin diseases 95%; intestinal parasites 80%; neisser infection 30%; syphilis 5%; typhus 1%. (2) In a force that represented approximately 1% of our naval strength and which accomplished the sinking of more than 60% of the ships sunk by all forces of all the United Nations, there occurred an attrition rate of less than 1%.
INTERNATIONAL North Atlantic Defense Pact
New York Herald Tribune, Nov. 13—London, Nov. 12.—James Forrestal, American Secretary of Defense, began a round of conferences here today connected with the American role in the defense of Western Europe. He conferred at Paris yesterday with Secretary of State George C. Marshall, and talked today with Prime Minister Attlee and chiefs of the American Army, Navy and Air Force here.
Tonight he dined at the official residence of Lewis W. Douglas, American Ambassador at the Court of St. James’s. Tomorrow he will confer with A. V. Alexander, British Minister of Defense; have lunch with chiefs of the British armed services, and then fly to Berlin for more conferences.
Both British and American sources said Mr. Forrestal is discussing some aspects of the projected North Atlantic pact. Negotiations about the pact, however, are being handled mainly under the direction of Mr. Marshall.
Powers Discuss Drafts
Meanwhile, it was understood that the five Brussels-treaty powers—Great Britain. France, and the Benelux nations—are discussing various drafts for the North Atlantic pact. They were believed to be near agreement on the main outlines of it.
New York Times, Nov. 16—London, Nov. 15—Steady progress in drafting a North Atlantic Defense Pact is being made here by a permanent commission of five Western European Union powers, authoritative sources said today. Provided that no major divergencies of opinion arise in the next few days the draft should be ready for transmission to Washington by end of this week or the beginning of next.
No American observers are sitting in on these conversations although the talks consist largely in trying to work out a formula whereby the United States, despite constitutional limitations, could give immediate military aid to any Western Union power that might be attacked. One high-placed American remarked today that there probably never had been such a searching examination of the United States Constitution on this side of the Atlantic.
Apart from the Constitition the Western Union planners have certain other guide posts to American policy. The first of these is the resolution by Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg, Republican, of Michigan favoring United States military aid to Europe. Another is a series of defense discussions held in Washington last summer between Under-Secretary of State Robert A. Lovett and ambassadors of the Western Union countries. Then there is the advice recently given to Western Union defense ministers by Secretary of State Marshall in Paris when he reviewed their work and informed them on trends in American foreign policy.
One problem before the Western Union commission is the matter of establishing a permanent secretariat and determining where it should meet and what its powers should be. The French are known to be anxious that any such organization be based on the Continent of Europe.
Another problem facing the conferees is the questionof who would be over-all military commander of grouping of North Atlantic states. At present Field Marshall Viscount Montgomery is only “chairman” of the commander in chiefs of the five Western Union powers.
The French are quite evidently taking a lead in the present drafting and details of a purported French plan which have appeared in the press. It is no secret that the French are especially anxious to engage the United States in the strongest possible commitment to defend Western Europe, especially since publication of an Anglo-American decision to hand back the Ruhr industries to German ownership.
For the moment the British are taking something of a back seat and welcoming French initiative. What still continues to worry the British deeply is the shaky French political situation and question of how far to rely on France militarily. The British are hoping that the entry of the United States into the projected Atlantic Pact will strengthen the moderate government in France and restore stability and confidence there.