Military planners have long desired to break away from dependence on fixed bases and supply organizations which encumber mobility. All plans for rapid movement, surprise, and speedy follow-up of the initial advantage so gained depend upon a secure base. No attack, no move of any kind can be contemplated without first considering the length of the line which binds the attacker to that base.
The whole concept of naval warfare is dependent upon the quick, surprise thrust and ability to move rapidly. Air warfare has added a third dimension to the naval problem, but the basic philosophy remains the same. The airplane has made it more difficult to insure the safety of base and supply train, and it has enhanced the ability to strike rapidly and from great distances. Atomic power may well lengthen the scope of operations to an extent not thought of even ten years ago.
Our present fleet is a highly effective means of quickly and impressively displaying the might at our disposal in all parts of the world. It is a powerful deterrent to a potential aggressor. The strategic planning groups of all nations must consider the fact that every major capital on the Eurasian Continent is within range of attack by aircraft from our carriers. The position of these mobile bases cannot be predicted before the outbreak of hostilities, as can a land base. One modern airplane now carries at twice the speed the equivalent bomb load of several hundred World War II types. The direction from which a naval air attack will come is generally unpredictable.
What of the future? What kind of Navy should we build during the next decade to meet the ever increasing war-making potential of our enemies and prevent them from overcoming our lead? How best can we meet the changed conditions and new threats of global warfare and the need for a highly mobile naval fighting force? Our Navy of tomorrow must fit into the overall offensive and defensive air, land, sea, and undersea pattern.
The submarine Nautilus, capable of operating for almost unlimited periods of time without surfacing, is the forerunner of this new Navy. When we achieve the speed and long range of nuclear powered seaplanes, control of three-quarters of the world’s surface, the ocean areas, can be securely in the hands of our nation.
The art and science of aircraft construction have reached the point where size is limited only by the restrictions imposed by landings and take-offs on the ground or water. Land planes appear to have already reached an uneconomical size when one considers the problems and cost of establishing and maintaining the airports necessary to operate the larger military types. Today some of these craft require 36-inch reinforced concrete runways and parking stands, and the length of runways has now increased to over two miles.
From a technical viewpoint, the problem of designing landing gear is even more difficult than designing the base. As aircraft weight increases, the landing gear weight and size takes up a greater and greater percentage of the overall aircraft weight and space. Multiple wheel landing gear and even caterpillar treads are being considered in an attempt to reduce the load carried by any given area of the ground. Such devices may perform their functions adequately on takeoff and landing, but when retracted they become very difficult to house within the plane and still leave sufficient space for useful load such as bombs, passengers, or cargo. Consequently, as we consider larger sizes of aircraft, the seaplane begins to look more and more attractive, for the fuselage itself, reshaped and strengthened, becomes the landing gear.
The development of jet engines has, however, been the most important item in the seaplane advance. The land plane no longer has a speed advantage over the flying boat. Today, no large, deep hull is required on which to mount a wing high out of the water to keep the propellers dry. We build with good streamlining in mind. The hydrodynamicists fit their water surface neatly into a good aerodynamic shape. Furthermore, without the need of great bulk in the hull structure, designers are able to reduce the dead weight of airframe. Such a craft offers a much greater useful load per pound of vehicle than can possibly be achieved in any other aircraft. The designer and operator now have a choice; they can use the improved power-to-weight factor for either greater speed or greater load-carrying ability.
The most important technical advance that has been placed in the hands of aeronautical engineers is the nuclear power plant. Already a reality in submarines, it can be said that such power for aircraft is now out of the dream stage. Our scientists have the knowledge, and it is now a matter of engineering application of that knowledge. These power plants will give us planes of practically unlimited range and endurance. Most important, tactics will no longer be limited by considerations of economical cruising altitudes and most direct lines to the target. High or low altitude will have no effect on range, and approach to targets can be from any direction which seems appropriate.
With all of this knowledge at our disposal, no crystal ball is needed to foresee that during the next decade some aircraft company, or even a shipbuilding company, will announce the launching of a new naval craft, the Battle Plane, at home over and on the water—the natural complement to her cousin, the nuclear powered submarine, at home under and on the sea. The Battle Plane will be capable of remaining at sea for many days, and on return to base will not require miles-long, 36-inch thick concrete runways. Any waterway 10,000 feet long and ten feet deep will give her all the room she needs. No elaborate housing facilities will be required; she will ride at anchor, as does any other ship of the Fleet. Her crew may live aboard to insure constant flight readiness.
The establishment of modern military air bases is becoming a greater and greater problem. Landing strips of concrete are highly vulnerable to attack. Huge expenditures are required to build such bases, along with adjoining parking stands and revetments to protect and disperse the aircraft from attack. Even if they are adequately protected, the enemy only finds it necessary to destroy the take-off area to nullify the usefulness of the planes even though these may be undamaged. A runway of water, however, cannot be bombed out of existence, and even a small bay provides area for dispersal not attainable by any but the most elaborate shore air facility.
Within the United States, thousands of lakes, bays, rivers, and even reservoirs provide ready-made airports from which the largest modern seaplanes can operate. No construction is needed except for small administrative buildings and housing for families and crews. By taking advantage of these natural airports, billions of dollars of construction and maintenance costs can be saved. This saving could be converted to the building of more aircraft, or a tax reduction if the world situation permitted. Under any condition, the United States would be buying more offensive punch per dollar.
To carry the fight to the enemy, all of the world’s oceans, seven-tenths of the earth’s surface, are available as operating areas.
With a little imagination and careful consideration of the knowledge at our disposal, it is possible to predict fairly accurately what the Battle Plane may look like. She could well have the appearance of an enlarged Martin Seamaster; or possibly a delta wing, such as the Consolidated “Sea Dart,” might be a simpler design more easily handled on the water. She will be over two hundred feet long, and in all probability will have a gross weight above 500,000 pounds. She could have eight nuclear-powered jet engines, be capable of taking off fully loaded on seven. In the air she will be able to fly on two engines. The point is that the technology, basic research, and know-how of the aviation industry have progressed to the point where this aircraft is no longer a wildeyed dream.
One of the Navy’s most difficult problems today is what to do about the enemy submarine at sea positioned to attack our shipping or make a guided missile attack on our cities. One version of the Battle Plane, equipped with high-powered sonar, could cruise on the surface at low or high speed by ship standards—zero to forty-five miles per hour. Its duties while on the surface would be similar to those of the present day destroyer, escorting a convoy or patrolling on the hunt for enemy submarines. This flying destroyer would not require aircraft assistance to attack the enemy at long ranges from his objective.
On detecting an enemy submarine, the aircraft is the ideal means of rapid movement to the attack point. At great distances it can take off and fly to the scene of action. For shorter distances, a run in on the surface might be more appropriate. Drawing only a few feet of water, the seaplane makes a poor target for the submarine’s sonar or weapons. There will be no large propeller churning up the water to warn him of our movements. On arrival, the attack should have a high probability of success. This plane will be capable of carrying weapons and underwater submarine detection equipment the equal of anything now used by destroyers.
A transport seaplane of the same general size but designed as a heavy cargo delivery aircraft may solve part of the problem of supporting military outposts far from the United States. The world-wide commitments accepted by this country during the past decade make it vital that local commanders be given the opportunity of requisitioning needed troops, material, and weapons quickly. Even a country as powerful as ours cannot stockpile modern war materials and maintain enough troops in all areas of national interest to meet fully all present commitments. Not knowing where the next aggressive action may occur, we must be prepared to move rapidly, with enough force to contain the enemy until surface transport can be mobilized to carry the bulk of heavy fighting needs.
Marine regimental combat teams organized as completely airborne units could contain the enemy for a sufficient period of time to allow the full force of our power to be brought to bear. The knowledge that these groups would be less than twenty-four hours from any point in the world should improve our international bargaining position immensely.
The nuclear submarine will be capable of operating for long periods, many thousands of miles from home. The limit of time on patrol is a function of human endurance, weapons, and provisions. The boats themselves, from a purely mechanical viewpoint, can be expected to remain on station for much longer periods. A Fleet Logistics Force, composed of transport versions of the Battle Plane, could extend this patrol time to the limit of the submarine’s mechanical endurance. One replenishment rendezvous a week could provide a supply of fresh food and a normal weapon replenishment. Admittedly, replacement of guided missiles may require more trips, but distance from home poses no problem to the Battle Plane.
During the last war, many times a particularly audacious or lucky submarine found itself only a short time on patrol and out of torpedoes. Being of no further use, she came home early. The aircraft of which we speak could remedy such a situation in a matter of hours. It is even conceivable that crew replacement might be carried out on the high seas. Most certainly fresh food availability as needed would reduce the space now devoted to storage in already overcrowded boats. The problem of replenishment may well become acute as nuclear power becomes more prevalent in the Submarine Force.
The speed, mobility, and fire power of the Battle Plane, combined with the submarine ability to hide, makes it possible to establish safe base facilities anywhere on the ocean surface. A nuclear powered submarine base would be capable of hiding at will or moving rapidly underwater to a new location hundreds of miles away. Bases of this type will give us the opportunity to display our power all over the world, on all sides of the Eurasian land mass, as a warning of the retaliation that could be imposed on any country breaking the peace. These bases would always be in international waters and unaffected by complicated treaty arrangements. Concentration of force at any given point can be accomplished in a matter of hours; no point on the earth’s surface will be more than twenty-four hours away.
A good will visit by one of these task groups could be conducted in a matter of hours, and the effect of such visits should be impressive. An instrument of military power that can suddenly appear anywhere in the ocean, without prior notice of its intention, has an unequalled surprise and shock value. The ability to disappear as rapidly and reappear hundreds or even thousands of miles away in a matter of hours should keep any potential enemy badly off balance.
Cruising in all parts of the ocean, con stantly on station but never requiring a base on foreign territory, these craft will maintain a constant surveillance of all areas of world tension. With long range radar, no surface or air forces should move in the ocean regions without our knowledge. Readiness for attack will be instantaneous. For all practical purposes, the crews of these planes will be at battle stations all of the time.
By storing a large percentage of our nuclear and thermonuclear weapon stockpile in these bases, no matter how devastating an attack might be to the continental United States, the ability to retaliate would be retained. These small submarine-seaplane task groups will be too widely dispersed and too difficult to find to be neutralized by the enemy. Not knowing where our forces are, and never being able to predict from whence an attack will come, poses an insurmountable defense problem to any enemy.
With a force in being which requires no foreign bases, other nations will be much less doubtful of the wisdom of remaining closely allied with us. Our supply of atomic weapons would be dispersed throughout the world, with no need to store them on foreign soil.
Any nation close to Russia which now allows us to base atomic bombers on its soil, must have misgivings as to what will happen at the outbreak of war. It may well be that in such event our expensive European and African air bases will be immobilized by Communist-inspired uprisings.
Looking at a world map, set up tentative operating areas for such task groups. The Mediterranean will be a good place for several, the North Sea for several more. Look on around the world; the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, the Bay of Bengal, the Japan Sea, the Philippine Sea, the Bering Sea, and so on. It will be possible to attack from all directions, and there will be no base facilities vulnerable to enemy attack.
What of the life our crew will lead? First of all, such a plane will require a large crew. Let’s make nine of them pilots, the Commanding Officer and eight watch standers. In the air, watches will be on a one-in-four basis; four hours on and twelve hours off. On the water, the Officer of the Deck will only stand one watch in eight. It doesn’t seem so bad. The confinement will be less irksome than in a submarine. In the usual course of events, there will be time for a walk out on the wing and possibly a sun bath, and there is no reason for not taking a swim from time to time.
Modern aircraft are rugged pieces of equipment. Bombers traveling at close to seven hundred miles an hour meet greater wrenching, twisting, and impact forces than do ships on the ocean. The metal used to cover the wings on these aircraft varies from one-quarter to a half-inch thick. Modern large flying boats are designed to withstand the effects of striking eight-foot waves at over one hundred miles an hour.
When the weather kicks up, however, the plane may take off and fly to calmer areas or, at least, in air much calmer than the seas. It will be much easier for all hands to get proper rest in this plane than do present day destroyer sailors in rough weather.
On the water, if the seas become high and take-off is impossible for one reason or another, it may become necessary to secure engines and ride to a sea anchor. This may be a more comfortable and safer vessel than the average ship. Remember, it is not a small vessel; it is over two hundred feet long. And the stability against roll offered by the wing floats may make it more comfortable than conventional ships. Outriggers stabilized the Polynesian craft enroute to and from Hawaii centuries ago. As far back as 1919 one of the Navy NC4 flying boats taxied on the water several hundred miles in the open sea to safety in the Azores.
Ships are lost at sea by cargo shifting or by rolling over until hatches are stove in or water floods down the stack. All of such loss is the result of large masses of water striking vertical deckhouses and other obstructions. There will be no vertical surfaces or deckhouses to be carried away on the Battle Plane except for the tail, which is not likely to be struck broadside. Water washing over will pass on without meeting great resistance. If it becomes necessary to abandon ship, our crew will have the same chance of survival as do other sailors in like circumstances.
Finally, we are not remaining at sea for months at a time. High speed and long range will make it possible to obtain relief at frequent intervals. A week at sea and two weeks operating in home waters would possibly be the average schedule. And the North Atlantic would not be scheduled too often for any given crew.
A Navy, equipped with nuclear-powered seaplanes and nuclear-powered submarines, will fit neatly into the overall defensive and offensive requirements of our nation. Such a force will perform a complementary function with respect to the Strategic Air Force. Intercontinental bombers operating at high altitudes will provide the punch from over the top of the world. The submarine force, constantly on station, will make guided missile attacks, land Marine units, attack shipping, and provide secure storage points for nuclear weapons. Operating as a Sea/Air Task Group, one submarine and several seaplanes will be a most elusive force with which other world powers will have to cope. This force will have plenty of sea room in which to operate and, when necessary, could disappear for the moment, or as long as seemed desirable. Even on the surface, this Task Group will not be a large radar target such as are the present naval task groups composed of carriers and destroyers, and with modern means of communication, direct control could be maintained at all times.
When the Martin Seamaster becomes a part of our operating forces the basic equipment with which to form submarine/seaplane strike groups will be available. The submarine aviation fuel tanker, USS Guavina, is already a part of the fleet and can refuel seaplanes with conventional aviation fuels. The development of nuclear power for military and industrial use is gaining momentum daily.
These steps being taken today will result in the exploitation of the tremendous potentialities of the water-based concept of air-seapower.
While the possibilities indicated here may seem highly imaginative, the equipment under development today makes this prediction of things to come more than mere conjecture. Many officers on active duty today may serve in such a task group.
Commissioned and designated as a naval aviator in 1940, Commander Durgin served in the USS Augusta, as Commanding Officer of VF-150 in the USS Lake Champlain, and as Commanding Officer of VS-21 in the USS Bairoko. He has recently completed a tour of duty as Head of the Anti-Submarine Warfare Research and Development Section of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and assumed his current assignment of Executive Officer, Naval Air Station, Rota, Spain.
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GAS STATION SERVICE AT SEA
Contributed by CAPTAIN HENRY HALPERN (SC), U. S. Naval Reserve
During 1941 when we were perfecting “fueling at sea” techniques, the Sabine (AO25) was practising the fueling of all types of vessels from subs to battleships and carriers, in the Hawaiian area.
After hooking up fuel and avgas lines to the light cruiser Concord and in order to make it a realistic demonstration we asked how much we could pump over, to which she replied that they wanted “100 gallons of avgas.”
Merely to start and stop the Sabine’s pumps would deliver more than this amount. Possibly reminiscent of civilian days when motorists sometimes would buy one gallon of gas at a time, one of our engineer officers grabbed a megaphone and shouted over, “Do you want your windshield wiped too?''
SECOND TIME AROUND
Contributed by CAPTAIN E. E. COLESTOCK, U. S. Navy
During World War II, the U.S.S. Bennington was off Okinawa with Task Force 58. Her deck was ready for the Green Flag for the first early morning strike launch. Two Kamikazes evidently had penetrated the screen, with no task force alert. They appeared out of an 800-foot overcast and one successfully hit a sister ship with a small bomb. The other came in at mast height directly ahead of the Bennington. The bow 40-mm. gunners and the pilot of the first plane in the launch spot all tried unsuccessfully to bring their guns to bear. The Kamikaze’s bomb bay was wide open and a 1,000-pounder was right there all ready to go, but apparently the enemy developed bomb rack trouble because the plane passed astern and was taken care of by the screen.
The dead silence on board was shattered by an unidentified voice calmly announcing over the loudspeaker, “Now hear this: the next run will be a firing run.”
(The Proceedings will pay $5.00 for each anecdote submitted to, and printed in, the Proceedings.)