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“States which are weak from a military point of view, and which are surrounded by stronger neighbors invite war, and if they neglect their military organizations from false motives, they court this danger by their own supineness.”
von der Goltz
In the fall of 1957 the Chief of Naval Operations directed that Commander, Naval Air Force, Pacific, and Commander Naval Air Force, Atlantic, each establish a Replacement Air Group. These Air Groups were to serve as the media through which replacement pilots and maintenance crews could be fleet indoctrinated before ultimate assignment to a combat Air Group.
This course of action was precipitated by budgetary restrictions which reduced available forces but which did not reduce the high operational commitments. Although the degree of financial support was not to be maintained on a wartime basis, the need for mobile air power, capable of immediate action in any of the far reaches of the globe, had not diminished. The Free World still needed that force of arms capable of immediate action in any degree needed; be it nuclear, conventional, or cold war psychological pressure. This meant that no time was available to bring a combat Air Group up to readiness. All Groups had to be ready at all times.
Upon receipt of the Replacement Air
* Graduated from the Navy Academy in the Class of 1942, Commander Green is presently with CAG 12, NAS Miramar, California. He has had extensive service in naval aviation and was CO, VF-53, and on the Staff of Commander, Air Force Pacific, during the Korean War, and was stationed in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.
Group directive, carrier aviation tightened its belt, rolled up its sleeves, and began to write another chapter in the brilliant history of Naval Aviation.
An Historical Problem
As to the cause of this paradox of wartime commitments supported by a peacetime budget, Rudyard Kipling grasped its significance well when he said in his poem “Tommy”;
O it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that,
An’ Tommy go away;
But it’s “Thank you Mister Atkins,”
When the band begins to play.
This phenomenon of a peace-loving, nonmilitaristic people seeing how fast they can blot out thoughts of war has never been more realistic than in these United States. True in post-World War I and post-World War II, now that the Korean conflict is five years into history this same desire to realize a salubrious Shangri-La again manifests itself.
Now, as always, military men vigorously decry those concepts which in their eye impair this nation’s ability to prevent or to contain future wars. At the same time, those civilians entrusted with the guidance of national as well as military spending, forcefully maintain that a nation dedicated to the prosperous growth and enlightenment of its people cannot afford the continual drain on its economy that a wartime military structure requires.
This clash of interests is but natural in a government which exists under a system of checks and balances. As to who is correct, only history will tell. Nevertheless, if one side believes that their duty lies in one direction, can they deny the right of the other side to follow what in their eyes is their duty? And, although the military may vigorously deplore some of the civilian concepts given them to
The Chain is the first of three ships from the mothball fleet to be converted by the Office of Naval Research for this purpose. Staffed by scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, currently she is conducting research operations in the South Atlantic. This 1,800-ton ship has four laboratories and the latest oceanographic research equipment.
The USS Halibut (SSGN-587) was launched January 9 at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. Her dimensions are 350' X 29' and standard displacement is approximately 3,555 tons. Although primarily a Regulus II design, she is able to carry any other missile of equal or lesser size and weight. She also has a torpedo battery. The propulsion plant is an improved Nautilus-type.
implement, they must, with equal vigor, defend that principle of our democracy which establishes civilian authority as pre-eminent.
Therefore, in support of this philosophy of government, the U. S. Navy has moved to fill what could have proved to be a vital gap in the defense structure of the United States.
Cause and Effect
Prior to the outbreak of military action in Korea in 1950, the strength of carrier aviation in the Pacific had shrunk to but a shadow of its World War II might. At the unannounced outbreak of hostilities, although capable of immediately filling the air power vacuum over a part of the globe some 10,000 miles away, there were insufficient “ready” forces in being to provide proper combat relief and support for those initially committed.
Although on a much less grand scale, in the words of Winston Churchill after the Battle of Britain, “Never have so many owed so much to so few.” Only by the stamina and courage of those few Air Groups, both Regular and Reserve, which were continuously committed, was the United Nations able to maintain air power over the battle until suitable land had been regained to enable land- based aviation to operate effectively.
As time has smiled favorably on our Nation before, so it did in this instance. Time allowed us to gather our forces, ready them for combat, and supplement the so few forces initially in being. Although the level of World War II carrier strength was never realized, there were sufficient forces mobilized to enable returning Air Groups a bare four to five months to train replacement pilots and men going into combat.
Recognizing that the scope and swiftness of political action necessitates equal scope and swiftness in military action, the United States Navy knew that no longer could any of the existing carrier Air Groups be less than “emergency deployable.” No longer could combat readiness be less than that required for full and immediate military action. Some way had to be found that would enable this desire to materialize.
Thus, the Replacement Air Group concept was born. Replacement pilots, men, and aircraft would be “readied” for relief during the same period of time as their assigned Air Group was deployed. Upon the Air Groups’ return, as the “old-timers” would leave for duty rotation they would be replaced by men already trained and “ready.” Operational readiness in carrier aviation would now always be at a high state.
The Pilot’s Story
As the carrier pilot enters the fleet from
Pensacola, returns to it from shore duty, or shifts from shipboard or staff duty to an active flying billet, he is inducted into the Replacement Air Group for indoctrination and training.
Each pilot is given a period of instruction by fleet pilots who have just recently returned from a deployment. This instruction, between 80—100 flight hours, is given in the particular model aircraft which the pilot will fly in his squadron. Each pilot’s training is tailored according to his past experience so that at the completion of the flight phase he will have become proficient enough in tactics, instrument flight, weapons delivery, and carrier landings to be deployable in a combat squadron.
Prior to and along with his flight instruction the pilot is thoroughly schooled in survival, nuclear weapons, electronics, intelligence, and the myriad of other technical subjects required of a professional. Long and difficult hours are spent on the ground learning the complexities of the various systems of the aircraft. Every emergency known is practiced by the pilot on the ground before he takes a million dollar aircraft into the air.
Now, as differentiated from the flamboyant “how do you start it and where’s the throttle?” approach, the newly assigned pilot steps into his new machine knowing all there is to know except perhaps how it feels. No longer is the first flight in a supersonic aircraft one of calculated risk, it is now almost a 100 per cent guaranteed success.
The Enlisted Story
Along with pilot training, the Replacement Air Groups recognize the all important and vital factor of maintenance training. No matter how good a pilot is, he is useless if his plane cannot get into the air. Or, once having gotten airborne, he cannot fight it to its limit because of a malfunction. But perhaps of greater importance is the fact that the pilot’s life rests with the knowledge, skill, and dedication of his maintenance crew.
Under the supervision of well-qualified senior petty officers, maintenance men of all aviation technical ratings are trained in their specialty for that particular aircraft in their squadron. These men progress from Mobile Maintenance, Electronic, and Weapons Trainers, to shop instruction and then to
supervised on-the-job training. If any question arises that cannot be resolved by the instructors, the representatives of the aircraft manufacturers themselves are consulted. Thus, no stone is unturned to give these men the best that is available.
Efforts to Date
It is most apparent that the degree of proficiency of future Carrier Air Groups will, in great part, be a direct reflection of the training conducted in each of the Replacement Air Groups. The seriousness of this responsibility is not lost upon those officers and men now assigned to duty in these groups. Each recognizes his responsibility not only to carrier aviation but to the Navy and to the Nation. Each has attacked with vigor the problem of implementing such a vast reorganizational change while at the same time sending to the fleet over 150 “ready” pilots and 500 well- qualified enlisted men in a period of less than 8 months. Some, indeed, were sent to the forward area to fill those vacancies caused by a variety of exigencies.
The Bright Future
The results to date of the two Replacement Air Groups have given proof to the soundness and validity of their concept. Not only does this concept provide every fleet Air Group with a high level of readiness at all times, but the pilots and men of the Replacement Groups themselves represent to the Nation a sizeable potential for immediate action—not mobilization but action in time of emergency.
True, all problems have not as yet been solved. Nevertheless, given time to gain that indispensable called “experience,” the Replacement Air Groups will provide a stronger and stronger element of air power to this Nation’s first line of defense—the United States Navy.
The Race for Space
By Hanson W. Baldwin
The New York Times, January 6, 1959.— Where are we going in space?
A comprehensive answer to that question in the form of a long-range space program should be the immediate objective of any evaluation of the latest achievement of Soviet science and organization.
The successful launching of the Russian cosmic rocket—the first to pass the moon and to escape the earth’s gravitational field—represents even more of a political and psychological, than a technical triumph. But it must be assessed calmly without either exaggeration or detraction.
The latest Russian triumph does not mean that the world balance of military power has been upset.
It does not mean that the Russians have a well-defined lead in the race for militarily useful missiles. Rather, the race appears to be more or less even with the Soviet Union ahead in certain types, the United States in other categories.
Importance in Numbers
Both countries appear to be about on a par in the development and initial production of operational intercontinental ballistic missiles. Both will have such missiles in small quantities this year. Russia will probably produce more than we will.
The 360,000 to 400,000 pound thrust of the engines of the Adas, our first ICBM, is more than adequate to propel a thermonuclear warhead of megaton power to any Soviet target. The Navy’s submarine fired Polaris has—as does the Atlas—highest priority; both have ample funds, and good management.
In numbers of programmed missiles and missile-firing submarines the nation’s present plans may be inadequate. Numbers can be important since salvo firing—or the launching of a number of missiles simultaneously against the same target—could compensate for the initial inaccuracies to be expected in the first versions of intercontinental and intermediate range ballistic missiles.
The latest Soviet space triumph was probably achieved by a very narrow margin. There have been reliable intelligence reports of prior and unsuccessful Soviet moon shot— or cosmic rocket—attempts; there have been numerous and documented Soviet failures in the launching of long-range rockets.
On the other hand a few hundred foot-seconds difference in velocity, a slight change in course would have insured the full—rather than the partial—success of two of the four United States moon probes so far attempted. It seems certain that the Soviet feat will be duplicated—though not in its exact form—by the United States within a few weeks or months. The Army will attempt another moon probe soon. The year 1959 may well witness a United States attempt—and probably a Russian one—when the planet Venus is situated favorably to the earth in June—to launch what is called a “deep space probe” toward Venus, 151 days of rocket travel away from the earth.
In one, and probably only in one, respect do the Russians appear to have a present clear-cut operational advantage. That is in the weight of the pay loads they have hurled into the cosmos, and hence, in the thrust of the rockets used to launch these pay loads. The Soviet lunar probe carried an instrument pay load of 796.5 pounds; the total weight empty was 3,245.2 pounds, according to Moscow.
In comparison, the so-called “talking Atlas,” the I CBM that was successfully launched as a satellite on Dec. 18 by the Air Force, carried a pay load of 168 pounds of instruments—although the entire empty weight of the rocket, which went into orbit, was 8,700 pounds.
These discrepancies, however, are not so great in terms of thrust as would appear. The Russians have been using intercontinental ballistic missile engines for their space program, whereas up until recently, the United States was using the smaller, lower-thrust intermediate range ballistic missile as its prime launcher.
Rated Thrust Compared
The Russians apparently used a three- stage rocket—mounted in tandem—to launch their “lunik” or lunar probe. Estimates of the thrust of the first stage range between 300,000 and 500,000 pounds of thrust.
The Adas, a so-called one and a half stage missile, develops a total rated thrust between 360,000 and 400,000 pounds—which is being increased by fuel and other refinements. The Thor and Jupiter, our intermediate range missiles which have been utilized as the first stage launching vehicles for most of our space efforts, generate only 150,000 pounds of thrust.
But the Adas missile, with a specially designed 18,000 pound thrust second stage superimposed, has the capability of launching a pay load of 3,000 to 4,000 pounds into orbit. In other words, the power for cosmic probes is available in both countries, but the Russians had more power sooner.
Larger engines are under development in both the United States and the USSR. In the United States delivery of a clustered engine— developing a total of more than 1,000,000 pounds thrust—fabricated from some seven or eight proved Jupiter Rocketdyne engines arranged around a central frame may be expected this year, according to the Aircraft Industries Association.
In sum, the observation of Prof. Hermann Oberth, German scientist, and father of modern rocketry, is probably correct. Professor Oberth who has first-hand acquaintance with the American program, said that the Soviet achievement required primarily a powerful thrust, and that the Russian space program was probably no more than three or four months ahead of ours.
Destroyers Blend Versatility, Bulk
By Captain Frederick L. Oliver, USN (Ret.)
The Christian Science Monitor, January 8, 1959.—Styles in naval vessels change to meet new developments in technology, but the demand for destroyers goes on apace and the United States has in hand a construction program of this type of vessel.
Destroyers are the work horses of the fleet, and no admiral ever will admit that he has enough of them to meet his needs. The versatility of the destroyer is shown by the manifold uses to which it is put, some of which are the destroyer proper, the light mine layer, the fast mine sweeper, the fast transport, the destroyer escort, the destroyer leader, and various other types of fleet auxiliaries.
And now comes the latest development in destroyers. Given the nomenclature of “frigate,” the new type is a guided-missile craft
designed to have the speed, endurance, and sea-keeping qualities required for operating with a fast carrier task force.
The new type is much larger than World War II destroyers, being 512 feet long with a 50-foot beam and displacing about 4,000 tons. They are armed with missiles for air defense, and 5-inch and smaller guns for general purposes. No information concerning horsepower or speed has been released, but it may be assumed that the sustained full speed will be well in excess of 30 knots.
Tremendous Progress
The destroyer has come a long way during the past 50 years. Our early destroyers were none too reliable. Their coal burning, fastrunning reciprocating engine power plants were all too susceptible to breakdowns, and the destroyer that could make its designed speed was more or less a curiosity.
It was not until the Smith-class of 700-ton turbine-driven, coal-burning vessels came out in 1909 that the destroyer became a reasonably dependable type. A few years later the 750-ton Mayranl-class of oil-burner craft provided a destroyer capable of turning out more than 30 knots when called for.
From then on, destroyer design in the United States Navy improved year by year until the demands of World War I antisubmarine defense brought the construction of nearly 300 of the well-known four stackers, affectionately called “tin cans” by their crews.
These 1,200-ton destroyers armed with 4- inch guns and depth bombs were very efficient vessels for their time. However, the crash building program during the war gave the Navy such a surplus of destroyers that the construction of that type of vessel was halted until 1931 when a limited program of new construction was undertaken.
Versatile Craft
Thereafter new and improved designs made their appearance from time to time until the end of World War II found 3,400- ton destroyers being built. Since then this design of ship has continued to be reflected in new construction, some increase in size, higher steam pressures, and modernized equipment with other marginal improvements spelling the difference in the vessels.
Of late, however, there has come a demand for a destroyer type capable of more over-all efficient performance, a design which can produce a vessel that can operate effectively in its primary mission of waging antisubmarine warfare, and also can carry out the many other varied tasks incident to modern war on the sea.
In the past the destroyer always has been handicapped by its limited fuel capacity. One of the worries of every task force commander has been the need of refueling his destroyers so they will be able to operate effectively at critical times.
This difficulty has been largely overcome in the new type of destroyer. Its increased size gives it improved sea-keeping ability. Hand in hand with the greater fuel supply go machinery improvements which require the expenditure of less fuel per sea mile.
Bigger Ships Urgent
Another advantage of larger size is more room for the equipment which must be crowded into the modern destroyer. Complex sonar and radar systems require adequate room for efficient handling. And the guided missiles and other armament all call for room.
Nuclear power eventually will solve the problem of fuel capacity, but at present the demands made by the ratio of weight to horsepower in nuclear plants do not permit their installation in 4,000-ton hulls.
In an effort to overcome this difficulty, the Navy has awarded a contract for the construction of a nuclear powered ship capable of sustained high speed. It will be missile armed and will carry conventional weapons as well. Although designated a “frigate,” this vessel will be 550 feet long with a 56-foot beam and will displace 7,600 tons.
Costs Skyrocket
It is hoped that experience derived from this vessel will permit the design of a nuclear power plant adapted to smaller craft.
With the increase in size, the cost of destroyers has gone up tremendously. In 1911, vessels of the Alayrant-class cost about $1,000,000. In 1931, the Farragut-class cost some $3,000,000 each. By 1943, the cost of ships of the Gearing-class had gone to about $6,000,000. Now comes the guided missile frigate with costs creeping upward from $18,600,000 in 1957 for 3,370-ton vessels to $26,000,000 for the 4,000-ton craft of 1958.
No cost has been fixed for the nuclear powered frigate. Preliminary costs are covered by an allotment of $10,000,000, with a definite price to be fixed when negotiations are completed. Some estimates for this vessel run to more than $80,000,000.
Operating expenses of destroyers have kept pace with construction costs. A 1900 destroyer had a crew of perhaps 3 officers and 50 men. The frigate of today has a complement of 24 officers and 330 men. Apart from the approximately 700 per cent payroll increase incident to the larger crew, the average rate of pay involved is at least four times greater in 1959 than it was in 1900, making the over-all payroll increase a really formidable figure.
The 1900 destroyer got along on a few tons of $1.50 soft coal a day, while the modern destroyer has a daily consumption of barrels and barrels of relatively expensive oil. The 1900 craft’s ordnance expenditures at battle practice was a comparatively limited amount of cheap 6-pounder ammunition, while its modern counterpart fire missiles so expensive that it takes only a few of them to total up to the entire cost of a 1900 destroyer.
So it is small wonder the Navy Department complains that the cost of procuring and operating destroyers has reached the point where it is not practicable to secure the number needed to replace World War II craft approaching obsolescence, much less provide the number the Navy would like to have in operation.
British Defense Issue
By Drew Middleton
The New York Times, January 2, 1959.—- “There shouldn’t be any shortage of eggs in the Defense Ministry canteen this year,” remarked an elderly general. “Not with all those chickens coming home to roost.”
His bon mot reflected a belief, common in Whitehall, that of all problems facing the British Government in the new year those connected with the defense of the realm would be most complicated, stubborn and politically sensitive.
All Governments face the problem of adjustment between what soldiers, sailors and airmen demand and what the country can pay. The problem in Britain is more delicate than in the United States because of the narrow margin allowed the Government by an economy inevitably at the mercy of the vagaries of world trade.
At present 9.5 per cent of the country’s output of goods and services goes to defense. The Government thinks this is about the limit for Britain’s contribution to the defense of the free world and her own possessions.
The principal arguments consequently center on how and where defense funds are to be spent rather than if the nation can spend more. The revival of the British economy still has not reached the stage where either military or civil authorities can reach for the moon with rockets.
Differences over defense spending have been rumbling beneath the surface of politics for the last six months, or ever since the interested parties got the news that the gross defense estimates for 1958-59 would be £1,465,000,000 ($4,102,000,000).
Two Main Conflicts
There are two main conflicts. The more important of these is the dispute over whether the present emphasis on nuclear weapons should be maintained or whether conventional weapons should get a larger share of the money.
Nearly two years ago Duncan Sandys, Minister of Defense, with the approval of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, gave priority in defense to nuclear weapons and introduced drastic, progressive reductions in conventional forces, their weapons and their weapons’ development.
These reductions apparently have taken place much faster and certainly more spectacularly than has the construction of the nuclear deterrent by Britain.
The strength of the Royal Navy has declined to the point where it is a source of anxiety to Britain’s partners in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The army has been forced to all sorts of shifts, including the use of artillerymen for police duty. The Royal Air Force, the most favored of the services, still awaits a new medium bomber.
The defense chiefs are naturally closemouthed about progress toward the establishing of a British nuclear deterrent. No one knows whether the country has five or fifty hydrogen bombs.
The intermediate-range ballistic missiles in Britain are United States-made and would carry American nuclear warheads in the event of war. The bases are manned by the Royal Air Force.
The Government intends to proceed with the production of the Blue Streak, a superior British IRBM, but it will be months, perhaps years, before the Blue Streak supplants the American Thor.
Opponents’ Viewpoint
Opponents of the emphasis on deterrent contend that the nuclear program is unrealistic. Britain, they say, does not have the resources to become a true nuclear power and the resources she has should be spent for more pressing requirements in the field of conventional forces and arms.
The day is approaching, they believe, when East and West will have reached a state of nuclear balance.
When the nuclear forces of East and West neutralize each other, the advantage will rest with the power-bloc possessing the best trained, best armed conventional forces. Britain, critics say, has fallen woefully behind in this field.
This leads to the second problem of the allocation of existing British forces between NATO in Europe and overseas commitments. The Government must decide whether its commitments to Europe are more important than military support for British interests and those of her allies elsewhere in the world.
Britain’s interests would best be served, critics have asserted, if the rundown of conventional forces is halted and the nuclear weapons program pared. Britain’s international position will be safeguarded, they say, in the twilight between war and peace not by nuclear weapons in Britain but by airborne infantry, anti-submarine frigates and support aircraft.
These are the chickens, in the form of urgent questions, that have come home to roost and to vex the Government with their cackle.
De Gaulle Outlines Revamped Defense
By Volnev D. Hurd
The Christian Science Monitor, December 31, 1958.—Hard on the heels of Presidentelect de Gaulle’s judicial reform of Dec. 23 and of his financial and economic reform of Dec. 29 has come his reform of national defense.
If France previously has been accused of fighting each new war with the previous war’s weapons, this no longer will hold true. The new French defense system is based on modern warfare of nuclear attacks and hidden infiltration.
The following three points define the new design of French defense:
1. The threat being permanent, the organization of defense also must be permanent.
Geared to A-Force
2. Because of the possibility of a thermo-
One of a group of ASW seaplanes being delivered to France under the Military Assistance Program.
nuclear war starting with no advance notice, an effective nuclear force must always be immediately available.
3. Modern aggression dressing itself in many different forms, there must be the closest unity between civilian and military authorities.
The new strength of the presidency of France, under which General de Gaulle will be the real head of the armed forces—combined with its great civil authority, which becomes supreme in an emergency and of which the President becomes the sole judge—- is tailor-made for this new concept of defense.
The French civilian administrative system of prefects, established by Napoleon, though dating back to the Romans, reflects a strongly centralized military type of authority and lends itself particularly well to the new concept.
Civil-Military Team
In case of grave events, and particularly if there should be massive destruction, pre- fectural powers will be greatly extended. The military organization of the country will be adapted to new economic and administrative formulas.
No longer will military defense units have the sole authority in an emergency area as in the past. Operations will be run by a mixed commission made up of both the military and civil authorities.
It will take a number of years to implement this reform. It calls for closer coordination between land, sea, and air arms; the decentralization of command to cope with the almost certain cutting of regular communication channels; universal military service which will lead to both regular military forces and special defense forces; provision for a “state of alert” which in an emergency could precede general mobilization; and establishment of a new defense committee of which the President of the Republic, the Premier, and other senior ministers would be members.
Two-Year Draft Service
( Future military service will be for the 24 months demanded by Gen. Lauris Norstad, commander of the European Atlantic Pact forces, as an essential minimum for forces but not yet accepted by most of the pact’s members.
French service officially has been only 18 months in the past. But young Frenchmen have been serving 27 months because of the war in Algeria. The French Government reserves the right to call up or keep men in service as it has been doing in the case of Algeria. In fact, the whole plan must be largely held in abeyance until the Algerian war is ended.
The drafting of older men into service goes by the board. Men will be liable to call-up only until they are 37. After that they still will be liable for another 10 years, but only for service in the civil defense forces.
Finally, in case the dislocating power of modern warfare should prevent the normal functioning of authority, and particularly if the President of the Republic, the president of the Senate and the Premier should be simultaneously incapable of acting, responsibility for defense then would devolve upon the minister of war and, successively, to other ministers in an order laid down but not announced yet.
IGY Closes Down Special Program
Bv Robert C. Cowen
The Christian Science Monitor, January 2, 1959.—Midnight bells, ringing out the old year and ringing in the new, also rang down the curtain on mankind’s biggest scientific project, the International Geophysical Year.
For 18 months, teams of scientists from almost every nation have subjected their planet and its natural satellite and even the sun itself to the most exhausting examination they have ever undergone.
Now this great international cooperative effort is officially over, although some of its programs are being extended and the biggest job of all, analyzing all that data, still lies ahead.
It is premature to talk about results. Most of these will come out of months and years of painstaking study of the data. But, as far as the scientists are concerned, the I GY has been an unqualified success.
This doesn’t mean that every IGY project went off as planned or that one couldn’t find scientists less than satisfied with some particular phase or other of so vast an operation. It does mean that the main objectives have been achieved, large scientific gains have been made, and, most important perhaps, the scientists have proved that in their peaceful realm the whole world can work together.
Expensive Operation
IGY was an expensive operation. Most of the funds and much support and equipment were supplied by governments. But the chief credit and the laurels go to the scientists. They conceived and initiated the program within their own international groups before any appeal was made for government support. And they have organized and administered the program throughout.
Thus since IGY has been primarily a nongovernmental, peaceful enterprise, cold war barriers were in many cases thrown down. Representatives from Communist China sat down to confer with Americans without anyone losing face or compromising diplomatic positions.
Soviet and Western scientists planned and executed joint operations that geographically embraced the world with confidence in each other’s fidelity in carrying out the agreements.
Western, and in particular American, IGY officials say they have been happy with the degree of Soviet cooperation shown in all phases of the IGY, with very few exceptions.
Speed Called Adequate
Even in the satellite program, where the Soviets have been suspected of being less than candid in supplying data, the official American view is that the main reason for slowness in supplying data is the difficulty of processing it.
One expert said that he ran a poll of his colleagues on the question and the consensus was that even with all the computing equipment they needed, American satellite experts couldn’t have ground out the data much faster than the Soviets seemed to be going. It has been a mammoth job and that, more than anything else, is thought to account for any snags that have developed in data sharing.
With a program that began with the core of the earth and reached out to the sun, it was not surprising that spectacular discoveries would be made or events occur even though most of the data have yet to be analyzed.
Indeed, IGY got off to a pyrotechnic start in July, 1957, with one of the biggest solar outbursts on record.
The most spectacular event was the rise of sputnik, of course.
One of the biggest scientific surprises was the discovery of bands of radiation surrounding the earth.
At first it was thought these bands would make it difficult for future space travelers to leave the vicinity of earth. But now it looks as though these bands may be oriented in such a way that space explorers can avoid them.
Safe Spaces Apparent
To put it briefly, it looks as though the earth is like a marble sitting in the hole of a great doughnut of radiation which in turn is encircled by a second doughnut. This means there would be space around these doughnuts where it would be safe to travel.
Although IGY now is officially over, scientists are reluctant to break off all of their cooperative work that has been so fruitful. Accordingly, the International Council of Scientific Unions, the father of IGY, has set up machinery for continuing international research in some areas.
The special committee set up to handle IGY will terminate June 30. But it will be followed by a new permanent Special Committee of Interunion Cooperation in Geophysics (SCG). Meanwhile special committees for oceanographic research and Antarctic research (SCOR and SCAR) have already been established.
These alphabetized agencies are planning for continuation of international scientific work in their respective fields. Again their most significant feature is that they are nongovernmental peaceful groups even though their members may have to go to their respective governments for money and support.
Winged Boats: Sizes Increase
The Christian Science Monitor, December 13,1958.—A 100-ton “Motorboat on Wings,” carrying 300 passengers at something like 45 knots, is being planned by a shipyard.
Streamlined boats able to carry 72 passengers already skim along the Sicilian coast, over the waters of Lake Garda in northern Italy, on Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, and in the West Indies on aluminum “hydrofoils” fixed under the stern and bows. These hydrofoils make for speed and stability in rough water. *
As the boats gather speed, they rise above the surface and glide on the foils, with the hull in the air. In this way, they can “fly” above the water at a maximum speed of about 45 knots.
The Rodriquez shipyard launched its first hydrofoil boat in 1956 after extensive studies, based on pre-World War II research in Germany and, later, in Switzerland.
United States and British naval officers, as well as shipping experts from Britain, France, and West Germany, attended four days of trials. On the last day, the boat was tested in a storm with wind gusts of up to 75 miles an hour.
“Seven craft of this type, called PT-20, are at present in operation,” Carlo Rodriquez, owner of the shipyard, said. “Three-ply tourist routes in Sicilian waters—between Messina and Reggio Calabria across the Straits of Messina; between Catania and Lipari Islands via Taormina and Messina; and between Palermo and Messina via the Lipari Islands.
“One motorboat operates on Lake Garda. Two are in service in Venezuela, and one has been bought by an American company to link islands in the Caribbean.”
The PT-20 is a 26-ton boat. It is 65.6 feet long, with a width 24| feet between the tips of its upward curved forward foil, which is linked to the hull by two V-shaped supports.
Two Engines Used
The boats are fitted with 1,350-horsepower engines.
The foil supports are built into the hull elastically to absorb vibrations from the waves. The hull itself is made of aluminum alloys. The passenger cabin and the engine room are linked with noise-absorbing material.
“We are now working on other types,” Signor Rodriquez said. “Next January, we hope to launch the PT-50—a 50-ton vessel capable of accommodating 150 passengers. It will be 89 feet long, with a beam of 17 feet and a width of 32.8 feet between the foil tips. It will be fitted with two 1,350-horsepower Mercedes engines and two propellers.
“Two craft of this new type have already been ordered by a Venezuelan company for service between La Guayra (the port of Caracas) and Margarita Island.
“We are also working on an even bigger vessel, the PT-120, which we hope to start building in 1959. It will be a 100-ton boat for 300 passengers. It will be at least 124.7 feet long.”
Signor Rodriquez said that while the small PT-20 was particularly suited to lakes and other relatively protected waters, the new types could operate in the open sea.
He explained that hydrofoil craft had “indisputable advantages” over normal vessels of the same size and tonnage.
Fuel Consumption Cut
“To reach the same speed, a hydrofoil boat needs only about half the engine power. This means that fuel consumption is cut by half or, given the same quantity of fuel, its range is doubled. Operating costs are reduced by more than 30 per cent because of the saving in fuel and because the boat is faster and its daily mileage and payload are greater.
“The hydrofoil can maintain its speed when normal-type vessels are slowed down by rough seas, and it can keep up its high speed in narrow' ^waterways without risk to small craft because the wash it produces is negligible.”
One of these boats crosses the Straits of Messina between Regio and Messina in 15 minutes, compared with 50 minutes by ferry boat. The hydrofoil links Messina with Lipari Island in \\ hours, compared with a 4§-hour trip for the normal steamer service.
Signor Rodriquez said that in addition to civilian use, hydrofoil draft are particularly suited to police, customs, and naval work.
“They are difficult targets for torpedoes and artillery fire. Their shallow draft gives them a large degree of protection against mines.”
Such craft, he added, were able to pass through minefields unscathed during World War II.
Navy Cancels Anti-Sub RAT
The Baltimore Sun, January 8, 1959.—The Navy announced cancellation of the antisubmarine weapon RAT, hitherto warmly praised by that service as a most promising instrument for underseas warfare.
The reasoning is impressive, however. The Navy has in advanced development a comparable flying-torpedo which promises to have a most desirable capability—namely, that of usefulness against an enemy’s nuclear- propelled submarine, against which RAT would not have been effective.
Proved Merit
The A-sub has much greater underwater speed than any older type. It also is capable of operating at greater depths—that is, far below the thermal water-layers which make detection difficult.
The Navy’s determination to scrap RAT, despite its proved merit against normal submarines, affords tacit evidence of the Pentagon’s conviction that enemy submarines of the future will, like our own prospective 30 A-subs, include some with atomic propulsion, and that this is the time to prepare counterweapons against them.
Falls Away
RAT (getting its name from its nature, “rocket assisted torpedo”) has been in advanced testing both in the Adantic and Pacific fleets. Even so, the project is reported to have cost but $15,000,000, which in these days is regarded as small change.
The novel rocket-assisted torpedo can be launched either from above or below the surface. In either case, it rises into the air by rocket-power and proceeds to a point above the position where its guidance system has located an enemy sub.
There the rocket falls away from the torpedo, which descends to the surface by parachute, there to be detached once more, to proceed by its own power to the nearby underwater target.
This complexity is occasioned by use of a nuclear warhead, from whose explosion the launching vessel has to be kept distant for its own safety.
The contemplated improvement apparently has RAT’s general aspects, greatly modified in the respect mentioned, its ability to run down a target moving very rapidly at deeper level. The probable time of its availability is not stated.
Seven Stories High
Goodyear Release.—The world’s largest fiberglass radome, measuring 68 feet in diameter and standing more than seven stories high, has been produced at Goodyear Aircraft Corporation.
Built for the Missile Detection Systems Section of the General Electric Company’s
ON A 10,000-MILES VOYAGE FROM TEXAS TO THE PERSIAN GULF
This self-elevating island, built by R. G. LeTourneau, Inc. for Reading & Bates Offshore Drilling Co., has been leased by Arabian Oil Co., a Japanese firm with headquarters in Tokyo, for a two-year period. The Japanese concession is located near Kuwait, in the northern part of the Persian Gulf.
NAVY’S NEW ANTI-SUBMARINE HELICOPTER
Heavy Military Electronics Department, Syracuse, N. Y., under US Air Force contract, the huge laminated plastic structure is made up of hundreds of panels bolted together in a few basic panel groups. Panels are interchangeable, simplifying field service.
The giant radome can be erected or disassembled in approximately 80 hours, using a six-man crew. Enough panels to build the 30,000-pound dome requires shipping space the equivalent of eight box cars. The complete assembly can be air-lifted to any accessible location by military transport plane.
Made of resin reinforced with glass cloth, the plastic panel is fire retardant and weather resistant. Finished structure will withstand 150-mile-an-hour winds.
The company, working in close teamwork with the General Electric Company’s Heavy Military Electronics Department, the Rome Air Development Center (RADC) at Griffiss Air Force Base, Rome, N. Y., and MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory, incorporated latest concepts into the radome’s production design.
Goodyear Aircraft has previously produced smaller ground radomes in 20-foot and 261- foot diameter sizes. The company is under contract to produce radomes well over 100 feet in diameter.
Regulus Cut Aids Anti-Sub Subs
By Mark S. Watson
The Baltimore Sun, December 21, 1958.— When the Navy, hard-pressed by Administration insistence upon “economies,” determined to scratch out four of the five atomic submarines scheduled to carry the new and promising Regulus II missile (and scratched further production of Regulus II itself) it meant that naval planners were taking an admitted gamble.
They expect to recover something like $100,000,000, and to save $7,000,000 in each of four cases by the substitution of a less expensive type.
Reduces Nuclear Potency
But they did so reluctantly, for it greatly reduced the submarine arm’s potency for carrying a well-tested nuclear attack to enemy shores in 1960 when these four vessels would have come out of the construction yards.
On the other hand, accepting that considerable sacrifice and admitting that it is a substantial sacrifice for the sake of saving dollars, the Navy now is able to increase by like amount its potency in fast attack types.
The latter is a versatile craft of great value in close-range torpedo assault at sea, a wholly different thing from missile-launching on distant enemy targets.
Most important of all in the present state of world armament, the new fast-attack nuclear sub, endowed with speed, endurance, firepower and detection facilities vastly superior to those of World War II, has suddenly emerged as one of the best of all anti-submarine weapons.
The Navy’s anti-submarine-warfare experts have long been clamoring for more than the recent budgets allowed for building programs.
And on Capitol Hill there has been genuine anxiety about America’s ability to cope with Russia’s new fleet of 500 subs (many times more than Nazi Germany had when World War II began).
Belated Blessing
The sudden shift in building plans which Administration “economy” has forced, therefore, even while hurting the early guided- missile prospects, has been a belated blessing to the anti-submarine forces.
It now can be confidently predicted that USS Thresher, first of the newest line of fast- attack subs and now under construction at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, will be followed not only by four sisters still awaiting contract, but by four others which had not even been contemplated until this unexpected windfall.
There are two “fast attack” classes, to be known as the Skipjack and the Thresher types.
Faster When Submerged
Skipjack, already launched and to be commissioned in February or March, is the first adaptation of the famous Albacore or “teardrop” design.
This pattern so closely simulates the shape of a fish, which Nature herself designed for underwater speed, that the “fast-attack” type will move much faster submerged than on the surface. The Navy’s mention of “over 20 knots” is regarded as a very considerable understatement.
It is nuclear propulsion which permits the modern sub, since Nautilus's pioneering, to travel submerged for indefinite time and distance, and thus justifies the shape of this “first true submarine.”
Study of Tactical Relations
But it is a radical departure in design, permitting a similar forward leap in tactics. That explains why there is a time lag between Skipjack and her sisters—to allow time for Skipjack's, extensive sea-trials and exercises with the fleet, to permit a study of possible alterations.
Technology advances too. Hence there are to be but six of the Skipjack type (252 feet, 2,830 tons), and the new wave (nine now in sight) of fast-attack subs will be of the Thresher-class (274 feet, 3,250 tons).
It is a fair guess that the bigger size allows improvements in sonar, in fire-control, and in torpedo-storage.
33 in A-Sub Program
To summarize, the nation’s nuclear-pro- pelled subs built, building, and authorized, number 33. Of these, six are commissioned. Four definitely are to be deferred, these being the four Polaris-missile types which Congress authorized in addition to the five the Navy asked for.
The Navy wishes to limit the initial design, so that the next wave may have the probable advantage of improvements based on experience and unforeseeable technological betterment.
One more of the 33 must be recognized as soon to be out of service for fully a year, this being Seawolf, which made an astonishing record with her sodium reactor, but is being changed to the pressurized-water reactor as more sadsfying.
Types of 28 Remaining
The remaining 28 are of these types:
1.Attack. Nautilus (1).
2. Small attack. Skate, Swordjish, Sargo Sea, Dragon (4).
3. Fast attack. Skipjack and five sisters under construction. Also Thresher (under construction and eight authorized) (15).
4. Regulus missile. Halibut (under construction) (1).
5. Radar picket. Triton (launched) (1).
6. Polaris missile (3 under construction, 2 scheduled) (5).
7. Hunter-killer. Tullibee (under construction) (1).
Prospect In Regulus Missiles
The prospect in Regulus missiles can be outlined quickly.
Barbero and Tunny, now in service, can launch only Regulus I, an early model. So can four of our cruisers. Grayback, Growler, and the coming Halibut can fire either Regulus I or Regulus II. The full combat load of Regulus missiles for all these in combination is 28.
There are on hand 96 Regulus I missiles which are to be used as training instruments. There are 155 suitable for combat missions— in other words, something over six full combat loads for our combined firing resources.
ONR Designs Weather Research Rocket
Aviation Week, January 12, 1959.—Low cost weather research rocket designed to provide the most complete photographic information to date on weather frontal systems and storms has been developed and successfully fired by the Office of Naval Research.
Designation of the program is Project Hugo.
Photographs of cloud cover over an area of about 500,000 sq. mi. along the east coast of the US from Maine to Florida were taken at from an altitude of 86.25 mi. during the first flight of a Nike-Cajun rocket which ONR had equipped with a modified World War II gun- sight camera.
Weather Forecast
US Weather Bureau and Navy scientists believe that such large area photographs will allow complete storm systems, including hurricanes, to be seen instantaneously. This could possibly provide a means of tieing together all of the variables affecting storms and weather frontal systems into a single theory or method to improve weather forecasting.
At present, long-range forecasting is accomplished primarily by using the Norwegian weather front theory, but the relatively imprecise and incomplete measurements taken by many surface weather stations and balloons leave room for improvement in forecasting accuracy.
Present budget requests for this basic research project include funds for eight or 10 more shots during the coming year. Weather scientists, however, would like to have enough rocket equipment to fire a number simultaneously so that a three-dimensional picture of cloud cover over a particular area could be obtained or a very great portion of the earth’s surface could be viewed at once.
Photographs similar to those just obtained by the Navy were made about 10 years ago from a Viking rocket, but the cost involved made the use of such equipment for weather research prohibitive. Present equipment and recovery techniques were evolved to overcome this cost objection.
Rocket and camera payload that have been developed cost less than $15,000 and a team of only one aircraft and one destroyer is needed to recover the camera capsule.
No special equipment is needed to stabilize the camera section after it has been boosted to altitude and separated from the rocket. This feature was a major factor in reducing cost.
The Nike-Cajun solid propellant rocket has been used successfully for a number of years and has shown a high degree of reliability. It can be fired at sea from missile launchers for the Convair Terrier now installed aboard a number of Navy ships.
The first firing of the ONR rocket demonstrated its ability to be used in rough weather which will make it valuable for studying storms. The rocket was fired when ground winds were 20 to 30 mph. It weather-cocked somewhat, was thrown off course and landed some 30 miles away from the recovery ship. A small radio transmitter in the buoyant camera capsule enabled the ship to recover it within two hours with the aid of one aircraft, although the sea was rough with eight to 10 ft. vvaves. Battery life is 30 hours which would allow a long search in very bad weather.
Jet Stream Source Sought
By William J. Perkinson
Baltimore Evening Sun, January 3, 1959.— A small group of scientists is searching high above the earth for clues to the “headwaters of the jet stream” in an attempt to modify weather in parts of the world by steering storms over predetermined paths, one of the nation’s top meteorologists said today.
If the hunt is successful, he stated, then it should be possible to control the flow of that “mighty river of air” by using rockets and nuclear or thermonuclear explosions to create what he called “a series of temporary electrical or chemical dams, perhaps a hundred or more miles above the earth.”
Aurora within Aurora
There is even one theory, he added, that it might be possible to alter the flow of the jet stream by using a hydrogen bomb burst to create an artificial aurora within an aurora.
One phase of the hunt for the jet stream’s headwaters is known to be centered over the Alaskan-Siberian area, he said.
He explained that that area has excited considerable interest because there is some evidence that the paths followed by hurricanes off the Eastern Coast of the United States are somehow influenced by the movement of high and low pressures that form several miles above the Aleutian Islands.
The jet stream is believed by some scientists to be the steering rod that links the movement of the two weather systems, although they are thousands of miles apart.
If these Aleutian high and low pressure areas could be intensified at any given time through the explosion of nuclear bombs carried aloft by rockets, it is theorized, then the paths of the great storms that seem to be aligned with them might also be altered.
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