Professional Notes, Notebook and Progress

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.

142 The Military Staff Study

By John M. Gore Captain, U. S. Navy

145 Oceanographic Platforms and Measurements

By Francis E. Elliott

148 The Fishing Fleet and Fisheries of Peru

By Alberto Jimenez Commander, Peruvian Navy

152 Pragmatic Leadership

By Sidney Brooks Captain, U. S. Navy

154 Notebook

“T A Fork up a staff study on this project for

V V me,” says the commanding general. Thus might begin a new administrative ex­perience for a naval officer recently assigned to a joint or combined staff.

The staff study can be a splendid means by which to arrive at a very well-reasoned course of action and to provide and “sell” a solution. It is a standard problem-solving technique used by the U. S. Marine Corps, the Army, and the Air Force.

In researching the staff study concept and technique, the naval officer will probably be impressed by the emphasis placed on format. He may, in fact, consider format to be over­emphasized, rigid, and restrictive in nature. Further investigation, however, would show that format is merely a guide for a logical and orderly functioning of the intellectual process. It provides a framework for producing sound, well-organized papers. It provides the means for a formal presentation of an orderly and scholarly inquiry into a problem, and it re­sults in recommendations which will dispose of the stated problem.

Although local variations are many, the principal elements of the staff study format are generally accepted as: (1) Statement of the problem; (2) Assumptions; (3) Facts bearing on the problem; (4) Discussion; (5) Conclusions; and (6) Recommendations.

The military staff study provides a reason­ing framework, which is to the world of letters what the scientific method is to the laboratory. The study’s scholarly aspects are no more treasured than those of the thesis or disserta­tion are by the academic world, but they are etched in relatively stark terms. This does not mean that the staff study must be utterly humorless and a total stranger to the well- turned phrase.

The staff study is highly recommended ■when the problem lends itself to a reasoned solution. And, in any problem, a reasoned solution should at least be considered. The staff study is also ideal for the “selling” of the conclusions and recommendations in a rea­soned solution. For one thing, those opposing the reasoned solution are constrained to take a reasoned position as well. The best staff pro­cedure obviously calls for co-ordinating a recommendation with all staff officers having a significant interest in the problem. The staff study provides an excellent means for doing this.

It is inferred above that the proper solution may _not depend upon reasoning alone. A reasoned solution might be overruled by other considerations. Some of the noblest of human acts are carried out in defiance of reason. It is also quite probable that spectacular blunders occasionally follow in the wake of the keenest reasoning. But, by and large, clean and orderly thinking enjoys a most favorable reputation.

What are some of the elements that lend such quality to the military staff study as a problem-solving device? The classic elements of the staff study, as already listed, provide an excellent framework for its analysis.

Statement of the problem: How can a prob­lem be solved if it remains undefined? A mere description of a “bad situation,” no matter how vivid, will not serve. What is the prob­lem—the raw, naked problem? It has to be isolated and stated. This, in itself, is quite an accomplishment. A “bad situation” might be created by several problems. They will have to be sorted out and dealt with according to their urgency. A proper staff study deals with one problem only.

Assumptions: The staff study makes no assumptions. Assumptions limit the value of the solution since the validity of the conclu­sions and recommendations may depend upon assumptions coming to pass, which may not come to pass. The multiple use of assumptions compounds this weakness. Three assumptions create seven conditions under which a solu­tion may not be valid; four assumptions create 15 such conditions. Assumptions should obvi­ously be used only when absolutely necessary. When used, assumptions must be reasonable and likely. They must be clearly and con­cisely stated. Under no circumstances may

Professional Notes 143

one assumption conflict with another. If the solution to a problem is seemingly dependent upon the outcome of an event not yet decided, and if the outcome is an apparent “toss-up” between one thing and another, it will be necessary to prepare two separate staff stud­ies; one study assuming one set of circum­stances, the other assuming the opposite.

Facts Bearing on the Problem: A fact is a statement of conditions or affairs held to be true. The fact defies the common challenges to truth. These are adequate definitions for the purposes ordinarily served by staff studies. Even so, there is always the threat of getting fact mixed up with opinion. Opinions may not be listed in this section, however. As will be indicated, they can be used in the Discussion Section only and then only with the greatest of care. But how does one weed out opinion? The best test is to consider the source: what has been said or written by whom, when, why? Thus the rules of evidence come into play.

One would naturally include in this section only those facts which “bear on the problem.” Only the significant facts are listed here. The facts cited must be clearly and concisely stated. By and large, the more words used to describe a fact, the more they detract from its validity, or the more they expand it to a point of limited usefulness.

Once a fact has been established it must be credited to its source in such a way that the reader of the staff study can readily find the source and apply the rules of evidence to his own satisfaction, if he chooses to do so.

Local administrative instructions ordinarily prescribe how this crediting shall be done— by parenthetical note, footnote, or other method. The way in which the crediting is done is not so important, but it must be done for all facts, whether separately listed in this section, or subsequently introduced in the Discussion. Common sense can provide some relief from this procedure in the case of those facts so evident or generally accepted that no dispute is likely to arise over their validity, or those facts of which judicial notice can safely be taken.

It should be remembered that the facts section of the staff study is the study’s prin­cipal defense against the shaded interpreta­tion of truth, which all human beings are sometimes capable of offering in sincere but

over-enthusiastic efforts to convince others of this or that highly-prized idea.

Discussion: This section is the heart of the staff study. This is where the author of the staff study takes the facts (and the assump­tions, if they cannot be avoided), mixes them with the opinions of others and produces a logical and orderly critical analysis of the problem. The staff study author then creates a constructive array of considerations which will lead to sound conclusions and appropriate remedial action. Nothing could more easily be said; few exercises of the mind are more difficult, at least until practice is gained. How does the mind go about this process? It mulls over all the information presented in the study. Related information previously assimi­lated is recalled. The mind rehearses experi­ences, actual and vicarious, which touch on the problem. It threads itself around preju­dice. It attempts to break the bonds of habit. The mind begins to formulate hypotheses, logical possibilities, tentative findings. Nu­merous possible results present themselves. These are uncertain, debatable. The mind begins to tighten its discipline. The tentative

By Chaplain Joseph F. Parker U.S. Navy

No naval officer should be without this book. Written primarily for use aboard ships of the U. S. Navy, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine, the prayers are non-denominational in nature. Es­pecially useful to lay leaders are calls to worship, invocations, and prayers for all occasions. Special morning prayers for each Sunday of the year. Pocket-size. 287 pages. List Price $3.50 ($2.63 to Naval Institute Mem­bers)

Please use book order form on page 139

Book Department)*' -                                       -

U. S. Naval Institute

Annapolis, Maryland

findings are subjected to intense scrutiny) including an appraisal of their compatibility with the facts. If not supportable, these find­ings are modified until they are accepted, o^r rejected. The progress of the discussion is marked by a succession of these tentative findings; their rejection, their modification, or their final acceptance. The discussion is the written history of the deductive and inductive thought constituting this progress. Since such history might tend to grow rather large, it is not uncommon to include only a brief sum­mary of it in the Discussion section of the staff study. The complete discourse can, in this case, be appended as a separate contribution to the staff study. Before leaving the discussion section, a check should be made to see if all facts and assumptions have been used.

By the time an effective discussion has been completed its conclusions will be fairly obvious. However, it is the usual practice not to state them here, but rather reserve them for the next section.

Conclusions: Staff study conclusions are stated simply, clearly, and briefly. They do not serve in any way as a continuation of the discussion. The conclusions therefore cannot be modified by qualifying or justifying phrases. They cannot state that either “this” or “that” is the case; they must conclude firmly that one line of thought has been arrived at. And, of course, the conclusions must concern the problem. In the light of an effective discussion, the conclusions will point directly to the need for certain actions.

Recommendations. Here are stated the actions which, if taken, will solve the prob­lem. Their expression should be clear, positive and brief. They must not pose alternative courses of action; they must be susceptible to simple approval or disapproval. Does this lay the staff study open to charges of inflexi­bility? No, not ideally. In fact, by far the ma­jority of staff studies satisfy the requirement for flexibility. It is rare that two separate courses of action will dispose of a problem with equal ease and effect. It is the normal duty of the staff officer to determine and recommend the best. If he has selected the staff study as his problem-solving technique, and if he has prepared it properly, the staff officer can have reasonable assurance that he has performed his duty creditably.

Professional Notes 145

By Francis E. Elliott,

Oceanographer, Heavy Military Electronics Department,

General Electric Company

OCEANOGRAPHIC PLATFORMS AND MEASUREMENTS

What different environmental measure­ments can reasonably be taken from different oceanographic platforms? All plat­forms have their place, and the decision as to ^Vv'hich type is best suited for different measure­ments depends on the requirements of the User. Nevertheless, it may help to determine the cheapest platform for specific purposes— ^emphasizing that which is practical and with- m the state-of-the-art for operational pur­poses. In many cases, sensor accuracies re­quired for the Navy’s operational require­ments are within the state-of-the-art. On the other hand, greater accuracies, desirable for scientific work, remain still to be developed. Platforms in Table I are arranged by types rather than specific or special-purpose plat­forms. For instance, the research vessel FLIP is considered a free-floating buoy.

A similar philosophy has been applied to instrumentation. Where the techniques to measure a given parameter are known, it has been assumed that they are within the state-of- the-art—although no instrument may have been built. For instance, techniques to meas­ure density are known; the development of an instrument for density measurement is an engineering problem which can be solved.

Under capability, in Table I, the emphasis is on the capability of the platform rather than the sensor. For example, surface wave height can be measured remotely from an aircraft and a satellite, but it is measured at the sur­face by an expendable system like the Splash- nik, a wave-measuring instrument dropped by surface ships.

The eight types of platforms listed in Table I are believed to include all the practical types that can be envisioned for some time to come. Theoretically, it may be possible to mount oceanographic sensors on rockets.

However, this is not a very sensible approach. It is also assumed that each of these platforms has some means of communication—either simultaneous, periodic, or post-retrieval.

Table I lists, vertically, atmospheric and oceanic parameters which are considered de­sirable and possible to measure. Horizontally are listed various types of platforms. The letters entered in each column indicate the capability of the individual platforms to measure specific parameters either at the surface (A), at instrument level (b), versus depth or altitude (c) or remotely (d).

It may be difficult to find two people who would agree on the capabilities of the different platforms and on what is within the state-of- the-art. However, if Table I stimulates argu­ment, it has served a good purpose.

Airborne platforms are meant to include aircraft, helicopters, or any other craft that is confined to the atmosphere. Such platforms are suitable for remote sensing as well as sensing at altitude or at instrument level.

Bottom-mounted platforms are systems which either rest on the bottom or a short, fixed distance above the bottom, in shallow or deep water. It may be feasible to design a plat­form which would rise periodically to the sur­face and return again to the bottom taking measurements on the way. The mechanism required to do this over extended periods of time would be too costly and cumbersome to make this platform practical. Furthermore, other platforms can make such measurements more effectively. Such platforms are therefore only suited to take measurements at instru­ment level.

Expendable systems are defined as non­retrievable, inexpensive systems, which can be dropped either from airborne platforms or over the side of a ship. They either consist of a surface float with communications equipment and a sensing head which descends to at least 1,000 feet or all the way to the bottom, or of floats at pre-determined depths. Because of the fact that these systems have to be inex­pensive, the number of parameters they can measure is limited, and their measurements restricted to surface, instrument level, and versus depth.

The research vessel built for oceanographic research is the most versatile of all platforms, being able to take all but one measurement

Oceanographic Platforms and Measurements

TABLE 1

The Remote Under­water Manipulator (RUM) is a tank-like device for exploring and conducting scien­tific studies of the ocean bottom. It is equipped with a long, jointed manipulator arm and hand to pick up objects from the ocean floor. A tele­vision camera is mounted to serve as the eyes of the opera­tor ashore. The RUM was designed to travel three miles an hour over the ocean floor and operate at depths down to 20,000 feet. The large reel carries the control cable to shore.

listed in Table I—ice cover. It is furthermore capable of taking all four types of measure­ments.

Towed systems are instrumented, hydrody­namically-shaped bodies, which are towed behind ships at pre-determined depths. They can either be self-contained, e.g., have their own recording device, or the recorders may be on board the towing vessel. Obviously, such a vehicle can take measurements at in­strument level only, and its use is limited.

Submersibles, as envisioned in the Table, are self propelled, manned vehicles capable of descending to considerable depth over rea­sonably long periods of time. Included are the Trieste and the Aluminaut, but not the RUM (remote underwater manipulator)—a tank­like device that crawls over the sea floor. The RUM is a special purpose system which is not suited for oceanic measurements. Submersibles can make observations at the operating depth as well as instrument level.

The Tiros satellites have shown that such space vehicles are excellent platforms for gross, large-area observation of cloud cover. The present state-of-the-art permits the addi­tion of several other oceanographic and meteorological sensors. Because of its in-orbit distance from the earth’s surface, it is an­ticipated that the satellite will be suited mainly for remote, large-area surveys of environmental parameters.

Buoys can be divided into two major groups, anchored and free-floating. Anchored buoys are defined as having hulls of sufficient size and buoyancy to carry superstructure for meteorological instrumentation, adequate power supply, and telemetry equipment. They are anchored by means of an instru­mented anchoring system. Although tech­nically feasible, the anchored buoy does not have a winch to lower and raise instruments. It measures most of the parameters that the research vessel can, except that it measures them at pre-set depths. This does not mean that parameters are measured at one depth only. They can be measured at as many depths as there are sensors mounted on the anchor cable. These buoys are better suited for extended series studies than is a ship.

Free-floating buoys are more limited in their application. Technically it may be feasible to suspend an instrumented cable to, let us say, 1,000 feet from the free-floating buoy. This, however, does not appear to be a very practical approach because it will cause problems such as snagging on the bottom when the buoy drifts into shallow water. Free- floating buoys are best suited for meteroro- logical and surface measurements.

THE FISHING FLEET AND FISHERIES OF PERU

In the Novermber 1961 issue of the Pro­ceedings, Commander Bernard M. Kassell published an interesting article on the fishing fleet of the Soviet Union.* In the article, he estimated that the Soviets had about 100,000 fishing craft, of which some 23,000 were steam or diesel-propelled fishing vessels and ships of modern design and capabilities. With this fleet, the 1958 Soviet fish catch was

2,900,0         tons, and the Seven-Year Plan (1959-1965) for the fishing industry required an increase to 4,640,000 tons by the end of 1965. The U.S.S.R. was, at the time, the third fishing country in the world, ranking after Japan and Communist China.

By way of contrast, Peru, in 1961, had a total of only 3,200 fishing craft, of which about

2,0        were small sailing or outboard-pro­pelled boats. Yet these craft, in 1960, obtained a fish catch of 3,531,400 tons, displacing Russia from the third-ranking position in

* See B. M. Kassell, “The Fishing Fleet of the Soviet Union,” U. S. Naval Institute Proceedings, November 1961, p. 70.

tonnage of fish caught. In 1961, this fig^ure increased to the remarkable amount ot

5,213,0         tons, almost the same as the amount that had been caught by Communist China in 1960. With a continuing rate of growth; Peru should rank, within a few years, first m the world in tonnage of fish caught.

How has this come about? The answer lies in the astounding fertility of Peruvian coastal waters. A purse seiner can leave Callao, oi any one of several other ports on the Peruvian coast, at 0300 and return the same day at 1500 with 100 tons of anchovy in her hold- The catch is made seldom more than 30 mil^eS off the coast; the seas are seldom rough.

How long can such fishing go on? The an­swer has to be analyzed from two angles- From the production angle, the answer seems to be indefinitely, if sea conditions do not change. Under a special agreement with the United Nations, Food and Agriculture Or­ganization experts are studying all the aspects of the Peruvian fishing industry, and are of the opinion that, at present, there is no danger of exhaustion of the supply. Peruvian ship' building capacity is large, and keeps increas­ing; plenty of capital is available for the con­struction of factories.

From the consumption angle, however, the answer is not nearly as optimistic. About 97 per cent of the catch is anchovy, for proc­essing into fish meal used mainly for the preparation of mixtures of food for cattle and poultry. The market for this product is not unlimited. Peru is already producing as much

An excessive production may well break down the price level and ruin the market.

The technical breakthrough which could lift the shadows which darken the consump­tion picture is the use of anchovy fish flour for human nutrition. The far-reaching conse­quences of such a breakthrough become evi­dent if we look not only to the rise in the standard of living of the Peruvian worker—• one of the main objectives of the Alliance for Progress—but to the possible elimination of the undernourished condition of a large part °f the population of the world. Although an immediate solution to this world problem is not yet in sight, the task is by no means hope­less, and encouraging progress has already- been made.

As mentioned, in 1961, there were 3,200 fishing craft in Peru—-925 purse seiners of 10 to 160 tons, 30 swordfish boats of eight to 15 tons, 25 trawlers of eight to 30 tons, 20 tuna clippers of 50 to 200 tons, and 2,200 sailing and outboard-propelled boats of one to eight tons. With the exception of the tuna clippers, all the vessels were built in Peru. The com­bined theoretical fishing capacity of these fishing craft is some 50,000 tons.

By far the most important type of craft is the purse seiner. The typical bolicliera, as purse seiners are locally called, is 60 feet long and can load 90 to 100 tons of anchovy. A few years ago, bolicheras were smaller; in the future, they may be bigger. Several boats 80 feet long, with 170 tons capacity, are under construction. Their construction presents no technical difficulties. There are still doubts,

Professional Notes 149

however, as to their economic advantages. Many experts believe that above 100 tons, the increased initial and operating costs re­sult in a decrease in profits. Time will tell.

Purse seiners have traditionally been built of wood. The keel and planking are ol im­ported Douglas fir; frames are made of huarango, a local hardwood. Ease and speed of construction are paramount; ship life is considered of secondary importance, prob­ably because a good fisherman has been able to amortize the cost of a ship with one and a half year’s earnings. Speed is considered important despite the small distances in­volved. The reasons for this are varied. Once the fish are sighted, it is important to get there first; boats which return earlier into port get first in line at the absorbente (the suction pipe used to unload the fish, leading directly to the factory, in some cases, or into trucks that carry the fish to the inland factories); good fishermen are in high demand, and they prefer faster boats; and earnings are so good that the increased cost of the higher horse­power is not objectionable.

All the bolicheras are diesel-powered, with the engine forward. Quick delivery and a good maintenance and repair service are the best selling points of an engine. United States- manufactured engines have the lion’s share of the market, but many European manu­facturers, who have belatedly awakened to the possibilities of the market, are waging aggressive sales campaigns.

A few years ago, the construction of steel purse seiners was started. Initial doubts,

owing mainly to rapid corrosion because of improper surface preparation for painting, have vanished, and the present trend is defi­nitely towards the steel craft. The best ship­yards building this type of ship are so busy that they cannot take additional orders for about a year, and new shipyards are springing up every week. Standards of construction are fully up to U. S. practice, and, in fact, many vessels are built to plans purchased in the United States. Some of these craft have been built for export to neighboring countries. The steel boats are considered to be lighter, faster, and more durable than wooden boats of the same capacity. The demand for boats is so high, however, that both the wood and steel shipbuilding yards are now working at their full capacity.

The boats are being increasingly fitted with the most modern equipment available: power blocks for ease of handling the nets, electronic detection gear to locate the fish, and suction pumps for the anchovy. Much of the equip­ment is being manufactured locally, including deck machinery, nets and rubber floaters, propellers, and shafting.

At present, the principal activity is the pelagic fishery; trawling is in its early stages. The pelagic fishery is based mainly on the exploitation of anchovy, bonito and—on a much smaller scale—tuna fish.

The anchovy is the principal source of raw material for the Peruvian fish meal industry. There are more than 100 fish meal and fish oil factories, 37 canning plants, and eight freez­ing plants in operation. The first factories were purchased abroad, but today many of them are manufactured locally. Callao (the port for Lima) accounts for about 40 per cent of the fish meal manufactured in Peru; Chimbote comes next, with about 30 per cent; and a dozen other ports account for the rest.

The production of fish oil has come of age during the past year. Peru’s production of this by-product of the fish meal process reached 118,886 tons during 1961—thus dis­placing Norway as the first producer of fish oil in the world.

Only one floating factory has been in­stalled. Such plants are not justified eco­nomically, at present, because of the abun­dance of fish so near the coast.

The one public relations problem that the fishing industry has had in Peru has been the air pollution and objectionable odors pro­duced by fish meal factories. Various devices have been tried out to ameliorate the situa­tion, and although none have proved com­pletely successful, a considerable improve­ment has been achieved.

Under an agreement with the Peruvian government, the United Nations has estab­lished an Institute for Research of Marine Resources. The main headings under which research is conducted are: oceanography, fish biology, population dynamics, fishing economics, experimental fishing, and fishery technology. An auxiliary tug, purchased at a nominal price from the United States, is being converted into an oceanographic research ship at the Callao Naval Shipyard. And a 70- foot steel fishing vessel is being fitted as an experimental fishing craft. Meanwhile, the Navy minesweeper Bondy, an ex-YMS pur­chased from the U. S. Navy, has been loaned to the Institute for research work, and some very interesting findings have already been obtained from her work.

Perhaps the most interesting of the tenta­tive findings is the realization that the Hum­boldt Current probably does not follow the course usually assumed, that is, all along the coast of Chile and Peru, opening out towards the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador. The latest findings seem to indicate that the Current veers off to the west near the Peru-Chile border, and that the current along the Peru­vian coast is born along the southern coast of Peru. The cold waters rising from the intermediary layers of the ocean carry the nutrients which form the basis for a high phytoplankton production. This accounts for the abundance of fish in the Peruvian coastal waters. The hypothesis would also explain why the pelagic fishing potential of Chile is smaller, and mainly concentrated near its Peruvian border.

Another important finding relates to the spawning of the anchovy which occurs during several months of the year in the Peruvian area, and during which each female lays be­tween five and 2,000 eggs. Under favorable environmental conditions, even one per cent of this amount would suffice to balance the losses of the anchovy population.

Peruvian fish exports in 1961 accounted

for 72 million dollars in Peruvian trade bal­ance. Fish products thus became the third- ranking Peruvian export, after copper and cotton, and made Callao the top fish-export­ing port in the world. This dollar income helped counterbalance the drop in prices of lead and zinc, traditionally one of Peru’s main sources of foreign exchange. This has permitted the Peruvian “sol” to remain stable, and has allowed Peru to be one of the few South American countries with a fully con­vertible currency.

The economic effects within the country are wide-ranging and far-reaching. The Government benefits through increased taxes. The workers benefit through increased job opportunities, not only in the fishing fleet and fish meal factories, but in the many subsidiary industries that have been born. Not only are there more jobs, they are better paying jobs. In a good month, the master of a bolichera can make more than $1,000. (This amount, in Peru, means much more than in the United States; a Peruvian workman’s wages may range from one to five dollars a day, depend­ing on degree of skill.)

Some of the industries created or expanded to serve the fishing industry include the manu­facturing of processing machinery, nets, marine paints, welding rods, paper bags, cans, labels; the construction and operation of floating docks, marine railways, and the re­pair and maintenance of diesel engines. Many commercial activities have similarly bene­fited, including marine insurance firms, fuel and lubricating oil companies, and im­porters of nets and machinery, steel and wood.

The Navy of Peru has been intimately connected with the development of the Peru­vian fishing industry. The Navy is charged with the inspection of fishing vessels, the licensing of personnel, and the safety of life at sea. In addition, as was mentioned above, the Navy has supported the research activities of scientists studying our sea resources.

Beyond general interest in any activity so beneficial to the country, the Navy has a par­ticular interest in the development of a mari­time activity so closely related to its own field of action. Fishermen constitute a natural reservoir of seagoing personnel who could be drafted in case of an emergency. The fishing

fleet can become a minesweeping fleet, or a patrol-craft fleet, if our sea frontier is threat­ened. The shipbuilding capacity supporting the fishing industry would be an invaluable asset to a naval small craft shipbuilding pro­gram. In these various ways, the Peruvian fishing fleet contributes to the strength of the navies of the Western Hemisphere.

National interest in the protection of fish resources has brought to the fore the question: “How Wide the Territorial Sea?”[1] Peruvians feel that their case concerning their territorial sea has not been fully appreciated by other countries. Leaving aside the argument that the 3-mile limit was justified by Grotius on the basis of the maximum range of the guns of his age (which, if updated to the missile age, would make all the oceans the territorial waters of ICBM-equipped countries), Peru has based territorial-sea arguments on the existence of an oceanographic-biological com­plex, which could be unbalanced if uncon­trolled fishing were permitted within its sphere of influence. Peru imposes no restriction what­soever on commercial ship traffic beyond the traditional 3-mile limit; it does restrict unau­thorized fishing within the 200-mile limit, and has been able to enforce this restriction with­out any serious international difficulties.

The fact that the United States’ position is based primarily on defense considerations, while the Latin American position is based on the protection of fishing resources, should make a working agreement not too difficult to attain. Latin American countries are as inter­ested in the defense of the Western Hemi­sphere as is the United States, and they should look sympathetically to any agreement that strengthens such defense. The United States has stated that the rise in the standard of living of the Latin American peoples is one of its primary international objectives, and should look sympathetically at any agreement that protects a vital source of food and wealth for those peoples.

The fight against hunger and poverty is the theme of our time. Freedom and democ­racy have little meaning to people without a minimum of material well-being. In this peaceful fight, the resources of the sea are a valuable weapon which has barely been tapped. The high ratio of fish caught to fish­ing craft tonnage of the Peruvian fishing fleet, and the astounding rate of growth of Peru s fishing industry during the past five years, illustrate the untapped possibilities for coun­tries which two decades ago did not even appear in world fishing statistics. The Free World, we believe, has a high stake in the future development of the bountiful resources of the sea.

By Sidney Brooks,

Captain, U. S. Navy,

Commanding Officer,

USS Paricutin (AE-18)

PRAGMATIC LEADERSHIP

The young officer interested in developing his leadership qualities, in practicing good leadership, and in evaluating his own effec­tiveness as a leader, is often at a loss for a starting point. The Department of Defense and Bureau of Naval Personnel have issued a great deal of material on leadership; numer­ous excellent textbooks on leadership are available; and almost every senior officer considers himself an expert on the subject.

The principles of leadership have been enumerated by many authorities and defini­tions of leadership exist in plenitude. One must be reluctant to attempt to improve on authoritative definitions, but the inexperi­enced leader does need a practical working definition that he can rely on in evaluating himself as a leader. In essence, leadership is the “effective management of men.” For the individual seeking the “principles of leader­ship” one can only suggest broad areas of study in the fields of psychology, sociology, and related sciences.

A recent statement in a weekly magazine, discussing naval leadership, provides a suc­cinct definition: “The art or trick of leader­ship is not just rational action, but articula­tion of it in ways that reach the heart as well

as the mind.” Acceptance and understanding of this statement as a tenet of leadership provides the inexperienced individual with a sound basis for the development of his own capabilities. Implicit in the statement is the premise that there are no universally appli­cable principles of leadership; that only those which are effective in any given circumstance, at any given time, and with any given indi­viduals (including both the leader and those led), are appropriate in a specific instance.

It is essential to recognize that for the indi­vidual, his leadership qualities are as distinc­tive as his appearance or his personality, and it may ill-suit him to adapt to the char­acteristics of an admired leader.

For the junior officer, the opportunities to observe and evaluate “leadership in practice” are almost limitless. Every evolution on board ship, every drill, every ceremony, and every instruction period provide examples of leader­ship—good or bad. To put these examples to use, one merely requires a conscious aware­ness of the implications of various actions and statements. This conscious awareness is not an innate characteristic; it can and must be de­veloped just as the young officer develops an awareness of physical things, such as Irish pennants, fouled colors, and changes in weather or sea state. So is the awareness of leadership effectiveness developed, by con­sciously and conscientiously noting and evaluating the results obtained in every situa­tion with every individual.

Leaders are not born—they are made. Any man who is introspective enough and sensi­tive enough to recognize positive and nega­tive motivational mechanisms in himself, and intelligent enough to realize that individual differences exist in the motivational mecha­nisms of all persons, is well on the way to answering the question: “How can I best lead these men?”

Professional Notes 153

All too often the junior officer is criticized for his poor leadership qualities and, despite an earnest desire to improve, he finds himself at a loss for what to do about it. The question he must ask himself must not be: “How can I be a better leader?” He should ask, instead: “How can I manage my men more effectively in order to accomplish the task or mission assigned?” Here at least is a tangible goal, a measurable parameter against which one can compare current achievements with past performance. Of necessity, in order to answer the latter of the above questions, one is forced to examine his tasks and functions, to deter­mine what his standards of performance will or should be, and to evaluate the personnel he has available with a view to optimum work assignments. Once this has been done, un­biased critical observation of the results over a period of time will suggest the changes in organization, personnel and functions, which may be required to increase effectiveness and efficiency.

The young officer must learn to stop won­dering about the morale of his men, about whether or not they like him, about whether they think he is a good leader. He must start observing the quality of performance he is eliciting from them. Good performance is indicative of good leadership and good morale, and it is the only true measure of the effective­ness of the leadership provided.

As to the relationship of the leader to the led, one can do no better than to adopt the philosophy of Admiral William S. Sims as quoted in Elting E. Morison’s Admiral Sims and the Modern American Navy:

“Give a man a sense of his own value; give him a feeling of solidarity with the group; give him a mission to fulfill; give him sensible rules to live by; punish his deliberate dis­obedience; reward him for his contributions, and you will have no trouble.”

★

Notebook

U. S. Navy

0 U. S. Is Suggesting NATO-Fleet Test

(Jack Raymond, in The New York Times, 6 October 1963): The United States is prepared to provide a guided-missile destroyer or a similar vessel to an international crew to dem­onstrate the feasibility of the projected multi­national Polaris-missile surface fleet.

According to United States officials, it would be advisable to have a trial with a single ship in the controversial proposal to form an internationally manned, nuclear­armed naval force as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s deterrent to nuclear war.

The trial would provide experience for the officers and men involved and would serve to end doubters on the validity of the idea. In the multinational force, specially designed surface ships would be used to carry Polaris ballistic missiles of the type now carried by United States submarines.

While the basic plan for a 25-vessel fleet calls for men of at least three participating countries to share responsibility for each ship, the trial ship may include representatives of all participants.

They would wear identical uniforms and use English as a common language. A guided missile destroyer normally has a crew of 300 with a commander as the top-ranking officer.

Officers here see no difficulty in obtaining an international crew versed in English and trained to handle modern naval equipment. English has been used as a common language for many years in Atlantic pact naval exer­cises. Many foreign officers and seamen have been trained in the use of American equip­ment through various aid and sales programs.

The United States has already discussed the idea of a trial with representatives of those countries that have responded affirmatively to the original proposal for a multinational force.

These include West Germany, Italy, Greece and Turkey. Britain recently agreed to take part in the pending formal discussions without any commitment to join. Officials here hope that in view of the British move, Belgium and The Netherlands will also join the formal talks.

The formal planning talks on the project are to open in about 10 days. There will t>^e two sets of talks, one in Paris to deal with the diplomatic aspects of the proposed force and another in Washington to deal with the mill' tary details.

These technical details will include such considerations as the design and size of the ships to be used, the regulations for discipline, the type of uniform and other questions.

In addition, the technical talks will take up problems of strategy and tactics, the fleet- support activities, the location of support bases, and problems of training.

Many of these details have been discussed in what officials here describe as the prepara­tory talks that have been going on all summer.

President Kennedy is reported to have sug­gested the idea of a test ship as a means of demonstrating some action in the laborious and sometimes apparently stalled effort.

The President originally proposed the multinational force in December, 1962, at his meeting in Nassau with Prime Minister Macmillan. At that time, it was indicated that the force would be a submarine force, but United States authorities subsequently made clear that they preferred a surface fleet.

France, however, rejected the project, and Britain, which undertook to form her own Polaris submarine fleet as a substitute for the canceled Skybolt aerial-missile force, also held back.

The idea of a trial run sprang from the belief that some show of action in the project, which from time to time seemed doomed, would be useful.

A guided-missile destroyer is favored for the trial run by American authorities because it affords better training possibilities in the han­dling of the ship and in the firing of missiles.

According to plans, the international force would consist of about 25 surface ships with crews of about 250 men. Each ship would carry eight Polaris missiles.

0 Navy Tests Plan to Give Sailors Chiefs’ Uniforms (The New York Times, 24 Septem­ber 1963): The Navy’s chief petty officers may be in danger of losing exclusive rights to their distinctive dress uniforms.

About 1,000 lower-ranked sailors are going to change their traditional bellbottom trousers and jumpers for a new dress uniform that looks like a chiefs coat-shirt-tie-and-trouser outfit, except for insignia.

It is a test designed to gauge public accept­ance and determine whether the stowage and cleaning problems will be as great as some opponents of the change have pictured them.

Judging by the reactions of a group of chiefs in a recent survey, they are not going to like it.

After analyzing responses to a questionnaire circulated among 101 chiefs earlier this year, the Navy concluded that they are “generally very adamant about the possibility of extend­ing their uniform to lower pay grades.” Sixty- two per cent indicated they felt it would diminish their prestige.

But about 400 enlisted men who took part in the survey registered resounding dissatis­faction with their present dress uniforms.

However, the 72 per cent who wanted a change could not agree on any one of six possible choices—although the bulk of them appeared to lean toward some kind of jacket- and-trousers combination.

0 Navy Seeking 400 for Atomic Fleet

{The New York Times, 21 September 1963): The Navy announced today that it wanted 400 additional experienced officers for its nu­clear power training program during the next two years.

Most would see service in submarines, some on atomic-powered surface warships.

“The program stems from a recognition of the growing importance of nuclear propulsion in the fleet and the need to augment the num­ber of officers trained to operate nuclear- powered ships,” the announcement said.

The Navy said that a selection board had recently studied the records of all experienced

line officers except naval aviators in search of qualified candidates for nuclear power train­ing.            .

The search was confined to men in ranks from lieutenant junior grade through lieu­tenant commander.

Candidates are selected on the basis of academic background, leadership qualities and seagoing experience. About 200 of those selected will start training this year while the others will be worked into the program next year.

The program starts with six months of academic training. The course includes ad­vanced mathematics, physics, chemistry, metallurgy, electronics, reactor engineering and radiological controls.

The officers then go on to six months of operational training at one of the Atomic Energy Commission’s five naval prototype propulsion plants.

Other U. S. Services

0 Fiberglass Ship Feature (John B. O’Donnell, Jr., in The Baltimore Sun, 18 September 1963): Fiberglass, a wonder syn­thetic of the technological revolution, is now the main component of many boats being built by the Coast Guard.

It has completely replaced wood as the chief material used in the construction of small craft at the Coast Guard’s yard at Curtis Bay.

Early this year, two 24-foot wood-hulled motor cargo boats were built. Since then, all small-boat construction has been with the use of fiberglass.

Boats constructed with fiberglass offer a number of advantages over the wooden-hulled vessels, according to Lt. Comdr. William L. Webster.

They require less maintenance, are lighter, and are not subject to dry rot, he said.

But, more important, construction costs and time are also cut. Commander Webster esti­mated that the cost of building a fiberglass

vessel is about 10 per cent less than the cost of a wooden vessel.

Commander Webster is in charge of the plastic production division of the yard’s ship­building facilities.

Currently all vessels up to 30 feet in length are being built with the use of fiberglass.

Some of the vessels are built from the keel up at the Curtis Bay Yard, while on others, the hull and superstructure are manufactured by an outside concern.

The small boat shop is currently building a series of 30-foot vessels using the already manufactured hulls and superstructures.

In December, however, the yard will begin construction of 21 of the fast 30-foot boats. The vessels will be constructed from the keel up, Commander Webster said.

Construction of the 30-foot vessels, with the use of the hulls manufactured outside the yard, takes about ten weeks, he added. It will take about two weeks longer to build one of the ships from scratch.

Each of the 30-foot vessels is equipped with a 350-horsepower engine and has a speed of 35 knots.

The “laying” of the hull of the wood vessels took about two weeks, with five men working, while “laying” of the fiberglass hulls takes about a day for nine men to complete.

However, prior to the actual construction of the fiberglass hull, the materials and mould for the hull must be prepared, a job that takes several days.

The materials going into the hull include fiberglass cloth, and a resin with which pig­ment has been mixed.

ARMSTRONG

WRENCHES

Over 100 types, each, in all sizes. Drop forged, carbon and alloy steels. Open end, socket, box socket, detachable socket, hollow screw and other types.

Write for Catalog

ARMSTRONG BROS. TOOL CO.

5226 W. Armstrong Ave., Chicago 46, U.S.A.

Mixing the pigment with the resin, Com­mander Webster said, saves painting the vessel because the color is already part of the hull.

About 12 piles of heavy cloth go into the keel section of the hull. This gradually tapers off until six piles are found on the box section.

The transition from wooden to fiberglass boat construction has not been without its problems, Commander Webster said. How­ever, most of these are minor, and involve the change of the shop set-up to meet the new requirements of fiberglass construction.

He said that some personnel had to be re­shuffled as a result of the change, but that no one was laid off or fired because of it.

Currently, there are about 33 employees in the small boat shop, but this number will in­crease shortly to about 41.

s Beacon Gives Marine Corps Planes Greater Tactical Mobility (I.T.T. Release, 26 September 1963): A transportable ground- based air navigation aid that will give U. S. Marine Corps aircraft greater tactical war­fare mobility, has been developed by I.T.T. Federal Laboratories, a research and manu­facturing division of International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation.

Designated AN/TRN-14, the Tacan (tac­tical air navigation) ground beacon will furnish up to 100 aircraft within a 200 mile line-of-sight radius their exact distance and bearing from the station.

The unit is completely self-contained and can be transported by helicopter, truck, or even towed over the ground. Once on loca­tion, two men can set up and begin operating it within approximately 15 minutes.

Weighing just over 2,000 pounds, the TRN-14 is smaller, lighter and more reliable than any similar navigation aid.

The TRN-14, several of which are in opera­tional use, is made up of two cabinets (one containing the transmitter/receiver and con­trols; the other containing the power supply and antenna control), a compact wideband antenna, a telescoping mast and transport pallet.

Capable of operating in climatic environ­ments from — 65°F up to 150°F, the unit is shock-mounted and designed with plug-in modules for easy servicing in the field.

Maritime General

0 Socony Fleet to Add Tanker (The Balti­more Sun, 24 September 1963): The largest addition to the Socony Mobil Oil Company’s tanker fleet is scheduled to enter service this week.

Built at the Sasebo Heavy Industries Com­pany, Ltd. in Japan the 95,500 deadweight ton Mobil Comet was christened there over the weekend.

The vessel, the first of three 95,000-ton tankers being built for the company, is 888 feet long, 127 feet wide with a 64 foot draft.

Able to transport 741,000 barrels or 31,000,000 gallons of crude oil, the Comet will be used primarily in the Middle East to Europe and Far East service.

The main propulsion machinery for the ship, which produces a speed of 18 knots, was built in the United States.

Space

0 New Aids to Help on Lunar Voyage

(Richard Witkin in The New York Times, 25 September 1963): Cambridge, Mass.— Astro­nauts headed for the moon will depend on a super sextant, on gyroscopes able to remain upright through violent tumbling and on pin­head-sized electronic parts.

Details of the system being built to guide the Project Apollo team on its lunar voyage were made public here today by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

The briefing underscored one of the chief difficulties to be faced should Russia accept President Kennedy’s proposal for a joint lunar expedition.

It was conducted at the Instrumentation Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which has charge of the system’s design and development.

Although Apollo is civilian-run, much of the advanced technology would have impor­tant military applications.

Evidence of this was seen in the refusal of engineers to answer questions on the weight of the compact navigation-guidance system. They said the information was classified.

Essentially, navigation on the moon voyage will be carried out with a highly automated version of the old mariner’s sextant.

On their way to the moon, astronauts will

All three SNAP generators in space were developed by Martin. The first one launched has been in continuous full power operation for more than two and a half years. For advanced nuclear capability, look to

Af/u?r/yv^o

use the sextant to determine the angles be­tween known stars and landmarks on the moon, the earth or light layers above the earth’s horizon.

In practice, three sightings will be taken perhaps hours apart. Computers will take care of updating the calculations.

The gyros will be hooked into the system only when course or velocity corrections have to be made by firing rockets in a so-called service module beneath the crew compart­ment.

s Atom Device Powers New U. S. Satel­lite (Gladwin Hill in The New York Times, 1 October 1963): The first successful operation of a nuclear generator as the sole electric power source aboard a satellite was reported today by the Atomic Energy Commission.

The development is a major step toward the eventual elimination of short-lived conven­tional batteries and solar power panels, whose limitations have been a source of trouble on many long-range rocket projects.

The new generator, named SNAP 9-A (for

System of Nuclear Auxiliary Power) is not much bigger than a basketball and weighs only 27 pounds. It will produce, however, a steady flow of 25 watts for five years.

This is enough power to run a satellite’s various electronic mechanisms, including data recording and transmitting equipment.

The generator has no moving parts. Its energy comes from the normal radioactive decay of a lump of plutonium 238. This Produces heat, which is turned directly into electricity by a thermocouple.

A thermocouple is two strips of dissimilar metals that, when heated, produce a flow of electric current.

The commission said the unit was launched mto space recently from Vandenberg Air Force Base, 175 miles north of Los Angeles, on an unspecified satellite lifted by a Thor- Able-Star rocket combination.

From authoritative sources, as well as previously published official information now being withheld by the Department of Defense, it was ascertained that the launching took place last Saturday and involved a Transit satellite. These are the “beacon” devices being put into orbit about 600 miles above the earth as precision navigational aides for such vehicles as the Navy’s Polaris submarine rocket.

The three-layer rocket combination sug­gested that a “piggyback” satellite, in addi­tion to the Transit, was lofted simultaneously.

Two previous nuclear power units, provid­ing only partial power sources, were aboard two other Transit satellites launched in recent months.

The SNAP device does not provide propul­sion power and is not a nuclear reactor. Re­actors operate through the controlled fission of radioactive material in a critical mass— that is, a mass large enough to cause an ex­plosive chain reaction among its atoms.

The SNAP unit’s energy comes from the passive nuclear deterioration of an isotope, or unstable radioactive substance.

The minimum size of a reactor, it is esti­mated, would have to be several hundred pounds, which would raise weight problems for satellites.

The development of the SNAP 9-A pre­sented two main problems—making it small enough, and making it safe. Extensive tests were conducted to establish that great heat and shock would not rupture the fuel con­tainer if a rocket crashed on launching, and that the assembly would burn or pulverize harmlessly 100,000 feet up if the satellite re­entered the earth’s atmosphere.

The unit was produced by the nuclear division of the Martin Company of Baltimore under a contract that has cost about $700,000 since 1961. Research on the device has been under way for seven years. The first SNAP model was placed on President Eisenhower’s desk in 1959.

The cost of the SNAP 9-A, minus the radio­active fuel, was said to be between $40,000 and $50,000. The fuel unit was prepared by the Atomic Energy Commission’s plants at Hanford, Wash., Savannah River, Ga., and Miamisburg, Ohio.

NORTHERN ORDNANCE INCORPORATED

The first planned use of the SNAP power plant in a specified rocket project is for the forthcoming attempt at a soft landing of equipment on the moon in the Surveyor space program.

Foreign

s Tokyo Board Set Up to Build Atom Ship {The New York Times, 29 September 1963): The Japanese Atomic Ship Devel­opment Agency has been established to design and build Japan’s first atomic-powered ship within the next seven years, according to Japan Report, a Tokyo Government bulletin.

Under the chairmanship of Ichiro Ishikawa the agency will draw plans for a projected nuclear 6,350-ton oceanographic survey ship. The craft will be designed to operate in the polar regions.

The projected vessel will be equipped with a light water-cooled reactor with a thermal output of 35,000 kilowatts. This will drive a 10,000-horsepower steam turbine and power the ship for a year without refueling. The ship will have a speed of 17.7 knots.

The ship will be manned by a crew of 125, including 50 scientists and atomic-power experts. The craft, which is expected to cost $17,000,000, will be financed two-thirds by the Japanese Government and a third by private interests.

s Germans Start to Build an Atom- Powered Freighter {The New York Times, 18 September 1963): Kiel, Germany—Workers laid the keel today for West Germany’s first atom-powered ship.

Contrary to custom, there was no ceremony at the Government-owned shipyards here. A large crane merely hoisted the first steel plates in place.

The $12.5 million freighter is expected to take her place in 1967 alongside the Soviet icebreaker Lenin and the United States freighter Savannah, both nuclear-powered.

As yet unnamed, the German freighter is designed as an ore carrier with a crew of 60 and quarters for 53 more. She will have a displacement of 15,000 tons and she is designed for a top speed of 16 knots with a full load. No decision has been made on the type of reactor the ship will use.

Q Swedish-Norwegian Reactor Study

{News oj Norway, 12 September 1963): IAE— Norwegian Institute for Atomic Energy, and its Swedish counterpart, A/B Atomenergi, have signed a 4-year agreement to conduct a joint study on design for a boiling light water reactor to power propulsion machinery for a bulk carrier. The research project, expected to take about 3§ years, will be carried on at Kjeller, where IAE operates one of its two experimental reactors. The cost, estimated at Kr. 14.5 million, will be financed partly by state appropriations and partly by contribu­tions from Swedish and Norwegian shipping companies, on a 50-50 basis. An additional Kr. 2.5 million may be required for experi­ments connected with the study project.

Plans call for a ship reactor to have a thermal effect of 60,000 kilowatts, with an output of 20,000-25,000 axial horsepowers. Researchers will utilize experiences from previous studies made in Norway and Sweden. In choosing a boiling light water reactor, the two institutes were guided by findings of lAE’s Rederiatom ship reactor study group. This was established in 1958 through con­tributions from 19 shipping companies and five shipyards in Norway.

The main conclusion of the Rederiatom re­searchers is that present technology does not seem to make nuclear ship propulsion eco- nonically attractive. On certain conditions, however, it should be feasible to design a boil­ing light water reactor that might prove eco­nomical for merchant ship propulsion.

s New Navigation Device Guides Ship in Channel by Light Beam {The New York Times, 29 September 1963): A navigation light invented by a New Zealand scientist ’ is arousing wide interest among mariners and beacon manufacturers. Its advantages are accuracy in guidance and cheapness of manu­facture.

The light depends on three colored beams— red, white and green. At a distance of 4,000 yards a ship approaching a narrow channel sees the red beam if the vessel moves one yard off course in one direction and the green beam if one yard off course in the other direction. When the navigator sees the white beam he knows he is on course to an extreme degree of accuracy.

The inventor of the light is N. J. Rumsey, of the Government Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Wellington, New Zea­land. He is an expert in geometrical optics.

Mr. Rumsey says other inventors have tried the same idea. The advantages of his light

Samuel Eliot Morison:

. I commend [this book] to all Americans and all lovers of ships and sailing everywhere. from the introduction

Copies of the 104 page, extensively illustrated OLD IRONSIDES may be ordered at $4.95 from your book­store or directly from the publisher:

burdette & company, inc.

120 TUDOR STREET, BOSTON 27, MASS.

OLD IRONSIDES

derive from his special knowledge of optics, which enabled him to shape the lens to get exceptional results.

Only a single 48-watt lamp is needed to Produce a beam of 20,000 candlepower, so the apparatus is cheap to produce and oper­ate.

Experimental versions of the light have been in use at the entrance to Paremata Harbor in New Zealand for three years. This ^ls a smallboat harbor with a very narrow access channel. The light has proved ex­ceedingly successful in practical operation.

Several navigation-light makers have shown interest in the invention and a British com­pany is considering promoting it abroad.

The principle holds possibilities of use for other purposes than navigation. An example °f its accuracy is that a person can stand half ^a mile away and see green with one eye and white with the other.

Surveyors have begun testing uses where a smaller version of the instrument could per­form some of the functions of a theodolite. In ditch digging, for instance, such an instru­ment could give both a level and straight line accurate to quarter of an inch in 300 yards.

@ Frenchman Proud of New Ship (M. W.

Simmons in The Virginian-Pilot, 15 September 1963): The commanding officer of the first French guided missile destroyer, the Dupetit Thouars, currently in the United States for a training period, acts like a new father when he talks about his ship—the pride of the French fleet.

Before sailing for Yorktown Monday where France’s most modern ship will load her new missiles—the U. S. Navy’s surface-to-air Tartar—Commander Jean Serbouce-Goguel took time from his busy schedule to talk about himself and his ship.

Serbouce-Goguel, a native of Montbeliard,

Franee, now lives in Paris with his wife, Margaritte Marie, and their four children.

His pride was evident as he talked of the ship’s recent conversion in a shipyard at Brest. There the Dupetit Thouars was converted from a standard destroyer by taking out her five-inch guns and installing modern radar, new fire control systems, a Tartar missile sys­tem, new test equipment, an anti-submarine warfare rocket system, and modern living facilities. This equipment, Serbouce said, makes his ship one of the most powerful wea­pons in the allied arsenal.

There will be three more guided missile de­stroyers of the same class joining the French Navy soon. These will be the Du Chayla, Bou­vet, and Kersaint.

He said most of his crew had been hand­picked and were thoroughly familiar with the complex technical tasks aboard a modern missile ship. Besides attending naval schools in France, officers and petty officers went to schools in the United States, including the U. S. Navy’s guided missile school at Dam Neck and various electronics courses at the Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, 111.

About himself, Serbouce was more modest. The 44-year-old naval officer entered the French Naval Academy in 1937 but his train­ing was cut short by World War II. He spent most of the war as a gunnery officer aboard cruisers and destroyers in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

Later in the war, Serbouce-Goguel met one of the most difficult experiences in his career.

He, like thousands of other freedom-loving Frenchmen, turned his guns on his homeland, softening up objectives for Allied landings.

Asked if this was the most trying experience of the war, he said “No. Escorting convoys against German U-boats was the most try­ing.”

Speaking fluent English, Serbouce-Goguel said that when he is detached from the Dupetit Thouars sometime next year, he hopes jo be stationed in America—either in Washi­ngton or Norfolk. He has been in America twice before, and has enjoyed working with American military officials, he said.

Last year he toured U. S. naval installations with Adm. George Cabanier, chief of the French Naval Staff.

BS New Dreadnought Ready (Alexander MacLeod in The Christian Science Monitor, 12 September 1963): “Ready for battle” is how Comdr. Peter Samborne now describes Dreadnought, Britain’s first nuclear-powered submarine'.

Since commissioning in March this new addition to the Royal Navy already has steamed over 13,000 miles on trials.

At a press conference aboard the sub­marine, Commander Samborne outlined her ^role as a “hunter killer.” Then he took myself and 14 other correspondents beneath the sur­face of the Atlantic near Plymouth for a morning’s jaunt.

It was the first time journalists had ever gone to sea aboard a British nuclear sub­marine.

Many aspects of Dreadnought’’s performance are secret. But on a recent return trip to Gibraltar she is believed to have exceeded 30 knots underwater. The most the Royal Navy will claim for her officially is 25 knots, with a deep-diving performance better than 400 feet.

For our benefit, Commander Samborne threw Dreadnought into a 180-degree turn to demonstrate maneuverability. It took exactly 55 seconds.

Like similar submarines in the United States, she has the latest long-distance sonar equipment and homing torpedoes of extreme accuracy.

Her crew of 11 officers and 79 ratings have been with her now for periods of up to three years. They represent the cream of Royal Navy submariners.

Apart from her own obvious capabilities, Dreadnought has been marked out as the linch­pin of future British submarine policy. The design and use of later “hunter-killer” craft will be .affected by the results of evaluation trials on Dreadnought.

It is also expected that she will give de­signers of Britain’s emergent Polaris sub­marine fleet some vital clues.

It is understood that already Royal Navy planners have begun to amend their ideas about the role Dreadnought and her successors will play. They now expect to use her as an aggressive antisubmarine escort for surface task forces—a roving guard, in fact, for Royal Navy warships assigned to so-called “fire brigade” operations.

Fear of the need for British naval interven­tion in the area around Borneo, possibly against Indonesian submarines, has brought this application to the forefront.

Originally it had been expected that these “hunter-killers” would chase and destroy other submarines of the missile firing type. In the light of the present world situation, this will now take second place to escort work.

As Commander Samborne skippered his boat off the Devon coast he said that Dread­nought next summer would travel to the United States and call at several ports there. In the next few months she also would start her first really long-term underwater stint—submer­sion without a break for up to 100 days.

So far the longest Dreadnought has remained under is 14 days.

The first complete, accurate biography of the man who founded modern oceanography

MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY ^

SCIENTIST OF THE SEA

by Frances Leigh Williams

In this carefully documented story, the career of the remarkable naval officer and scientist is objectively re­counted in all its dramatic detail. First superintendent of the U. S. Naval Observatory, Maury conceived the idea of using the data on mariners’ logs to prepare his Wind and Current Charts and Sailing Directions, which revolutionized navigation for all nations. He directed the first accurate, systematic deep-sea soundings, which revealed the existence of a “telegraphic plateau” in the Atlantic. He charted and developed one-way steamer lanes to and from Europe. His Physical Geography of the Sea became the first classic work of oceanography. In this readable biography, the man and his accomplish­ments are interestingly set forth, together with repro­ductions of his pilot charts and wind and current charts.

Illustrated $10.00

RUTGERS UNIVERSITY PRESS

New Brunswick, N.J.

She is the ninth ship of her name to serve with the Royal Navy. The first set sail for Cadiz under command of Sir Francis Drake to “singe the beard” of the King of Spain.

Footnote—Although later British nuclear submarines will have locally-made power plants, Dreadnought's pressurized water re­actor is of United States design. At the door of the top-security reactor compartment is a notice reading:

“Checkpoint Charlie: you are now entering the American Sector.”

Research and Development

s Land-Sea Hydroskimmer Demon­strated (The New York Times, 28 September 1963): A high-speed naval craft that skims over water or land with equal ease was dem­onstrated on Take Erie yesterday by the Bell Aerosystems Company of Buffalo.

The craft travels up to 80 miles an hour on a cushion of air about two feet above the sur­face. She is called the Hydroskimmer, or SKMR-1 in Navy terminology, and is the largest air-cushion vehicle built in the U. S.

The Republic Aviation Company of Farm- ingdale, L. I., announced Thursday a licens­ing agreement with two British concerns, Vickers-Armstrong, Ltd., and Hovercraft De­velopment, Ltd., for the development and production of a similar vehicle—half boat, half airplane—known as a Hovercraft.

Bell, a division of Textron, Inc., has a licensing agreement with Hovercraft Develop­ment and Westland Aircraft, Ltd., of Britain, but says its Hydroskimmer, a Navy research vehicle, has been developed largely in this country.

The Bell craft has been accepted by the Navy’s Bureau of Ships and is undergoing tests on Lake Erie. The tests, under a $224,000 contract, are to continue until mid-Decem­ber, according to a Bell spokesman. They are intended to explore the craft’s military capa­bilities and lead the way to larger craft.

Four cushion fans mounted in the hull of the Hydroskimmer provide the lift. Two 10- foot aluminum propellers mounted in ducts on the afterdeck propel the vehicle over the surface. Directional control is provided by rudders in the slipstream of the propellers.

Four gas turbine engines in the hull power the fans and propellers.

The Hydroskimmer has a gross weight ol 22f tons. She is 65 feet long and has a beam of 27 feet. She can be operated by a two-man crew and carry a five-ton payload.

Under Republic’s agreement with the British concerns, Republic will operate the latest Vickers-designed air cushion vehicle, the VA-3, later this year.

Last summer the craft became the first Hovercraft licensed for commercial service, carrying 24 passengers or more than two tons of cargo at speeds over 65 miles an hour along the coast of northern Wales.

The Hovercraft is also lifted and propelled by gas turbine engines.

s Drinking Water from the Sea (Journal of the Franklin Institute, August 1963): British scientists are perfecting a new and less expen­sive method of preparing drinking water from the sea. The technique has important ap­plications in the field of nuclear power. Known as the Thornton system, the new method involves a system called the “mist heat transfer” which requires a mixture of

equal parts of sea water and air. By use of it, the rate at which heat can be made to flow from a fluid on one side of a metal wall to another fluid on the other side can be greatly increased.

In the device for preparing drinking water from sea water, the sea water is sprayed horizontally into a vertically flowing column °f steam (from a boiler heated by waste gas or oil products). This forms the mist, which ^ls passed up a metal tube enclosed in a jacket through which the steam has passed straight from the boiler. The droplets of sea water bounce to and fro off the walls as they pass up the tube. The drinking water evaporates from the surface of the droplets as they go on their way. At the top of the tube the remains of the drops, which are now highly concen­trated sea water, are spun out of the steam in a centrifuge. The water prepared is condensed from the steam as it emerges from the centri­fuge. Because the drops bounce freely in the tube the rate of deposition of salt inside the tube is low and descaling is only needed infre­quently.

The rate of heat transfer obtained ap­proaches that of liquid metal. In consequence the apparatus can be made compact and its cost kept low. Another benefit is a low rate of fuel consumption which tends to reduce the cost of the fresh water made. The technique can also be applied in ships for the prepara­tion of boiler water and fresh water for other uses apart from drinking. It is also applicable for the cooling systems of water-moderated atomic reactors. Apart from providing highly efficient compact cooling systems it offers an additional benefit of a decreased wastage of neutrons, the particles responsible for atomic fission. This follows because the coolant is 98 per cent gaseous by volume, so that fewer absorbant atoms are put into the path of the precious neutrons.

S3 Six Firms to Submit Supersonic Jet Plans (The Christian Science Monitor, 12 September 1963): Three airplane companies and three engine manufacturing firms will submit designs for the proposed supersonic transport, the Federal Aviation Agency announces.

The FAA announcement says deadline for submission of proposals for developing the transport—with substantial federal financial aid—is Jan. 15, 1964.

The three plane manufacturers which FAA says signified an intent to take part in the pro­gram are the Boeing Company, of Seattle, Lockheed Aircraft Corporation of Burbank, Calif., and North American Aviation of Palmdale, Calif.

The three engine companies are Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Division of United Aircraft Corporation, East Hartford, Conn., the flight propulsion division of General Electric Company, Cincinnati, and Curtis-Wright Company, Woodridge, N. J.

Three other firms notified the FAA that because of other commitments they would not be able to take part in the development pro­gram. They are Douglas Aircraft Company of Santa Monica, Calif., General Dynamics Corporation, Convair Division, San Diego, Calif., and the McDonnell Aircraft Corpora­tion, St. Louis.

In announcing that the United States would enter the race to develop a supersonic jet transport, President Kennedy earlier this year recommended that the federal govern­ment pay 75 per cent of the estimated $1 billion development cost, up to a maximum of $750 million. The manufacturers later would repay the government on a royalty basis.

FAA administrator Najeeb E. Halaby says the six companies which will submit proposals “have already turned their very considerable capabilities to intensive study of supersonic transport development in its many facets. From the design and competition phases of this program directly ahead of us and from the later stages of development, I am confident, will come a superior American supersonic air­liner to carry the air traveler of the 1970’s safely, speedily, and economically.”

France and Britain have been working jointly for several months toward develop­ment of an airliner capable of traveling an estimated 1,500 miles an hour. The United States aim is an airliner capable of doing 2,000 miles an hour or more.

The tentative schedule calls for the govern­ment to evaluate the proposals submitted by next January 15 and choose engine and air­frame manufacturers which actually will de­velop the plane. Flight tests are tentatively scheduled for 1968.

Progress

Landing Simulator—A "rolling platform” has been developed by the British Navy to help improve techniques for operating helicopters aboard destroyer- type ships, which rarely have steady decks. The 24-foot deck at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Bedford, England, simulates the motions of a ship’s deck.

Royal Navy

Increased Firepower—A techni­cian finishes installing a 20-mm. cannon pod on a Navy A-4 Sky- hawk. The High-Performance Ex­ternal Gun (HIPEG) system con­sists of three such pods which can fire a total of 210 rounds per sec­ond against ground targets (lower left). Each pod holds some 800 rounds of armor-piercing ammu­nition. Developed by Hughes Tool Company, the pods can each be in­stalled in three minutes and de­tached in one minute.