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NORFOLK NAVAL SUPPLY CENTER
0 By Jack Gonzales,
Technical Information
Naval Supply Center, Norfolk, Virginia
138 Norfolk Naval Supply Center
by Jack Gonzales
141 Fifty-Two Years of Physical Fitness
by Robert K. Moxon,
Captain, MC, U. S. Navy
142 The Westland Wessex
by John Fricker
144 A Business-Machine Fitness-Report System
by Francis S. Craven,
Captain, U. S. Navy (Retired)
Iogistics may or may not dictate tactics now- j adays, but technology definitely is dictating logistics if the Norfolk Naval Supply Center’s recent experience is any guide.
For one thing, the increasingly complex technology of modern weapons systems has skyrocketed defense costs, which in turn has forced budget cuts elsewhere—elsewhere so far being support functions. As a result, logistics operations at the Supply Center are constantly changing in the search for new ways of getting more faster and for less money.
For another, this same complex technology results in vastly increasing numbers of repair parts needed for support. The rise in electronics might well be termed an “explosion”: The Center’s stocks of individual electronics parts recently passed the 200,000 mark for the first time.
Both these factors of prohibitive costs and proliferating numbers are fomenting a continuing revolution in the military supply system—a revolution most recently manifested by the formation of the interservice Defense Supply Agency (DSA). The chief answer to more support for less money to date has been centralization, whether on the local distributive level or on the national level of industrywide purchases.
Let us trace this process at the Supply Center, which four years ago abandoned the depot system, centralized many functions, and now is known as “the biggest store in the world.” It stocks a total of 600,425 items, worth some half-billion dollars, which it supplies at an average of 15,000 issues a day to the Second and Sixth Fleets, Caribbean fleet and shore units, such southeastern U. S. shore establishments as the Polaris Material Office in Charleston, S. C., and even Operation Deep-Freeze in Antarctica.
It sprawls over 4,100 acres in five different locations, with 10,510,000 square feet of covered warehousing and 5,600,000 square feet of open storage space. This available space has proved attractive to “single managers”— the interservice control offices of various areas of supply which preceded the Defense Supply Agency in the centralization chain reaction. For instance, the amount of dry provisions stored at the center by the Army “single manager” has jumped from 39,088,000 pounds occupying 163,000 square feet of Naval Supply Center space on 30 June 1960 when the Army began its Norfolk dry provision storage, to 88,404,000 pounds occupying 340,000 square feet today.
One solution to problems of supply in a complex technology is to enlist the help of that technology, which thus not only makes centralization necessary, but also makes it possible. The most obvious example of this is automation. The Center has already automated part of its materials handling and has its eye on additional automation in other areas.
The half-million dollar automated handling system, accepted in October 1961 after months of experiments, represents a new concept in handling military supplies from warehouse to point of shipment. It consists of two- and-a-half miles of power conveyor lines, running in four belts through bins where items most in demand have been stored. Working on the principle of a railroad marshalling yard, the “accumulators” allow all of one day’s orders to a customer—say, Guantanamo Bay—to be collected together and then packed and sent out as a single shipment.
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The conveyors run through three floors of
the Center’s vast main building—sometimes called the largest military building south of the Pentagon—thereby eliminating slow elevator moves and hard truck handling. Besides providing for better planning as well as cutting costs, the system permits faster supply responsiveness to military demands.
Such faster reflexes are badly needed. Reflecting crises the world over, fleet demands rose 25 per cent in 1961. Greater supply speed is a must in complex weapons systems like Polaris.
Along with the bin consolidation and “popularity” storage concepts used along the conveyor lines, the automated handling system has increased production by one-third.
An area to be automated in the near future is the Center’s “papermill” which last year processed 80 million International Business Machine cards. A large electronic computer is being studied for installation in the next year. Starting with accounting functions, the computer eventually would take over the superman-sized job of stock record keeping and— eventually—the inhuman task of keeping track of every supply action as it moves through the biggest store in the world.
Vital as the equipment and procedural improvements are, the greatest resource available to the Center are its people. It is certainly unfortunate that the budget squeeze on support functions has precluded any increase in work force in spite of the sharply increasing workload.
The Center’s 4,600 civilian employees achieved a 15 per cent increase in productivity during 1961. Part of the reason for this higher performance is an emphasis on communication at all levels. Weekly department head conferences and other regular meetings help overcome some difficult communication problems brought on by expansion in size.
The increase in productivity indicates this emphasis on communication is achieving its intended purpose of eliminating the purely human bottlenecks which produce misunderstanding and negativeness. Other signs point the same way. The Center’s re-enlistment rate among its 80 enlisted men is 100 per cent over the last two years. Above all, the many innovations which have been initiated by Center personnel, and their adaptability to the almost daily changes in the supply system, indicate such leadership is sound.
Supply changes have included the introduction of six single managers (which in turn have been incorporated in DSA). These are: Defense Industrial Supply Center, Defense Clothing and Textile Supply Center, Defense General Supply Center, Defense Subsistence Supply Center, Defense Medical Supply Center, and Defense Petroleum Supply Center. Two others, Defense Construction Supply Center and Defense Automotive Supply Center, will soon be added. Implementation of a “single manager” at the center means the transferring of stocks, and the disruption of the customary Navy supply system while the particular service, acting as single manager, introduces its way of doing business.
Such new customers have been coming to the Center at a rapid rate. A quarterly customer analysis made by the Center showed five Air Force customers in 1959, 213 in 1961. Some 64 of the Center’s 1,755 customers were Army in 1959, and this figure rose to 116 in 1961. The Center’s over-all business also grew in that same period, with 1,755 customers getting 608,636 line items two years ago, while 2,826 received 848,961 line items in a corresponding quarter of fiscal year 1961.
This growth, naturally, has also posed great problems. With the disruption of conventional patterns of supply support have come workload headaches; it takes money to complete supply actions outside the normal system, and more work is involved in a non-issue for the Center than in an issue. This is due to the special handling, the messages and the research involved in the former, which are not necessary in the standard issue cycles. The need for standardization of supply procedures among all services is one of the reasons for the formation of thesu per-supply agency, DSA.
Thus the Norfolk Naval Supply Center seems on the threshold of a great expansion of its supply mission. But whatever the specific direction of its mission, the center will continue to seek new and better ways to provide the service it has always prided itself on, whether to the fleet as in the past, or to all defense establishments as seems likely in the foreseeable future.
FIFTY-TWO YEARS OF PHYSICAL FITNESS
By Robert K. Moxon,
Captain, U. S. Navy,
Chief of Medicine,
U. S. Naval Hospital,
Portsmouth, Virginia
Between 1909 and 1961 the Navy’s physical fitness program has come full circle, and with Bureau of Personnel Instruction 6100.2 a program of compulsory physical fitness comparable to that of General Order No. 6 has been reinstated.
The “strenuous life,” advocated and practiced by President Theodore Roosevelt, was incorporated in his celebrated General Order No. 6. It was probably no more demanding than the current physical requirements of the BuPers Instruction. The annual “physical test” of 1909 required all officers to: (a) walk 50 miles, or (b) ride horseback for 90 miles, or (c) ride a bicycle for 100 miles. This was to be done during three consecutive days under a rigid system of rules. It was not a highly demanding trial of physical fitness except that it was aimed especially at “those of middle life and beyond.” The final paragraph prudently required a pre-test examination by a board of medical officers “to determine whether the test may be taken without danger to the officer,” and another after the test “to see what may be the result.” Thus was the Navy’s program of annual physical examination conceived and promulgated.
The results of the physical test must have been catastrophic to some officers, for later the same year, during the Taft administration, General Order 50 specified that the finding of a medical examining board indicating unfitness to take the test, or’failure to complete it for physical reasons, required appearance before a naval retiring board. The final paragraph of the order also included the admonition that an officer taking the test contrary to medical advice did so at his own risk.
By 1912 the era of the strenuous life had evidently passed, in that General Order 193 cancelled the physical test and prescribed a monthly exercise consisting of a walk of ten miles, to be completed in neither more than four nor less than three hours. This requirement continued until 1917, when both the monthly ten-mile walks and annual physical examinations were suspended for the duration of World War I.
In 1919, General Order 465 required all officers to “avail themselves of one-half day a week, in addition to Sundays and holidays, for physical exercise” and specified “a period of not less than two consecutive hours in one or a combination of . . . walking, swimming, tennis, golf, baseball, rowing, medicine ball, handball, football, basketball, lacrosse, boxing, fencing, wrestling, track events, horseback riding, bicycle riding, physical exercises without apparatus similar to the Swedish exercises, exercise with gymnasium apparatus,” and resumption of annual physical examinations.
By 1921 there was a modified return to the strenuous life, for General Order 31 required “all officers ... to devote 30 minutes each day to some form of physical exercise in the open air.”
In 1924 the physical fitness program expired when General Order 134, relating to annual physical examinations, recognized “the value of taking regularly some form of physical exercise” but made it no longer mandatory by prescribing commanding officers “to encourage officers to engage in sports and exercise.” Pot-bellies, however, were mentioned indirectly in that “daily setting-up exercises which maintain correct posture and muscular tone, especially in the abdominal region” were recommended. Similar General Orders through 1939 continued the same stern admonition regarding the flaccid abdominal musculature of the naval officer, but for 16 years made no further mention of the necessity for any regular program of physical exercise on a Navy-wide basis.
The current resurgence of interest in physical fitness was initiated by the Secretary of the Navy in 1955, when he directed the attention of all flag officers to the “vital necessity for leave and other forms of relaxation ... in the interest of maintenance of a high degree of mental acuity and physical vigor in senior officers,” and further directed the prosecution of “a program of physical vitality and re-
siliency by means of appropriate periods of leave and relaxation.” Finally, in 1961, the current program of physical fitness was begun.
The historical pendulum swings to and fro and ultimately stabilizes near the mid-position. Current instructions provide exemption for officers over 40 in the physical fitness program. Theodore Roosevelt’s physical test was aimed especially at those of middle life and
beyond. An appraisal of the needs of the Service in terms of physical fitness would indicate the desirability of a long-range program of graded exercises for all officers, modified according to age, habitus, and physical fitness as determined by medical officers on annual physical examination. No doubt time will see the implementation of such a valid and realistic program in the Navy.
★
THE WESTLAND WESSEX
By John Fricker,
London, England
Royal Navy operational policy is now to . rely solely on helicopters for aerial offensive against enemy submarines. This new concept has been implemented with the introduction into first-line service of the Westland Wessex HAS Mk. 1, the first Royal Navy rotorcraft to combine effectively in one machine both search and strike capabilities. Advanced electronic equipment brings a high degree of automaticity to its operations. Its complex electronics are applied to both the search and flight phases of Wessex sorties, and are part of the American legacy of its design.
Like the black boxes, which provide the key to its efficiency, the airframe of the Wessex is of American origin, and derives, of course, from the well-known Sikorsky S-58. As the HSS-1, this helicopter also operates with the U. S. Navy on antisubmarine duties, and the principal difference between the two is that the Wessex has a 1,450-s.h.p. Napier Gazelle N.Ga.13 turboshaft engine in place of the 1,525-h.p. Wright R-1820-84 of the American type. Although slightly less powerful, the Napier turbine is much lighter than the piston Wright unit, and gives the Wessex much improved performance.
Despite their rather high fuel consumptions, gas turbines have proved to be almost ideal as powerplantsfor helicopters, mainly because their very high degree of smoothness in operation helps reduce the many vibration problems present in all rotary-wing aircraft. Other advantages include the torque and constant- speed characteristics of turbine units, which simplify control problems, while another useful operational feature is their ability to be brought up to full power immediately after starting without the need for prolonged and careful warm-up.
Installation of the Gazelle required remarkably little modification to the basic S-58 design, which is retained aft of the engine bulkhead virtually unchanged, including the main and tail rotors. The only clues to the Gazelle are provided by the longer nose of the Wessex and the twin exhaust tailpipes on each side of the fuselage below the cockpit. With its turbine power, the Wessex has a two-ton lifting capacity, of which roughly half is available as payload when full fuel must be carried. For short-range operations in its secondary role as a troop carrier, it can carry up to 16 fully-equipped troops, while for antisubmarine operations, it is armed with one or two homing torpedoes in addition to its electronic gear.
This equipment is directly related to that in the Sikorsky HSS-1 N, which includes autostabilization aids for light and all-weather flight. It also carries the Ryan-developed AN/APN-97A Doppler navigator and other radar to measure ground speed and altitude with extreme accuracy, and operate in conjunction with an automatic hover coupler. With these aids, it is possible for the pilot to select auto-control at 200 feet altitude and 92- m.p.h. airspeed, and come to a hands-off hover at 50 feet over a pre-selected spot. With the dipping ASDIC carried by the HSS-1 and the Wessex, it is important to maintain a precise hover position despite wind drift and
The Royal Navy has adopted the Westland Wessex, a modified American Sikorsky S-58 helicopter, as its principle aerial ASW vehicle. In a secondary role, the Wessex will also serve as a troop carrier.
Westland Aircraft, Limited
other upsetting factors which are compensated for by the electronic gear.
The ASDIC equipment for the Wessex is manufactured in Britain under license from Texas Instruments, Inc., by R. B. Pullin and Company, Ltd., and is also used in the earlier Whirlwind helicopter, developed from the Sikorsky H04S type. It is designed for locating submarines and other submerged targets and, when used by a number of helicopters, provides an ASDIC barrier round a fleet or convoy to provide bearing and range information. It can also be used for underwater ultrasonic communication.
Dipping or “dunking” ASDIC comprises an electro-acoustic transducer suspended from a cable hoist, and can be rotated from the control station in the helicopter. It uses the normal ASDIC system of reflected pulses from submerged objects, the signals being amplified and fed to presentation circuits giving visual
Iand aural target data. The transducer is housed in a protective dome, which also contains a flux valve compass forming part of a remote positioning system. The transducer can therefore be directed and maintained at a fixed compass bearing selected on the azimuth indicator unit in the helicopter.
In an alternative mode of operation, the transducer can be automatically rotated step by step between signal pulses to permit a rapid and systematic search over a wide area. When submerged, a pressure transducer indicates the precise depth of the dome, and information is also provided on the height of the helicopter above water, at the point where the dome becomes submerged and when it becomes operational.
Although no operational performance figures have been released on the Wessex, it can be said that with its full load of search and strike antisubmarine equipment, it has almost double the range of the Whirlwind which it replaces. On long sorties, the lower fatigue factor afforded by turbine power is greatly appreciated by its crews, normally comprising first and second pilots, an observer and a rating. A good indication of Wessex performance is provided from the figures for the civilian version, which at 12,600 pounds all-up weight, has a maximum speed of 115 knots and can cruise at up to 110 knots. Economic cruise is 100 knots and maximum range, on 360 U. S. gallons, is 340 nautical miles. The initial climbing rate for the Wessex is 1,750 feet per minute, and it has a free-air hover ceiling, of 5,000 feet.
At the 1961 Farnborough show, a Wessex of the production type demonstrated its power and versatility by pulling a 50-ton load along the runway at more than 20 m.p.h. The Wessex can be used for towing disabled ships or minesweeping equipment, among many other naval duties. Since the prototype first flew on 20 June 1958, the Wessex has been placed in large-scale production, and the first operational squadron—No. 815—was formed in July 1961 at the Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose, Cornwall. The original evaluation unit, No. 700 “H” Flight, is continuing the development of advanced operational equipment for the Wessex, and while several other operational groups are being formed, No. 815 Squadron has embarked on HMS Ark Royal as a new and potent addition to the antisubmarine forces of the carrier air group.
A BUSINESS-MACHINE FITNESS- REPORT SYSTEM
By Francis S. Craven, Captain, U. S. Navy (Retired)
If you are a junior officer, are your capabilities being appraised and utilized effectively, or are you unwittingly in danger of becoming a square peg in a round hole? Are you aware of your strengths and weaknesses, and can you do anything to overcome those weaknesses which so often menace careers?
If you are approaching the highly competitive selection for commander and captain, what are your prospects of promotion? Is your record a good catalog of your actual qualifications? Will you become one of those who unexpectedly find themselves passed over and then, on finding Jones and Brown among the selectees, wonder why?
And how about the last flag officer selections? You had served with Captain Smith who was selected and with Captain Green who was not: did the board really make a good choice there?
FIGURE PERFORMANCE OF DUTY (PART B) | 1 O—OUTSTANDING A—ADEQUATE 1—INADEQUATE | |||||||
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MAJOR FLAG COMMANDS | FLEET | MAJOR TASK FORCE | MINOR TASK FORCE |
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TYPF COMMANDS | AIRCRAFT | CARRIERS | BB & CRUIS. | DD TYPES | ||||
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CAPTAIN'S | COMBATANT | CARRIER | BB | CRUISER |
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AUXILIARY | TANKER | TRANSPORT | SUPPLY SHIP | AMMO SHIP | ||||
| TYPES | ------ 1 1 | _ i r | i r | _J________ 1_____ | |||
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yi/—-—- w v When printed, this much of Part B would occupy (including the heading) about V/i inches and 1 1 punch-card columns. The remaining 60 columns of a standard card, requiring 10 inches of report-form length, would accommodate 240 more kinds of duty, such as these: Commands afloat for lower grades. Duties afloat—Other than command. Staff jobs for line officers—from major operating commands through flag and lesser commands afloat. Shore-duty employments—Bureaus, Naval Districts, etc. |
Most of these questions could be answered, if we would adopt a system of business-ma-
FIGURE KNOWLEDGE & ATTAINMENTS (PART C) | 2 O—OUTSTANDING A—ADEQUATE 1—INADEQUATE | |||||||||||||
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When printc remaining 49 Knowledge: Fu Attainments: Fc | d, this much of Part C would occupy (including heading) about 4Vi inches and 22 punch card columns. The olumns of a standard card would accommodate 98 more items of knowledge and attainments, such as: nctional subjects, such as Navigation, Gunnery, Missilry, Torpedo Control, Ship Propulsion, A/S Warfare, etc. >reign Languages, Use of English (Expository, Descriptive, Narrative & Speech Writing), Design Ability (both nd technical), Draftsmanship, etc. | |||||||||||||
functional a |
chine processing of fitness reports, with a report form designed to exploit it.
The system described in this article will do just that. It may not be the best that can be devised, but it is far better than what we have now. It offers particular advantages in the Navy’s fight to retain promising young officers who look for early recognition and greater financial rewards.
The term, “business-machine processing”, niay convey the impression that machines Would be used to assign officers to duty and select them for promotion. They would not. They would be used only to collect information and present it in a form helpful to the officers and boards who do these things—the
same officers and boards who do them now.
Written language must be eliminated from fitness reports. This can be done by developing a glossary of brief descriptive terms and adding them to the report form. Suitable terms can then be indicated by check marks.
Card Punching—Cards would be punched by a typewriter-like machine into which a fitness report page and a blank card would be inserted. By turning the roller and translating the carriage, the operator would “scan” the report, line by line and item by item. On encountering a check mark, he would press a key, punching the card and printing a bright- colored dot alongside the check mark, permitting easy checking for oversights and errors.
FIGURE 3
QUALITIES. TRAITS & ATTRIBUTES (PART D)
MARK ONLY WHEN SUFFICIENTLY PRONOUNCED TO JUSTIFY ONE OR THE OTHER CLASSIFICATION—OTHEIjWl^
OUTSTANDING OR VERY FAVORABLE
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| KIND OF MIND | BRILLIANT | PENETRATING | VERSATILE V" | ACTIVE V' | EFFICIENT | TIRELESS |
| Q | INGENIOUS | ANALYTICAL w | MATHEMATICAL | SCIENTIFIC | ORDERLY | PRECISE | |
| s | HOW MIND FUNCTIONS UNDER THESE INFLUENCES— | DANGER * | EXCITEMENT | FATIGUE | ANGER | CONTENTION | ALCOHOL |
(/> LU |
| KIND OF | ACCURATE | RETENTIVE | DEPENDABLE | QUICK | VERY GOOD FOR—^ | |
< | >- ac | MEMORY | v/ | V |
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O < 1— Z LU | LU | HOW MEMORY FUNCTIONS UNDER THESE INFLUENCES— | DANGER * | EXCITEMENT N/ | FATIGUE | ANGER v | CONTENTION | ALCOHOL |
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1 This break-down of mental qualities (Category I) is intended to illustrate how the other categories can be handle<*’
2 Note, in the tabulation, that the 6 left-hand columns are all for favorable items, and the other 6 for unfavorable
Card A—Statistics—Card A would record Part A, comprising identification and statistical information now recorded in Sections 1 through 10 of NavPers-310.
Card B—Performance of Duty—Card B would record Part B of the proposed report form, covering all aspects of performance of duty on a single sheet.
Figure 1 illustrates the check list for performance of duty. It covers only a few of the flag rank and captain’s grade duties, but its extension to middle grade and lower grade duties is explained at the bottom. Up to four kinds of duty can be covered in each line of such a check list, and thus in each punch-card column.
Card C—Knowledge and Attainments— Card C, after being punched for the identification data, would record Part C covering knowledge and attainments. A suggested arrangement is illustrated in Figure 2.
Card D—Qualities, Traits and Aptitudes—- Card D, after punching its first nine columns for identification, would record Part D of the
report form covering qualities, traits and aptitudes—the basic ingredients of ability. Part D is the heart of the proposed system.
When these ingredients are broken down, classified, and analyzed so they can be check- marked to describe an officer’s capabilities without the use of written language, the following benefits will derive:
(1)The literary ability of the reporting officer would no longer play a part. At present, a report couched in clear and terse English can be of help to the officer being reported on and a verbose or badly expressed one can be harmful.
(2)Reports can be marked more quickly and easily. The time and effort used to compose descriptive language would be saved.
(3) The great confusing welter of words that now builds up in a series of fitness reports with length of service would be eliminated. These written evaluations greatly complicate the problems of both detail officers and selection boards in evaluating officers.
(4) Written language cannot be recorded
MARK AT ALL | |||||
------- INADEQUATE OR VERY UNFAVORABLE | |||||
DULL | SUPERFICIAL | LIMITED | LETHARGIC | INEFFICIENT | TIRES EASILY |
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danger * | EXCITEMENT | FATIGUE | ANGER | CONTENTION | ALCOHOL |
'^ACCURATE | POOR RECALL | UNDEPENDABLE | SLOW | POOR FOR— | |
NAMES | THINGS | ||||
danger * | EXCITEMENT | FATIGUE | ANGER | CONTENTION | ALCOHOL v/ |
POOR |
| OFTEN BIASED | POOR JUDGE OF— | ||
MEN | EVENTS | STRATEGY | |||
DANGER * | EXCITEMENT | FATIGUE | ANGER | CONTENTION | ALCOHOL V |
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^ Note also that ^he items chec | column 7 items are opposites of column 1 items; column 8 of column 2; and so on. c-marked are the ones that appear in column 10 of Figure 4. |
by business machines in an intelligible form unless it has first been standardized by an editorial process, which would have serious objections. It would require many man-hours by specially qualified officers, yet would still offer opportunities for error or misinterpretation (or even misrepresentation). The proposed system, by requiring a reporting officer to do his own “editing” by finding the words and phrases that most nearly express his views in the glossary, would avoid these specific objections.
Figure 3, illustrating a breakdown of the mental qualities of Category I, suggests how the remainder of Part D can be handled. In Figure 3, “mind” is broken down into types °f “mind” and covered in two lines of the report form. In each line, the first six boxes describe favorable and the last six unfavorable kinds of “mind.” Additional major categories (not shown) would be: Category II—Elements of Character; Category III—Leader- ship Qualities; Category IV—Nature; Category V—Personality; Category VI—Specialty
Aptitudes. These round out the system.
Before leaving Figure 3, note that some of the items are marked with asterisks, to indicate they are too vitally important to be marked on the basis of opinion but must be substantiated by actual occurrences. Written language would be necessary for this, and space would be provided for it at the end of Part D, but it would not be punched into Card D. Instead, when a report containing it was received in Bureau of Naval Personnel, it would be referred to a reviewing agency before cards were punched. If the explanation substantiated the mark, the mark would stand and would be punched into Card D; otherwise the mark would be erased. The written language, having served its purpose, could then be discarded.
Marking Part D—As shown by Figure 3, there would be only two choices in marking under Categories I through IV: the officer would be marked “outstanding” or “inadequate” or would not be marked at all. In that case, adequacy would be inferred.
FIGURE 4
ANALYTICAL SUMMARY OF PART D
|
|
| LATEST | 10 | REPORTS |
| No. of times marked | ||||
. i | . 2 | . 3 | . 4 | . 5 | . 6 | . 7 | . 8 . | 9 | .10. | ||
WIND |
|
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|
|
|
Brilliant _ _ _________________ ________ _____________________ _ __ | * | * |
| * | * | * |
| * | * | * | 8 |
Penetrating_ ___ __ __ _ _______________________________________ __ |
|
| * | * | * |
|
|
| * |
| 5 |
Versatile-- _ _______________________ _ ________________________ _ | * | * |
| * | * | * |
| * | * | * | 8 |
Active - ------ _______________ __ _ __ _________________________________ | * |
| * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | 9 |
Efficient ___ __________________ __ _ _ _ _ | * | * |
| * | * | * |
| * | * |
| 7 |
Analytical___________________________________________________________ | * |
| * | * | ♦ | * |
| * | * | * | 8 |
Orderly __ ____________________ _____________________________________ |
|
| * | * | * |
|
|
|
|
| 3 |
Precise _ _ _________________ _ ___________ _ ______________ _ _-_ | * | * | * | * | * | * |
| * | * |
| 8 |
Thinks well while excited. _________________ ____________ _ _ _ |
| * |
| * |
| * | * |
| * |
| 5 |
Thinks well while fatigued. . __ _ _______________________ __ _____________ | * * |
| * | * |
| * | * |
| * |
| 6 |
MEMORY |
|
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|
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|
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|
|
Accurate _ _.___________________ ______________ _ ______ | * |
| * |
| * | * | * | * |
| * | 7 |
Retentive-- ____ __ ____ __ . | * | * | * | * |
| * | * |
| * | * | 8 |
Quick __ __ _ _ __ __ ______________________ _ ________________________ | * | * | * | * |
| * | * |
| * | * | 8 |
Very good for names.________________________ _ _ ________________ __ |
|
| * |
|
| * | * |
| * |
| 4 |
Very good for things _ ___________________ _ ___________ ___________ .. |
|
| * |
|
| * | * | * | * |
| 5 |
Remembers well while excited ___________ __________ ______ ______ _ | * |
| * | * |
| * | * |
| * | * | 7 |
Remembers well while fatigued.. ____ __________________________________ | * |
| * | * |
| * | * |
| * |
| 6 |
Remembers well while angered _ _ _ ___________________________________ |
| * |
| * |
|
|
| * |
| * | 4 |
Memory impaired by alcohol___________ _ _ |
|
| * |
| * |
|
| * |
| * | 4 |
JUDGMENT |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| * | * | * | * | * |
| * | * | * | * | 9 |
Unbiased ____________ _ .. __ ______________________________________ | * | * | * | * | * |
| * | * | * | * | 9 |
Excellent judge of men. _ ________________________ . __________ . |
| * |
|
| * | * | * |
| * | * | 7 |
Excellent judge of events. _ ________________________ _ ______________ _ | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | 10 |
Excellent strategic judgment. _____________________ ____________ ____ | * | * | * | * |
| * | * |
| * | * | 8 |
Judgment excellent while excited . ______________________ _____ _______ _ |
| * |
| * |
| * |
| * | * |
| 6 |
Judgment excellent while fatigued_____________ __ _ __ __________________ | * |
| * |
| * | * | * |
| * | * | 7 |
Judgment excellent while angered _ . _ _ | * |
|
|
| * |
|
|
| * |
| 9 |
Judgment impaired by alcohol__________ __ _ _ |
|
| * |
| * |
|
| * |
| * | 4 |
| A |
|
| B |
|
|
| D |
| E |
|
Comment: Figure 4 covers only Category I of Part D, as illustrated in Figure 3.
The imaginary officer covered by Figure 4 obviously had many exceptionally fine qualities. If his marks under the other categories were as profuse, the sheet of paper necessary to record them all would be very long, indicating by its length a talented officer. The density of marking also is heavy, indicating real ability rather than superficial brilliance. However, note the two adverse marks indicating inability to handle alcohol—see how vividly they stand out, due to their being inset an inch and printed in Italics.
The vertical lines grouping the columns separate the reports into those marked by Admirals A, B, C, D and E, as described in the text.
In Categories V and VI a term would be marked only when it is clearly apt. Most of the items would be favorable; or at least not unfavorable.
Use of only two degrees of marking for Categories I through IV confers the following special advantages:
(1) The recording capacity of Card D is increased appreciably.
(2) By dramatically accentuating the outstanding and the inadequate, which are of chief interest to detail officers and selection boards, their work is facilitated.
(3)When qualities, traits and attributes are broken down into ingredients, marks of “outstanding” can be given without necessarily labeling the officer as generally outstanding. This avoids a basic defect of NavPers-310, in which “outstanding” is applied to general questions and only to general questions.
(4) An ingredient can often be marked “inadequate” without damaging an officer’s general reputation, but this is not true when a general question (such as those of NavPers-310) is marked “inadequate.” As a matter of fact, a mark of “inadequate” on some ingredients could actually be helpful to both a detail officer and the subject officer in avoiding assigning him to a job for which he would be manifestly unfitted.
(5) Finally, and of paramount importance, this method of marking makes possible the Analytical Summary illustrated by Figure 4 and described immediately below. It is perhaps the most valuable aid that could be devised to facilitate and validate the work of detail officers and selection boards.
The Analytical Summary is obtained from a sequence of Cards D (preferably those for the last 10 fitness reports, in order to facilitate the use of percentages) through use of a “powerful computer.” It would present, on a single sheet, all items under Categories I through IV of Part D that have been marked “outstanding” or “inadequate,” and only those items. Thus, the length of the Analytical Summary has a special significance: it is an automatic indicator of versatility and of excellence.
Items marked “inadequate” would all be Punched in the bottom half of the card, as was explained earlier. This serves as a signal to the high-speed printer that each such item is to be inset and printed in italics, giving it prominence. Note the two instances in Figure 4.
Each of the 10 Cards D has its own column in Figure 4. This identifies the reports on which each item has been marked, giving considerable information on the marking habits of the various marking officers.
These columns also present an indication of the density of marking. A lengthy Analytical Summary might merely indicate a superficially brilliant officer, whereas dense marking °f important items would be a dependable indicator of substantial ability. Thus, the Analytical Summary is a dependable means °f identifying the real “head-and-shoulders” officers. The importance of this, particularly *n the lower grades, was brought out in Vice Admiral Sabin’s article “Deep Selections” in the March 1960 Proceedings.
When we add the remaining classification °f “inadequate,” it is evident that the Analytical Summary actually can evaluate an officer effectively according to the five degrees of excellence aimed at, but not achieved, with NavPers-310.
This failure of NavPers-310 is largely a consequence of over-marking. The two intermediate degrees between “outstanding” and “adequate” invite it, and the general belief that it is widely practiced leads many reporting officers to up-grade their good, but not outstanding, officers on the theory that they will not otherwise have as good a prospect of promotion as they deserve.
But this practice leads also to under-marking, which is not so well recognized. It is relative rather than absolute and is attributable to two comparatively small groups of reporting seniors. One comprises the so-called objective markers who conscientiously try to grade their officers as they believe the framers of NavPers-310 intended. In so doing they actually are down-grading them with respect to officers who are no better but have had the good fortune to serve under over-markers. The other group—probably few, although I have known several—considers that “no one is perfect” and so tends to grade as “excellent” officers who really are outstanding. This can actually jeopardize the prospects for flag rank selection of an outstanding officer unfortunate enough to serve under such a perfectionist.
When the two intermediate degrees are eliminated, as they arc in the proposed system, the tendencies to over-mark and under-mark are lessened. Few reporting officers would assign a mark of “outstanding” that they did not consider warranted. Even the perfectionists, able with the proposed system to assign marks of “outstanding” to ingredients without thereby characterizing the officer as generally outstanding, would be more likely to give such credit where due. Then, finally, there is the summary of the 10 latest reports in which the views of several reporting officers would confirm a classification of “outstanding” or down-grade it to “excellent” or “very good”, as has been described.
By means of General Summaries of Parts B, C, and D and the Analytical Summary, an officer’s record—the detailed record of his entire career—can be vividly displayed on just four sheets of paper, all printed on only one side. If the top-most sheet be the Analytical Summary, a detail officer or a selection board, just by observing its length, can form a good preliminary estimate of the officer’s capabilities. This can be quickly verified by a more careful scrutiny of the density of marking and the importance of the subjects densely
marked. The three general summaries would then provide information on the nature of his experience, the extent of his knowledge and the versatility of his capabilities.
It is in selecting captains for flag rank that the proposed system, by permitting searching analysis of the marking habits of reporting officers, has a unique value. To illustrate this, let us assume that a board has agreed upon 22 out of 25 selections but is having difficulty with the other three; that seven aspirants are still very much in the running. Since failure to get the right three would burden the Navy with flag officers who probably should not have been selected and deprive others of selections they deserved, the board would not want to leave any stone unturned.
Look again at Figure 4 and imagine it to be the Analytical Summary of one of the seven. Assume that the two unfavorable entries about alcohol were not included, in which case the summary would be wholly favorable. Assume finally that the summarized reports had been marked by flag officers A, B, C, D, and E, as indicated across the bottoms of the columns. These five can be quickly identified from the Cards A of the subject officer.
The same can be done for each of the other six aspirants (and done quickly, by business machine). Altogether, the seven aspirants would have been marked by from 30 to 40 reporting officers. By business machine, all captains, whose last ten fitness reports had been
marked by each of these reporting officers, could be identified and their Cards D abstracted. Then by means of computer and high-speed printer, special Marking Summaries can be prepared for each marking officer. Such a summary would resemble Figure 4, except that columns relating to individual reports would not appear. Instead, only the last column, “Number of Times Marked,” would appear, and it is probable that the computer could express these as percentages of the total number of reports marked in the records.
The proposed report form would have great personal value to individual officers, particularly junior officers. Parts B and C would help them to realize what kinds of duty are available to them and what kinds of knowledge and what attainments have professional value. The form would also enable them to keep records of these specific aspects of their careers. Finally, they could use Part D for self-evaluation. If they are intellectually honest, they should be able to recognize their inherent strengths and weaknesses and form a good idea of whether they have the ability to overcome the weaknesses. If not, they should be able to recognize employments for which they are inherently unfitted. They can then seek out others. If they are satisfied with their strengths and confident of their ability to overcome their weaknesses, they can forge ahead full and reach for the stars.
★
And There I Was, Flying Upside Down . . .
Now that the veil of wartime secrecy has been lifted, it can be revealed how that intrepid flyer “Hard Luck” Jones earned his soubriquet.
Landing aboard a carrier through a hole in the fog, he climbed out of his cockpit and was enthusiastically recounting his exploits to the shadowy figures who surrounded him in the pea soup: “Boys, I’ve just blown up a destroyer, sunk a cruiser, damaged a battleship, shot down two Zeroes ...”
At that moment, a revolver was poked in his ribs and a voice interrupted, “Yankee, so solly!”
——Contributed by William S. Bedal, II (The Naval Institute will pay $10.00for each anecdote acceptedfor publication in the Proceedings.)
Notebook
U. S. Navy
Proposal Weighed to Bring Back Iowa- Class Battleships: Putting the Navy’s 16-inch gunned Iowa’s into active service with the amphibious forces is proposed in a recommendation now in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Marines, long worried about the lack of heavy fire support for amphibious landings, like the idea.
Modifying battleships to “commando ships” by removing the after triple 16-inch turret and installing a helicopter landing deck is the basic part of the proposal. Other changes contemplated include building of troop spaces, cargo holds and a hangar deck, and modernization of the communications equipment aboard. Adoption of the idea hinges on money for the conversions. “Cost effectiveness” studies of the proposal are under way now.
Marines are all for the idea. They say mothballing of all battleships and cutting the number of heavy cruisers in the fleets has created a big void in the tactical fire support available for assault landings.
Jet planes and missiles are fine—in some cases, the Marines say. But, they add, they do not offer the dependable, sustained support for all types of targets available from naval gunfire under nearly all conditions.
The Navy has only four all-gun, 8-inch cruisers in commission today. Each of these mounts nine big guns. Two missiles cruisers have six 8-inchers each. All of the 16-inch battleships are in mothballs.
To concentrate all the 8-inch support available for an amphibious assault would require time, which the Marines feel they will not have if they have to fight.
The situation came up as a matter of “grave concern” at the Marine Corps’ general officers conference in Washington this past summer. Lieutenant General Joseph Burger, now retired, but at the time Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic, told Navy Times of the problem four years ago. “Aircraft and missiles,” he said at that time, “cannot do the tactical support job the eights and 16-inch guns did in World War II and Korea.”
The Marines are reluctant to discuss the problem publicly. Privately they point out that gunfire can be employed in situations where missiles are useless because of their relatively flat trajectory.
Planes, they add, cannot give the pinpoint support available from naval gunfire during bad weather. Those who lived through 14- inch shell barrages fired by the Japanese during World War II say the big shells have a “mighty demoralizing” effect which cannot be duplicated by air strikes.
Prospects of getting gunfire support for troops engaged in over-the-beach or vertical assault from helicopters, and operational command in a single ship appeal to Marines familiar with tactical and logistics problems of amphibious assault. Having all these in a single location makes coordination of the assault much easier, they say.
From the Navy standpoint, converted battleships have big advantages, too. The Towa-class ships are rated at 31 knots, 11 faster than the dock landing ships which are the heart of today’s fast assault groups. Additionally, their tremendous fuel capacity makes them veritable oilers for refueling destroyers and other “short-legged” ships which are part of all amphibious operations.
Queried on the idea by Navy Times, Admiral George W. Anderson, Chief of Naval Operations, would give no details of the proposal. He said it is under study but that no decision has been reached. Cost will be a big factor in whether it is adopted. (Ted Bush, Navy Times, 13 October 1962.)
Two-Man Submarine to Seek Out Secrets of the Depths for Navy: A miniature submarine, looking like a weird fishing lure and capable of diving more than a mile, is being built under Navy auspices. Its purpose is to extend manned exploration into the ocean depths.
The two-man vehicle will give the Navy its first mobile station for roaming ocean bottoms at far greater depths than can be achieved by nuclear or conventional submarines. It could point the way to a deep-diving Navy.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts recently contracted with General Mills, Inc., to build the ten-ton submarine, Alvin. It is to be completed by next summer at an estimated cost of $600,000.
The submarine will be operated by Woods Hole as part of the oceanographic research program which is supported by the Office of Naval Research.
To Navy oceanographers, the Alvin will offer two principal advantages: simplicity and mobility. The 20-foot-long craft will be small enough to be carried aboard and operated from most Navy oceanographic ships.
Once in the water, it will be able to operate at depths of up to 6,000 feet for as long as 24 hours. With its storage battery driving electric motors, it will have a maximum speed of six knots, and a maximum range of 30 miles.
The Navy already has in use a deeper-diving research vessel—the bathyscaph Trieste, which can descend 36,000 feet. But it is capable of only limited horizontal movement.
The Alvin’s spherical steel hull, carrying the two men and 1,200 pounds of scientific equipment, will be similar in size and design to the highly successful hull of the Trieste. Slightly more than six feet in diameter, the sphere will be built of heat-strengthened steel alloy lj inches thick.
Surrounding the sphere will be a free- flooding cylinder for water ballast. On top will be a five-foot conning tower made of reinforced fiberglass.
As additional ballast, steel shot will be held in hoppers magnetically. In event of power failure, the shot will be released, causing the vehicle to rise.
One of the Alvin's first missions will be a study of the Eastern continental shelf. It also may be used to determine the natural resources of the Eastern fishing banks.
The submarine is also expected to be used
Notebook 155
as a quiet, deep-riding station for oceanographic studies on the acoustical characteristics of the sea, currents, variations in temperature and salinity and turbulence. Such information is not only of basic scientific interest, but also of military importance in anti-submarine warfare research. (John W. Finney, New York Times, 19 November, 1962.)
USS Constitution Getting an Overhaul: The
USS Constitution, 165-year-old historic American naval vessel, is undergoing a major overhaul at the Boston Naval Shipyard, Charlestown, Mass., the Navy has announced.
For the famed frigate, now the flagship of the Commandant, First Naval District, it will mark the first time she has been completely renovated since recommissioning in 1931.
Approximately $400,000 has been appropriated for fiscal year 1963. It is anticipated that additional funds will be required in future years to complete the renovation. The repairs should be completed by 1965, and will not interfere with visiting hours. “However,” her captain explained, “there will be no visiting when the ship moves into drydock from about October to December 1963.”
The guns on the “gun deck” will be removed in preparation for the renovation and repair of the “berth deck” ceilings (walls). The guns will be placed alongside the ship on the pier and should be returned to their original locations sometime next April.
Shipyard workmen have been busily making repairs and inspecting the ship for areas of deterioration. The spokesman said: “In a job this size you never know how much decay or how much rot has penetrated the wood until you inspect it thoroughly and start removing it.” Some will require replacement.
Eight 100-foot wooden beams arrived 21 November by rail in Charlestown from Oregon to begin a period of “aging” before being used to furnish the Constitution with a new fore- and mizzenmast. Work on the masts may not start until early 1964 to permit the proper aging of the Douglas fir wood. (Hdqs., First Naval District, 20 November 1962.)
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Navy Building New Experimental Deep Diving Submarine, Dolphin (AGSS-5 5 5):
A small deep-diving submarine to be used for experimental purposes, Dolphin (AGSS-555), has been designed by the U. S. Navy’s Bureau of Ships and is being built at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The keel for the new type submarine was laid 9 November 1962.
Dolphin’s immediate purpose will be to provide engineering data which can be used in future development and design of larger deep diving combatant submarines. The AGSS-555 will be used for advanced weapons evaluation and acoustic and oceanographic research. When not engaged in her primary mission, she will be employed by the operating forces as a medium speed, deep depth, weapon impact target for training purposes.
The most significant technical development in this design is the pressure hull itself. It is a constant diameter cylinder, closed at both ends with hemispherical heads. Dolphin is internally framed, utilizing deep frames in place of structural bulkheads, and will be 18 feet in diameter. The design of the pressure hull has been kept as simple as possible to facilitate its use in structural experiments and trials.
Minimum compartmentation has been accepted in order to help minimize structural weight. The 200-foot-long Dolphin will displace about 1,000 tons. Because of emphasis on critical weight reduction, it will be necessary to use lightweight materials such as plastics and aluminum to a greater extent in the Dolphin than in previously built submarines. Habitability and endurance, along with radar and communications equipment, are being given secondary emphasis. Prefabrication on the AGSS-555 commenced in June 1962. Commissioning has been scheduled for early 1964. (Department of Defense Release, 19 November 1962.)
Other U. S. Services
Atomic Icebreaker Considered: A $250,000 feasibility study for designs on a nuclear- powered icebreaker for the Coast Guard has been approved by Secretary of the Treasury Douglas Dillon arid the Budget Bureau.
The study is part of the first phase of a long- range Coast Guard shipbuilding program to begin next year. Included in the program is the construction of seven 210-foot vessels and a 350-footer, some of which may replace three large cutters that now operate out of Norfolk. The building program will cost about $55 million. It is expected that the Coast Guard and Navy will cooperate in studying new designs for the icebreaker, since both have similar problems.
Old cutters expected to be replaced within the next several years by the new ones are the 327-foot patrol gunboat Ingham, and the 311- foot former seaplane tenders, Chincoleague and Absecon. These are used as weather ships.
The 350-foot cutter will cost about $14 million and will be in the high-endurance class. It will be the largest ship ever owned by the Coast Guard, the spokesman here said. The 2,688-ton vessel will have 25,000 horsepower and a top speed of at least 25 knots.
The 210-footers will cost about $4.5 million each. They will be in the medium-endurance class. Each will displace 930 tons, have 5,000 horsepower, a speed of 18 knots and range of 5,000 miles at 15 knots. They will be able to tow up to 10,000 gross tons, and will be fitted with heliports.
No decision has been made concerning which Coast Guard districts will receive the vessels, but some of them are expected to replace the older vessels here. (Norjolk-Ports- mouth Virginian-Pilot, 7 November 1962.)
Foreign
Soviet Merchant Fleet Tripled: The Soviet tanker fleet has tripled in the past five years, James V. C. Malcolmson, Vice President of the marine department of Texaco, Inc., said in a recent speech.
Although the Soviet tanker fleet now consists of only 2,000,000 tons (less than 2 per cent of the world fleet), he said, it not only has tripled in five years, but the Soviet Union has under construction or on order at least 44 oil tankers, or four times as many as are destined for the American flag.
“These new Soviet ships will total almost 2,000,000 tons, or triple the new tonnage presently intended for the American flag,” the vice president said. “They will average 30,000 tons.” Russia has ordered almost half of this new tonnage from shipyards in the Free World, Mr. Malcolmson stated, and “thus their own shipyards have been freed for warship and other construction. These new ships, together with other tonnage chartered, will give Moscow a powerful weapon in its economic fight against the Free World. And they can serve as naval auxiliaries in time of crisis.
“This Soviet tanker fleet is a crucial weapon in the Communist drive to subvert, to undermine, to destroy the Free World. It is our challenge to build and operate such a powerful, efficient and modern fleet of tankers, that we can deliver the goods faster and cheaper than they can, so that Moscow will be incapable of turning marine transportation to the devious ends of communism.” Rising costs are crippling America’s fleet of tankers from competing in world markets, he added.
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The Texaco official pointed out that the
American-flag fleet of tankers had dropped from first to fourth place in number of ships during the past five years and is now the oldest and the smallest. More than half of the ships are over 15 years old, and they average about 19,400 deadweight tons each, he said. (Baltimore Sun, 11 November 1962.)
Red Fleet Has 30 Missile-firing Subs:
Jane's Fighting Ships, the authoritative British naval journal, reported today that the Soviet Union has 30 missile-launching submarines— twice as many as the United States.
But the figures given indicated that the U. S. missile-launching submarines pack a more powerful punch, with 9 of the 14 in operation capable of firing Polaris rockets at targets 1,725 miles away while submerged. Jane's said the range of missiles carried by Soviet submarines is about 350 miles, although it is probably being increased.
The Red Navy is also reducing the number of cruisers, but beefing up the rest with guided missiles and turning out missile-launching submarines at the rate of 5 or 6 a year.
Jane's said the United States will have 81 nuclear submarines operating by 1967. Of these, 41 will be equipped for firing Polaris missiles.
In describing the fleet, led by the nuclear aircraft carrier Enterprise, it stated this is “the most imposing array of warships the world has ever known in peacetime.”
Jane's indicated that the Russians have a total of 465 submarines—more than three times as many as the United States—and 12 of them are nuclear-powered, “operating and on station.” Some of the Soviet nuclear subs are equipped with short-range ballistic missiles and others are of the antisubmarine type.
The United States has about 142 subs in operation—27 of them nuclear-powered. The Soviet Navy has increased its submarine fleet by about 35 underwater craft in the last year, the British survey showed. (Washington Post, 28 November 1962.)
Soviet Shows New Missile Said to Be Capable of Undersea Firing: The Soviet Union displayed today a 50-foot naval rocket described by Izvestia, the Government newspaper, as a missile of great accuracy that could be launched from a submarine underwater. The newspaper report was one of the first indications that the Soviet Navy might have developed a missile similar to the Polaris employed by the United States Navy. The rocket was the only new piece of equipment shown in a 45-minute military parade in Red Square marking the 45th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. The dark green rocket, mounted on a six-wheel trailer, was pulled quickly past the reviewing stand by a tracked personnel carrier. A crew of 16 sailors rode in the open personnel carrier. At the rear of the missile was a cluster of what appeared to be seven rocket motors.
Izvestia, in a review of the parade, said the rocket was for use by Soviet submarines and surface ships. The newspaper added:
“It can be fired from any position—both above and below the water. Such rockets hit the target with pinpoint accuracy.”
Western military observers said the rocket appeared to be a three-stage type probably powered by solid fuel. Its range was estimated to be up to several hundred miles.
The initial impression of these observers after seeing the rocket in the square was that it had been designed to be fired from shore in coastal defense. The rocket seemed to be somewhat bulkier than the United States Polaris missiles, which have a range of about 1,200 miles.
The chief of the Soviet Navy, Admiral of the Fleet Sergei G. Gorshkov, said in an article published 29 July that nuclear submarines capable of firing rockets had become the basis of the fleet. The article, which appeared in Pravda, the newspaper of the Communist party, did not say that the Soviet Navy had developed a Polaris-type missile.
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published on the same day, written by a correspondent of Trud, the Soviet labor union newspaper, who had visited a submarine base. He wrote: “Soviet submarines can fire rockets from both the surface and submerged positions.” It already had been known in the West that the Soviet Navy was equipped with submarines that could fire rockets while on the surface. (New York Times, 8 November 1962.)
Maritime General
New Moran Tug Tows 4 LCU’s Across Atlantic For MSTS: The most powerful commercial tug under the American flag, the 3,500 horsepower, 118-foot M. Moran, made history recently under contract with MSTS when she towed four LCU’s in tandem from the Charleston Army Depot here to St. Nazaire, France.
This is believed to be the first time LCU’s (Landing Craft, Utility) have ever been towed across an ocean. The 120-foot-long craft, worth around $620,000 apiece, were stretched out for nearly a mile behind the big new twin- engine and twin-screw, diesel-powered tug, one of four of a new type being built for the Moran Towing Co. Although commissioned just last year, the M. Moran had already made three other trips, one from New York to Korea and two from New York to Los Angeles. On her last trip, she towed two floating drydocks to Los Angeles.
The entire 3,500-mile transocean tow to St. Nazaire took 21 days, with the tug averaging 7 to 8 knots. “We could have made better time if we had used all 3,500-horsepower,” said Captain James L. Barrow, “but we had to
conserve fuel. We carry enough diesel fuel for only about 18 days at full power.” He added that the M. Moran steers and rides steadier with a tow, but still rolls heavily in rough seas. (Sealift Magazine, November 1962.)
The "Oceanographer”: The first large ship ever built in the United States for the express purpose of studying the seas is now under construction for the Coast and Geodetic Survey. The new Class I oceanographic ship will be called the Oceanographer. The vessel has been designed specifically for deep-sea oceanographic survey and research work with a cruising range of from 17,000 to 20,000 miles.
The ship will be strengthened for navigation in ice and will have extensive specialized electronic and mechanical equipment for oceanographic, meteorological, and geophysical observations.
The ship, with a twin screw diesel electric drive, will be 303 feet long with 52-foot beam, a draft of 18 feet, and a displacement tonnage (light) of approximately 2,500 tons. It will also have a center well running vertically through the vessel into which special experimental equipment can be lowered, and which can serve as a comfortable entrance and exit for Scuba-diving explorers. Special bowviewing ports below the water line will permit observation of the watery world surrounding the vessel. There will be laboratory space of over 4,100 square feet.
Staffed by commissioned officers of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the ship will have facilities for 13 officers, 81 crewmen, and accommodations for a technical staff of 20. (The Military Engineer, November-1 fccemlkt 1962.)
Research and Development
New Defense Electronics Laboratory: The
Norwegian Defense Research Establishment —FFI—located at Kjeller, recently invited civilian and military defense authorities to inspect its new Electronics Laboratory, which accommodates the departments of radar and telecommunication research. The new building, which has a net floor space of nearly 45,000 square feet, cost about Kr. 3.5 million, and about the same amount was spent on machinery and instruments.
Established in 1945, FFI is now one of the most important research institutes in Norway.
Notebook 163
Its present staff comprises about 350 senior scientists and research assistants. There are separate departments for explosives, physics, chemistry, toxicology, radar, telecommunications and submarine warfare. The latter is located at Horten, on the Oslofjord. (News of Norway, 1 November 1962.)
Novel Swedish Device Checks Battery Discharge in Subs: A special electronic ampere- hour meter for checking the rate of discharge of submarine batteries has been designed by Asea, leading Swedish electrical manufacturer. The meter registers current consumption down to one-thousandth of the full-load current, whereas previously available equipment has had a starting current of a few per cent of the full-load current.
Checking the condition of a submarine battery by measuring the quantity of electric charge taken out is complicated by the fact that the load can vary from a few amperes during periods of inactivity to thousands of amperes when proceeding underwater. With conventional meters, a 10,000 A.H. battery could therefore be completely discharged within four days without the slightest discharge being registered by the meter.
The new electronic ampere-hour meter consists of a highly sensitive measuring motor driven by a direct-voltage amplifier. The motor is equipped with a pointer and a scale. On the input side of the amplifier, the Hall voltage is compared to a negative feed-back voltage, proportional to the electromotive force of the motor and thus to its speed. The voltage is taken out across a bridge in which the motor is connected up in such a way that the resistance-voltage drop is eliminated. A powerful eddy-current damping of the motor and internal feedback in the amplifier also contribute to the linearization and stabilization of the meter.
The auxiliary circuits and amplifier are built up from transistors and Zener diodes. The later are used for stabilization and voltage reference. The mechanical construction of the device is compact; space requirements are about the same as for a conventional meter. (Swedish Information Service.)
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Progress
Edited by H. A. Seymour Captain, U. S. Navy
Air Force STOL Hercules— Short-take-off-and-lan ding (STOL) capabilities have been made in the 67j-ton Lockheed C-130B prop-jet to allow the world’s largest assault transport to haul cargo and 67 paratroopers or 92 combat-equipped soldiers in and out of small, primitive landing strips.
British Test Buoyant-Ascent Escape Technique and Survival Suit for Submariners—No British submariner had ever survived escape ascents of over 150 feet prior to recent test escapes made from HMS Tiptoe off Malta from 260 feet using buoyant-ascent and surface survival suits.
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Marsh Screw Amphibian—The Chrysler Corporation is developing a limited warfare vehicle for swampy terrain. The 13-foot aluminum hull will be propelled by Archimedian screws fitted on twin pontoons.
Airoll Amphibian—Another "go- anywhere” vehicle, this one for the Marine Corps, is the Airoll amphibian which features unique flotation tires that operate on the tank-track principle.
USS Albany, First All-Guided- Missile Conversion—This former 13,700-ton heavy cruiser is now armed with twin Talos missiles fore and aft, twin Tartars in way of the bridge, ASROC, and two triple ASW torpedo mounts. Unlike sister conversions, she has been denuded of all her conventional fire power.