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138 The COIN Airplane
By Captain Albert O. Morton, U. S. Navy
143 Aptitude Screening of Naval Recruits
By Lieutenant Commander H. J. Connery, MSC, U. S. Navy, and Captain Richard R. Waite, MC, U. S. Navy
145 Laser Gyroscope
By Lieutenant (j.g.) John S. Baker, U. S. Navy
148 Submarines in the Ice
By Lieutenant Commander Peter Cobb, Royal Navy
152 Notebook
Edited by Captain Daniel M. Karcher, U. S. Navy
By Captain Albert O. Morton,
U. S. Navy,
Former Attack Aircraft Design Officer,
Bureau of Naval Weapons
THE COIN AIRPLANE
The term COIN is an acronym for counterinsurgency and has come to be the accepted name of an airplane designed for use
in the general field of counter-insurgency
operations rather than for any specific operation. The official designation of the new aircraft is OV-IOA.
Within the Navy, work toward the COIN airplane can be traced back to 1951 when a design competition was held for an observation-liaison helicopter to combine the observation tasks of light airplanes and the rescue and utility tasks of helicopters. It was decided that these missions could not effectively be performed by a single aircraft. Subsequently; studies were made of a small STOL-type conventional airplane, but budgetary restrictions prevented further work. In the 1955 to 1957 period a competition was held for an Army-Marine Corps observation airplane, which was won by the Grumman design and is now the AO-1 Mohawk. Early in the Mohawk program the Marines withdrew because of financial problems. In 1960 the Marines stated a requirement for an assault support helicopter to replace the L-19 fixed-wing observation aircraft. This requirement resulted in procurement of the Bell UH-1E helicopter.
In mid-1961 the Navy was asked to make technical comments on an airplane proposed for Marine use by Major Knowlton Rice, U. S. Marine Corps, and Major William H. Beckett, U. S. Marine Corps. The Rice- Beckett design, called L2VMA for Light, Light Marine Attack airplane, was an extremely small (20-foot wing span), light (originally 1,680 pounds empty—later increased to twice that weight because of engine requirements), and simple airplane intended to “live” in the battlefield environment at the battalion or regimental level. It was to be immediately available for use by the ground
commander in an armed role as well as for observation. The L2VMA should be acknowledged as the foundation of the present COIN program, although as conceived, the L!VMA did not have the transport or weapons capability now required for the COIN aircraft.
Marine Corps support for an airplane of this type resulted in a further in-house design study until the fall of 1962, when interest in an airplane of this type was evidenced by the director, Defense Research and Engineering (DDr&E). The DDR&E interest was principally in a small, simple, and inexpensive airplane to do the L2VMA job plus the limited transpor- hon of people and cargo. This concept came t° be known as COIN.
The uses of the COIN airplane as seen by MiR&E were mainly as a replacement for airplanes of the T-6 and T-28 types being used throughout the world by the Military Assistance Program countries. There are about 3)000 such aircraft in use in these countries, jRost of which are outdated and rapidly wear- lng out. The COIN airplane was developed as an inexpensive replacement and takes advantage of the advances in aerodynamics and Propulsion since the inception of the T-6 and ^"28. The COIN airplanes will also be used by lhe U. S. services, although there were no formal U. S. requirements for such an airplane at the time it was conceived.
The Navy agreed to take on the jobs of obtaining proposals from industry and acting as development agency for the airplane. Intensive design studies, both in-house and industry, continued until mid-1963 when the MlR&E voiced dissatisfaction with the progress being made because the studies consistently indicated the airplane would be larger, eavier, have less performance, and be more c°stly than was desired.
The Navy continued as the development agency, and a steering group was established to guide the Navy in developing the specifica- ll°ns and design requirements for the airPlane. It is interesting to note that at this hme there were still no formal U. S. service requirements for such an airplane and the Military Assistance Program needs were not definitive. Membership of the COIN steering yr°up included the Assistant Secretaries for Research and Development of the three services, with the Navy Assistant Secretary as chairman, and representatives of DDR&E, the Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the Marine Corps’ Assistant Chief of Staff for Research and Development. A working-level committee made up of alternates for each member provided day-to-day continuity.
The program planned at that time included a program definition phase with funded studies to be made by industry to define the specification requirements for the airplane.
Specified missions for the COIN aircraft included a close air support mission with 2,400 pounds of ordnance, a crew of two, and one hour loiter within a 50-nautical-mile radius; a visual reconnaissance mission of 3§ hours at sea level with a crew of two and no ordnance; and a 1,200-nautical-mile ferry mission with a pilot only. Externally carried fuel was permitted for the ferry mission, while the others were to be flown on internal fuel only. In this regard, the 3§ hour visual reconnaissance mission determined the internal fuel capacity that would be required. •
Other mission capabilities required of the aircraft, but for which specific missions were not defined, included the carriage and air dropping of up to 2,000 pounds of cargo, the largest single item of which would be a standard 55-gallon drum. Similarly, the transport and air dropping of up to six paratroopers as well as being able to carry the maximum practicable number of litter patients with a medical attendant were required. An additional capability worthy of note was the requirement to mount amphibious floats for operations from sheltered waters.
In addition to the capabilities described above, there are several other design requirements which serve to set the COIN airplane well apart from the normal military observation airplane or the commercial light transport. These include an 8-G load factor, four 7.62-mm. machine guns mounted internally with 2,000 rounds of ammunition, provisions for the Sidewinder missile and the Navy’s Mark 4 20-mm. gun pod, the ability to maintain control of the aircraft in the event of an engine failure on a maximum performance take-off or landing, the ability to perform a 50-degree dive entered at 25,000 feet altitude at maximum speed, and the ability to operate from aircraft carriers and rough fields.
The airplane was required to be twin en-
gined, using either the United Aircraft of Canada (Pratt & Whitney) T-74 or the Garrett T-76 turbo-prop engines. These are both privately developed engines in the 600 h.p. class. The T-74 is a free turbine engine which has the unique arrangement of the compressor section being in the aft portion of the engine, with the turbine or hot section and the gearbox in the forward portion. The T-74 is farther along in the development cycle, having been certificated for commercial use and currently being used by the Beech Kingair airplane. Its free turbine design provides good flexibility of operation over a wide range of power settings, because the turbine is not physically fixed to the compressor shaft. The T-76, on the other hand, is a fixed turbine engine of very simple design and has an offset gearbox which permits some flexibility in
The OV-10A counter-insurgency airplane—dubbed COIN—will fly in a variety of configurations. In the upper photograph, one plane is rigged for armed reconnaissance. It has four 7.62-mm. guns in the sponsons below the wings and bombs suspended from the sponsons. The second plane in the photograph is on a visual reconnaissance with an observer in the rear cockpit; no ordnance is carried in this role. The lower photograph shows an OV-lOA with twin floats attached to its tail booms and bombs being carried beneath its fuselage. First flights of the plane are scheduled for August 1965.
mounting. The fixed-turbine design provides very rapid response to power lever movements, which is desirable for precise control during short field landings where the aircraft approach speed is very close to minimum control speed. All the designs used opposite rotating, reversible propellers of about 85 feet diameter.
By virtue of the steering group participation in the development of the COIN airplane, the specifications had, in effect, tri-service approval. Proposals were received in March 1964 from 11 firms, seven of which were sufficiently responsive to warrant evaluation. The responsive proposals were from Beech, Douglas, General Dynamics/Convair, Helio, Lockheed, Martin, and North American. The Navy conducted its normal evaluation of these proposals wherein the least promising designs
Were first eliminated and the remaining ones subjected to detailed analysis and comparison in such areas as performance, flying qual- ■hes, structures, equipment, propulsion, avionics, weight, maintainability and reliability, producibility, test and demonstration programs, and cost. This procedure culminated With the North American design being recommended.
The designs submitted were quite similar m many respects. The Beech, Douglas, Helio, and Lockheed airplanes were conventional, smgle-fuselage designs, while General Dynamics, Martin, and North American submitted twin-boom fuselage designs. The wing span varied from 27 5 feet for the General Dynamics and Martin designs to 33 feet for Delio. The length of the airplanes varied from less than 35 feet for Douglas and General Dynamics to 40 feet for Lockheed. Placement °f the horizontal tail was a problem from the standpoint of maintaining longitudinal stabil- fly at a wide range of engine power settings. Delio and Lockheed chose low positions, Beech a position midway up the vertical tail, and all others except Martin placed the horizontal tail at the top of the vertical tail(s). Martin proposed a unique inverted V-tail showing for engine exhaust gas to be ejected over the lower face of the movable tail surfaces. This design should provide very high control power at low airspeeds and a yaw component tending to offset the adverse yaw °f a dead engine.
The internal configurations for carrying People and cargo varied widely. The number °f paratroopers to be carried ranged from two to six, the number of litters was two to three with an attendant, and the cargo weight varied from 2,000 pounds to 3,600 pounds. The cargo compartment in the winning North American design is aft loading and measures 9 feet 4 inches X 30 inches X 38 inches high and accommodates five paratroopers, or two litters, or 3,000 pounds of cargo.
As mentioned earlier, there are a number °f aspects of the COIN airplane that made the designers’ task difficult. One factor given great emphasis in early discussions was that the “flyaway” cost would be low—a figure of M00,000 per airplane being quoted. Navy cost studies indicated the cost would be at feast $300,000. Cost, therefore, became a major consideration in the design effort and prompted some productive looking at less costly tooling, materials, and fabrication methods. Another factor was time; this was to be a quick reaction program and go into service evaluation within a year of the go- ahead signal. These two factors alone tended to preclude any new development in materials, systems, or components.
One of the most difficult facets of the design problem was that of flying qualities. If the airplane were to be used throughout the world, flown and maintained by relatively unskilled crews, and operated from marginal airfields it had to be straightforward, undemanding, and forgiving of errors in handling. On the other hand, the constraints of STOL aircraft performance, stability over a wide range of airspeeds and engine powers, minimum wing span, and safety considerations all tended to oppose these requirements.
Probably the most significant performance requirement affecting flying qualities is that in the take-off the airplane must be able to clear a 50-foot obstacle in less than 800 feet for an armed reconnaissance mission. The related design requirements dictate that in the event of an engine failure at the most critical point in the take-off the airplane must be controllable within certain angles of bank and yaw to permit an upright crash landing, and the airplane must provide a degree of crash protection to the pilot equivalent to that of a single-engine airplane.
Attaining the required take-off performance necessitates very effective high-lift devices, but the constraints of time, cost, and simplicity effectively limit the designer to multiple slotted flaps. All the designs devoted a major portion of the wing trailing edge to various slotted flap arrangements to deflect the propeller slipstream, using flap deflections of as much as 100 degrees. With as much as 90 per cent of the wing trailing edge devoted to flaps there is very little left for ailerons, although several designs used a portion of the flaps as ailerons in the flaps up condition. The lack of ailerons led to the use of spoilers for roll control and several types of spoilers were proposed.
These highly flapped airplanes generate more than half their take-off lift by deflecting the propeller slipstream. Failure of one engine will therefore result in a major loss of lift on one side of the airplane, causing rolling which the control system would have to balance. Calculations indicate the airplane would roll more than 180 degrees in the first second, and the roll rate would increase if there were no control inputs. The failure rates for turboprop engines are quite low, and there was pressure exerted from some quarters to accept the risk of the airplane being uncontrollable after an engine failure on take-off in order to achieve the shortest take-off distance. The Navy opposed this approach and prevailed in specifying that the flight control system give the pilot sufficient control to keep the airplane upright after an engine failure so that a controlled crash could be made.
The use of engine cross shafting to permit the good engine to drive both propellers after an engine failure was not permitted, again because of the time-cost-simplicity constraints.
Crew escape received a great deal of consideration in the COIN development, as safe escape from the airplane was required. Several ideas such as feathering an engine and bailing out over the side or turning the airplane upside down and falling out were proposed. Because of the close proximity of the crew to the propellers these ideas were rejected and ejection seats will be installed.
The COIN airplane will be very versatile in the armament it can carry, although its gross load carrying ability is not that of, say, an A-l Skyraider. There will be four 600-pound and one 1,200-pound capacity external store stations. Because of the roll control problems discussed above, it was desirable to cluster the stores near the centerline of the airplane to reduce roll inertia. As a result, all five store stations are not usable at one time. On the North American design the store stations are mounted on removable sponsons. The guns and ammunition are also housed in the sponsons, so that by removing the sponsons and the wingtip Sidewinder launchers the plane can be converted to civil use. The M-60 7.62-mm. machine guns were chosen because of their ready availability in U. S. ground units. A variety of droppable and forward firing stores were called for including bombs, rockets, gun pods, aerial resupply containers, fire bombs, and a 150-gallon fuel tank. The pilot aims the ordnance using a fixed reticle, non-computing sight. Provisions are also made for a low-light-level television system as a search and reconnaissance aid.
The avionics system is unsophisticated and uses standard military UHF, TACAN, IFF, and VHF(FM) equipment. This system is considered only a starting point and each user will no doubt want different equipment. The sizable cargo compartment makes the airplane quite adaptable to airborne electronic or photographic reconnaissance system.
So far as is known the COIN specifications contained a “first” in one respect: The rough- field requirements were spelled out in specific terms. Briefly, the airplane must sustain a landing at 20-feet-per-second sink speed (vertical velocity) and immediately after touchdown traverse three types of obstacles, a 3-inch sharp edged bump, bumps and chuck- holes up to 4 inches in height or depth and 12 inches across, and rolling undulations of up to 1 foot in 100 feet. These requirements are the result of research by both the government and industry and will help to define the designers’ problems.
The program, as presently approved by the Secretary of Defense, calls for the construction of seven prototype airplanes of the North American design at a program cost of about $18 million. These aircraft will be evaluated by the Services and compared with other aircraft for counter-insurgency use. A decision on going into production of the airplane will be made after the evaluation phase.
Current recommendations call for 16 more test aircraft to be delivered to the Navy within two years of the contract award. There would then be a major production run purchase of 198 aircraft with a flexible time schedule. The final production run recommended under the original program would be 286 aircraft, raising the total COIN aircraft procurement to 507.
Depending on the urgency of the need, production airplanes could be available with single shift operation in about 24 months. This is a “fly and test—then buy” philosophy and takes somewhat longer than does the consecutive yearly buy process where production follows research and development without a break.
In summary, the COIN airplane as it is planned today is a very versatile vehicle 'vhich can be had at moderate cost. It will do a useful military job at the low end of the Performance spectrum, and should be a valuable addition to the U. S. arsenal.
APTITUDE SCREENING OF NAVAL RECRUITS
^ After careful consideration of you and the
■TV records of your performance, this lioard finds you unsuitable for further training and recommends you for a discharge from the Baval service.”
These words were repeated to 2,883 of the 49,312 recruits who reported on board the Th S. Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, during 1963. These words climaxed extensive evaluations in training, and resulted in aPpearance before the Naval Aptitude Board and processing for early separation of 5.8 per cent of the recruits who reported during this Period.
Comparable findings were reported by the Recruit Evaluation Units (REU) at the Naval Training Center, San Diego, and at the Ma- r>ne Corps Recruit Depots at San Diego and Parris Island. The REU at the Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, provides the background for the following observations and opinions.
The REU is a medical department activity °f the administrative command at a training Center. It is staffed with psychiatrists, psychologists, and hospital corpsmen who perform an administrative function oriented toward preventive psychiatry rather than treatment. The Bureau of Medicine and Surgery exercises technical control of the Unit, while management control is with the Bureau of Naval Personnel. In addition to its major role with the Recruit Training Command, as a staff activity the REU provides a psychiatric service for the other commands located within the training center complex.
Most of the daily routine in REU supports the Recruit Training Command’s program. Psychiatric and psychological techniques are applied to initial and continuous recruit screening procedures for the early identification of those recruits who lack sufficient abilities or emotional stamina to enter recruit training, and those recruits with a high probability of having difficulties in meeting minimum performance standards following their entry into recruit training.
The procedure used in REU for determining recruit suitability has four main steps. There is an initial screening evaluation, observation of training performance, personal psychiatric evaluation and observation, and presentation of recommendations to the Naval Aptitude Board. Great flexibility is permitted by the application of these steps, so that quick disposition can be made when necessary. However, no recruit is separated with less than three of the four steps having been taken in his case.
The screening objectives are to “screen-in” and “screen-out” recruits during the recruit training period. A recruit’s performance is charted to follow-up on the data obtained at initial and subsequent screenings and to help determine the statistical validity and reliability of screening procedures.
Contact with REU comes early for all recruits with the exception of naval reservists reporting for two weeks of active duty for training. When recruits report on board they are assigned to a company at the receiving unit. On their second day, in company formation, the recruits report for their initial psychiatric screening where they complete paper-and-pencil questionnaires designed to detect gross symptoms of immaturity, maladjustment, and instability. The questionnaire responses are reviewed by hospital corpsmen. Most of the recruits continue with their processing and enter training, but those recruits who give responses which correlate with a high failure rate in training are interviewed.
This screening process selects a group which has a six-to-eight-times-greater-than-average likelihood of encountering training difficulties. Although the progress of every recruit is reviewed during training, recruits thus identified at screening will be subject to more detailed and specific inquiry.
The recruits identified with obvious emotional unsuitability at initial screening are removed from processing and entry into training and are thus spared the stress of training which in their cases might be harmful. This number of recruits is small but significant. For the most part these are recruits who withheld disqualifying information during their enlistment processing at recruiting stations. These men often have histories of being hospitalized or treated for emotional disorders. Others in this category appear to be too immature to enter training. The inherent stresses in leaving home and in being exposed to the environment of military training are too traumatic for some. Such recruits receive additional evaluation and observation before their cases are presented to the Naval Aptitude Board with recommendation for discharge prior to their entry into training.
The “screening-out” procedure has a twofold benefit. For the Navy it spares the expense and woe of training the unsuitable and of accepting those who would require a disproportionate training effort with at best a doubtful outcome. For some recruits it prevents exposure to demands likely to overburden their limited emotional resources with the attendant danger of overt mental disorder.
The follow-up observation by REU of selected recruits “flagged” by the initial psychiatric screening procedure continues until such time as success or failure has been established in the recruit’s performance of duty. The initial screening procedure does not identify all recruits who experience difficulties in training. Flowever, during 1963 the REU at Great Lakes had suspected difficulties at initial screening in 50 per cent of those recruits who subsequently appeared before the Naval Aptitude Board.
Recruits who were not suspected of having difficulties at initial screening are also referred to REU by the Recruit Training Command and other staff departments at different times during the training period. Many of these recruits who have experienced moderate to severe difficulties in adjusting to the new way of life are able to meet or surpass the minimum standards in training. Setbacks in training with their accompanying demotivating influence are common for those who become ill, who require emergency leave, who are slow to learn, or who become involved in disciplinary infractions. Eventually many of these men are able to recover and are graduated and made available for assignment. This achievement is attributed to the positive leadership demonstrated in the Recruit Training Command and to the continued efforts of these recruits to become sailors. Somewhere between these two tangible efforts lies the REU “screening-in” contribution: the shortterm supportive counselling of individual recruits, and close liaison with regimental, battalion, and company commanders.
During the training period a recruit may report to the REU once or on several occasions for interviews to review his progress and adjustment to training. When the recruit’s progress continues toward meeting the required standards, emphasis remains on his retention in training with a company. Every effort is made to reinforce his identity as a recruit in training for naval service.
No matter how well motivated for retention the borderline recruit might be, once assigned to REU it is quite likely he will quickly succumb to the contaminating influence of other recruits in REU who “want out.” Nonetheless, when it has been demonstrated that a particular recruit cannot meet training and military standards due to his character or emotional development, he will be assgined to REU for berthing, observation, and preparation for appearance before the Naval Aptitude Board. These recruits are considered unsuitable for further training.
The Recruit Training Command at Great Lakes convenes a locally authorized Brigade Aptitude Board. The Training Command refers to this Brigade Aptitude Board those recruits who are considered to be “pure” failures in meeting training and military requirements. These are recruits with borderline or defective intellectual and literacy abilities. Recruits recommended for separation by the Brigade Aptitude Board are referred to the Naval Aptitude Board by the
Commanding Officer, Recruit Training Command. These recruits are recommended for separation for reasons of inaptitude.
Thus there are two rather distinct recruit groups referred to the Naval Aptitude Board: the unsuitable group (average GCT, 47) from h-EU; and the inaptitude group (average GCT, 35) from the Brigade Aptitude Board. “Medical discharges” are not recommended for men tn either group. All are recommended for administrative separation. Either honorable or general discharges are issued depending upon the circumstances of each case.
The Naval Aptitude Board is authorized by BuPers and BuMed to recommend recruits for separation. Board recommended separations may be made upon approval of the Naval Training Center Commander. The Naval Aptitude Board meets bi-weekly; the board membership at each meeting includes a minimum of two line officers, one being a lieutenant commander or senior; two medical officers, one being a psychiatrist; and one psychologist. Recruits are presented before the Board with their completed administrative evaluation reports and recommendations for separation. The Board may approve these recommendations or return recruits to duty for further training on a trial basis. Those recruits recommended for discharge by the Board are immediately transferred to the separations division.
The Naval Training Center commander may reverse the Board’s recommendation for separation and return a recruit to duty for further training. Although this rarely happens, it does provide an additional opportunity for the recruit to prove his suitability for naval service.
Recruit screening techniques and Naval Aptitude Board proceedings are frequently explained to newly reporting officer and enlisted staff personnel in a training command; they are provided with orientation in these areas to increase their abilities in evaluating recruits for suitability for naval service.
The psychiatric screening of recruits is one of several screening programs conducted by the Navy. Comparable screening as a part of the physical examination is done in the selection of candidates for the Naval Academy, flight training, submarine school, Operation Deepfreeze, and other programs.
By Lieutenant (j.g.)
John S. Baker,
U. S. Navy
LASER GYROSCOPE*
Recent advances in laser technique have l. brought about the development of a new form of angular rate sensor which may conceivably replace gyroscopes in inertial guidance and stabilization systems in submarines, surface ships, and satellites. Although this device is still in the developmental stage, present indications are that, when refined, it will surpass any gyro-based system which is now in use.
The traveling-wave ring-laser- measures the frequency difference of a pair of laser beams mounted on a rotating object to determine angular rate. Present laboratory models have been successful in detecting rotation rates lower than 15 degrees per hour, which equals the earth’s rate of rotation at the North Pole. Present accuracy seems to be limited by internally occurring phenomena due, in part, to mirror irregularities and imperfections, rather than by the limits of the rotationsensing effect itself. The figure of 3.1 X10-3 degrees/hour has been derived mathematically as a possible limit for this type of equipment. This is an order of magnitude lesser than the rate of the earth’s annual revolution around the sun (4.1 X10~2 degrees/hour).
The laser gyro has several distinct advantages over conventional gyros:
• It is essentially free of precessional errors caused in gyroscopes by gymbal friction and by linear accelerations.
• It is light weight.
• It is less expensive to build.
• The output is in digital form, thus eliminating the analog-to-digital conversion, necessary for many applications, as a possible source of error.
* See Gene M. Cunningham, “Optical Masers for Space Navigation,” U. S. Naval Institute Proceedings, October 1962, pp. 136-139.
The ring-laser was an outgrowth of the reevaluation of experiments performed by Harress in 1911, G. Sagnac in 1913, and Albert Michelson and Henry Gale in 1925. These early experiments attempted to measure rotation by the interference fringe shifts of two beams of wide-spectrum light. This procedure was not very precise and necessitated either high rates of rotation or very large equipment. The classic Michelson-Gale experiment used over a mile of evacuated sewer pipes in Clearin, Illinois.
The laser lent itself well as a tool for the review of these experiments, since laser light is essentially coherent, i.e., the output is highly monochromatic with a bandwidth as low as two cycles per second. This feature enabled the effect of rotation to be measured as a difference between two frequencies rather than as an inaccurate fringe shift.
In order to understand the operation of the laser gyroscope, it is first necessary to have a basic qualitative knowledge of lasers.
Laser action can exist, at least theoretically, in any substance whose atoms are capable of existing at two or more energy-levels. Lower energy-level atoms can be excited, or “pumped,” to a higher energy-level either by
flooding them with high-intensity broad- spectrum light or by subjecting them to electro-magnetic (radio-frequency) radiation. Once excited, they will have a tendency to return to equilibrium at the lower level. To do so, they must release an amount of energy equal to the difference in potential between the two levels. This energy is emitted as a photon, commonly thought of as a “bundle of energy.” Incoming photons can stimulate the emission of photons by excited atoms if, and only if, the incoming photon represents exactly the amount of energy separating the atom from its equilibrium level. Emitted photons may go on to strike other excited atoms, thereby releasing still more photons. If sufficient excited atoms are present to compensate for the photons which may be absorbed or lost to the surroundings, a wave of photons may be produced and laser action has taken place.
By placing mirrors at suitable positions in the path of this photon wave, a resonant cavity is produced. Within certain limits, the frequency at which this cavity resonates will be determined by the spacing of the mirrors. A standing wave is formed within the cavity, somewhat similar to the audio standing wave
that is formed in a church organ-pipe.
If one of the mirrors is only partially reflective, a portion of the laser beam is allowed to escape, while the remainder is reflected to maintain the laser action. (With lasers of this type, only about 0.1 per cent of the beam is transmitted.)
The laser gyro itself consists of four radio- hequency-excitcd, helium-neon laser tubes arranged to form a square, with one tube to a side as shown in the photograph. Four mirrors placed at the corners of the square direct the beam being emitted from one tube to the next. In this case, the beam is sent around the Perimeter of the square through all the tubes rather than being retro-reflected into the tube ■n which it originated. All four tubes are Operating as a single laser with the perimeter °f the square forming the resonant cavity. In this case, a traveling-wave is built up rather than the standing wave which is found in retro-reflective lasers.
The light flowing through this “closed circuit” can be thought of as consisting of two beams, one going in a clockwise direction, the other counterclockwise. With the ring-laser stationary, the paths around the circuit from any given starting point back to the same Point are the same for both beams, so their frequencies are identical. This frequency may be termed the base frequency.
When the ring-laser’s frame is rotated, the Path lengths are no longer identical. Starting at the corner marked A in Figure 1, the clockwise beam proceeds around the ring and back to the starting point. Only the starting point by now has rotated to A'. This path has been lengthened. The counterclockwise beam’s path has been shortened by the same amount. Thus to an observer on the frame, the clockwise beam appears to be delayed and operating at a frequency below the base frequency, while the counterclock-wise beam is operating at an apparent frequency above the base frequency.
I
I DIRECTION l
I ------ ---------- OF ------ ---- /
ROTATION /
/
__ u___
Figure 2
By replacing the fully reflective mirror at one corner of the square with a partially reflective one and adding appropriate beamcombining optical equipment, the two beams are rendered co-linear and are superimposed. (See Figure 2). The two beams then are di-
rected upon a photosensitive element. The output signal from this element contains, in addition to the two beam frequencies, a component whose frequency equals the difference in the two beam frequencies. This beat frequency is created through a process known as optical heterodyning. It is quite similar to the beat notes detected by the human ear when listening to two dissonant tones. In such a case, the non-linearity of the ear is responsible for the heterodyne action.
The beat frequency is proportional to the angular rotation rate of the ring-laser. The faster the ring is rotated, the greater is the apparent departure of the two beam frequencies from the base frequency and the higher is this “difference” beat frequency. Of course, when the ring is stationary, no beat frequency is observed.
The beat frequency may be utilized in several ways. In the laboratory, it has been used to provide a visible trace on an oscilloscope. It can be clipped by electronic circuitry to provide a series of nearly square impulses, the frequency of which is still proportional to the rotation rate. In this form, it can be applied directly to a digital computer.
This, in essence, was the original traveling- wave ring-laser. One of its greatest shortcomings was its inability to differentiate clockwise from counterclockwise motion. In later models a bias has been established so that a beat frequency of a known value is present when the ring is stationary. Variation of the output frequency above or below the bias frequency indicates direction and magnitude of rotation.
To obtain biasing, a container of carbon tetrachloride is placed in the optical path and subjected to a constant magnetic field. One beam of light is aided by the magnetic field while the beam traveling in the other direction is delayed by it. Thus, even while the ring is stationary, an apparent frequency difference is established and the bias beat frequency is provided.
The traveling-wave ring-laser was developed by the Electro-Optics Group of Sperry Gyroscope Company, Division of Sperry Rand Corporation. A portion of the work undertaken by Sperry Rand in this field was sponsored by the Aeronautical Systems Division of the U. S. Air Force.
SUBMARINES IN THE ICE
The Arctic is an area of increasing operational interest to the Royal Navy. Here, under the ice, the submarine is particularly in her element, being immune from detection or attack by ships or aircraft, and only fearing the attentions of another submarine. As more emphasis is placed on submarine operations, the ability to operate effectively under ice must become increasingly important.
The conventional submarine is limited by the requirement to surface at regular intervals in order to recharge her batteries. This can often be achieved many miles inside the ice pack by surfacing in a lead or polynya. With more modern submarine equipment, including higher-capacity batteries and improved air conditioning equipment, the Arctic is becoming an area where the conventional submarine can operate more freely and most effectively.
This ability was demonstrated recently when the British Porpoise-class submarines Narwhal, under my command, and Otter operated for a month in the fringe ice area, gaining experience of ice operations, carrying out extensive sonar trials, and collecting oceanographic data. Some special equipment was fitted for this mission including upward- looking echo sounders to detect overhead ice and ice fendering equipment to protect exposed gear, particularly the forward sonar dome. Special heaters were also fitted to the snorkel mast, radio mast, and periscopes to prevent them from freezing. Portable heaters were fitted throughout the submarine for additional crew comfort.
The sonar trials proved once again the outstanding quality of the sonar fitted in this class of submarines. Sonar conditions during the exercise were generally poor due to a strong on-ice wind and a heavy swell running for most of the time while in the ice area.
Before the exercise, Mr. Walter Wittmann of the U. S. Naval Oceanographic Office, an acknowledged expert on submarine ice operations, provided the officers concerned with advice and assistance. Mr. Jack Hedges, also of the U. S. Navy Oceanographic Office, took Part in the operation and proved to be a very pleasant companion and a mine of information on ice matters.
The operation was confined to an area within 100 miles of the ice edge. The majority of ice in this area was a mixture of Arctic and young polar ice which had been carried south from the Arctic Basin by the East Greenland Drift Stream. The ice averaged from 10 to 15 feet in thickness and contained mainly small and medium floes. The deepest ice keel that Was recorded was 60 feet deep.
The submarines proceeded deep enough Under the ice to clear the deepest ice keels expected. The undersea craft went slowly, carefully observing the ice above through the after (binocular) periscope and with the various sonar sets. The submarine crews soon became Proficient at plotting and delineating the polynyas encountered. These were generally small as a result of the strong on ice wind, and seldom large enough for surfacing a submarine. Unlike a nuclear submarine which, with unlimited speed and range at its disposal, can reverse course each time that a polynya is detected, it was found that the submarines used less battery capacity by stopping and going astern whenever they passed under anything that looked like a surfaceable polynya. This maneuver required an exact trim to be maintained at all times.
Stopping the submarine by using the propellers is simple, but for ascending or descending, no propellers are fitted. Ascent or descent is achieved by pumping out or flooding in compensating water until the submarine is positively or negatively buoyant. It is a skilled art, since for safety the submarine must rise absolutely level and extremely slowly. When surfacing in the ice we aimed at a rate of ascent of between five and ten feet per minute. This permitted careful observation of the ice-water interface through the periscope, and allowed for a quick stop if required.
Surfacing inside the close ice pack is always interesting and sometimes hazardous. It has been described as a three dimensional parking problem. This is an accurate description only if one remembers that the parking space is moving at a function of the wind speed (about l/50th) while the submarine, even if apparently stopped in the water, is moving
id
with the current. In a small polynya this movement of the ice relative to the submarine greatly complicates the surfacing or parking problem.
Surfacing at night presented perhaps the most difficult problems. With much sensitive equipment located on top of the submarine’s “fin” and casing, it was considered unwise to surface through anything but the thinnest ice. In daylight it was possible to confirm the thickness of ice, assessed by the upward- looking echo sounders, by observing the opacity of the ice through the periscope. By night, however, this very useful check was not possible. It was found that a smoke marker, normally used in antisubmarine exercises, would not burn properly under the ice, but burned well in open water, and sometimes broke through a thin covering of ice. The burning marker could be observed through the periscope and indicated open water or very thin ice.
Once surfaced in a polynya the submarines took the opportunity to recharge batteries and to carry out a variety of oceanographic observations (such as collecting water and ice samples, magnetic variation observations, and radioactivity checks). Astronomical observations were taken whenever possible. A very careful check on local surroundings was also kept as the ice is always on the move and quite a large polynya can close up remarkably quickly as thousands of tons of ice drift gently downwind. On one occasion, the submarines were forced to dive quite quickly to avoid being crushed. Very little animal life was seen in the ice. On one or two occasions bearded seals surfaced nearby and eyed the submarines disapprovingly. A number of birds were seen including skuas, little auks, glaucous gulls, and a snow bunting. The last came down and sat on the casing for about ten minutes before continuing his flight.
On one particularly fine day, having surfaced in a small skylight, and secured alongside a very large ice floe, the entire crew, except for the steaming watch, landed for an afternoon’s sport. A polar bear hunt had been planned, but as no bears were readily available, we resorted to more conventional games, including a cricket match, perhaps the first game of cricket of the season (or any season) to be played inside the Arctic Circle.
OCEAN
The primary purpose of this book is r0 fill a noticeable gap between poptif’r literature and highly technical works o'1 the subject of the ocean sciences.
Written by eighteen eminent men 1,1 selected fields of oceanography, the chapters include the history of ocean' ography, physical properties, military oceanography, meteorology and clim3' rology, charts and maps, polar oceanog' raphy, marine biology, atomic and othc^ wastes in the sea, instrumentation an1 underwater vehicles, marine geologf* oceanography and government, NASC^’ fisheries and oceanography, and oceanog' raphy’s future.
Edited by Captain E. John Long, U. S’ Naval Reserve (Retired), this volume W1’ be of interest to naval officers, students* and the general reader.
1964. Hardbound. 304 pages. Illustrated Appendixes, glossary, bibliography, and index. List Price $10.00. Members Price $7.50.
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U. S. Navy
B RA-5C Vigilantes to Mediterranean
(Department of Defense News Release, 14 December 1964): The first detachment of six Navy RA-5C Vigilante aircraft to be deployed to the Sixth Fleet has arrived in the Mediterranean on board the attack carrier USS Saratoga.
The RA-5C is the airborne portion of an Integrated Operational Intelligence System (IOIS). The complete system includes the RA-5C and an Integrated Intelligence Center on the carrier. Rapid gathering, processing and presentation of operational intelligence for command use is one of its features.
Processing equipment on the carrier handles intelligence data from the reconnaissance aircraft. The center can also receive, store, and utilize information from a variety of other intelligence sources.
The RA-5C is equipped with various cameras, radars and electronic countermeasures to provide a wide range of collection capabilities. It is capable of flying long range missions involving supersonic flight at high and low altitudes and has day, night, and allweather capabilities.
The planes on this deployment are attached to the Reconnaissance Heavy Attack Squadron 9 at Sanford, Florida.
The deployment of the RA-5C to the Pacific with the USS Ranger was announced last July.
@ Guantanamo’s Water Plan Nearly Complete (Albert Sehlstedt, Jr., in Baltimore Sun, 4 December 1964): Guantanamo naval base in Cuba will become completely independent of an outside water supply about December 15 when a third and final desalting plant begins operating there.
Three such plants, changing sea water to fresh, were ordered built after Prime Minister Fidel Castro closed a pipeline to the base last February 6.
In response to the Castro move, President Johnson directed that Guantanamo be made self-sufficient with regard to its water supply and dependency upon Cuban labor.
Construction at the site for the first desalting plant began April 1 and the plant was operating by the end of July. The second plant was working September 6.
Each of the three units will be capable of producing 750,000 gallons of fresh water daily, providing the base with enough water for all its needs, including swimming pools.
Total costs associated with the fresh-water project was estimated at $10,000,000.
Before Castro turned off the water, the United States was paying the Cuban Government $168,000 a year for the pipeline supply- It cost an additional $133,000 annually to purify the water which came from the nearby Yateras River.
Water coming from the desalting plants is so pure it has to be run through limestone to give it a degree of flavor and hardness, a Navy spokesman noted.
While waiting for the desalting plants to start producing, the Navy operated a two-ship shuttle service between Port Everglades, Fla., and Guantanamo base on the southeast coast of Cuba.
@ New Tug Can Go Sideways (From the Annapolis Evening Capital, 9 December 1964): A rudderless tugboat that can maneuver sideways as well as backward and forward was placed in service by the U. S. Navy yesterday-
The 205-ton tug, first of a new type, has a German-developed propulsion system which includes two vertical axis, variable pitch propellers that steer the vessel by change of pitch.
The tug was named Mascoutah, after an Illinois city, when she was launched July 21 at the Jacobson Shipyard, Oyster Bay, Long Island, N. Y. Navy tugs are named after cities with Indian names.
Chief Boatswain’s Mate James N. Roberts, 38, of Stuart, Fla., is the skipper of the 85- foot tug, which has a crew of 8. The tug will be used to assist warships to their piers at the Norfolk Naval Station.
0 Navy Missile Plan Cut (Mark S. Watson in Baltimore Sun, 1 December 1964): It now is reluctantly conceded that the Navy’s much-needed and top-priority surface-to-air missile system has not yet reached the state of advanced development which will warrant including its production cost in the annual defense budget now nearing completion.
Work on the system is past the research stage and well along in development, but its exacting requirements have so far imposed on its developers too many complexities for a naval weapon, and technology has not yet been able to reduce those complexities—on the weapons system’s weight and size—to the desired degree.
Whether these baffling problems will be solved in time to justify a request for a supplemental appropriation from Congress in 1965 is uncertain. But the successor to the ill-fated Typhon missile definitely is not going to get into the regular budget.
Neither is the new-type guided-missile destroyer whose main purpose is to mount the new weapon, for the ship cannot even be designed until the approximate size, weight and shape of the missile and its huge radar and other electronic accompaniments are known.
The Navy’s need is for a weapon of fairly long range for use against such a dangerous bomber as Russia now has—-that is, a long- range bomber capable of launching a missile while still miles from the target.
The Navy’s “Three T’s” (Tartar, Terrier and Talos) are regarded as the world’s best within their range limits, but a 50 per cent extension of even Talos’ long reach is regarded as necessary.
That is why the Typhon missile was proposed. After spending a great deal in development, the resultant design was found to have the needed range all right, but the guidance and control mechanism called for a radar so enormous that it could be mounted only on a vessel as large as a cruiser.
Also, its complexities were serious, which
means that its reliability was limited.
The whole Typhon project, therefore, was scrapped, and so was the accompanying design for the big guided-missile destroyer which was to carry it. But the need continued insistent, and the Navy turned the problem back to its research and development staff to work out. It is still there.
The need is for a weapon so powerful, so discerning and so reliable that it can seek out and destroy an enemy bomber while it still is too far away to launch its own missile.
The Navy’s concern in this respect is not over its expensive attack carriers, as might be thought, for the carrier’s own planes are counted on to detect and destroy enemy raiders while they still are far away.
The recent record of spotting Russian bombers long before they reached a United States carrier task force in transit is such as to justify this confidence.
Rather, the Navy’s vulnerable targets are the convoy, the amphibious landing force, and the hunter-killer anti-submarine force.
All are very important, but none can maintain a protecting screen of long-range interceptor planes. Instead they rely on destroyers and light carriers armed with the three-T missiles, and these missiles are not powerful enough to reach a modern enemy bomber before it reaches the launch point for its own missiles.
The clear need is for a successor to the ill- fated Typhon.
The Navy developers are confident that they will reach a design combining the extra range with relative simplicity and reliability and tolerable size and weight. But even when they attain that objective they still will have to produce the vessel to mount it, a matter of three more years.
Nor is it enough to destroy the enemy plane. There still is need to destroy or neutralize an enemy missile which that plane has already launched—precisely as the Army is working furiously to develop the Sprint missile to do exactly that in the Nike-X surface-to-air missile system.
The sprint missile is not yet in sight. Even if it were, it would not meet the Navy’s needs, for it, too, is too large for a ship mount and its basic propellant (which provides Sprint with the swiftest acceleration known) creates a blast harmless on earth but fatal to a ship.
53 Why N. Y. Took the Rap (John G. Norris in The Washington Post, 20 December 1964): Why Brooklyn? Why not Boston? What determined which naval shipyard was to be selected for closure?
How, in fact, did the Pentagon go about picking all the bases it ordered shut down? Was the process fair, or did politics creep into the choice of one or another, where so much was at stake in the local community?
These questions have been raised repeatedly since Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara rocked many areas last month by announcing the closing of 95 bases for economy reasons. The heaviest protests came from New York City, where 18,400 workers will lose their jobs when the big Brooklyn yard— major base on the list—and four others shut down.
People have questioned whether any part of the Naval shipyard complex need be dropped, as well as why Brooklyn and the smaller Portsmouth, N. IT, yard were chosen.
Two factors contributed to the cry of “politics” that was raised over the action— an accusation that brought a curt comment of “baloney” from McNamara.
One was that the base closure order came shortly after the election and it was charged that the announcement had been delayed purposely. The other reason was that when McNamara announced some other base closures a year ago, Congressmen reported that three other naval shipyards—Boston, Philadelphia and San Francisco—had been on McNamara’s list but had been removed by the White House.
It seems reasonable to conclude that McNamara did time his announcement after the election instead of backing into a buzz-saw by putting it out during the campaign. But if he did recommend those three closures a year ago and was overruled by the President— which Pentagon officials will not admit—he can be logically accused only of making a snap judgment then, not of changing his mind because of political considerations now.
A year ago, there was inadequate evidence for selecting one yard over another. Today, there is a basis for choosing among them.
On Dec. 12, 1963, McNamara directed Navy Secretary Paul H. Nitze to make a complete review of the naval shipyard complex. Three days later, Nitze named a top level Shipyards Policy Board, with himself as chairman. The study took 11 months.
The Defense Department had already decided that some shipyards had to go. Facts on hand showed that, as a result in the decline in American shipbuilding, the expected peacetime work load in American naval and private shipyards over the next several years would use only about 50 per cent of their normal capacity.
The Nitze Board studied both types of yards but from the start seemed to assume that the shrunken private shipbuilding industry had to be kept intact. Therefore the question was how many navy yards could be closed consistent with peacetime strategic and operational needs and wartime mobilization necessities.
The strategic and operational requirements, as set by Adm. David L. McDonald, Chief of Naval Operations, called for two shipyards on each coast capable of repairing aircraft carriers; one shipyard on eacli coast that could overhaul nuclear submarines, and three that could handle missile ships and electronics gear.
It was decided early that private shipyards—not being under Government control —could not be relied upon to maintain such capabilities. It was also decided that for the support of ship operations, navy yards had definite advantages in safety, security and personnel support, naval training, hospitals, etc.
Some navy yards, however, got a distinct plus over others for their superior facilities or because they were the “home ports” of many warships, where most of the families of crew members live. Norfolk, Va., and Long Beach, Calif., have traditionally been major home ports.
On the basis of the strategic and operational requirements, the Nitze Board decided that
Notebook 155
there was a permanent need for eight of the navy yards. It also was determined that five yards considered “hard core” could not he considered for closure.
These are Norfolk, part of the major East Coast base with a wide range of capabilities; Charleston, S. C., which has the East Coast Polaris submarine support base; Puget Sound, Wash., which is the West Coast Polaris support base and has a wide range of capabilities; Long Beach Calif., where much of the Pacific Fleet is “home-ported,” and Pearl Harbor, principally because of its strategic location.
Further analysis convinced the board that °n the basis of expected peacetime workloads, tt was possible to close two of the other four navy yards on the East Coast and one of the remaining two on the West Coast.
The group then looked at wartime mobilization needs. It determined that there would fie a wartime shortage of both pier space and trained shipyard workers if either the San Prancisco or Mare Island Naval Shipyards tvere closed. It was decided to merge these San Francisco Bay area yards under one manager.
On the East Coast, the board decided that Portsmouth, N. H., and one of the other three nonhard-core yards—Brooklyn, Boston or Philadelphia—could be shut down without causing a wartime shortage of drydocks. It then examined the last three yards for industrial capability, fleet operational support and expected economies.
The 426-acre Boston yard has six drydocks and 22,000 feet of piers, extensive facilities for overhauling missiles and general surface ship handling capability. But it is crowded and has no carrier drydock or submarine capabilities.
The 377-acre Brooklyn yard has six dry- docks, 11,900 feet of pier space and both carrier and general surface ship construction and overhaul capability. But it has limited missile capability, no submarine capability and a bridge clearance problem.
Philadelphia, biggest of the four yards (818 acres) and the best laid out, has seven drydocks, 27,000 feet of berthing space, general surface ship capability which can be expanded to include big carriers, extensive missile capability and diesel submarine handling capability which could easily be expanded to include nuclear subs. It has a bridge clearance problem and would have to move some cranes to gain carrier handling capability.
From the industrial facilities viewpoint, the board listed Philadelphia as the best, and Brooklyn and Boston close, but gave the edge to the latter.
In fleet operational support capabilities, Boston’s advantages include the fact that large numbers of ships are home-ported there or in the nearby Newport-Quonset area, its proximity to North Atlantic sailing routes and easy access to the sea. But channel restrictions prevent carriers from reaching the main yard.
Brooklyn also has direct access to the sea and is close to major convoy terminals, but it is remote from fleet training and operating areas and home ports. Philadelphia also is remote from fleet training and operating areas and is 90 miles from the open sea but has fresh water berthing for mothball fleet ships. Boston and Philadelphia were judged to have net advantages over New York in this support category.
Finally the board concluded that more money could be saved by closing Brooklyn (SI 3.1 million to $18.1 million) than Boston ($11.7 to $12.2 million) or Philadelphia ($9.9 to $12.6 million). Philadelphia and Boston also were rated first and second, respectively, in productivity—the number of man-hours required to do a job.
When the decision to close Brooklyn and Portsmouth is reviewed by congressional committees—as it certainly will be—there will undoubtedly be experts who will challenge the weight placed on the various factors considered, but opponents will find difficulty in attacking the board’s over-all findings.
It is the most thorough and well-documented review ever made of a military base complex. Top admirals support the decision and there has been no evidence of politics entering into the final conclusion.
s Rickover Gets Fermi Award (From the Washington Sunday Star, 22 November 1964): Vice Adm. Hyman G. Rickover was selected yesterday as recipient of the 1964 Enrico Fermi Award for his contributions to the development of nuclear power for submarines
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Ship Notes
0 United States: The following ships have been placed in commission—America (CVA-66) on 23 January 1965; Garcia (DE-1040) on 21 December 1964\ Nathanael Greene (SSBN-636) on 19 December 1964; Sam Rayburn (SSBN- 635) on 2 December 1964; Haddo (SSN-604) on 16 December 1964; Liberty (AGTR-5 former AG-168) on 30 December 1964.
The following ships have been launched Truxtun (DLGN-35) on 19 December 1964; William H. Standley (DLG-32) on 5 December 1964; Albert David (DE-1050) on 19 December 1964; Kamehameha (SSBN-642) on 16 January 1965; Benjamin Franklin (SSBN-640) on 5 December 1964.
The following ships have been laid down—- John F. Kennedy (CVA-67) on 22 October 1964; SSN-662 on 22 December 1964; Cleveland LPD-7 on 30 November 1964.
s Hydrofoil Delivered to Marines (Lycoming Division, Avco Corp., News Release, 8 December 1964): A new turbine-powered hydrofoil amphibian vehicle specifically designed to provide improved performance during amphibious assault operations, was delivered today to the U. S. Marine Corps by Avco Corporation’s Lycoming Division.
The amphibian vehicle, which is capable of operating over land on wheels or through the water on the hull or hydrofoils, has been designated as the LVHX-1, or Landing Force Amphibious Support Vehicle, Hydrofoil.
The LVHX-1 was designed to operate from a “mother” ship 50 miles off shore to inland logistic support areas. It is designed to “fly’ in rough seas at up to 35 knots, boat in conventional fashion at up to 12 knots, or drive overland at speeds up to 40 miles per hour, all with 10,000 pounds of payload. Its power comes from a 1,000 shaft horsepower Lycoming TF14 marine turbine engine. Its “flight’ capability is provided through the use of two large hydrofoils, one front and one rear, which are mounted on struts and are completely submerged when the vehicle is in flight. The hydrofoils provide lift, thus raising the vehicle itself approximately 30 inches above the water. Struts and foils retract into the hull for boating through the surf zone and for driving on land.
Range of the LVH in flight is 210 nautical miles. On land, power from the turbine engine is transmitted directly to the four wheels. Individually controlled tire inflation provides for maximum traction in traversing difficult beaches, sand dunes, mud, rough terrain and steep grades.
The LVH’s stability in rough water of up to five foot waves (state three seas) is provided by a special autopilot system that senses the length and height of oncoming waves and activates controllable flaps on the front foil so as to “flatten out” the ride.
The LVHX-1 has two propellers, one at the base of the rear strut for “flying” operations, the second under the hull for conventional boating. Fully dynamic steering is provided by rotating either the boating propeller or flying strut.
The wheels of the LVHX-1 retract into the hull to reduce drag while boating and, on land, can also retract to lower the vehicle to a “kneeling” position for easier loading or unloading. The amphibious vehicle’s side doors fold down and act as a loading ramp. The cargo bed is only 33 inches above the ground when the vehicle is “kneeling.”
The hull has been designed to provide maximum strength at minimum weight. It is an integrally stiffened box structure of aluminum and stressed skin based on aircraft design practice. The LVHX-1 is 36 feet 11 inches long and 10 feet 10 inches wide, allowing operation from virtually any Navy amphibious landing support ship.
s Buoy Tender Commissioned Coast Guard Headquarters News Release 20, November 1964: Coast Guard plans for fleet modernization moved ahead today with the commissioning of its newest coastal buoy tender, the 157-foot Red Beech, at the Coast Guard Yard, Curtis Bay, Maryland.
The tender is the second of a new class of vessels entering the Coast Guard fleet. A third coastal tender, Red Birch, is now under construction at the Yard. Together with the already commissioned Red Wood, the three vessels will make up the new class of tenders joining the Coast Guard family of ships.
Eventually, Red Beech will replace the veteran Oak, based at New York. She possesses such modern features as air conditioned living quarters, messing and crane-control room areas, a ten-ton hydraulically powered boom with a constant tension device for safer and more efficient handling of buoys, controllable pitch propellers, and a bow thruster unit to increase maneuverability. She has a cruising radius of 3,000 miles at 12 knots.
Maritime General
s Sweden Building 10 Ships for Soviets
(New York Herald-Tribune, 15 November 1964): Swedish shipyards are building 10 automated refrigerated cargo ships for the Soviet Union.
In addition to the automated equipment, the 8,650-ton motorships will feature air- conditioned quarters for their crews.
Six of the 17^-knot reefers ships are being built by Gotaverken, and four by Lindhol- mcns Varv. Gotaverken delivered the first of the series, the Priboj, last month.
The Priboj is the first vessel to be equipped with Gotaverkens’ new pneumatic bridge- control system for the main engine. Her 8,650- horse power diesel is also controlled from a sound-proof, air-conditioned control room that also houses the electrical switch board.
From the console in this room, the engineer has remote control of all vital pumps and auxiliary machinery, Gotaverkens said. The control desk also contains a closed circuit TV system and instruments for monitoring more than 100 alarm points. Three multi-channel strip chart recorders keep a continuous log of vital pressures and temperatures.
The Priboj has two five-ton derricks at each hatch. Her refrigerated cargo space consists of five insulated main compartments each divided into 15 separate holds. The general cargo spaces are air cooled.
Accommodations for officers and crew are aft. They include a steam bath, library and recreation rooms.
0 1964 Shipping Tonnage Up {The New
York Times, 2 December 1964): World tonnage of merchant ships increased by 7,136,000 tons during 1964 to reach a total of 153 million, Lloyd’s Register of Shipping said today [1 December].
The increase was distributed unevenly, with a high proportion going to the Liberian flag of convenience. Noteworthy increases were also shown for the Soviet Union, Japan and Norway. Information about the Russian merchant fleet was incomplete.
The United States led the world with
22.430.0 tons, although the size of its fleet decreased by 703,000 tons in the year. The figures include a reserve fleet estimated at 10.5 million tons. Britain was second with
21.490.0 gross tons, representing a loss of
75.0 tons.
Other nations in thousand tons gross, with comparison with 1963 in parenthesis, follow:
Liberia 14,500 (plus 3,158); Norway 14,447 (plus 808); Japan 10,813 (plus 837); Soviet Union 6,958 (plus 1,524); Greece 6,888 (plus 206); Italy 5,708 (plus 103); West Germany 5,159 (plus 109); France 5,116 (minus 100); the Netherlands 5,110 (minus 117); Sweden 4,308 (plus 132); Panama 4,269 (plus 376).
Denmark 2,431 (plus 13); Spain 2,048 (plus 40); Canada 1,823 (plus 27); India 1,448 (plus 237); Argentina 1,284 (minus 23); Brazil 1,271 (plus 44); Poland 988 (plus 64); Yugoslavia 967 (plus 1); Finland, 964 (plus 38), and Lebanon 854 (minus 53).
Automated Ships Find Problem (Helen Delich Bentley in Baltimore Sun, 29 November 1964): Steamship companies which have built and are building “automated” ships under the American flag may find themselves bound with a crew member rating that is going to give them unexpected problems.
That rating is the “deck engine mechanic.”
When that rating was created—and it actually is not officially considered a rating by the Coast Guard to date—the steamship lines did it on the premises that this man would be able to do considerable maintenance and mechanical work around the ship. Since he was an unlicensed man, his pay rate would be less than that of a licensed engineer.
However, when he was first assigned to the automated ship, he was put there to stand watch in the engine room with the engineer on duty.
The Coast Guard had said that there had to be a second man on watch and that they would certify anyone from an oiler up.
Rather than put an oiler on this job, the industry established this new position of a deck engine mechanic at a rate of pay 28 per cent above that of an oiler.
However, to date the man has done nothing more than what an oiler or a wiper did on the conventional ship—stand watch.
Now the steamship lines are seeking to have the Coast Guard abolish the second man on watch requirement so that the deck engine mechanic would be free to do what he originally was intended to do.
But this does not appear to be in the picture now. The Coast Guard has indicated it will
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not make any changes in this requirement for eighteen months—and then will proceed with caution.
If the deck-engine mechanic continues only to stand watches as the oiler and/or wiper did before him, the other man on the ship are going to demand that their pay be increased 28 per cent to place them on the same pay- scale level as this “glorified watchstander.”
And if that happens, all of the gains made by placing automate equipment aboard the ships so there could be reductions in crew (and crew costs) will be lost because the crew pay wifi exceed that of the men on a conventional ship even though there might be fewer men on the automated vessel.
Another alternative is that the shipowner add three oilers to stand the watches and pull the deck-engine mechanics off in order to do the desired maintenance work.
If that happens, it means the total crew aboard will be approaching the total on a conventional freighter and all the talk about the great savings and reductions by 25 per cent will be meaningless.
The deck-engine mechanic truly poses a grave problem to the automated program of the American merchant marine. Where wifi he fit in the picture?
Foreign
0 Russia Plans 2 New Atom Ships (Baltimore Sun, 11 December 1964): The Soviet Union plans to build two more atomic icebreakers for Arctic waters, Tass announced today [10 December].
While their hulls wifi be built from the same blueprints as that of the icebreaker Lenin, commissioned in 1959, the ships will have only two atomic reactors aboard instead of three, as in the Lenin.
Tass said the new ships, expected to take several years in construction, would be lighter than the 16,000-ton Lenin and able to operate longer without refueling. The Lenin now operates mainly in late June and July, breaking Arctic ice. But a single fuel charge is said to permit more than a year of sailing.
The new ships will be more fully automated than the Lenin, and carry smaller crews, Tass said.
Another Soviet shipbuilding venture announced today is the Hovercraft, or sormovich.
Nikolai Anischchenkov, a worker at the Krasnoye Sormovo shipyards in Gorky, said 75-mile-an-hour hovercraft were now on the drawing boards.
Anishchenko said the craft, which rides on a cushion of air, will be able to land on shore to pick up passengers, eliminating docks.
His shipyard produces hydrofoil vessels, which are in wide river use in the U.S.S.R.
0 Canada Narrows Competition (From Aviation Week, 14 December 1964): Canadian Ministry of National Defense has narrowed its competition for a tactical close-support aircraft for its newly reorganized Canadian Defense Force to the Northrop F-5A, the Douglas A-4E and the Grumman A-6A. The Ministry is expected to submit a request to the Dept, of Defense Production this month asking it to negotiate through the U. S. Defense Dept, for the procurement of approximately 200 of one of the three.
The decision to narrow the competition to these aircraft was made late last week when Canadian defense officials formally ruled out the more-sophisticated McDonnell F-4C because of its substantially higher cost and a lack of interest on both sides to proposed plans for a licensed co-production program for the aircraft by Canada and Great Britain. Britain currently plans to purchase at least 50 F-4s, but the project is being placed under tight scrutiny by that country’s new, economy- minded Labor government.
0 Canada Ties Up 6 Warships (New York Herald Tribune, 27 November 1964): The Canadian Navy announced Wednesday that six warships have been tied up here because of an “imbalance” of man power.
A naval spokesman said no ships are being retired. Four ocean escorts and two destroyer- escorts are involved.
He said the ships, which will form a semiofficially named “black squadron,” will be kept alongside jetties in a constant state of operational readiness. They will be manned by about 300 officers and men, compared to a normal total complement of about 1,000.
The spokesman said the imbalance is in highly technical trades, meaning that the ships cannot be properly maintained during normal duties at sea.
0 India to Build Frigates (The Marine Engineer and Naval Architect, October 1964): India is planning to build frigates at Mazagon Dock in Bombay. It is estimated that, with suitable foreign collaboration, they will be able to build a general-purpose medium-sized ship of approximately 3,000 tons in about 4§ years, and that the Mazagon Dock, Bombay, would be able to deliver a ship every 1§ years in series production, i.e. there would be three ships under construction at any given time— one at the building berth, one being fitted and the third undergoing weapon and machinery trials.
0 Royal Navy’s First Icebreaker (Journal of the Royal Naval Scientific Service, September 1964): The Royal Navy is, for the first time, to have an icebreaker, whose role will combine the tasks of patrol, survey and scientific support in the Arctic, the Atlantic and the Antarctic. The vessel is to be named after Captain Scott’s first ship, Terra Nova. Unlike the original, a 764 ton vessel propelled by sail and steam with coal-fired boilers and an underpowered single screw engine, her modern namesake will displace 7,500 tons and will be powered by four diesel electric engines driving twin screws and developing some
15,0 h.p. She is also to be equipped with two helicopters.
0 Rio Service Rivalry Stirs Cabinet (The New York Times, 16 December 1964): Shots fired by air force officers at a navy helicopter provoked a change today [15 December] in the military Cabinet of President Humberto Casto Branco.
The incident reflected a feud between the Brazilian services over which should command and fly aircraft of the 12,000-ton carrier Minas Gerais, which was bought from Britain in 1958.
Rather than assume responsibility for investigating the shooting and possibly for punishing the officers responsible, Air Force Minister Nelson Freire Lavanere Wanderley resigned.
An army general has been appointed to investigate the shooting incident, which occurred last week along the coast of Rio Grande do Sul. The navy helicopter was damaged by shots during a hydrographic survey.
Notebook 163
@ German Research Ship Meteor (By Anthony Harrigan) West Germany’s oceanographic studies capability has increased sharply with completion of the oceanographic research vessel Meteor. One of the most up-to- date ships of its type, the Meteor will be able to operate in the most distant oceans. Displacing 2,700 tons, she is more than 300 feet in length and has a maximum speed of 14 knots.
The vessel is the joint enterprise of the German Research Association and the German Hydrographic Institute. The former operates the research and survey ship Gauss, and the Federal Ministry of Food own the Anton Dohrn, which specializes in fisheries research. These vessels, however, are operated for specific tasks, whereas the Meteor will be devoted to basic research.
The operating plan calls for the Meteor to travel six months a year for the purposes of the Research Association, and six months for the Hydrographic Institute. Both organizations have research plans that will occupy the ship and its staff for years to come.
Fully equipped with laboratories and aquaria, the Meteor will carry out research in marine biology and geology, marine meteorology, physics of the sea-bottom and underlying strata, physics and chemistry of the sea, and all branches of oceanography.
The vessel has special rudders to provide excellent turning capability, and the laboratories aboard ship are insulated against machine vibration. The ship also will be equipped with an improved plankton recovery device developed by Professor A. Buckmann, head of the Station of Marine Biology at Heligoland. This tube device, called the “shark,” opens and closes automatically at the depth required, and has a mechanism designed to prevent the escape of speedy marine animals.
Another new device in the Meteor is a combination of a gravity punch and a mechanical grabbing device. This device, developed by the Geological Department of the University of Kiel and the Senckcnberg Institution at Wilhelmshaven, is controlled from the surface by drag lines. Its jaws bite into the bottom of the sea and close to bring up a section of sea bottom with all its inhabitants.
The Blue Diamond Fleet
CURTIS BAY
^TOWING COMPANY^
Progress
Landing, Ship Logistic—The Sir Lancelot is the first of a series of ships being built to replace the aging tank landing ships now used to support the British Army. Her design includes LST-type bow doors and ramp, a stern vehicle ramp, cranes for handling heavy cargo, and a helicopter platform. The Sir Lancelot is 416-feet overall, has a light displacement of 5,500 tons, and has a speed of 17 knots. She is operated for the Ministry of Transport by the British India Steam Navigation Company.
British Information Service
VMHMI
Carrier Trials—The recently commissioned USS America (CVA-66) is an improved Kitty Hawk-class ship, differing, in part, from her predecessors in having bow- mounted sonar, improved command and control facilities, and an experimental 310-foot steam catapult (the ship’s three other catapults and those of her near sisters are 210-feet long).
Newport News Shipbuilding
New COD—The Navy has accepted its first Grumman C-2A, carrier-on board-delivery (COD) aircraft. The C-2A is a modified E-2A Hawkeye design with an enlarged, rear-loading fuselage. The C-2A can carry 40 passengers or 7§ tons of cargo including two J-79 jet engines. With a 5-ton load the C-2A can fly 1,300 nautical miles. Its maximum speed is more than 300 m.p.h.
Grumman
Now Flying—The Sikorsky CH- 5 3A, termed the West’s largest and fastest assault helicopter, has begun flight tests. The CH-53A can lift 38 combat-equipped troops or nine tons of cargo and has a top speed of more than 200 m.p.h. The Marine Corps has placed orders for 106 of these twin- turbine helicopters.
Sikorsky Aircraft
Search and Survey Sub—The Benthos V (Greek for "bottom dweller”) is one of the newest midget submarines designed for underwater search and survey. The 2- man craft can work at depths of 600 feet. The Benthos V is II feet, 4 inches long; weighs 4,400 pounds; and can move at 3 knots on a battery-powered motor. The submarine can rotate about her vertical axis and hover.
Lear Siegler