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136 Marine Corps Transplacement
By Major C. G. Dunnagan,
U. S. Marine Corps
139 The Air-Cushion Vehicle Comes of Age
By John Fricker
144 Planned Maintenance—It Works
By Lieutenant (j.g.)
J. D. Ritchie, U. S. Navy
146 The Hall of American Merchant Shipping
By Captain E. John Long,
U. S. Naval Reserve (Retired)
150 Notebook
Edited by Captain Daniel M. Karcher, U. S. Navy
MARINE CORPS TRANS PLACEMENT
In the days of Rome’s greatness, there were Roman soldiers who were sent overseas and lived out their days in the far-flung garrisons. Replacement of men or units on overseas duty was a sometime thing at best. For a few centuries following the fall of Rome, overseas replacement remained virtually nonexistent, in part because there were no overseas occupations. Men went off to the Crusades, for instance, expecting to return when the campaign ended, providing, of course, that they survived. Only in relatively modern times has the overseas rotation of troops become an accepted and expected practice. The inherent problems have varied with the time, place, and circumstances, but they have been real and difficult to solve.
One of the most recent attempts to solve the twin problems of rotation of men from overseas outposts and maintenance of unit readiness is the transplacement battalion concept of the U. S. Marine Corps. When the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, shipped out for Okinawa in mid-March 1959, the entire Marine Corps was watching the move with undivided interest.
Now well in its sixth year in practice,
the concept emanates from the difficulties of maintaining the Third Marine Division in the Far East and keeping it combat ready in the face of a constant loss of trained men to stateside rotation. The latter factor was far and away the overriding concern of Marine Corps planners. However, the attendent problems involved in a personnel pipeline large enough to maintain a flow of men to the deployed division levied a near-crushing burden on the entire Marine Corps. More alarming, it produced a constant sapping of readiness throughout the Corps.
The individual rotation process almost always involved tying up a minimum of three men for one overseas billet. Further, there was the problem that the man returning usually was a “short-timer,” at the tag end of his enlistment, which meant that the receiving unit needed a replacement for him within months or even weeks after he arrived.
This was the climate surrounding the Marine Corps’ Weller Board when it tackled overseas replacement in 1958. The Board’s first conclusion was that some form of unit replacement would most assuredly be an improvement over individual replacement. The chief advantages are that unit transplacement provides personnel stability, with consequent increased readiness in rotating units, by permitting the replacement of personnel overseas without transfer from their parent unit. Furthermore, transplacement increases the readiness of the receiving organization by substituting ready units for a cadre. And, it all but eliminates the pipeline of non-effective personnel coming and going.
The major difficulties associated with unit rotation are administrative. Complete units cannot take advantage of small increments of shipping as can individual replacements.
The greatest single disadvantage of unit rotation is its relative inflexibility. There is a complete inter-relationship of tour length, number of units overseas, shipping interval, total units in the rotation cycle, and total allowable length of the personnel cycle. A change in any one of these requires a revision of the entire program.
Although the desirability of unit transplacement was the most important single conclusion of the Weller Board, it was also perhaps the easiest one to reach. Once it was reached, the remaining problem was essentially to find the best method of replacement and the level at which to replace units. A follow-on problem was to set up a workable concept for a continuing program.
As a generic term, “unit transplacement” includes both unit rotation and unit replacement. Rotation is the direct exchange of geographic locations and responsibilities between units. Replacement is the exchange of units with the relieved unit losing most of its personnel to transfers and discharges.
The first, and most obvious, advantage of rotation over replacement is the continuity it provides in the organizations involved. Up to 50 per cent of the men in the unit are always trained. This serves to retain unit identity and a hard core of trained men. That core can assume much of the responsibility for training the unit rather than having to call upon the training base to do it. This permits economy in personnel as well as allowing a reduction of the training structure which would otherwise be required to train replacements. In addition to the savings allowed by having a unit that can provide most of its own training, administrative procedures are simplified during the change-over period. This, too, results from the 50 per cent retention, which provides the unit with the ability to process its own incoming and outgoing personnel.
The advantages of unit rotation far outweigh the disadvantages in importance as well as number. Now the Board faced the problem of determining the level at which unit rotation could best be accomplished. In the matter of size of unit, the Board limited its consideration to two levels—battalion and regiment.
There were some attractive advantages to be gained by moving regiments. The supporting elements would move with the transplacing unit, and the large unit staff would move with the troops, ensuring staff and troops of like experience. Also, regimental transplacement would permit the strategic positioning of large units for emergency use while units were transplacing. But there were also disadvantages that fairly shouted for attention. Heading the list was the dangerous situation in which the transplacing regiment’s parent division would find itself. One-third of the division would be detached during the transplacement, with the returning one-third to be stripped upon return to the United States. In contrast, transplacing of battalions, would cut the reduction to less than one-ninth of the division’s strength. Just as important, if only because of the difficulty it imposes, is the phasing in of the larger number of people with sufficient remaining active duty. This would be a problem with battalions, too, but less than that with regiments.
It was decided to begin transplacement with the First and Third Divisions, at California and Okinawa, respectively. On 1 January 1959, the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, began reforming for the first phase of a 30- month cycle. The battalion formed around a core of 50 per cent men with more than one year of active duty. It drew the remaining 50 per cent directly from basic training. These men would be the trained core of the second stateside cycle, 15 months later.
Following a one-month reorganization and leave period, the battalion settled into a six- week “lock-on” training cycle, after which it sailed for Okinawa. Measured portal-to- portal, the battalion’s overseas tour was 13 months, during which it was almost completely stable from the standpoint of personnel. Except for the small percentage of emergency leaves too near the tour’s end to return the men, there were no losses and no
gains. The advantages involved are obvious.
Company commanders, platoon commanders, and staff officers found the proficiency achieved by individuals and units hard to believe. And two months after their arrival in Okinawa came the next unit in the program, the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines. Both battalions replaced units of the 9th Marines, so the officers had ample opportunity to compare notes. Here, they agreed, was the answer to the infantry’s normal peacetime bugaboo of rapid personnel turnover. Because of the usual requirement for a repetitive training schedule to accommodate the constant influx of new men, it was almost impossible to train a normal unit beyond a barely acceptable minimum. Perhaps even worse, a rifle company was lucky to muster 110 of the 195 men then in its table of organization. The transplacement companies were at nearly 98 per cent strength, and all hands were on board for the entire 15-month half cycle! To the officers and sergeants who had served in other rifle companies in peacetime, the transplacement battalion was a unit leader’s paradise.
There have now been more than 30 battalion transplacements between the First and Third Divisions, and the system is still in effect with very few changes, an indication of the Marine Corps’ opinion of the scheme. When the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines sailed, it left all organizational equipment behind and assumed the equipment of the unit it was replacing. This practice remains unchanged, as does the 30-month cycle. So does the practice of replacing half the unit at a time, thereby guaranteeing 50 per cent trained men at the beginning of each training cycle.
The Marine Corps is planning no major changes in the existing program and there are many who would like to see the transplacement concept expanded to include noninfantry units. The concept has also found a partial application in the “stabilized” units of Second Marine Division for its Mediterranean and Caribbean “afloat” units.
Although there would be some personnel disadvantages created in non-infantry units and specialties, they are worth living with in order to gain the combat efficiency and readiness the transplacement program has given to the infantry battalions. In any organization
built around infantry, by far the most important measure of over-all combat readiness and efficiency is its infantry units. Anything that improves those units is both worthwhile and desirable, even if the cost involves some loss of efficiency in other units.
By John Fricker,
British Aviation Writer
THE AIR-CUSHION VEHICLE COMES OF AGE
Air-cushion vehicles, also known as hover- craft or ground-effect machines, have matured rapidly since the first one lifted off the ground in England on 1 June 1959. From the purely experimental stages of proving the air-cushion principle, the state of the art has progressed to the point where the first practical vehicles are being produced for both commercial and military use.
This rapid progress has been due mainly to a breakthrough in design technology which has revolutionized AGV research and development. Maintaining its pioneering lead in the ACV field, the British hovercraft industry has over the past couple of years developed a simple modification which enables considerable reduction in power requirements, with corresponding savings in capital cost, increases in payloads by nearly three times, and reductions in operating costs by more than 75 per cent.
These spectacular improvements in performance and economics have been achieved by the simple addition of a flexible fabric skirt around the periphery of the vehicles, to contain the air cushion and increase its pressure. The result is an increase of hover heights by a factor of ten without additional power, or reduction of as much as 60 per cent in lift system requirements.
The first hovercraft used peripheral curtains of air to build up and contain a higher- pressure cushion sufficient to support their weight. Cushion pressures, however, and therefore hover heights, were limited by what could be built up and sustained within the air curtain, and the fact that their volume was constantly being decreased by losses accompanying forward motion. By using doubleskirting to transfer and contain the pressure air, efficiency is so much improved that a far greater proportion of the available power can be used for propulsion instead of lift.
For propulsion and control, most hovercraft currently use aircraft-type propellers or ducted fans, with variable-pitch (including reverse on the more sophisticated ACVs), in conjunction with aerodynamic surfaces such as rudders and elevators. The introduction of the flexible skirt also added a powerful new control factor in the form of lift spilling by raising individual sections. This causes the hovercraft to tilt and move in the direction of the lifted skirting, and is particularly effective in the low-speed and hovering activities. It is also useful as a trimming device during prolonged cross-wind operation.
As one of Britain’s leading ACV constructors and holder of several skirt patents, the firm of Westland Aircraft has said that without this skirt development hovercraft could not have advanced beyond the stage of an interesting idea. This idea would have had a very limited practical application. Prior to the introduction of flexible skirts, increased hover height could be achieved only by a vast expansion in vehicle size, but it is now possible to predict oceangoing hovercraft weighing only 200 tons, with 10-foot to 15-foot skirt depths, compared with the minimum of at least 1,000 tons previously estimated.
The very first ACV of all, the pioneer SR.N1, started life six years ago hovering at about nine inches at a weight of four tons. Adding a four-foot double skirt enabled it to clear an eight-foot by 12-foot ditch and a six-foot sheer drop at almost twice its original design weight. The latest Westland ACV series, the SR.N5/6, starts with a total weight of only seven tons, yet these vehicles clear greater obstacles than a 40-ton craft without the new equipment. The SR.N1 trials, plus those of most other British ACVs, have shown that the rubberized fabric used for skirting experiences virtually no abrasion wear after more than 500 hours of operation.
Following parallel Westland developments,
Vickers adopted an inflatable skirt system in mid-1963 to gain a 200 per cent improvement in obstacle clearance, while the firm of Britten- Norman uses a convoluted type, designed by Hovercraft Developments, for its new six- seat Cushioncraft CC-4. As for the remaining British companies with major ACV projects, Denny Hovercraft already used a contained- type air-cushion on maritime vessels with extended sidewalls. Similar experiments are be
ing conducted by the firm of J. Samuel White.
Sidewalls and flexible skirts are also being tried on the main American AC Vs, Bell’s Hydroskimmer and Carabao. The big SKMR-1 hydroskimmer, built under U. S. Navy contract, completed its initial acceptance trials in August 1963, and has since been employed on further testing to formulate design criteria for future AC Vs fitted with 2,000-pound nitrile rubber and nylon skirts. Among its tactical
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tests has been its use as an assault vehicle to carry 13 fully armed Marines. Another Bell assault ACV using the sidewall principle is the ARC(K) hydrokeel built for the Marine Corps. It began tests in mid-1964.
The smaller Carabao is more of a commercial venture, being designed as an experimental predecessor to a four-seat general- purpose version which Bell considers could be sold for $30,000 to $40,000. Bell, however, is also interested in the license production of the Westland range of ACVs, having taken over one of the seven-ton SR.N5s in September 1964, for demonstrations and sales research, and having ordered two more for a 20-month experimental service between downtown San Francisco and the San Francisco Bay area’s international airports. Another American aerospace company—Republic—has also demonstrated a British ACV, the Vickers VA-3, which it leased for a year, but is apparently more interested in developing its own designs for commercial and military use through a licensing agreement for patent rights and technical support. While with Republic, the VA-3 was used for a 100-hour evaluation program by the U. S. Marine Corps. Republic estimates the military market alone for ACVs to be of the order of one hundred million dollars over the next ten years.
Unlike many new developments in technology, ACVs have hitherto been directed mainly toward commercial rather than military applications, and the summer of 1962 saw the introduction of the first hovercraft services in Britain for fare-paying passengers. These seagoing services started with scheduled operations by the 24-passenger Vickers VA-3 across the mouth of the River Dee, between Wales and Cheshire. This run has been used by more than 3,700 passengers.
Shortly afterward, another commercial ACV operation followed between Southsea and Ryde, Isle of Wight. Started with the operation of one 52-passenger Westland SR.N2, this service was repeated in mid-1964 when it required the addition of the prototype 12-seat SR.N5. Together, these ACVs reduced the normal Solent ferry crossing from more than half an hour to about eight minutes. Nearly 30,000 passengers were carried in a 12-week period last year.
From this experience, and additional calculations, Westland is able to quote direct operating costs for this class of ACV of around 3.5 to 5.8 cents per seat-mile, which compares favorably with other types of surface transport. Westland is also prepared to quote prices and delivery dates (nine months) for their ACV range: the SR.N2 for $1,278,000 and SR.N5 for $212,000.
The 27-ton SR.N2, which first appeared toward the end of 1961, was the first ACV to be produced for commercial application, and was designed to carry up to 70 passengers at speeds up to 80 m.p.h. It is powered by four 815 s.h.p. Bristol Siddeley Nimbus shaft- turbine engines coupled in pairs in the hull, and driving both the propulsion/control and lift fans. The 37^-ton Mk. 2 version proposed for civil use would have four BS Gnome H.1200 turbines and carry up to 150 passengers or 12 tons of cargo.
The first ACV built specifically for operational military use, the SR.N3, is in fact a conversion of the SR.N2 MK. 2, with a lengthened hull and 1,050 s.h.p. Gnome gas turbines. This 37ton vehicle is one of the most significant military developments of the decade, and it could well revolutionize the logistics support and tactics of a wide range of operational missions. Its internal cabin height was increased by 11 inches compared with the SR.N2 to facilitate the stowage of military vehicles, and it has a large downward-opening door/ramp on each side.
Following its initial trials, which began in November 1963, the SR.N3 was handed over to the Interservice Hovercraft Trials Unit at the Royal Naval Air Station, Lee-on- Solent, in June 1964, and this joint organization, manned by personnel from the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, and the Army, has been engaged in studying the various roles for which this massive ACV may be used.
The Interservice Hovercraft Trials Unit (IHTU) formed in 1961 to explore every aspect of ACV use for the three British services. The SR.N3 has been its most important vehicle, and is fitted with the necessary equipment for a number of operational roles, including ASW electronics, Marconi Doppler, Decca true- motion radar, and Decca Navigator. With its 70- to 80-knot over-the-surface performance, good maneuverability, substantial payload, and rough sea capability, the large, skirted ACV could well bring a new dimension into ASW tactics, to offset the speed superiority of submerged nuclear submarines.
Apart from the SR.N3, which is the main vehicle being tested, the IHTU has handled most of the other British ACVs, including the SR.N1, SR.N2, the Vickers VA-1 and VA-2, the Cushioncraft CC-1 and CC-2, the Denny D-2 and the Folland GERM. By mid-1964, the IHTU was manned by eight officers and 30 enlisted men under a Navy commander, and outline plans had been made through 1974!
Following the start of military operations in Malaysia and Borneo, a Far East section of the IHTU was formed, under an Army officer, with the immediate task of evaluating two Westland SR.N5s in jungle warfare and supply roles. The SR.N5s were ordered by the British Ministry of Defence in June 1964, and were delivered to the Far East on 11 January 1965. The British government bought a third SR.N5 in mid-1965.
The SR.N5, which is a seven-ton craft capable of carrying up to 20 passengers or two tons of freight more than 65 knots over 200 nautical miles, is the first ACV to be produced in quantity, and construction is well advanced on 20 vehicles. More than ten are already in operation, and production is now in progress at a rate of one per month to meet commercial orders from Canada, Germany, Japan, Norway, and the United States. With the standard powerplant of a single 900 s.h.p. BS Gnome turbine driving both lift fan and pusher propeller, the SR.N5 can clear 3§-foot vertical obstructions and is proving invaluable for use along the shoal-ridden coasts of Malaysia. Machine guns have been installed, together with lightweight plastic armor when required. A “stretched” version of the SR.N5, having 38-passenger capacity, began its trials earlier this year.
Interservice experience with the SR.N5s is paving the way toward the next objective, which has officially been stated as a hover- ship for Royal Navy operation. Basically, this will be a displacement vessel, with ACV capability for 90- to 100-knot dash speeds. The craft will weigh between 200 and 400 tons. It may possibly have a retractable keel, but while in the ACV/ASW mode, it would be immune to conventional undersea torpedoes. Westland has been studying ACV craft of up to 1,000 tons for naval use, although the next practical step after the 37-ton SR.N3 is considered to be a craft of around 150 to 250 tons. In the meantime, the U. S. Navy has been evaluating an SR.N5 at Norfolk, Virginia, alongside the Vickers VA-3.
Vickers has also been working on hover- ship development, while continuing research with the VA-2 and VA-3. The small four-ton VA-2, powered by three Rolls-Royce/Conti- nental piston-engines for lift and propulsion, has been used for experimental work since the end of 1962, and has operated over ice and in the desert. For operational trials, the bigger, 15-ton, VA-3, with accommodation for 24 passengers, has been “flying” since early 1962. The VA-3 started life with two 360 s.h.p. Turmo 603 turbines for lift and propulsion, but these were later replaced first by 400 s.h.p. Artouste IIC turbines, and then by Lycoming units in the United States.
The next step for Vickers is the VA-4 car ferry, which has been designed. With three 3,400-h.p., BS Proteus turbines, the 150-ton VA-4 will carry 24 cars and 200 passengers at up to 80 m.p.h., or 50 m.p.h. in six-foot wave
conditions. It will be competing with the 150- ton, 600-passenger SR.N4, now being designed for a cross-Channel service by Hovertrans- port. It is estimated that the design finally selected will cost about three million dollars to build. Vickers has also designed the 33-seat, twin-Gnome VA-8, weighing 12 tons, and using a single 1,520 s.h.p., R-R Gazelle turbine, as well as several 50 to 100 ton, sidewall ACVs as barge replacements.
The development of air-cushion vehicles is now continuing apace internationally, and prototype hovercraft have already appeared in the Soviet Union, Israel, Sweden, and Japan. Many new applications will doubtless emerge as experience is gained with these craft, which will undoubtedly impose the challenge of fresh thinking to the navies as well as the world’s transport organizations.
By Lieutenant (j.g.)
D. Ritchie, U. S. Navy,
Engineer Officer,
USS Buck (DD-761)
PLANNED MAINTENANCE— IT WORKS[1]
How many times have you heard the groan, “Why don’t they come up with a simple, workable program for preventive maintenance?”
Such a system has been developed. It is the Planned Maintenance System, and it was designed and developed by the Fleet Work Study Groups on board the USS Lowry (DD-770) and the USS Agerholm (DD-826). In early 1963, a Fleet Work Study Group team went aboard ships of Destroyer Squadrons Seven and 32. The system was implemented in the ships’ engineering departments and personnel were indoctrinated in its operation. Approximately six months later the system was expanded to cover ordnance and electronics material.
The lowest common denominator of the Planned Maintenance System is the maintenance group. This is the unit which does the actual maintenance on the equipment. The leading petty officer in charge of each group acts as the maintenance group supervisor. For instance, the engineering department in a destroyer is divided into six maintenance groups: forward fireroom, after fireroom, forward engineroom, after engineroom, auxiliary, and electrical.
Each maintenance group is issued a cycle schedule by the type commander. This schedule is a visual display of preventive maintenance requirements based on a three-year overhaul cycle. All items in the schedule are within the capability of the ship’s personnel to perform. This cycle schedule is used by the maintenance group supervisors to make out each quarterly schedule.
The quarterly—or long range—schedule is a visual display of the maintenance requirements for the current quarter and for the subsequent quarter. Maintenance requirements are entered by weeks on these schedules, and planned to coincide with in-port periods as promulgated by the ship’s quarterly employment schedule. At the end of each week, the maintenance group supervisor crosses out all maintenance requirements that have been accomplished and circles all requirements that have not been accomplished. These circled requirements must then be rescheduled for a later week.
A weekly schedule is posted in each maintenance group area. The group supervisor determines the maintenance requirements for the week from the quarterly schedule and assigns specific personnel to perform specific maintenance tasks on specific equipment components. The man assigned the work marks the planned maintenance code number with an “x” when the maintenance has been completed. In the event maintenance cannot be completed for any reason during the week scheduled, the man will circle the code number and the maintenance group supervisor will reschedule this item.
A planned maintenance job card is prepared for each maintenance task. The card defines the preventive maintenance task in terms that are easily understood by the man who will accomplish it.
The cards eliminate errors and save time by stating what tools are needed and what precautions (other than general safety precautions) should be observed. The cards are also a valuable training aid as each has a code number indicating the frequency of the planned maintenance requirement and the workbook page number corresponding to the particular maintenance task.
Each maintenance group maintains a workbook that applies to the components under its jurisdiction. This workbook contains a history page of corrective work required for each piece of equipment. Only corrective maintenance is entered in this workbook, as the quarterly schedule is the record of preventive maintenance.
One of the most attractive features of the Planned Maintenance System is its simplicity and clarity. The system is designed to reduce the maintenance of complex equipment to simple, easy-to-understand and easily managed procedures. It schedules the performance of the maintenance required, defines the maintenance procedures, describes the methods and tools to be used, and provides for the correction of casualties and deficiencies. The emphasis is on planning.
The Planned Maintenance System workbooks, kept up by the personnel who actually perform the maintenance, provide for an accurate and complete record of each piece of equipment. The information entered helps the command to analyze more accurately the elements of material design and deficiencies, workmanship, training, use of equipment, manpower shortages, and the spare parts and supply support actually needed. Requirements for material history and machinery history, as well as equipment failure reports, have been suspended for ships with Planned Maintenance System installed. Certain other reports are under review and will probably be discontinued in the near future. This reduction in administrative workload is a collateral advantage of the Planned Maintenance System.
When implemented and pursued as designed, the system has an accrued advantage of better leadership, management, and training. The clarity and practicality of the system, coupled with the reduction in crippling breakdowns and the irregular hours of work ac-
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companying “crash programs,” help enhance the feeling of effectiveness on the part of officers and men. At the same time, the completeness and accuracy of the system enable the command to better forecast and plan manpower and materials, plan and schedule maintenance, develop realistic usage data for stocking supplies, recognize areas for improvements or saving in quantity or quality of material and equipment, and detect areas for possibly improving training and maintenance procedures.
The Planned Maintenance System is not a cure-all for every maintenance headache. However, it does provide better planning, increased safety, increased morale, better training, more economical use of men and materials, and—most important—increased reliability in the Fleet.
By Captain E. John Long,
U. S. Naval Reserve (Retired)
THE HALL OF AMERICAN MERCHANT SHIPPING
In depicting the chronology of vessels at sea most museums are likely to mix fighting ships with other craft in the same exhibits. This is appropriate enough in certain periods when merchantmen carried guns and gunners for protection against corsairs and privateers. Some ordinary ships were then so heavily armed that even a “sea lawyer” might be puzzled in trying to decide whether their primary mission was for battle or commerce.
A bold step forward in sifting the two categories and in emphasizing oceanic trade has been attempted in the new Hall of American Merchant Shipping of the new Museum of History and Technology, recently opened by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D. C. As an indication of the continuous interrelationship between naval and merchant shipping, the hall contains a few models still bearing the initials “U.S.N.” These, however, are special work types or auxiliaries.
Most of the big hall, as planned and designed by Howard I. Chapelle, the Smithsonian’s curator of transportation, reaches into the historical and technical background of what has now become the largest representation of American merchant vessels. More than 200 authentic and often contemporary models, several half-models, and a number of prints, paintings, and original elements of watercraft trace America afloat from colonial times to the present with a cut-away model of the first nuclear-powered merchant ship—the NS Savannah.
The 40 air-conditioned, well-lighted cases depict the evolution of sail, steam, and motor power in many kinds of craft—fishing vessels, seagoing cargo and passenger ships, river and lake vessels, and local watercraft from all parts of the United States, including models of a few liquor-smugglers of the prohibition era. The types represented include topsail schooners, famous clipper ships, and paddle-wheel steamboats of the Mississippi River. Most of these exhibits relate the development of their design to the requirements of the waters and trades in which they sailed. Many of the models are excellent works of art; they were constructed by the skillful hands of Smithsonian modelmaker James Knowles.
Hanging above the cases are some of the colorful house flags of the American merchant marine. These will be rotated so that eventually the entire flag collection will have been shown.
For the sake of the visitor with limited time, or the specialist who wishes to concentrate on certain areas, the hall is divided into four sections:
Small Fishing Craft. These exhibits are shown in geographic sequence, beginning with Maine and proceeding southward along the coast to the Gulf of Mexico, across to the Pacific, and on to the Great Lakes. The models include a 1914 crab scraper, the Jesse Willard, a New Haven sharpie, a Key West schooner, and a New England sharpie. Chesapeake Bay is represented by such typical craft as the bugeye, skipjack, and oyster skiff.
Deep-Sea Fishing Vessels. This group displays a chronological development of deep-sea ships from the late 18 th century fishing schooners through the yacht-like schooners of the early 19 th century, and from the introduction of
steam in the fishing trade to modern diesel- powered trawlers and draggers. Outstanding models include the New England fishing schooner Fredonia, built in 1889; the modern steel trawler Storm (1936); the fishing pinky Essex (1821); and a New England dragger built in 1946.
Sailing Merchant Marine. Here are shown the schooner St. Ann, built before 1736; the sloop Mediator, built in 1741 on the Chesapeake; American merchant ships of the 18th and 19th centuries, including a three-masted schooner of 1804, as well as the clipper ship Challenge (1851), the Cope packet ship Shenandoah (1840), and the Boston-built, square-rigged Emily Whitney (1885).
One of the most interesting exhibits is the “Seamanship” case which contains a large- scale model of a square-rigged ship. For students and anyone else who is fascinated and perplexed by the intricacies of sail, this model will identify hard-to-visualize details of standing rigging, running rigging, and sails. Names are attached directly to such items as bundines and clewlines, braces and sheets, main courses and royals, shrouds and stays, and alongside the model are enlarged examples of
the various types of knots used in such vessels.
Steam Merchant Marine. The fine models in these cases trace the development of steamships in America from Robert Fulton’s Clermont to the high-speed freighters of today. Among the outstanding models are the Buckeye State (1849), the Greenbriar (1924), the Independence (1951) and the American Challenger (1962).
Also on display are a number of both unusual and well-known craft not associated with the above-mentioned sections. These are the Mayflower, which brought the Pilgrims to New England; a Viking ship, copied from the Gokstad ship excavated from a king’s burial mound near Sandifjord, Norway, in 1880; the celebrated old British liner Mauretania; and the America’s Cup defender Rainbow, which won four out of six races against the English challenger Endeavor in the 1934 contest.
To curator Chapelle, the prize model in the collection is the Santa Maria, flagship of Columbus on his first voyage to the New World. The Santa Maria was lost on a Haitian reef during the return trip to Spain. “The model,” says Mr. Chapelle, “is as near precision as you will find.” It was made by the Director of the Maritime Museum of Barcelona, and it required ten years of research. Mr. Chapelle made four trips to Spain in connection with this model, and also for a full-size replica of the Santa Maria which is now at the New York World’s Fair.
The history of the U. S. Navy itself is not being neglected by the Smithsonian. Models and other memorabilia from the separate halls for the Army and the Navy in the old Arts and Industries Building, are being incorporated in an enlarged exhibit on another floor of the new History and Technology Building. Opened in July of this year, the new Armed Forces Hall has, among other features, the original gondola or gunboat Philadelphia. This is not the frigate made famous by Stephen Decatur, but an earlier craft sunk in Lake Champlain in 1776, during the first naval battle between American and British squadrons at Valcour Island. Raised from the bottom virtually intact, she is now the oldest American man-of- war in existence, her construction preceding that of the better known warships Constitution and Constellation by 20 years.
Notebook
U. S. Navy
Q Bainbridge Due New Role (Baltimore Sun, 19 June 1965): The Navy was reported yesterday to be planning a $75,000,000 program at Bainbridge, Md., to train approximately 15,550 recruits.
The Navy plan was reported by Representative Long (D., Md.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the House Appropriations Military Construction Subcommittee.
He said the Navy considers Bainbridge the best location available for expansion of its recruiting program.
He said the facilities at the Naval Training Centers at San Diego, Cal., and at Great Lakes, 111., are crowded, and the Navy hopes to make Bainbridge its third training center.
Mr. Long said immediate plans include a $35,000,000 to $40,000,000 program for new buildings. He said this program, to begin next year, is for the 7,400 personnel now at Bainbridge.
Mr. Long added that a Waves barracks is to be built at Bainbridge this year. He said the program calls for replacement of temporary barracks by modern buildings.
0 Flying Oceanographers (U. S. Naval Oceanographic Office Release, 7 July 1965): The U. S. Navy has established its first aircraft squadron specifically organized to conduct oceanographic research work. It will be under the technical control of the Commander, U. S. Naval Oceanographic Office.
The Oceanographic Air Survey Unit was commissioned on 1 July at the U. S. Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, where the five aircraft in the unit will be based.
In his remarks at the commissioning ceremony, Rear Admiral Denys W. Knoll, USN, Oceanographer of the Navy and Commander U. S. Naval Oceanographic Office, said that “the airplane with its speed, its ability to cover vast distance and look down over great areas is uniquely qualified to make important contributions to oceanographic research.”
The use of aircraft in oceanography is not new to the Oceanographic Office but with the formation of the new unit, said Admiral Knoll, “we may expect even more effective support for our airborne oceanographic effort.”
The new unit consists of four C-121 Super Constellations and one C-54 Skymaster. Commander H. R. Hutchinson, USN, is the commanding officer.
In 1953, the Oceanographic Office began using aircraft for its Project Magnet. These planes have since logged over one-half million survey miles in support of a world-wide magnetic charting program.
A Super Constellation has been employed since 1963 to gather surface temperatures and wave profiles for the Oceanographic Office Antisubmarine Warfare Environmental Prediction System (ASWEPS).
For the third project, known as Birdseye, planes have been used for about four years in an intensive ice research effort in the Central Arctic Basin.
0 Naval Officer Assumed Soviet Name
(Annapolis Evening Capital, 2 July 1965): A U. S. Navy officer today disclosed that he assumed a Russian name to write a book highly critical of some Pentagon and Navy thinking, and nursed his secret for two years.
Comdr. John A. Davis Jr., 43, a graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy, confirmed in an interview today that he authored the fictional work, “Shadow of Peril.”* Today was his last day in the Navy, prior to his voluntary retirement.
The pen name he used was Aleksandr I. Zhdanov, who is described as a Soviet submarine captain.
In the book, Zhdanov (Davis) accuses some U. S. admirals of hushing up reports of U. S. weaknesses at sea in order to get more air power, and takes a few swings at some Pentagon policies on antisubmarine warfare.
* Reviewed by D. A. Paolucci in the U. S. Naval Institute Proceedings, March 1964, pp. 121-122.
Davis wrote the book while he was an antisubmarine adviser to the Chief of Naval Operations in the Pentagon in 1962.
The main theme of the story contends Soviet submarines can easily penetrate U. S. defenses and threaten U. S. naval forces.
s 'Big Mamie’ Goes Home (From Navy Times, 23 June 1965): An era ended in Norfolk with the departure of the battleship Massachusetts for her namesake state where the “Big Mamie” will be enshrined as a World War II memorial and museum.
Mothballed in Norfolk since 1947, the Massachusetts was the last of the once-mighty fleet of battlewagons to leave Norfolk. She was turned over to the memorial committee in Washington with the transfer papers being signed in the office of House Speaker John McCormack, (D., Mass.).
A Boston Naval Reserve unit made the ship ready for the four-day tow from Norfolk to the site of the memorial in Fall River. Also aboard for the trip were 26 members of the memorial commission—11 of whom served aboard her in World War II.
s Barrier Patrol to Go {All Hands, May 1965): The barrier patrol which has been maintained by aircraft and ships since 1957 in the Atlantic and 1958 in the Pacific is scheduled to be abolished by late 1965. The picket lines are seaward extensions of the northern landbound DEW line.
The abolishment of the barrier patrol resulted from the declining nature of the manned bomber threat in the light of recent technological advances.
In the Pacific, the barrier patrol is maintained by 23 Navy C-121 radar equipped aircraft operating between Midway Island and Adak, Alaska, eight radar picket ships (AGRs) and three radar picket escorts (DERs). Commands and units in the Pacific barrier patrol are: Staff, Barrier Force
Pacific (homebased in Hawaii); Airborne Early Warning Squadron Pacific (Hawaii);
and Airborne Early Warning Detachment, Midway Island. The 11 ships are all home- ported in San Francisco.
In the Atlantic, the barrier patrol is maintained between Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom by 16 C-121 aircraft, operating from Argentia, Newfoundland, eight radar picket ships and three radar picket escorts. Air units to be disestablished include Airborne Early Warning Squadrons Eleven and Thirteen (Argentia) and an Airborne Early Warning Training Unit at Patuxent River, Md. The AGRs are homeported at Davisville, R. I., and the radar picket escorts operate from Newport, R. I.
A total of 22 radar picket ships, 42 C-121 long range radar aii craft and three C-121 trainers will be inactivated. Four other C-121s will be assigned to other units.
s Carrier Will Be Electronics Lab {Navy Times, 2 June 1965): The World War II carrier Bunker Hill has arrived at San Francisco Naval Shipyard for a SI.25 million reconditioning after spending 18 years in the mothball fleet.
The Navy tug Chowanoc towed the 27,000- ton £!frrx-class carrier more than 700 miles from Seattle. Bunker Hill has been part of the Bremerton Group of Pacific Reserve Fleet since she was decommissioned July 9, 1947.
The Bunker Hill will have her flight deck
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Around September she will be towed to the Navy Electronics Laboratory near San Diego where she will become a floating electronics laboratory.
Her role will be to provide simulated at-sea conditions for tests on newly-designed electronics equipment. She will be moored for the entire period of the tests.
The Bunker Hill, which fought at the Marianas, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, was hit twice within 30 seconds in May 1945 by Kamikaze planes. At least 392 men were killed and 264 were missing or injured. Despite her damages, Bunker Hill was able to steam 6,000 miles to Seattle.
Maritime General
s Interior Studies Nuclear Submarines
(Department of the Interior Release, 17 June 1965): Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall said today that a study sponsored by the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries shows that it is feasible to build a specially designed nuclear powered submarine for fishery and oceanographic research.
The study was conducted by Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation, Groton, Conn., the pioneer submarine designer and builder that developed the Nautilus, Skipjack, George Washington and other nuclear submarines.
Secretary Udall noted that United States scientists have long desired an oceanographic underseas craft of a speed, range, and maneuverability that only a nuclear craft possesses. Such a submarine could study fish behavior, distribution of resources, disposal of atomic wastes, water temperatures, salinity, and many other oceanographic problems that are now attacked mostly by means of instruments lowered from the deck of a ship.
The Soviet Union has used a converted military submarine in fishery studies for several years, but the conventional underseas craft lacks speed, maneuverability and many scientific advances of an atomic submarine.
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According to the preliminary study by the
Electric Boat Division, the new research vessel would be 163 feet long, 23 feet in diameter, and carry a crew of 24, plus seven scientists. It would be able to operate at depths as great as 1,000 feet and while submerged be capable of 20 knots, a speed at which some of the swifter tuna swim. Fishery scientists believe most of the great fishery resources are located in the layer between the surface and a depth of approximately 1,000 feet. Throughout this range they would be able to observe fish and other marine organisms in their natural environment and collect samples at known depths. Such knowledge would permit man to undertake more sophisticated approaches to harvesting the resources of the sea.
s 74 Ships Lost in Fourth Quarter 1964
(Journal of Commerce, 7 July 1965): Lloyd’s Register of Shipping has reported that 74 ships of 172,906 tons were lost during the quarter ending Dec. 31, 1964. This compares with 64 of 140,542 tons in the previous three months.
The world merchant fleet during 1964 is put at 40,859 vessels of 152,099,621 tons.
The largest individual total concerned Greek flag tonnage with 34,838 tons. This was composed of nine ships lost, seven being wrecked and two foundering. Next highest was Liberia at 31,677 tons followed by Panama (15,282 tons), Norway (14,159 tons), and Argentina (11,806 tons).
In sixth place was the United States with 10,289 tons made up of by three ships sunk and two burnt out. British losses accounted for only 6,734 tons out of the total. The U.K. total was well down on the previous quarter while the American was substantially higher.
During the same period Lloyd’s stated that 140 vessels of 537,649 tons were scrapped as against 151 of 574,823 tons in the third quarter of the year. Once again American flag ships broken up headed the list and in fact comprised just over half of the total—36 vessels of 269,864 tons. In the previous three months it had been 35 of 248,322 tons. A long way behind but still well in front of the average totals among the larger maritime nations was Britain with 28 of 70,916 tons (33 of 99,881 tons). Then came Panama (30,172 tons), Liberia (22,525 tons), Greece (21,604 tons) and Italy (17,353 tons). The Norwegian and
Swedish totals were under the 2,000 ton mark.
Largest ship to be broken up was the motor tanker Hamilton Lake 12,510 tons. Built in 1927 in the United States and owned by Liberians, the oiler was scrapped in Spain.
S3 Penalty Fee on Liberty Ships ( The New
York Times, 29 June 1965): The nation’s fleet of Liberty vessels, which successfully evaded enemy attacks during World War II and the hazards and perils of the sea since that time may soon succumb to the actuarial tables of marine underwriters.
About 500 American and Canadian-built Liberty ships are now being assessed heavy insurance penalties by United States underwriters, who have followed the lead set earlier this year by the British insurance market.
Several owners of the slow, 10,000 deadweight-ton vessels said yesterday that the penalty premiums would be the “straw that breaks their backs.” Only the American and Canadian versions of the vessels, which are of welded construction, are subject to the penalties. The riveted British version of the vessel is unaffected.
At least five major American underwriters have advised brokers that they will assess a 37§-cent penalty charge for each $100 on insured cargo carried on the Liberties, brokers said yesterday. American underwriters, unlike their British colleagues, cannot make a blanket announcement of such a move because of the nation’s anti-trust laws.
Consequently, the companies have used different wordings in their announcements to establish the market’s position.
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cover” policies. Such policies usually constitute a 12-month agreement between a shipper and an underwriter that all his cargoes will be insured at a set premium on no matter what vessel they are carried.
The underwriters’ notice now provides that a merchant will have to pay the extra premium if he wants his cargo carried on a Liberty ship.
The market feeling was expressed in a letter sent to brokers and agents by Appleton & Cox, Inc., one of the major United States underwriters. It said:
“Because of unfavorable experience that we have had in recent years on wartime-built vessels, we have come to the conclusion that we cannot continue to pass these vessels without additional premium.”
Liberty ships have formed a comparatively high proportion of the overall figures of vessels that have been lost in recent years. The Liverpool Underwriters’ Association, in its recent report on 1964 losses, stated that, of the ships totally lost, 42 vessels, aggregating about 230,000 gross tons, were wartime built, a substantial number of them being Liberties.
Late last year, underwriters in the London marine insurance market who write specialized “total-loss-only” accounts on hulls set the current pattern by imposing a large preminimum increase on Liberty ships.
The 37J-cent penalty rate, one owner said, will foreclose considerable business to the Liberty fleet because cargo owners will find it cheaper to use regular liners.
The underwriters, another owner commented, “have done what the U-boat torpedoes could not do.” He added, “Age has its premium on any type insurance policy.”
Foreign
0 France Says No on Skyraiders (The
Washington Post, 25 June 1965): France has rebuffed efforts of the Pentagon to buy back A-l Skyraider propeller bombers—workhorses of the Vietnamese war—which the United States sold to France six years ago, the Defense Department said yesterday.
The official explanation offered by France was that she is still using the Douglas-built planes and does not want to part with them.
Sources in Paris, however, suggested that the French refusal is based mainly on reluctance of French President de Gaulle to do anything to assist U. S. efforts in the Vietnamese war.
The Skyraider was considered obsolescent until last summer, when the Defense Department disclosed that 100 of the craft were being provided the Vietnamese air force from Navy reserve stocks at Litchfield Park, Ariz.
Skyraiders have not been manufactured since 1957. Between 1949 and then, 3,135 were built for the Navy.
The Navy said yesterday that it had no more of the craft in storage.
Pentagon sources said a quantity—believed to be about 50—was sold to France in 1959.
s German Buildup of Naval Power
{Military Review, May 1965): Naval construction programs approved by the West German Parliament include 222 new warships and more than 60 support vessels. They include four destroyers of the Hamburg class; six fast frigates (escort destroyers) of the Koln class; 50 motor torpedo boats; 30 submarines; 20 coastal patrol craft; 74 minesweepers; 14 tenders; six landing ships; and a few trial vessels. Some of the new ships have already been completed and have entered service.
The support vessel construction program includes 12 supply ships, 13 tankers, six ammunition transports, two materiel transports, 20 tugs and harbor tugs, and a few special craft ranging from inland boats to floating workshops. All units will be built by qualified German shipbuilders.
A modernization program provides for the rearmament of 10 motor torpedo boats of the Jaguar class with Tartar missiles, and the construction of nine new missile-armed motor torpedo boats. Ten Tartar corvettes of German design are in development. These 2,000- ton ships are intended to extend the belt of antiaircraft missiles to the sea and to secure a forward air defense. Since West Germany does not have an aircraft warning system, the protection of the “wet” flank against air attacks assumes special significance.
A recently approved followup program authorizes the construction of three missile destroyers. These vessels of the Charles F. Adams class will be built at U. S. shipyards. Three more destroyers of the same type will later be built by the Germans.
West German naval programs are established in coordination with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Western European Union agencies. NATO has assigned specific missions to the West German Navy, which determine the types of vessels required. The navy can completely forego units larger than destroyers. Its mission, together with the Danish Fleet, is to safeguard vital convoys and shield the coastal flank.
None of the West German warships will exceed 6,000 tons. The naval forces may be called a “shallow water fleet” whose units meet the latest requirements.
S3 Canadians to Buy 12 5 F-5 Jets {The New York Times, 8 July 1965): The Royal Canadian Air Force has adopted the twin-jet Northrop F-5 as its new tactical fighter.
The purchase of 125 of the United States planes, along with parts and ground equipment, at an estimated cost of $215 million awaits Federal Government approval. An announcement is expected within the next two weeks.
The aircraft, known as the Freedom Fighter, would be assembled at Canadair, Ltd., in Montreal. The engines, designed for high thrust and light weight, would be made under a General Electric license at the Orenda Division of Hawker Siddeley Canada, Ltd.
The F-5, which is capable of supersonic speeds and of carrying combat loads, was considered best able to meet Canadian needs. British as well as United States planes and engines had been considered.
According to a recent white paper issued by the Defense Department, the R.C.A.F. wanted a fast, low-level attack plane to support ground forces. Such a plane, the white paper said, would be best suited for peacekeeping operations.
s New Italian Cruiser {Flight International, 24 June 1965): The keel was laid on June 10 of the first of two guided missile cruisers for the Italian Navy, the Vittorio Veneto. The cruisers will each carry no fewer than nine Agusta-Bell 204B ASW helicopters, one twin Terrier ship-to-air missile launcher and two 4.1 in. rocket launchers.
Other U. S. Services
S3 Army Requests Copters (Washington Star, 6 July 1965): The Army wants to create some new helicopter companies to fill the gap left in U. S.-based forces when chopper outfits were sent to war in South Viet Nam.
Informed sources said today the Army has proposed to the Defense Department that five new helicopter companies be formed.
The proposal calls for an increase of 125 choppers and more than 1,000 men.
The Army now has 12 helicopter companies in Viet Nam totaling some 300 machines. They are assigned chiefly to airlifting South Vietnamese Army units into battle against the Communist Viet Cong.
The most recent arrivals were three companies equipped with the latest model UH-1D, a machine which can carry 11 soldiers.
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The units were drawn from the 1st Infantry Division, Ft. Riley, Kan.; the 101st Airborne Division, Ft. Campbell, Ky., and the 82nd Airborne Division, Ft. Bragg, N. G.
These three divisions are part of the Army’s strategic reserve of eight regular divisions kept ready in the United States for swift movement to crisis points around the world.
Meanwhile, the Army said that from Jan. 1, 1962, to last May 31, it lost 45 helicopters in South Viet Nam as a result of Communist action.
During this period, the Army said, helicopters flew 701,938 sorties. This works out to a loss rate of one chopper for every 15,598 sorties flown.
s Hughes LOH the Winner (Flight International, 17 June 1965): The result of the U. S. Army’s light observation helicopter (LOH) competition—potentially worth orders for 4,000 machines for that service alone—was decided recendy in favour of the Hughes OH-6A, against the Hiller OH-5A. Hughes received on May 26 a $2,122,779 contract for the first year of a three-year “buy” worth $14,966,964 and involving 714 helicopters. Eighty-eight machines are involved under the first contract. Production will be at Culver City, Calif.
Stringent price paring has been a feature of the Hughes/Hiller tussle (Bell’s submission was eliminated last year) and Hughes tendered a price of only $19,860 per aircraft, less engines, instruments and electronics, for the first 714 OH-6 As, against Hiller’s bid of $29,415 per unit. Hiller has filed a protest with the DoD over the conduct of the competition and Mr. Edward Uhl, president of Fairchild Hiller, told the Wall Street Journal recendy that Hiller “could not even buy materials” for the price tendered by Hughes.
A statement is soon expected on the future of the Hiller OH-5A. When its civil version, the FH-1100, was announced some weeks ago, Hiller said it would be produced regardless of the LOH competition outcome.
s Second B-70 Rollout (Flight International, 17 June 1965): The second Mach 3 North American Aviation XB-70A was rolled out at Palmdale, Calif., on May 29. The second aircraft differs from the first in having a new wing-root fairing, containing wiring for 230 “supersonic transport probes,” and increased wing-tip anhedral of 25°. The first XB-70A has only 14 probes.
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Progress
On Station—The British escort maintenance ship Triumph has set up shop at Singapore to service destroyer-type ships. During her six-year conversion from a light fleet carrier, completed in late 1964, the Triumph’s hangar deck was made into a repair area and her flight deck was modified for storage of bulky items such as sonar equipment and all but two of the ship’s 19 boats. She was fitted with two 12- ton and two 3-ton capacity cranes and a host of other repair facilities. The Triumph now has a complement of 499 plus four fleet maintenance units totaling 285 men. She can also berth the crew of a guided missile destroyer undergoing repair.
Royal Navy
The Big Picture—the Navy’s RA-5C Vigilante reconnaissance aircraft are fitted with advanced panoramic cameras which allow a high degree of photo magnification. This series shows, from left to right, a portion of the panoramic film strip taken by an RA-5C over Marietta, Ohio; a contact print of the five-inchwide strip; a four-time enlargement of the area marked in the second photo; and a 15-time enlargement of the area in the second photo. Players on an athletic field are clearly discernible in the last photo. The camera can be used up to the aircraft’s ceiling of about 70,000 feet.
Perkitt-Elner
Two-Seater—Flight tests have begun for the two-seat TA-4E Skyhawk. The differences over the standard, carrier-based A-4E include a rear cockpit with dual controls, a more powerful engine, and a 14-inch-longer fuselage for an over-all length of 42 feet, 5 inches. The Navy has ordered 35 TA-4Es for delivery before December 1966. They will be used by replacement training squadrons.
Bombs Away—An Air Force B-52 Stratofortress salvos its load of 51 conventional-type 7 50-pound bombs. The aircraft—designed to deliver nuclear weapons—can be fitted to carry 12 conventional bombs under each wing and 27 in its bomb bay. Guam-based B-52s began flying conventional bombing missions in the Vietnamese war this summer.
[1] See also Robert E. Apple, “A Blueprint for the Material Readiness Index,” U. S. Naval Institute Proceedings, May 1960, pp. 78-83.