Professional Notes, Notebook and Progress

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138 Skyhook Retrieval By Lieutenant Leonard A. LeSchack,

U. S. Naval Reserve

143 The Phantom Fleet

By Desmond Wettern

146 "Do-It-Yourself”

Postgraduate Education

By Lieutenant Commander Don Walsh, U. S. Navy

148 Oil Pollution

By Captain

Alfred W. Kabernagel,

U. S. Coast Guard (Retired)

152 Notebook

The Robert Fulton “Skyhook” is a most unusual device used for retrieving men and equipment from remote areas, either from the land or sea, by fixed-wing aircraft, without the aircraft having to land or even fly below an altitude of 450 feet. The military Skyhook was developed under contract with the Office of Naval Research and is now operational.

The uniqueness and simplicity of the Sky­hook technique are related below by one of the men retrieved with the system.

“It was a warm, clear day at the Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, Maryland, when I was picked up by the Skyhook. The prepara­tions for pick-up by the P-2 pick-up plane, which was already airborne and circling nearby, were unnervingly simple.

“Following the simple directions enclosed in the specially prepared pick-up kit, I with­drew a canvas bag that contained a neatly folded polyethylene balloon. The balloon was quickly laid out on the ground and, from another bag, I obtained a pick-up suit that was easily slipped on. The pick-up suit was essentially a one-piece flying suit with a fur- lined parka hood. A self-tightening para­chute-type harness was built into the suit. After zipping up the suit, I inflated the bal­loon from two spherical helium bottles in­cluded in the kit. The balloon, fully inflated, looked much like a miniature blimp. It was pre-attached to one end of a coiled nylon line 500 feet in length. The other end of the line was terminated by a self-locking hook that was then attached to a D-ring fixed to the pick-up suit harness. The balloon, when re­leased, extended the nylon line vertically up-

* Lieutenant LeSchack worked with the Skyhook retrieval system as Assistant Project Officer, Office of Naval Research Arctic Program, from 1960 to 1962.

jⁿy legs extended and my arms at my side, my ³°dy formed a reasonably good aerodynamic ^s°ction. I had a remarkably good view of the entire area around the air station and the bay. My head, disturbing the airflow around ^my body, caused a bubble of air to form that tuade breathing no problem at all.

“During this time, the portion of the line caught by the yoke had been transferred to a Y^lnch in the after section of the plane. The line itself was now trailing out through the b'2’s after hatch and I was being winched in ^a’ a rate of 250 feet per minute.

‘While airborne I tried several body posi- ’^1Qns to see what affect these made on flight ^attitude. By bringing my legs up near my chest, the whole system became unstable and °scillation began, the period being a function °f the length of the line. This oscillation was a Particularly unpleasant sensation, but it was

^Wai'd to its full length. The release of the bal-

°°n was the signal to the circling pick-up

plane which then began preparation for the P'ck-up run. I sat down on the ground with ^mY hands clasped gently around my knees, tty back to the wind. This whole preparation ^tQok perhaps ten minutes.

1 tie p-2 made a test pass at the balloon, ytng level into the wind, at an altitude of 50 feet. I could barely feel the gentle tug of P . Walloon high above me. The P-2, quite jstinctive with its protruding V-shaped Pick-up yoke, turned and began its final run. t bore down on the line, aiming for an inter­national orange marker attached to the line 3 J feet below the balloon. Contact was made and the line was caught. At the same instant, ^{at t}be other end of the line, I felt a sudden nump, approximating a kick-in-the-pants, and I was airborne. As if lifted skyward by a g'ant swing, I saw first the patch of grass on ^Vvhich I had just been sitting, then the circle °f observers now craning their necks to follow ^my trajectory, and then the entire promen- tory which was the pick-up zone, jutting out *nto the Chesapeake Bay.

'The rapidly receding ground spun quickly beneath me and I felt my jaw sag in response ^to a momentary increase in force. All this oc­curred within five seconds after pick-up.

In less than ten seconds I found myself in ^a completely stable position, being towed through the air at 125 knots, facing aft. With damped quickly by re-extending my legs; it was damped more quickly by extending my arms outward in addition to my legs. By ex­tending my arms alone and using them as ailerons I could bank or even roll over 180 degrees.

“Within five minutes from pick-up I could see the after section of the plane directly above me. Once within the P-2’s slipstream some buffeting was encountered, but it was not unpleasant. Thirty seconds later I was drinking coffee in the after section of the plane.”

This commentary expresses the feelings and sensations observed by many persons from all services who have been retrieved by the Sky­hook. Comparing the pickup with a para­chute jump, the latter is by far the more un­nerving. The consensus of those retrieved by Skyhook, including several high-ranking officers, is that the pickup is enjoyable and, in fact, would be a fine sport. Although it may be a long time before the Skyhook is used for sport, it has many immediate mili­tary applications.

The key to the Skyhook technique, and that which distinguishes it from other, or “snatch type” aerial pickups, is the 500-foot woven nylon lift line. When this line, ex­tended vertically upwards, is snatched near its top by an aircraft in level flight, the trajec­tory of a man attached at the base of the line is such that he will begin his ascent, at a rela­tively slow rate, and go essentially straight up for the first 100 feet.

These are the two most valuable charac­teristics of the system. An easy lift-off with a relatively slow increase of acceleration elimi­nates discomfort to the person being re­trieved and permits injured personnel to be picked up with relative safety. A near vertical ascent for the first 100 feet of the trajectory assures that there will be no chance of drag­ging or bouncing the man along the ground, and that if there is only a modest clearing sur­rounding the pickup point, there will be no chance of him becoming entangled in the overhead foliage. These characteristics derive primarily from the geometry of the plane-line- load system and from the stretch inherent in nylon line.

The 500 feet of 4,000-pound test nylon lift line weighs 19 pounds. It therefore requires a

balloon with at least this much positive buoy­ancy to support the line for pick-up. A helium- filled, blimp-shaped polyethylene balloon, 21 feet long and seven feet in diameter, provides the necessary lift, and by virtue of its shape, is aerodynamically stable. Thus, the line is held aloft in a nearly vertical position even in a high wind.

Although the size and placement of the special equipment that transforms a standard aircraft into a pickup plane will vary from one plane to another, the basic components are the same. A V-shaped yoke, designed to catch and guide the lift line into the mouth of the “sky anchor,” where it is ultimately grabbed and locked, is fixed to the nose of the aircraft. The opening of the yoke varies somewhat, depending upon the type of air­craft, but usually averages 25 feet.- Fending lines made of nylon, and more recently Teflon-sheathed fiberglass, are strung from each wing tip to the outer extremity of each leg of the V, thus preventing the lift line from becoming entangled in the propellers should the line be missed. The actual locking mecha­nism, the “sky anchor,” is at the apex of the yoke, installed in the plane’s nose. It is basi­cally a spring-loaded shaft, notched at one end, which extends through the nose. The notched end of the shaft forms the apex of the yoke. When the lift line is guided into the notch, a trigger actuates the “sky anchor” which twists and securely locks the line.

In operation, the lift line, once secured, streams directly under the fuselage. An

°Perator amidships catches the line with a ^sPecial hook extended through an open floor hatch. The line is brought into the aircraft '^V1th a snatch block suspended from the over­head and is then fastened with an anchor clamp. The line is thus attached to the air- ^Cl'aft at the nose and within the aircraft by ^lhe anchor clamp. The snatch block is then disconnected leaving some slack between the anchor clamp and the nose. A portion of this hack is attached to a cleat near the winch, thus positively securing the line inside the aircraft. The line can then be looped over the ^Wlnch drum, the winch being mounted near the floor hatch. Since the balloon, due to its taertia, was torn from the end of the line seconds after intercept, the section of line between the nose and the end previously at­tached to the balloon has been streaming harmlessly across the top of the fuselage. The sky anchor” is then unlocked and the line, extending from the winch, up around the lose and over the fuselage, can easily be hauled into the plane.

With the line attached securely to the '''inch, the anchor clamp and cleat are dis­connected and the man is winched in. It takes trained operators approximately two ttiinutes from intercept to transfer the line from the nose to the winch and be ready to begin the winching operation. Although there are slight variations of this procedure for in­stallations in different aircraft, the basic steps are the same. The technique is simple and fluick, and the steps to be taken by both the air crew and the man to be picked up occur in a logical sequence. Previous pick-up ex­perience, although necessary for the air crew, is not required by the man to be picked up. He simply follows the directions on the pick­up kit. In the hands of a trained and knowl­edgeable plane commander and crew, the Skyhook offers both tactical and rescue capa­bilities heretofore unheard of.

Up until now, the getting into and out of remote areas rapidly for rescue or operational purposes has required the use of helicopters which are limited by range and staying power. This leaves many areas of the world outside of the helicopter’s range of operations. A long- range, fixed-wing aircraft with the Skyhook equipment installed can accomplish several of the helicopter’s objectives in areas that helicopters could not reach, and, in some cases—notably tactical situations, the fixed- wing aircraft would probably do a better job. Examples include:

•    Rescue at sea. The crew of a plane forced down in the middle of the ocean or simply out of range of the nearest helicopter base can be reached by Skyhook-equipped aircraft. Pick­up kits packed in floatable containers can be parachuted to the downed men.

•    Rescue in the interior. Pickup kits are dropped to men where it is unsafe or impossi­ble to land a helicopter.

•    Rescue in combat area. A fixed-wing air­craft flying at 125 knots at an altitude of 500 feet is less vulnerable to ground fire than is a hovering helicopter if the pickup is being made in a combat zone. The balloon, al­though a good target while aloft, is relatively undisturbed by ground fire. The helium in­side the fully inflated balloon is under pressure only slightly greater than ambient, and thus bullet holes in the balloon will not cause rapid deflation. In a test, an airborne balloon was punctured with eight bullets. Half an hour later the balloon was still aloft, supporting the line. The man, once picked up, would be a very poor target.

In the realm of tactical operations, the Sky­hook permits activities heretofore impossible. If one considers the Skyhook technique as “parachuting in reverse,” one can plan small scale airborne operations such as a reconnais­sance and carry them out completely by air­borne means; the men, their combat equip-

ment, and retrieval gear can all be delivered and retrieved by fixed-wing aircraft.

The Skyhook is already operational hard­ware. However, it is not widely used. Al­though developed by the Navy, the Army and Air Force have shown great interest in its potential use. The Air Force Air Rescue Service, for example, has ordered 48 HC-130H Hercules aircraft with the Skyhook capability.

An Air Force spokesman said that it is hoped to have Skyhook-equipped Hercules opera­tional in Vietnam this spring for use in re­covering flying personnel downed behind enemy lines and at sea.

Other aircraft, even though considerably smaller, have been successfully equipped with the capability, although not in great quan­tity. The Navy P-2 Neptune, as previously mentioned, the C-l Trader, S-2 Tracker, and the C-123 have successfully used the Skyhook.

The modification of these aircraft involve some minor structural changes in the nose and at the wing tips in addition to the instal­lation of the winch and associated gear in the fuselage. Once the major fittings are in­stalled, the yoke and fending lines can be put on or taken off in the field in a half hour, us­ing only hand tools. With the yoke and fend­ing lines disconnected, the aircraft is com­pletely unencumbered and can be used in normal operations.

The Skyhook system has been well engi­neered with large safety factors built in. The pickup line is 4,000 pounds test strength and the harness, hooks, and clamps are rated well above this figure. The “sky anchor” spring is wound prior to intercept, and at intercept the positive acting trigger trips the mechanism and catches the line. The winches are either electrically or hydraulically powered, and should the prime power source fail, the winch can be cranked manually. The top 35 feet of the lift line is a special braid (chain stitch) that compresses 175 feet of line into one fifth this length. The key to the braid is secured with a piece of 80-pound test line which, when broken, allows the line to lengthen quickly 140 feet. Thus, if the pickup plane’s yoke misses the line, but contact is made with the fending line, the shock will activate the braid, allowing the whole line to pass around the wing tip without breaking the balloon- This gives the pilot a rarely needed second chance.

The system, although logical in operation, is not foolproof. Plane commanders and crews must be thoroughly familiar with the opera­tion and have made several training pickups before being qualified to undertake real operations if accidents are to be avoided.

The system also has distinct limitations. The maximum load that can be retrieved at present is 600 pounds. Thus, there is a limit to the number of men who can be picked up on one line. Although previous discussion has centered on one-man pickups, two-man pickups have been successfully accomplished. Whether single or multiple pickups are con­ducted, there is still an obvious limit to the number of men who can be retrieved by one aircraft. Even with maximum efficiency, the interval between pickups can hardly be re­duced to under ten minutes. Pickups can also be made at night by using special night lines having a string of high-intensity strobe lights built in. This requires additional skill and practice on the part of the pilot, but many successful night pickups have been made. As weather conditions deteriorate, pickup becomes increasingly difficult, yet success is probable over a large range of con­ditions in the hands of a skillful pilot. In one operation, three successive pickups were ac­complished in fog while surface winds aver­aged 15 knots with gusts even higher.

Everything considered, the possibilities that Skyhook offers as a military tool are in­triguing. The potential savings in logistic costs of some of the operations discussed above, as well as the capability to accomplish operations not previously feasible, suggest that logistic planners would be wise to in­vestigate thoroughly the possibilities of the Skyhook technique.

By Desmond Wettern,

Naval Correspondent,

London Sunday Telegraph

THE PHANTOM FLEET

On a clear day, the casual visitor to the banks of the estuary above Plymouth, England, may be surprised by a view of white topmasts. Further investigation will show a l°ng line of warships moored in groups of three or four stretching down river almost heyond the Devonport Navy Yard.

These are just some of the ships in the Royal Navy’s “phantom fleet”—ships which have almost all ceased to exist in any pub- hshed material available to the public at targe. A similar collection of warships lies in the upper reaches of Portsmouth harbor in I'areham Creek. Others may be found at hisahally in Northern Ireland, at Rosyth Navy Yard on Scotland’s east coast, at Hythe °n Southampton Water hard by the ocean hner terminal piers, and in odd corners of the fitting-out berths at the Vickers-Armstrong’s ^shipyard at Barrow-in-Furness.

A close examination of many of these ships "'ll! show that with their reasonably modern •adars and antisubmarine weapons many of mem can still be considered to be more than a cable’s length from the breaker’s yard. For ^lhe most part, these ships are destroyers, frigates, minesweepers, support ships, and a few submarines. But there are two big ships among them, the World War II-built light cruiser Gambia, lying at Portsmouth, and the Uncompleted light fleet carrier Leviathan lying nearby. The Leviathan was 80 per cent complete in 1946 when all work on her topped as the first post-war Labor Govern- utent struggled to cut expenditures and to boost the national economy. She was towed to i ortsmouth from her builder’s yard, and no 'vork has been done on her since then. Some °f her equipment has been used over the years for other ships including the heavy re­pair ship Triumph, which has been converted for her present role from a light carrier similar to Leviathan.

For the most part, the 125 or so ships in this “phantom fleet” were listed for disposal as long as four or five years ago. But in al­most every case some preservative work was carried out on decommissioning. All doors and hatches giving access internally were sealed. Weather deck fittings were covered with grease and canvas, and routine inspec­tions are being made. It is claimed by officers with experience in ship preservation that such measures, depending on the ship’s gen­eral condition at the time she is deactivated, should usually be adequate to maintain her pending possible sale to another navy for as long as five years. Even ships of cruiser size can be maintained in fair condition in this manner at a cost as little as 25,000 to 30,000 dollars a year. Yet this form of preservation is not nearly so comprehensive or costly as the full program of “mothballing” carried out on ships being retained for possible reactivation.

Almost all these ships have been slated for disposal in annual “Statements on Defense” published by the Ministry of Defense. But this means very little since much depends on whether there is still a possible overseas mar­ket for them, whether scrapyards can accept them at the time of their decommissioning, and whether they have been stripped of usable military equipment. By the time all these factors have been met anything, up to six, or even eight years, may have elapsed, as in the case of the monitor Roberts scrapped in 1965.

In effect, the Royal Navy has a reserve of ships which even the most observant naval attache in London would find hard to enum­erate. In late 1965 the total was about 125, but the number is constantly changing as some ships are eventually scrapped and others are added after being officially listed “for disposal” after their decommissioning. During 1965 a considerable number made their last voyage to the breakers, but this may well have been because the Royal Navy hoped to increase its “credit” or “appropriations in aid” column in the 1966 Defense Estimates. Additionally, the market for second-hand warships around the world has been much reduced in recent years as more new nations seek warships built for their specific require­ments. The Royal Navy has thus increased the

scraping rate in their “phantom fleet.”

A few of the “phantom fleet” ships are still listed in the “Statement on Defense for 1965­1966” as being in reserve. These include the destroyers Caesar and Cavendish, decommis­sioned during the summer of 1965, and the radar picket destroyers Broadsword, Scorpion, and Crossbow, which were all decommissioned some years ago. The Broadsword and the Scor­pion were both to have had a long yard over­haul in 1963-1964, but a shortage of funds dictated their relegation to the list of ships for disposal, though this relegation was for some time cloaked by the official classification “In reserve pending a decision on future program.”

THE PHANTOM FLEET

* This column does not include ships in the “opera­tional reserve” category.

Some of these ships in the “phantom fleet” are still performing useful although mundane tasks. At the Rosyth Navy Yard the destroyer Chevron, the former guided missile trials ship Girdle Ness, and the landing craft tender Dun- cansby Head make up HMS Cochrane, which provides accommodations for officers and en­listed men under training or in ships in re­serve in the yard. Also at Rosyth is the destroyer Saintes which is used as a floating workbench for enlisted men under training in the shore school HMS Caledonia. Her sister ship Solebay performs a similar task at Ports­mouth for personnel training ashore in HMS Sultan, the Gosport mechanical engineering training school.

At Devonport the antisubmarine frigate Ulysses, a converted World War II-built destroyer, and the despatch vessel Alert, for many years the “yacht” for the Commander, Far East Fleet, are being used as floating stores for ships undergoing long overhauls in the yard. Also at Devonport are the LSTS Tracker and L.3031 which serve as store ships for boom defense equipment. The pre-World War II-built oiler Bishopdale is used as a store and for providing shipkeepers’ accommoda­tion for the ten other Royal Fleet Auxiliary oilers and store ships in reserve at Devonport.

Some of the “phantom fleet” ships have had all valuable and useable equipment re­moved, but these are in a minority. Ships in this category include the destroyer Chequers at Chatham Navy Yard, some ocean mine­sweepers at Devonport, some submarines and frigates at Portsmouth, and some fast patrol boats and inshore minesweepers at Hythe.

In a few cases “phantom fleet” ships may be sold for commercial use—if buyers can be attracted. Ships thus sold are confined to small vessels such as postwar built inshore minesweepers and fast patrol (PT) boats. Since many of these minor warships were de­commissioned immediately on completion of yard trials, they have seen no active service. Their engines and many other fittings are being removed, and the ships themselves may be sold for less than the cost of a modest family saloon car. Yet the PT boats cost an average of 750,000 dollars each to build in the middle-to-late 1950s, and the inshore minesweepers cost about 360,000 dollars each. It may be that such items as main en-

y.

Vv

The largest ship in Britain’s "phantom fleet” is the un­finished aircraft carrier Leviathan. With a designed standard displacement of 15,700 tons, the 694-foot carrier has lain idle at Ports­mouth since mid-1946, al­though there have been calls to complete her as an anti­submarine carrier or com­mando ship.

Desmond Wettern

gines could be used in new minesweeper- hunters which the Royal Navy is planning.

In a very few cases “phantom fleet” ships have been decommissioned for basic design faults or as a result of accidental damage. This ^aPplies to the survey ship Cook, which was Severely damaged after stranding in the Pacific two years ago, and to the submarine Aurochs completed in 1947. However, the majority of the ships in the “phantom fleet” were either completed or at least begun during World War II, and thus are in the fleet because of ^age. Of some 125, only about 45 can be classed ^as postwar in design and construction.

Attempts to ascertain the exact composi- hon of the “phantom fleet” are not usually Welcomed by the Royal Navy. It must be ^SlJspected this is largely because of the prob­lem of arriving at a total for ships that are W idely dispersed and are in varying categories Spending on how recently they have been assigned to the disposal list. In addition, there is undoubtedly some reluctance by the Navy to say too much about these ships since too wide public knowledge of their existence tuight be detrimental to future appropriations f°r new construction.

Navy spokesmen are also usually most ^r<‘luctant to reveal the price paid for a war­^ship by other navies or the amount paid by ^shipbreakers. But during 1965 the heavy re­pair ship Ausonia, a former Cunard liner which operated on the Liverpool-Halifax run before World War II, was sold to Spanish breakers for approximately 900,000 dollars. A frigate is usually sold to shipbreakers for about 45,000 dollars, but a carrier with an armored flight deck may bring in as much as three million dollars.

The additional, unlisted, ships composing the bulk of the “phantom fleet” do, perhaps, also reflect a bitter experience learnt by the Royal Navy in the early days of World War II when almost anything that could float was wanted. Many of the World War I-built V- and W-class type destroyers, for example, had lain so long out of service at the then shut­down Rosyth Navy Yard that their deck seams had become sown with grass. Yet many of these same ships gave valuable service right up until 1945.

While it is unlikely that the successors to those old ships in today’s “phantom fleet” will ever again be required, sailors with war experience, particularly in the early 1940s, may be comforted by the knowledge that the modern Royal Navy is not in too much of a hurry to junk older ships which could at least still carry guns, antisubmarine weapons, and some form of sonar and radar in an emergency. And, for the nation, the cost of retaining these ships for a few more years is so small as to be almost insignificant in the over­all defense program.

"DO-IT-YOURSELF” POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION

In varying degrees and at varying times, the naval profession calls upon its officers for knowledge of sciences, technology, law, man­agement, and the liberal arts. To maintain cur­rency, much less proficiency, in these varied areas requires considerable applied study effort beyond the undergraduate level at which most officers enter the profession. All of the armed forces have recognized this need and in the past decade have been prosecuting vigorous postgraduate educational programs for their respective officer corps.

In the Navy we have seen the concept of postgraduate education come from a position of some disrespect among the line officer, “seagoing sailor” types to the point where all officers are automatically considered for ad­vanced schooling. The only choice now offered the individual is in indicating a desire for a specific field of study.

Naturally, not all are selected for this training. The reasons for non-selection are varied, ranging from non-availability to poor academic performance during undergraduate days. Whether it is by poor timing or by a “haunted past,” the fact is that many good officers do not receive this opportunity for advanced professional education.

The virtues of advanced education for one’s career path are well publicized in many Navy instructions, notices, and infor­mational publications. The concept of sub­specialty has been defined. The arguments on whether we still need a line officer in these complex times or whether we should all be specialists of one type or another seems to have been resolved in this sub-specialist ^[1] fashion. We even hear talk of the value of having more than one sub-specialty field. Either through formal education or on-the- job-experience it appears that most of the Navy’s line officers will be eventually sub­specialized in some Navy-related field.

There is a strong tendency for the junior officer not to be concerned about educa­tional advancement until either selection or non-selection for postgraduate training. In the first case he will be ordered to school and will get the education and thus has no cause for concern. In the second case the current ten­dency is to continue as before with no indi­vidual effort to gain postgraduate education through other means.

For this second group there are two princi­pal ways to get into a “do-it-yourself” post­graduate program. The first and best known is through courses at night school. This way is, of course, only possible if he is stationed near a university or college having a good evening program. In this effort, financial assistance can be had through the Navy’s Tuition Aid Program. In return, the officer will be re­quired to remain on active duty for two years’ service after completion of the school­ing. Both graduate and undergraduate work may be taken through this program. Many naval officers have achieved graduate de­grees in this fashion. Detailed information on tuition aid is contained in BuPers Instruction 1560.10.

The second method is through acquiring a scholarship, fellowship, or study grant. De­tails on how members of the naval service will be considered for acceptance of such awards if they are for work in a Navy-related field will be found in SecNav Instruction 1500.4. That this is a little-known opportu­nity is demonstrated by the fact that only 25 officers are currently taking advantage of the two-year-old program. Most of these officers are young college graduates who are con­tinuing on to graduate school; only seven are from the Fleet. A careful appraisal of this instruction will show that it presents a virtual gold mine of opportunities. Scholarships are becoming increasingly available and often depend more upon the applicant’s practical expereience than on his undergraduate past. In addition, they can be scheduled to agree with the applicant’s next tour of shore duty.

Naturally, such a program should also be attractive even to those eligible for Navy- ^sPonsored postgraduate training as it per- pttts a choice of school and specific field. This ^ls not always possible through selection to the Naval Postgraduate School. Also, the scholar­ship program provides a means for returning ^to graduate school for pursuance of studies leading to the doctoral level for the officer ^Vvith an advanced degree in a specific field. A ^Vlsit to the nearest university or college can develop the necessary information on the availability' of scholarships, fellowships, or grants. In general, one should plan to devote ^at least a year to organizing this effort prior to entry into school.

The SecNav Instruction imposes few re­strictions on this program. An officer can even study overseas on grants from U. S. institu­tes, but in no case will he be allowed to ^accept an award from a political organiza- tton, commercial enterprise, or a foreign government. The follow-on service obligation 18 three years for every one year in school.

Most personnel in the operating forces have ^adequate opportunity to prepare themselves f°r either of these programs through course °fferings by the U. S. Armed Forces Institute fUSAFl). College-level course work can be had at low cost from either the USAFI-oper- ated courses, which are usually junior college ^vel, or through the USAFI-assisted college correspondence courses. The latter method •nvolves regular college or university cor­respondence courses which are worth full credit and cover a wide range of subjects, often to advanced levels. The USAFI assistance consists of paying a substantial part of the course costs. The education office at any military activity will have catalogs and de­tailed information on both of these fine educa­tional opportunities.

Usually, the greatest problem involved in ^ernbarking on an advanced education pro­gram is overcoming the personal inertia that tends to set in when one is surrounded by the hull of a ship and her everyday problems.

You must have a goal in any of these “do- *t-y our self” efforts. In BuPers Instruction 1520.83 detailed guidance on reporting a change of educational level is offered. The first goal or “level” to work toward is the Postgrad” level which represents attainment of postgraduate status but without the ad­vanced degree. This level is defined as “at least 18 hours of significant postgraduate study,” and should be relatively easy for an officer going to night school during a normal shore duty tour. At most institutions, 30 hours of graduate program work is required for a master’s degree. Often this includes six hours of non-classroom thesis work. This can be within reach if you are not required to make up too many undergraduate credits in a par­ticular field of specialization.

The American full-rigged ship Aristides painting by Mr. Robert Salmon which appeared on the cover of the April 1965 Proceedings is now available in full color as a large- size print (26" y 22") suitable for framing. List price $5.00 per print. Member’s price $1^.00 per print.

Please use book order form on page 173

Prints Available

Since educational levels are computerized by numerical levels in the Navy (postgrad is 7, master’s degree is 8, etc.), it is important to aim for achievement of the next higher level. This is not to say that submission of your tran­scripts of lesser work will not become part of your record, but they do not lend themselves to coding into the master tape in the Bureau of Naval Personnel and thus will have some­what limited distribution. Since you are em­barking on this program to develop addi­tional qualifications in your profession and to enhance your career pattern, it is important

that your work becomes a part of the most widely used documentation.

For the officer applying for the scholarship program it is important that he have his past academic record evaluated with regard to his intended field as soon as possible. In this way undergraduate deficiencies can be identified and perhaps remedied through USAFI college correspondence courses.

There is no doubt that continuing educa­tion is important to the career military officer. The results of recent selection boards have lent emphasis to this fact of career life. The past few years have seen several panels and boards study this problem area and all have supported education as the key factor in the development of increased professionalism in the Navy officer corps. One board even went as far as to suggest that advanced education in two areas would be the future trend as the profession becomes more complex.

In the final analysis, almost any officer can get this type of upgrading if he is willing to spend the time and effort to work toward this goal. The opportunities are there and no one need be denied the chance for postgraduate education on the basis of non-selection for the Naval Postgraduate School.

By Captain Alfred W. Kabernagel,

U. S. Coast Guard (Retired),

Director of Port Operations,

Maryland Port Authority

OIL POLLUTION

Baltimore, along with other great industrial centers and seaports, has been plagued by all types of pollution. Extensive specialized research has now been completed in Balti­more regarding the handling of polluting oils and has resulted in the use of a special craft, or floating mechanical apparatus, that is able to pick up or remove most types of oil from harbor waters. The apparatus was developed and constructed by the Maryland Port Authority.

Oil pollution in the Baltimore area gained

major attention about 1954 when a study was completed by the Captain of the Port, U. S. Coast Guard, upon the request of Cecil County and other interests in Maryland. Oil emanating from large merchant ships operat­ing on the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries had been held to be mainly responsible for extensive oil pollution damage to beach areas and shoreline real estate in general. The study supported the conclusion that, contrary to accepted generalizations, industry was respon­sible for at least 85 per cent of all liquid pollu­tion, including chemicals and oils; that ships were at fault in not more than five per cent of the cases; and the remainder of the pollution was due to a lack of adequate laws regarding effluent disposal of all types (generally, inade­quate community sewage disposal). Later studies by the Maryland Port Authority, initiated in 1957, resulted in additional con­clusions that the use of chemicals, through the medium of emulsification or dispersion, did not remove oil pollution, but merely used the surreptitious principle of dispersing the efflu­ent for the sake of appearance. These findings agreed with the conclusions of the 1962 Inter­national Conference on the Pollution of the Sea by Oil which condemned all chemicals and similar substances which sink, emulsify, or disperse oil slicks. The insidious effects still remained—polluting beaches, depreciating real estate, destroying marine and wild life, and inducing fire hazards. The use of carbonized sand was also considered unsatis­factory. This method employs the use of ordinary beach sand or discarded foundry core sand that has been coated with crude creosote or asphaltic oils. It is thereafter heat treated and then termed “carbonized sand.” The sand is blown over oil spills and when coming in contact with a floating oil slick the carbon absorbs the oil, resulting in its sinking. This method again does not remove oil. It merely transfers oil from the water surface to the bottom, again smothering marine life. Also after a lay period through the process of oxidation, the oil separates from the sand from the bottom of a river and again floats to the surface to continue its insidious career. (There appears to be one exception in the use of chemicals. This is a combination of chem­icals and oil that forms a gel. This may be re­moved by mechanical or manual means. The

oil which is being removed.

The principle adopted in Baltimore re­sulted from the joint experimental efforts of Mr. W. Mack Earle, a naval architect and consulting engineer, along with the Maryland Port Authority. Mr. Earle originated the idea of applying the principle of adhesion or co­hesion to accomplish oil recovery. This prin­ciple has long been in use in large newspaper offset printing plants where the printing plate on a revolving cylinder must be kept supplied with an enormous quantity of ink and of a certain viscosity. This is accomplished by providing an opposing roller, the lower area revolving through a basin or reservoir of ink. The ink adheres to the surface of the roller or cylinder due to the principle of cohesion or adhesion and, accordingly, supplies ink to the opposing cylinder containing the plate.

While the principle appeared feasible re­garding the use of ink, it was necessary to prove whether the roller method would func­tion using oil of sundry and various types.

The first test model consisted of a bread pan and a kitchen dough roller. The roller, sus­pended on bearings, was provided with a hand crank. The pan was filled with water and oil and the roller revolved. It was found that oil adhered to the wood roller and moved the oil to one end without much difficulty. Next a test model using a 24-inch diameter aluminum cylinder four feet in length demon­strated the feasibility of the adhesion and cohesion principle and resulted in the final construction of a self-propelled oil recovery barge.

Named the Port Service, the barge, uses a total of four pickup rollers, each three by four feet, equipped with neoprene wipers. The rollers are submerged in the harbor waters at an approximate depth of nine inches and rotated in an oil spill area. The oil adheres to the cylinders and, at the apex of their revolving cycle, is removed by wipers. The oil then gravitates to an inside well or sump, where­upon it is picked up by an additional roller for deposit into the body of the barge. The Port Service's capacity is approximately 3,000 gal­lons, and no further separation of the oil and water is necessary.

The rollers are in the forepart of the barge. They may be lowered, elevated, and revolved at sensitive and controlled speeds for adjust­ment to the various types of oil based on their viscosity. A total of 11 types of oil, including soybean, diesel, linseed, gasoline, diluted molasses, crude oil, and bitumastics have thus far posed no problems. Experiments have also been conducted at five degrees Fahrenheit temperatures to establish the barge’s re­trieving capabilities in cold water.

The 34-foot barge is propelled by a diesel engine, resembling an oversize outboard motor. The propeller shaft is adjustable and may be raised or lowered to meet a winter condition of oil spill where heavy oil may be covered with one or two inches of snow and thin ice. By adjusting the propeller to water surface level, it is possible to churn up or separate the snow and ice from the oil and allow reasonable retrieval of the oil.

The Port Service must be pushed into an oil spill area, or conversely, the oil must be drawn toward the retrieving barge. Baltimore harbor has experienced oil spills covering from one to ten acres in area. Left overnight, these spills are sectionalized through the effects of current and wind. To meet this situation, initial action is to corral or surround the spill with a floating fence. The method employed at Baltimore involves the use of 25-inch fire hose filled with air at 30 to 40 pounds pressure. Old fire hose is used in the interest of economy. The corralling or fencing of oil spills can also be accomplished by other types of air-filled hoses. They are termed “booms” and some are of 16-inch diameter and equipped with drop skirts for use in ports open to the sea where rough water is en­countered.

Oil pickup or retrieval potential decreases with the increase in the roughness of the water. In smooth water conditions, the re­trieving barge’s potential is between 200 and 250 gallons per hour, depending upon the type of oil.

The Port Service has been requested by industry to clear or remove oil spills, with one hundred dollars per hour being charged for oil recovery service in the Patapsco River and tributaries. After investigation into the cause of an oil spill, the source responsible is estab­lished by comparative laboratory tests of samples taken. The party responsible, if iden­tified, is advised cither to underwrite the cost of the retrieving service or pay a fine.

Notebook

U. S. Navy

Q Navy Sends Plastic Boats to Vietnam

(Jack Raymond in The New York Times, 20 December 1965): The Navy is getting swift delivery of a small fleet of plastic boats that were designed for pleasure but will be used in the war in Vietnam.

The boats, typical of the cabin-cruiser class, will be armed and rushed across the Pacific for river patrol duty in support of the counter­insurgency effort.

Viet Cong guerrilla activity in the Mekong Delta area and in other major waterways has all but immobilized South Vietnamese river traffic while affording access routes for the guerrillas’ own junks.

Rarely has a military procurement order been speeded through contract and procure­ment as has the order for the plastic patrol boats to meet the emergency in Vietnam.

On Nov. 29, the Pentagon—acting on ur­gent appeals from military commanders in Vietnam—let a contract for 120 shallow- draft boats with United Boat Builders, Bell­ingham, Washington.

The first of 120 shallow-draft boats, with the first water jet propulsion motors ever used by the Navy, arc due to be delivered later this month, or as soon after Jan. 1 as possible.

No time was spent on attempting to convert existing Navy or Coast Guard boats, nor was time spent on attempting to design a type specially for the conditions in Vietnam.

It was decided that what was needed was a quick competition among the builders of standard boat hulls.

Several of the best known names in the pleasure boat building business entered the competition and United was selected.

The boats will be 31 feet long, 12J feet wide. They will be powered by two 220-horsepower diesel, water jet propulsion systems, manu­factured by Jacuzzi Brothers of Little Rock, Arkansas.

Water jet propulsion is a new type of motor for the Navy insofar as actual combat operations are concerned. Previously the Navy has used water jet propulsion experimentally.

The boats will be armed with twin .50- caliber machine guns forward and a .30- caliber gun aft. It had originally been planned to have a 7.62-mm. gun aft but enough of these were not immediately available. Since there was little difference between the two types, the .30-caliber weapon was chosen.

The boat will have a crew of four, the cox­swain and three gunners who will also share in other duties.

The boats will not be recognizable to owners of prototype pleasure craft, a Navy spokesman observed. The hulls, painted gray, will be stripped of the cabins and frills.

“They’ll be bare armed hulls,” the Navy said. “Water platforms for ‘gun’ for ‘fun.’ ”

H Repair Ship Will Be Based at Malta

{The New York Times, 18 January 1966): The Maltese Government announced yesterday that it had made arrangements with the United States Government for the repair ship Cadmus to be based here for a two-month period beginning today.

Twelve vessels of the United States Sixth Fleet will be repaired by the Cadmus and five others, entailing more work, will go into Malta drydocks.

There will be an average of 1,500 American sailors at any one time in Malta.

This is the first time that a repair ship of the Sixth Fleet has used the island as a major repair base.

s Lighter-engine Attempt to Save F-111B

{Flight International, 25 November 1965): Ex­cessive weight is still hazarding the future of the GD/Grumman F-111B, the USN version of the swing-wing fighter. The prototype F-111B weighed 69,000 lbs. at take-off and, despite a drastic weight reduction pro­gramme, the weight with an operational load of weaponry still threatens to be too great to permit operations from carriers. This, to­gether with disputes between the major con­tractors which have resulted in them having their knuckles rapped by the Pentagon, is in-

^Creasing speculation that the whole F-111B programme for the USN is to be axed.

But one last tack, apparently, is being tried ³V the USN to save the F-l 1 IB and that is the development of a lightweight engine to Power it. Recently awarded to Pratt & Whit­ney was a $3 million contract for design of the JTFlOA-27, a civil designation for a light­weight version of the TF30 engine presently fitted to the F-l 1 IB.

But the TF30, in a non-reheated version, nlso powers the new LTV A-7A carrier-borne fighter and, at the same time as the afore- nientioned award, a $10 million develop­ment contract was placed with P & W for the JTFlOA-9 (military designation, TF30-P-8) Which will be a lightweight, cheaper version °f the TF30-P-6 at present fitted.

S3 Navy Pushing New VFAX Aircraft

(George C. Wilson in Aviation Week & Space Technology, 3 January 1966): Navy wants to develop a variable-sweep wing aircraft which Would combine the capabilities of the Mc­Connell F-4 fighter with the Ling-Temco- 'G'Ught A-7A attack aircraft and become operational early in the 1970s.

Known as the VFAX, for aircraft fighter '•Pack experimental, it would be powered by '•fie diverted thrust lift-cruise engine being de- ^Vcloped by the Air Force for VTOL aircraft, i he Navy intends to use the engine without 'fie diverted-thrust ducting.

Although VFAX is being interpreted Widely by industry as a way to get around the overweight General Dynamics F-111B fighter- fiomber, Navy VFAX project officials insist 'heir aircraft would supplement the F-l 1 IB father than substitute for it.

VFAX would be in the 50,000-60,000-lb. gl oss weight range of the F-4 rather than the ^0,000-80,000-lb. gross weight range of the 1-11 IB. This would make VFAX easier to handle on aircraft carriers. The VFAX air­craft eventually could cut into orders for the '"111B, although the Navy disclaims any ^sUch intention at this point.

Navy for the last several weeks has been evaluating the VFAX in putting together its technical development plan, or TDP. The ob­jective is to determine whether the aircraft can fulfill the needs set forth in the specific operational requirement issued in October to the Bureau of Naval Weapons by the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.

If the Navy does decide the VFAX is tech­nically feasible, as expected, then the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations will ask Pentagon superiors for money to start de­velopment. The money request would be in the form of a program change proposal sub­mitted by the Navy to the Defense Dept, as early as this month.

The VFAX thus is approaching a critical decision point in the Pentagon. The Defense Dept, research and engineering office will re­view the Navy proposal and then send its recommendation to Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara’s office. He will weigh the proposal against President Johnson’s budget­cutting orders and the projected aircraft needs for Southeast Asia.

First flight of the VFAX, under one plan, would be in 1970 and introduction to the fleet in 1972. The VFAX is being described as the first aircraft which could perform a multitude of missions without any modifications. Some changes are required by the F-4 and F-l 11 to perform different missions. Navy has been discussing the VFAX with both the Air Force and Army in hopes those services will want to buy the aircraft eventually. Air Force on its own has been studying a close-support fighter known as FX which may decrease its interest in the VFAX. Canada has shown interest in the past in a joint development of the FX.

The lift-cruise engine slated for the VFAX is being developed for the Air Force by Curtiss- Wright, General Electric and Pratt & Whit­ney. USAF has not specified an airframe for the new engine. The purpose is to develop an engine with maximum lift-to-weight ratio. A Navy spokesman said the projected high per­formance without the ducting makes the Air

Force engine especially promising for the VFAX.

Although the Navy has no intention of us­ing the diverted thrust of the engine, this fea­ture conceivably could be used by the Army and Air Force if they bought the VFAX and wanted maximum V/STOL capability.

There has been such widespread industry interest in the VFAX that the Navy held a briefing for airframe and engine manufac­turers Nov. 22. The Navy has been stressing to contractors that the VFAX must incorpo­rate the latest technical advances, especially in the avionics field, so the aircraft will be able to perform the fighter and attack missions as well as the F-4 and A-7A.

The VFAX is expected to use an advanced version of the Navy’s Integrated Light Attack Avionics System (ILAAS) to be developed by Sperry Gyroscope Co. Initial versions of ILAAS, slated for use with the Ling-Temco- Vought A-7A, will include fire control, navi­gation and communications equipment.

The Korean War showed the Navy’s need for both a new heavy attack aircraft, de­signated the VAX, and a light attack aircraft, designated the VAL. The VAX concept was complicated by the F-111B development while the VAL requirement led to the A-7A.

Boeing, Douglas, North American, Pratt & Whitney and the Navy’s air warfare research center all submitted VAX studies to the Navy in January 1965. VAX became VFAX after the Navy conducted studies of its own between January and October, when the specific operational requirement was issued.

ARMSTRONG

WRENCHES

Judging from past congressional testimony of R. W. Morse, assistant Navy Secretary for research and development, the VFAX possi­bilities have prompted the Navy to move faster on that aircraft than on the older VAX concept. Morse said of the VAX on Apr. 8: “I think it is fair to say there is no intention to define an aircraft in [Fiscal] 1966.”

s Navy Builds Big Radio in Australia

(Baltimore Sun, 14 January 1965): Nearing completion on Australia’s desolate North­west Cape is the world’s largest facility for very-low-frequency radio transmission, a huge 2,200-acre station by which the United States Navy will be able to communicate with its roving submarines in the Indian Ocean and broad sections of the South Pacific.

The station will make possible communica­tion with American subs when they are 100 feet under water—that is, the sub will no longer have to risk exposing even a tiny an­tenna. This is due to the unique power of very-low-frequency waves, as distinguished from those of high frequency which are far more efficient in reaching distant airplanes.

The construction of the new station, com­posed of twelve lofty towers in two huge con­centric circles about a central 1,272-foot Tower Zero (higher than the Eiffel Tower and higher than any other structure in the South­ern Hemisphere), has a large military sig­nificance, which explains Australia’s large share in the enterprise.

The station will add immeasurably to the potential of United States subs in wide stretches of the Indian Ocean which simply cannot be reached today by radio from west of Suez or from Pearl Harbor or Alaska or even from the VHF station in Japan, and thus is of prime importance to the defense of New Zealand and Australia.

This difficulty of radio transmission is one of the puzzles in communication, for nobody is sure why the technical oddity exists. Yet even surface ships in large parts of that ocean can­not be reached by radio from the Persian Gulf, and it is to meet this situation that the United States and Britain are also cooperating in putting up a new and powerful station on the little island of Diego Garcia.

This structure, already announced, will not have Northwest Cape’s ability to reach sub-

as typical lesson material for your evaluation

Merged subs in those waters, but is for reach- ^lng surface vessels.

Beyond the obvious military advantage of the big Northwest Cape installation, there is ^a political significance which will become clearer later this month with the Washington visit of Great Britain’s Foreign Minister, Alichael Stewart, and Defense Minister, Dennis Healey, to their opposite numbers at the State Department and the Pentagon.

At this meeting scheduled for January 27, tt is expected there will be a discussion of the extent to which the United States, particu­larly through the Navy, is prepared to take °ver much of the guardianship, long exercised hy Great Britain, of free world interests east °f Suez.

The naval communications so greatly in­creased by the two new stations mentioned Provide their own evidence of how rapidly the United States is already moving in harmony with Britain and Australia for the safeguard- ^lng of that broad area.

The hugeness of the new Northwest Cape station is dictated by the technical require­ments of very-low-frequency radio, the first of which is the employment of a sending antenna of very great length, preferably one fourth the length of the designed VLF wave itself.

Hence, the outer antenna is strung from the tops of six great towers 996 feet high, each 1-56 miles from its neighbor. Inside this hexa­gon is an inner hexagon of 1,195-ft. towers, and at the very center the 1,272-ft. Tower Zero.

It is the second station of this pattern to be Built, the first now being in operation at Cutler, Maine, sending its messages to subs °f the Atlantic fleet.

The structure is of extreme ruggedness to withstand hurricane winds which have been recorded at 200 miles an hour. Presumably the storms are related to the extreme heat of the cape itself, where temperatures above 90 degrees are normal and extreme heat reaches 123 degrees.

To resist the winds, the towers’ supports in­clude 6 miles of steel guy-wires of nearly 2- inch diameter. To make the heat tolerable to the 500 Navy and civilian technicians, air­conditioning is installed throughout the living and recreational quarters and operating buildings near the radio station and down the cast coast of the Australian cape.

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Not many Australians compete for living quarters in the hot and dreary cape project­ing 50 miles northward into the Indian Ocean; 750 miles north of Perth. There are four Australian families there, two of them operating the lighthouse, the other two run­ning sheep “stations.”

s Hospital Ships for Vietnam Casualties

{Journal of the Armed Services, 2 October 1965): RAdm Robert B. Brown, Navy Sur­geon General, says arrival in Vietnam of the hospital ship Repose will give U. S. casualties there the very best in modern medicine, in­cluding open heart surgery; marking a first for delicate operations of this kind near the front lines. [2]

Just back from a trip to Southeast Asia, the Admiral said the WW II Repose, due for recommissioning in October, will, with her sister ships, offer ideal facilities for treating Navy and Marine battle casualties.

The Navy has one other hospital ship, the Haven, in commission and docked at Long Beach, Calif., but its machinery is inoperable. In an emergency, three hospital ships, not now under Navy control, could be available.

During a Pentagon news briefing, the Ad­miral disclosed findings that the combat casualty rate for Navy and Marine personnel in Vietnam to date has been well below expec­tations and previous wars.

Admiral Brown and other medical officers said resistant strains of malaria are causing some problems and may increase as U. S. forces move deeper into the jungle.

The Navy already has three land hospitals treating Third Marine Amphibious Force ca­sualties in Vietnam and is waiting for comple­tion of a 400-bed advance base hospital now under construction at Da Nang.

The Navy furnishes all medical support for the Marine Corps. Eighty doctors, 30 den­tists, 15 Medical Service Corps officers, 50 dental technicians and 1,200 hospital corps- men are supporting all combat Marine units in Vietnam.

The Navy medical staffs serve both with the Third Medical Battalion and as organic members of other Marine battalions. The

Third Med is a casualty collection and clear­ing unit while personnel attached organically to other battalions are usually enlisted hos­pital corpsmen, who serve in front line com­bat areas. Six hospital corpsmen have been killed and 20 wounded in Vietnam to date.

There are medical and dental personnel serving afloat with the Marine Special Land­ing Team and on board almost all Navy ships operating off the Vietnam coast. These med­ical personnel vary from a single hospital corpsman on destroyers to large medical de­partments aboard aircraft carriers. Surgical and casualty evacuation teams are currently serving aboard the amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima.

Admiral Brown said the 750-bed hospital ship Repose will have about 25 doctors, 30 nurses, six Medical Service Corps officers, and 256 enlisted corpsmen on board.

0 Army 'Can Do’ Earns A Navy 'Well Done’ {Army Personnel Letter. January 1966): Project Flat Top, Floating Aircraft Maintenance Facility, under construction for the Army by the Charleston Naval Shipyard in South Carolina was in jeopardy last spring when shortages of skilled craftsmen threatened completion of the project by the scheduled date. After recruiting efforts by the Navy proved unsuccessful, the Charleston Naval Shipyard Commander, Rear Admiral E. H. Batcheller, advised the Commanding General of the U. S. Army Materiel Command, Gen­eral Frank S. Besson, Jr., that assistance would be needed if the desired completion date for the project were to be possible.

Electric welders, electricians, and pipe­fitters were needed. Immediate steps were taken by Headquarters, U. S. Army Materiel Command, Personnel and Training Direc­torate, to review the skills inventory main­tained by subordinate commands. Command­ing Officers of Depots and Arsenals employ­ing craftsmen in the needed skills were asked to determine if any of their employees were willing to accept temporary duty assignments at Charleston. The response was quite favor­able and resulted in the detailing of skilled workers in the required number. A continu­ing need beyond the original 90 days made it necessary to extend the temporary duty of some and obtain the services of others. Be­tween April and September 1965, the U. S. Army Materiel Command furnished the harleston Naval Shipyard for Operation Top approximately 84 welders, 45 elec­tricians, and 40 pipefitters.

In a recent communication to General esson, Rear Admiral Batcheller stated, “The cooperative ‘Can Do’ attitude, and continuing efforts by the Army activities to assist this shipyard have been outstanding and are greatly appreciated. I wish to express my sincere thanks to you, the members of your Command, and the supporting commands for the imaginative thoroughly cooperative, and 1 esponsive assistance to our needs.” Thus, ¹ roject Flat Top was completed on schedule, ffhis U. S. Army Floating Aircraft Main­tenance Facility, christened the Corpus Christi ^^ay in March of last year, was placed in Ac­tive Army service in December 1965.

Other U. S. Services

S3 Coast Guard Saved 15,000 in 1965

(The New York Times, 3 January 1966): The Toast Guard has just closed the books on 1965, which, according to Admiral Edwin J. ffoland, commandant, turned out to be one of the biggest lifesaving years in the service’s 175-year history.

Outstanding in the service’s far-flung ac­tivities which ranged from Saigon to Shreve­Port and from the Kara Sea to Cuba last year, he said, were these accomplishments:

•    The rescue of more than 15,000 persons.

•    Hie saving of close to $1.9 billion in prop­erty, or more than four times the Coast Guard's annual appropriation.

•    The first comprehensive oceanographic study of the Kara and Barents Seas north of the Soviet Union.

•    Active duty in Vietnamese waters for 17 °f the service’s 82-foot patrol boats.

•    The launching of the 378-foot cutter Ham­pton, the first of a new “Secretary” class of vessels, a high-endurance cutter with many advanced features.

The southern part of the United States and its offshore waters became the service’s most active sector as a result of the Cuban exodus, Hurricane Betsy and the springtime Missis­sippi floods, Admiral Roland noted.

Beginning in September hundreds of small craft, most of them unsuited to operate in the treacherous Florida Straits, began making their way between the United States main­land and the Cuban fishing port of Camarioca to transport Cuban emigrants to this country.

Working around the clock the Coast Guard aided about 3,000 persons.

When Flurricane Betsy slammed into Louisiana, 11 Coast Guard helicopters were called upon to evacuate 1,144 persons. Small boats and vehicles evacuated 3,600 more hurricane victims and transported about 100 tons of food, water and medical supplies.

At its New Orleans supply depot the Coast Guard helped to bring more than 8,000 per­sons from flooded areas to high ground.

In the spring about 800 rescues took place on the rain-swollen Mississippi River. In one case Coast Guardsmen herded buffalo to safety, and in another, helped parents salvage their children’s Easter baskets..

The Coast Guard icebreaker Northwind, Ad­miral Roland said, conducted a five-month study of the little known Kara and Barents Seas north of Russia.

For the first time, he added, scientists had an opportunity to secure important data on the nature, structure and history of this re­mote part of the world.

As for new floating equipment to be added to the service’s aging fleet, the year saw the launchings of one 210-foot medium-endur­ance cutter, three new 157-foot buoy tenders and the 378-foot Hamilton.

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On the other side of the world, in war-torn Vietnam, the 17 Coast Guard patrol boats were used to help choke off the flow of supplies by water from North Vietnam to Viet Cong units in the south.

O.

1

Admiral Roland said the boats gave a good account of themselves in action against the enemy, sinking several Viet Cong junks and supporting ground action by South Vietnam and United States troops.

s MATS Now Military Airlift Command

{Navy Times, 12 January 1966): The Military Air Transport Service’s name change to Mili­tary Airlift Command has been accompanied with a redesignation for 191 units in the or­ganization. All air transport and troop carrier wings have been redesignated as military airlift wings, while transport and troop carrier squadrons are now airlift squadrons.

s Heavy-Lift Helicopters in Vietnam

(Sikorsky Aircraft News Release, 19 January 1966): Four heavy-lift helicopters used by the U. S. Army in Vietnam saved almost twice their own cost by retrieving aircraft downed in combat areas during the period from Oc­tober 1 through December 31.

The four, Sikorsky CH-54A Skycranes with maximum lifting capabilities of 10 tons each, recovered a Douglas A-1E Skyraider fighter- bomber, a deHavilland CV-2 Caribou trans­port, and 45 helicopters ranging in size from the 2,000-pound Bell OH-13 to the Vertol CH-47 weighing about 18,000 pounds.

The estimated total value of the recovered aircraft is $15 million, about twice the cost of the four Skycranes. Most of the aircraft which are recovered are repaired and re­turned to duty. All had been forced down by mechanical trouble or enemy action in areas from which there was no other means of re­covery except by helicopter airlift.

The Skycranes are operated by the 478th

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The CH-54As were introduced to the Army in 1963 and received exhaustive test and evaluation in maneuvers in this country be­fore being placed in production and dis­patched to Vietnam. They are powered by twin Pratt & Whitney Aircraft JFTD-12 gas turbine engines developing 4,050 horsepower each. One CH-54A was lost in the combat area early in January and is being replaced by another.

Maritime General

s Atomic Merchant Fleet Revived

(George Horne in The New York Times, 21 January 1966): A Navy study group has rec­ommended Department of Defense support for a program of nuclear-powered merchant vessels, but the recommendation has been quietly buried, according to reliable sources in Washington.

Action on a nuclear ship program has been urged on the Atomic Energy Commission and the Maritime Administration of the Depart­ment of Commerce for some years, as a logical next step following the successful operation of the liner Savannah. For one reason or another no action has been taken on any of the pro­posals.

The Navy study was submitted to the Secretary of Defense with recommendations from the Secretary of the Navy and the Chief of Naval Operations.

According to the Washington sources, a new study committee was established in the Department of Defense and this group con­cluded that a nuclear ship program would cost too much.

A letter to this effect was sent to the De­partment of Commerce. The letter said that the Department of Defense recognized the value in military operations of high-speed and “high-endurance” nuclear ships, but that the additional subsidy involved could not be endorsed.

An assistant to Alan S. Boyd, Under Secretary of Commerce for Transportation, said yesterday that Mr. Boyd had not seen the letter and knew nothing of the Navy study. Mr. Boyd himself was not available yesterday. He has been quoted as saying that he strongly favors building nuclear vessels.

However, the Maritime Administration, Much functions under Mr. Boyd, has long had a proposal from American Export Isbrandtsen Lines, Inc., for construction and °peration of four powerful nuclear merchant ships designed for the company’s New York- Far East run.

The proposal was sent to Nicholas Johnson, Maritime Administrator, and Glenn T. Sea- horg, chairman of the Atomic Energy Com­mission, in October, 1964.

Adm. John M. Will, chairman of the ship hne, said yesterday that in view of recent de­velopments he would ask the Department of Commerce to take action on the long-standing Proposal.

He cited the disclosure earlier this week of ^a statement by Adm. David B. McDonald, Chief of Naval Operations, to the effect that the merchant marine might not be adequate to meet major military requirements in “cer­tain wartime situations.”

Shipping industry experts in recent weeks have warned that two-thirds of the present deep-sea merchant marine is in or near the 20-year age bracket.

Admiral Will, who commanded the Navy’s Military Sea Transportation Service prior to his retirement, said that in his request to Federal officials he would refer to the crit­icism expressed last Monday by Representa­tive Chet Holifield of the failure of the De­partment of Defense to proceed with a naval surface fleet powered by atomic energy.

The California Democrat, who is chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy said at his office in Washing­ton last night that he had no intention of getting into the debate on merchant ships. “That is another matter,” he said.

Admiral Will said, “The point is that in both cases the foot-dragging is based on the disparity in capital cost as between nuclear and conventionally powered vessels.”

American Export, which now operates the Savannah, has accumulated “a lot of nuclear- ship know-how” and believes the nation should proceed at once if it is to retain the lead that the world’s first commercial nuclear ship provided, Admiral Will said.

The 20,000-horsepower reactor on the Savannah cost SI 7-million, but the ship line has firm commitments from reactor builders to deliver 70,000-horsepower propulsion units for the four vessels at an average cost of $9 million each.

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(The New York Times, 23 January 1966): An underwater laboratory and classroom that will float, like a tethered balloon, 20 feet above the floor of the Atlantic Ocean and 30 feet beneath the surface of the water, is being built for use by students in oceanography classes at Florida Atlantic University. It will be placed in service this summer.

The cylindrical-shaped chamber, with viewing port holes in its sides and ends and an entry port on its underside, will be put in position about a mile and a half south of Palm Beach Inlet. It will float at the ends of two 20-foot cables fastened to concrete anchors on the ocean bottom.

Instructors and students will commute be­tween shore and the laboratory classroom in the Sea Hunter, a 65-foot submarine. The submarine will lock itself to entry port on the underside of the laboratory.

The project developed from a conversation last year between John H. Perry, Jr. and Dr. Kenneth Williams, the university president. Mr. Perry is owner of a chain of daily news­papers in Florida and also head of Perry Submarine Builders, Inc.

The floating laboratory will be 14 feet long and 8 feet in diameter. It will get its fresh air from a hose connected to a compressor on shore. Carbon dioxide will be vented through the entry port.

a Bonn Hospital Ship to South Vietnam

(Stuart S. Smith in Baltimore Sun, 13 Jan­uary 1966): The West German Cabinet yes­terday agreed to send a hospital ship to South Vietnam as soon as possible.

The Government will charter and equip the ship and put it at the disposal of the West German Red Cross, an administration spokes­man announced.

The medical facilities are intended only for the use of South Vietnam’s civilian popula­tion. Military personnel will not be treated.

s Soviet Ship Joins Greek Fleet (The

New Tork Times, 8 January 1966): Greece’s first Soviet-built cargo ship was officially com­missioned on January 6 as a unit of the coun­try’s 7.2-million-ton merchant fleet, which ranks seventh in world tonnage.

The 12,650-ton cargo ship which reached Piraeus, the port for Athens, on New Year’s Eve, was the first delivery on a $ 105-million order placed in Soviet shipyards by the Greek shipowner Achilles Franghistas.

A consecreation ceremony, marked by a re­ligious service and reception aboard the ves­sel, was attended by Greek Embassy officials and the head of the department of the Soviet Foreign Trade Ministry that handles the ex­ports of machinery to capitalist countries. Also present was the vice president of the So­viet Sudoimport Corporation, which ar­ranged the Franghistas transaction, the big­gest single private shipbuilding order in mari­time history.

The new ship, Eftyhia (Happiness), was built at the Kherson shipyards on the Black Sea. She is an all-purpose cargo vessel equipped with Soviet-made diesel engines of 9,200 horsepower each.

The Franghistas order includes eight ves­sels of the same type. In all, 33 merchant ships totaling 633,000 tons are to be delivered to the Franghistas concern by the Soviet Union by 1968.

Delivery of a second Soviet-built ship is ex­pected here Sunday. It is the first of five 2,500- ton fishing trawlers equipped with refrigera­tion and canning facilities.

Piraeus shipping interests were puzzled by the readiness of the Russians to accept such a low-cost shipbuilding order on long-term credit at a time when German, Japanese, Danish, Swedish and Italian shipyards were handling massive Russian orders for merchant ships totaling 6.8-million deadweight tons.

They concluded that the Soviet Union was planning to emerge within the next four years as a major maritime power with a gigantic fleet of modern units and with a shipbuilding industry capable of keeping it at a high level of efficiency.

Foreign Military

s Canadians Modernize Submarine Fa­cilities (Canadian Defense Digest, December 1965): Tenders were to be called this fall for a unique type of drydock for the Canadian naval dockyard in Halifax.

The drydock has been designed particu­larly for the survey and repair of Canada’s three new, British-built O-class submarines, the first of which was commissioned on 23 September 1965. It will also be capable of handling the FHE 400, the RCN’s experi­mental hydrofoil anti-submarine craft now under construction. The new drydock, called a Synchrolift Marine Elevator, will employ a technique new to Canadian shipyards. In­stead of pumping an enclosure dry of water, as is done in most drydocks, the system will

hoist the vessel out of the water and transfer it to dry land by rail. The marine elevator will consist of two 307-foot parallel piers, 100 feet apart. Along each pier will be 18 motors ca­pable of raising a platform, with ship and cradle, 36 feet—that is, six feet above water— in about ten minutes. The contract for the electric motors and control equipment has been let to Pearlson Engineering Co., Inc., of Miami, Fla., designers of the Synchrolift system. At present there are eight drydocks of this type in operation around the world.

Research and Development

@ Aluminaut Dives {Ocean Science News, 12 November 1965): On the night of November 10-11 DR/V Aluminaut dove to a depth of “well over a nautical mile”—thus breaking the world’s depth record for true submarines. IIR/V Alvin had previously gone to 6,000 feet. Starting at 8:00 p.m. on the night of Nov. 10, Aluminaut immediately dove to 3,000 feet and proceeded from there in 1,000-foot increments. Approximately one hour was spent at each depth level, allowing 25 minutes to record strain-gage readings and another 15 minutes for their interpretation. This is an external-internal strain gage system which re­quired a considerable amount of R&D to de­velop. On this dive it worked perfectly. Aluminaut spent 45 minutes at her maximum depth. The whole dive lasted eight hours. Average rate of descent and ascent was 100 feet/minute, though diving rates of 125 fpm and rising rates of 150 fpm were achieved. Those making the historic dive included: A. L. Marked, general manager, Reynolds Submarine Service Corp., Aluminaut Captain Robert E. Serfass, Assistant Captain Robert H. Canary, Chief Engineer Alfred L. Ruther­ford, electronics specialist Dennison K. Breese, and electrical James J. Conney.

During this same week a number of scien­tists were taken down to the bottom of the Straits of Florida in 2,500 feet of water. Their enthusiasm for this mode of direct observation and research was virtually boundless; Alumi­naut can cruise at from 5-to-20 feet off the bottom at a speed of l-to-2 knots for up to 24 hours. During two dives the scientists observed a cold (42° F) countercurrent (| knots) flow­ing south on the bottom (under the Gulf

Stream). In addition, they saw turbulent eddies, various fishes, eels, royal red shrimp, round-fish, a couple of 9-to-l 0-inch shrimp, many species of small shrimp, squid, rays, siphonophores, a dense plankton population on the bottom, and a large outcropping of boulders. Further, they saw a porpoise at 640-feet depth, a dead coral bed at 2,500 feet, and the largest species of crab in North America. On the first dive, they encountered large sand ripples under the countercurrent. On the second dive, there were no ripples.

S3 Deep-Sea Weather Stations (Don Bevona in The New York Herald Tribune, 26 Decem­ber 1965): Ocean navigators are anticipating the time when they will receive advance weather and oceanographic information from unmanned deep-sea weather stations.

Their dreams have come closer to reality with the successful nine-month test of the electronically-operated buoy Bravo which was stationed in the Gulf of Mexico.

The buoy, designed to gather weather and oceanographic data and relay it to shore or

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ships on request, has favorably impressed its developers.

“We’re extremely pleased with the results so far,” said Robert Devereaux, General Dy­namics’ oceanography program manager for the company’s Convair Division.

“The buoy was primarily tested to see if it could withstand hurricanes and was almost directly in the path of Hurricane Betsy last September. It made it through fine,” he said.

The station, a round, steel-hulled buoy, 40-feet in diameter, equipped with special instrumentation and a 32-foot-high steel mast, has also been collecting information about wave heights and the velocity of the Gulf Stream. This data was transmitted in to a shore-based mobile center.

Bravo, which is being treated for the Office of Naval Research, is expected eventually to be part of an ocean-wide early warning weather system which will aid vessels in crossing the seas.

“The ultimate use of the device, which will presumably become a money-saving matter for shipowners, is not only in detecting storms that are coming across the ocean, but in being able to predict their occurrence,” Mr. Dev­ereaux explained. “A group of buoys sta­tioned across the ocean will be able to do this.”

Ocean storms, which can slow down cargo vessels and delay deliveries will thus be easily averted as shipowners and navigators get advance information on the sort of sailing weather to expect, he pointed out.

The discus-shaped ocean station when fully developed, will be able to gather, store and transmit at least 100 different water and air phenomena every six hours. A 32-foot mast supports a special discone antenna that will allow the device’s electric system to get air, as well as send the signals to shore easily.

The buoy will obtain information from depths as low as 20,000 feet and send it to shore from as far as 2,500 miles. The floating device can be anchored in 30,000 feet of ocean. Electric sensors attached to the line will take measurements such as water tem­perature as well as current direction and speed.

The sensors used on the buoy are still under development and have not been tested in operation, Mr. Devereaux said. He added that they have been used aboard merchant ships for years with excellent results.

The scientific information collected from Bravo will be correlated and evaluated by General Dynamics’ digital computer facility in San Diego, Calif. The buoy, so far, has been gathering more information during its tour of duty at sea than has ever been possible before with any other instruments, he said.

A second prototype buoy, Alpha, is being readied in San Diego for a full-scale antenna and towing test off Southern California waters early next year. The second buoy will be used for testing the device’s “radically new antenna design,” Mr. Devereaux explained.

“The antenna is different from anything used at sea. Its advantage is that it concen­trates most of its energy at a low angle, flat along the surface of the sea, rather than up­wards towards the sky where it loses power, though the device does utilize the ionosphere as a reflector for its messages.”

Ocean Buoy Bravo will also be used for further tests, he said. The electronic station will be towed off the coast of Bermuda and anchored in water 15,000 feet deep. There the effects of the depth on the buoy will be checked out. This will be another first in the test series Mr. Devereaux noted, and the buoy’s first truly deep-water trials.

s New Work for Lasers Found (William M. Freeman in The New York Times, 26 De­cember 1965): A beam of light so intense it can penetrate far into space carrying a voice,

that can cut metal as a power saw cuts lumber ^a,'d that can burn a hole in diamonds is fast becoming an industrial workhorse.

The beam, once characterized by Dr. Theodore H. Maiman, one of its developers, ^as “a solution looking for a problem,” has Wost emphatically found jobs it can do.

It consists of “coherent” light, which means that it has a wave-length so uniform that it can be modulated to carry a voice, or several voices at a time. Ordinary light, in contrast, *^s jumbled, or “incoherent.”

The word laser is an acronym for “light amplification by stimulated emission of radia­tion.” It differs from the maser—short for ‘microwave amplification by stimulated emis­sion of radiation”—in that it employs light. In effect, it is an optical maser.

The latest development, announced last Week by the Western Electric Company, in­volves using a laser in the form of a beam 100 million times as intense as a spot of the same size on the sun to pierce diamonds for use in making dies for drawing very fine wires. Such dies are used to make small-diameter tele­phone wires.

A week ago in the flight of the Gemini 7 astronauts a laser beam was tested for carry­ing voice messages between the earth and the orbiting capsule.

The laser is so exact that it has been used to hit a single blood cell, to cauterize a wound and to “spot weld” a loosening retina.

In the retina treatment, the intense beam is turned on for no more than a thousandth of a second, so that no anaesthetic is required. Work in this area is continuing at the Stan­ford Medical Center, Palo Alto, Calif., and elsewhere.

Dr. Maiman, who is president of the Korad Corporation, a subsidiary of the Union Car­bide Corporation, heads one of some 500 con­cerns that are spending in excess of $30 mil­lion a year for research on jobs for lasers.

The laser—which costs $20,000 or more—- delivers 500 million watts of power in a single pulse, and the extent of the pulse, ordinarily a few thousands of a second, can be regulated so as to last only a few nanoseconds.

A nanosecond is a billionth of a second, a span of time so brief as to be all but incom­prehensible.

First of Her Class—The Coast Guard cutter Hamilton (WPG- 715) is shown shortly before being launched sideways at Avondale Shipyards, New Or­leans, on 18 December. Sched­uled to be completed next Sep­tember, the Hamilton is the first of a class of 378-foot, 2,700- ton, high-endurance cutters with combination diesel and gas turbine power plants and capable of speeds of more than 28 knots.

Two-Gun Salvo—Two 16-inch gun barrels of the type usually found in U. S. battleships have been mounted in tandem to exploit for research the inher­ent accuracy and reliability of gun-fired projectiles. In the pro­ject—known as HARP (High- Altitude Research Program)— the barrels have been combined to form a "gun” 119| feet long weighing some 200 tons. The "gun” fired instrument pack­ages to an altitude of 430,000 feet. At right is a research mis­sile—the Martlet 2A—with the breakaway casing in which it is fired from the giant gun. The research vehicle which reached 430,000 feet weighed 185 pounds. The 16-inch gun fir­ings have been made from a test facility on Barbados in the West Indies Federation. In Project HARP, a joint program of McGill University of Canada and the U. S. Army, test pro­jectiles have been fired into space during the past five years using 5-inch, 7-inch, and 16- inch guns.

General Dynamics

Tactical Bombers—These two ^new versions of familiar air­^craft are the FB-111, bomber ^ersion of the TFX, and the S.2 mccaneer, an improved model °f the Royal Navy’s main car­eer-based attack plane. The “■'11, being developed to re­place most of the B-52 Strato- ortresses in the Strategic Air -ommand, will be slightly ’°nger than the 72-footF-l 11 A, ^ar>d will carry up to 50 conven- Oonal 750-pound bombs. The •² Buccaneer has two Rolls- °yce RB. 168 Sprey turbojet ^engines giving it an estimated ^sPeed of more than 900 m.p.h. at sea level.

Royal Navy

^ u.^W ^'P—At right is the new cable repair ship-icebreaker John Cabot which recently en­ured service with the Canadian ^epartment of Transport. The 3 3-foot ship has a full-load displacement of 6,375 tons and ^a twin-screw, diesel-electric Power plant. The John Cabot’s other features include a water- l^et bow maneuvering system °r holding precise positions, ^eeling tanks, a Flume stabili­sation system, a helicopter plat- °rtn and telescoping hangar, ^and three circular holds ca­pable of storing up to 400 •Piles of submarine cable.

Canadian Department of Transport