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MSTS MOVES U. S. NATO FORCES FROM FRANCE
128 MSTS Moves U. S. NATO Forces From France
By Lamar Holt
131 Lightships To Super Sea Buoys?
By Commander Edward F. Oliver,
U. S. Coast Guard
133 Ship-To-Ship Probe Fueling
By Stephen P. Weintraub
135 River Gunfire Support Ship
By Lieutenant William 1. Green, lr.,
U. S. Navy
136 A Soviet Character Study
By Commander John A. Fahey,
U. S. Navy (Retired)
Professional Notes
Edited by Captain Walter S. Delany, Jr.,
U. S. Navy Associate Editor
When the American forces moved out of France early in 1967, the move was comparable to that of a large family moving out of a big house where they had lived all their lives. The family, of course, was a big one, consisting of about 80,000 Americans who were required to leave France upon the withdrawal of NATO installations from that country. Their movable equipment was estimated at 800,000 tons, of which approximately
660,0 tons were too large, heavy, dangerous, and cumbersome to leave the country in anything but ships.
The moving van, to pursue the analogy, consisted of a sizeable armada of ships, all under the operational control of the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS). The code name for the move was “Freloc”—meaning French relocation.
Meetings months before between officials of all military and other governmental departments in Washington and in Europe had preceded the actual move. Military equipment was scattered throughout France. What could be carried by train, truck, and aircraft was removed from the country in this manner. What could not be moved, office buildings, quarters, and the like was, of course, left standing. Everything else had to be delivered to nine seaports for shipment to 28 ports of destination in England, in the United States, or in other NATO countries. It arrived at these collection points in steadily-mounting quantities, including trucks, tanks, Bailey bridges, structural steel, ammunition, weaponry of various types, and thousands of massive crates. To complete the chaos, there were 181 large floating units in reserve anchorages in two backwater ports on the southwest coast of France off the Bay of Biscay.
There was the specific deadline of 31 March 1967 to meet, and when the word to start the move was finally given in December 1966, MSTS had less than three months in which to respond. Curiously, although the massive operation is little known outside of commercial shipping circles, it is a gem of ingenuity and adaptability.
Because the build-up in Vietnam had brought about the need for more shipping, MSTS had to obtain under various terms of charter more freighters to meet those Pacific requirements. As these ships became available, and as more and more were broken out °f reserve fleets and assigned to American shipping companies to operate, it became possible to assign some of them, for at least a Portion of their homeward voyages from the Bar East, to the task of removing the Freloc cargo from France.
With a handful of its own freighters, including the USNS Marine Fiddler, which has 150-ton, heavy-lift booms, a fairly steady schedule was maintained and no major pile- UP of cargo was experienced at any of the
principal loading ports: Le Havre, St.
Nazaire, La Pallice, and Bassens.
Several bulk carriers had been under longterm charter to MSTS for a number of years, running from U. S. East Coast ports to Northern Europe with cargoes of coal for use in American installations there. Normally, these ships returned to the United States in ballast. Now, these ships were diverted to France after they completed discharging their solid fuel in Holland and Belgium. There they were deckloaded with trucks and other wheeled or tracked vehicles bound for Charleston or Norfolk. Some ships sailed to Spanish ports and to NATO ports in the Mediterranean where their cargo was put ashore. Considerable military equipment was delivered through the Suez Canal to Southeast Asia.
At first, MSTS was unprepared to accomplish its portion of the sea lift which consisted of thousands of tons of ammunition, and the towage of the Army’s floating equipment which had been quietly stored in obscure anchorages. An MSTS staff chartering officer
went to Europe and spent three weeks negotiating for help with shipowners, agents, and operators. When he returned to Washington, the MSTS-controlled armada had been joined by a fleet of 32 German and Danish coasting freighters and a flotilla of deep-sea salvage tugs owned by the ocean towing firm of L. Smit of Rotterdam, all of which totaled 43 separate “transports.”
Still other barriers and obstacles had to be overcome: the weather; the language problems involving French, German, Dutch, Danish, and English; sporadic and frequent waterfront strikes in Europe; limitations on how much ammunition could be brought into ports in England at one time; mechanical breakdowns ashore and afloat; and the natural mistakes and misunderstandings between the team members who were tired, anxious, and hard-pressed. The weather, certainly, caused as much frustration, discouragement, and loss of time as any single factor. In January, the weather was the worst in years, particularly along France’s Bay of Biscay, where the Freloc operation was concentrated. Snow, gales, low temperatures, and ice- glazed highways took their toll in man-hours and in schedule delays.
At St. Nazaire, Dutch tugs arrived on schedule for the floating derricks, the flat barges loaded with small Army tugs and landing craft, the floating machine shops, and the deactivated tugboats. They then had to wait
alongside the dock until the weather abated.
One chartered freighter out of Bassens. loaded with landing craft, ventured into a howling westerly gale and lost her deckload barely 200 miles at sea. On a highway near Bordeaux, a huge truck, loaded high with timbers needed for shoring another deckload of Army heavy landing craft, skidded off the icy road, scattering the lumber, and delaying the loading of the ship. And in the English Channel, battling high seas, an ocean tug with two small Army tugs in tow had to slip her towline as one of her charges capsized and started toward the bottom. These were the only significant losses of equipment in the entire relocation.
i
Highlights of the Freloc operation are difficult to pinpoint. That it was accomplished on schedule attests to the effectiveness of the effort. That it was handled by a joint military- civilian team with a minimum of friction is in itself noteworthy. Certainly one facet of the accomplishment is the experience gained in using certain ship types for the carriage of cargo for which they were not designed. Cargo specialists in Washington felt that bulk carriers logically could carry landing craft on deck. The biggest of this type, the LCU, weighs 200 tons. Stowing six of these on the deck of a ship in ballast might be considered a risk; but it was a calculated one, taken only after consultation with shipmasters, marine surveyors, underwriters, and marine engineers. One bulk
carrier, a jumboized T2 hull, carried six of the smaller landing craft as deck cargo. She dodged three major storm systems in the North Atlantic on the way home, and discovered that her odd-looking deckload acted as sails, giving her a couple of extra knots as she ran before Force 9 or 10 winds in 15-foot seas for 12 exhilarating hours.
One of the most interesting aspects of Freloc, and its unconventional handling of cargo, involved a Norwegian-owned, British- flag
ore carrier manned by a Hong Kong Ohinese crew. She was chartered to MSTS for a single voyage from Bassens to Charleston, S. C., with six of the big LGUs as deckload. After an uneventful voyage, five of the six boats were lifted off by dockside cranes. The ship then proceeded to the anchorage area at the mouth of the Cooper River where, as a test, she was trimmed way down by the bow; sea water was pumped into her port tanks to give a list, then, with the help of a tug, the sixth LGU slid off her deck into the harbor.
As in most operations of this type, no single mdividual can be singled out as the sole architect of what was a team effort in every sense of the word, a classic example of co-operation between MSTS, the shipper servicesand the American merchant marine.
By Commander Edward F. Oliver,
U. S. Coast Guard
LIGHTSHIPS TO SUPER SEA BUOYS?
Since 1820, when the first lightship was anchored off Craney Island near Norfolk, Virginia, the picturesque, red-hulled lightships along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts have flashed their greeting to returning seafarers or warned them with deep and sonorous f°ghorns. Ambrose, Diamond Shoals, and Frying Pan became names to evoke memories among succeeding generations of mariners, memories of a storm-tossed passage or a safe return after running the gauntlet of the submarine
menace during World Wars I and II.
But the impersonal methodology of government budgeting does not leave room for a nostalgic input. The computer’s answer was in black and white: a four-legged structure with a six-man crew could be constructed and operated for less than a lightship with 16 men. In addition, a helicopter platform would provide for logistic support at much less cost than the seaborne support necessary to replenish a lightship.
In 1961, the first Coast Guard lightship to be retired, Buzzards Bay, was replaced by a statuesque 80-foot steel tower. Brenton Reef, off Narragansett Bay, was next to go in 1962, and was replaced by an unmanned tower. She was followed by Savannah off the Savannah River entrance in 1964, and Frying Pan off Cape Fear and Chesapeake off Cape Henry in 1965. Diamond Shoals off treacherous Cape Hatteras was replaced late in 1966 and Ambrose off New York was retired on 24 August. Coast Guard lightships that will continue in operation on station are: Barnegat, Blunts Reef, Boston, Columbia, Delaware, Five Fathom Bank, Huron, Nantucket, New Orleans, Portland, Pollock Rip, and San Francisco.
Typical of the new four-legged structures is the one that replaced Ambrose lightship off the entrance to lower New York Bay. It stands in 75 feet of water 7.4 miles east of Sandy Hook, N. J., with its legs anchored 170 feet into the Atlantic Ocean floor. Living quarters for the six-man crew are located about 90 feet above the water, with a 70 by 70-foot helicopter landing deck on the roof. Power is supplied by three 50-kw. diesel electric generator sets. An 18-million candlepower light flashes a beacon from atop the lantern tower in the southeast corner of the structure, with the light positioned at a height of 133 feet above mean low water.
Originally, towers were planned to replace 13 lightships on the East Coast and the Great Lakes. The five lightships on the Pacific Coast, because of the deep water in which they are anchored and the long Pacific swells, were to be left in service. As efficient as the four-legged towers promised to be and before the first structure was five years old, progress decreed further changes. Accordingly, plans for the remaining six steel structures were canceled, and the colorful lightships’ retirement
The Coast Guard’s new 50-ton super sea buoy, sometimes called the "monster” buoy, receives finishing touches before it was stationed in the Atlantic in place of Scotland lightship in July.
General Dynamics
was postponed for a little while longer.
The computer calculated that one large “super sea buoy” (often called “monster” buoy) could replace the lightships much less expensively than a permanent steel structure. The monster buoy is the result of extensive research and testing over the last four years. In 1965, a prototype buoy, developed by Convair for the Office of Naval Research, was tested during Hurricane Betsy while moored in the Gulf Stream off the Florida coast in water 1,000 feet deep. The buoy telemetered oceanographic and weather data to shore stations during winds up to 110 m.p.h. and in waves up to 50 feet.
This 40-foot diameter, 50-ton buoy will be truly a monster of the deep. The first one was anchored off Sandy Hook on 25 July, where Scotland lightship was moored until 1965. It is unmanned and can be operated remotely, using a VHF or UHF radio link, permitting the control and monitoring of the aids-to-naviga- tion devices from a manned Coast Guard station ashore. A 5,000-candlepower light is located atop the superstructure at a point 30 feet above water. The buoy also has a foghorn and a low frequency radio beacon. It is powered by propane-fueled engine-generators and nickel-cadmium battery banks. It is expected that in October the buoy will be fitted with oceanographic data collecting equipment.
Scheduling of additional lightship replacements will not be made until the Scotland buoy has been evaluated under operating conditions. In spite of the rugged tests, the prototype went through, Coast Guard engineers still want the buoy to prove itself. They remember the storm of 31 January 1966, when the 1,000-ton Ambrose lightship, normally moored east of Sandy Hook, was blown a mile from her station by gale force winds. Even her 7,500-pound mushroom anchor, as large as the anchors used by battleships, could not keep her on station.
Mariners may soon see a variety of unusual
buoy designs, possibly the super sea buoy itself, positioned over the Seven Seas. These deep-ocean buoy designs, being developed primarily as a means of gathering oceanographic and meteorological data, may also prove to be part of the solution to a dilemma that has plagued seafarers for the last century, the need for shipping lanes. The Andrea Doria-Stockholm disaster in 1956 pointed up the need, and the 1960 Safety of Life at Sea Conference (SOLAS) put the international shipping fraternity on guard that traffic lanes should be established and followed.
The experience of Great Lakes shipping since 1911, when the first buoyed traffic lanes were established, has demonstrated the advantages of such a navigational system. The over 600-vessel fleet has sailed millions of tonnage miles with a minimum of collisions. Meanwhile, their salt water cousins have continued to criss-cross the oceans in the manner the master deemed most advantageous to his particular schedule.
In the near future, ocean mariners may see traffic lanes clearly marked by large buoys in high-density areas of shipping, such as the approaches to the Mississippi River and New York Harbor; and perhaps, even in the English Channel and the Straits of Gibraltar. Conceivably, traffic lanes across the North Atlantic could be marked by the buoys, something the colorful lightships and statu-
esque towers were not designed to do.
Extensive networks of buoys spread over the world may develop from the needs of various nations for marine meteorological and oceanographic data. The dual use of these buoy networks for the purposes of maritime safety and data collection is a natural and necessary development. The deployment °f extensive buoy networks not properly equipped as aids to navigation would certainly constitute a hazard to marine navigation. On the other hand, if properly equipped and maintained, such buoy networks would benefit maritime commerce and marine science throughout the world.
The development and deployment of such buoy networks is one of the most imaginative Projects associated with the recent U. S. emphasis on the sea. More than 15 Federal agencies have expressed an interest in the development of ocean buoy networks and have joined together under the auspices of the Committee on Marine Research Education and Facilities ln a study to determine the feasibility of developing and deploying such buoy networks within the next five years.
Only time will tell the future of the 13 remaining lightships. But Coast Guard planning calls for three being replaced in both the Fiscal 1968 and 1969 budgets. While these lew breeds of super sea buoys may not be as colorful as the lightships and do not evoke the same nostalgia, their streamlined efficiency and automative capabilities cannot be denied.
By Stephen P. Weintraub Underway Replenishment- at-Sea Project, Naval Ship’s System Command
SHIP-TO-SHIP PROBE FUELING
A significant change in the logistic support of the Fleet is taking place with the adoption of probe fueling rig. The probe fuel- lng device used in replenishing at sea is simply an automatic connect and disconnect coupling similar in appearance, function, and operation to aircraft flight refueling rigs. First deliveries have been made to elements of the Seventh Fleet, and eventually all oilers, attack aircraft carriers, and destroyers will receive the equipment.
The complete rig, as now used, consists of a ram-tensioned high-line supporting a 7-inch, lightweight, collapsible hose supported by a flow-through saddle, and a probe coupling.
Improvements to the rigs, known initially as the “Elwood rig” and the “Elokomin rig,” standardized an oiler’s rigging. Today these rigs are known as the “span wire” and “close- in,” respectively. The close-in rig supports the hose solely by saddle whips; the span wire rig uses a supporting cable, the span wire, and tends the slack in the hose by saddle whips. These rigs have been used for years, indeed, since the latter part of World War II, and have been eminently successful. The evolutionary changes prior to the probe system are significant: pressure fueling,' systems introduced in destroyer types, first in the USS Adams (DDG-2); the Robb quick-connect coupling, replacing the flanged coupling, and lightweight, collapsible hose to replace the rigid- wire, reinforced hose that was derived from the British 6-inch, lightweight hose. Increased use of 7-inch hose permits a potential pumping rate of 180,000 gallons an hour.
The most significant development, however, has been the use of the ram-tensioned highline. That is, the supporting span wire is kept at a constant tension by means of a hydro-pneumatic ram, which automatically compensates for ship motion due to roll, pitch, or yaw. The ram is maintained at midpoint of its travel by a winch operator, allowing for changes in ship separation and permitting the full travel of the ram, when reeved with six parts of the span wire, to compensate for 81 feet of displacement between the oiler and receiving ship.
It became apparent in 1961 that the major drawbacks to then current rigs were the restrictions imposed by the end couplings, the time required to rig and unrig, the hazards, and the relatively large number of people needed to man a fueling station. To eliminate these deficiencies, the Bureau of Ships launched a program to develop a “probe” fueling device, having as its basis the techniques used by aircraft during in-flight refuel-
ing. Four development contracts were let, and extensive prototype hardware testing followed.
The resulting prototype, after a Service Force Atlantic Fleet evaluation, using 20 ships fitted with nine probes and 21 receivers, was service-approved by the Chief of Naval Operations on 30 September 1965. The probe system in its production form consists of a male fitting attached to the terminal end of the 7-inch hose as flown by the oiler. The fitting rides the span wire on a trolley. The span wire ends in a swivel elbow on the receiving ship. Riding on this swivel is the receiver or female coupling. Thus, both connecting portions of the system are maintained in common alignment by the span wire, regardless of the catenary or the fore-and-aft alignment of the span wire. This permits the system to work with cither a tensioned or non-tensioned span wire. With tensioned rigs, it is possible to couple simply by letting gravity take the probe down the slope of the wire to the receiving ship. With non-tensioned rigs, one or two men manning the outhaul can connect the coupling. Upon mating, the male fitting is sealed in the receiver and then further travel opens a poppet valve which permits the immediate flow of the fuel. This action prevents leakage of fuel when, at breakaway, a reverse sequence occurs; the poppet closes to stop the flow of fuel, and then the male probe disconnects from the receiver. Disconnect can be accomplished by the oiler hauling in the hose
or by manual release on the receiving ship.
The advantages of probe fueling are many. A fueling rig can be passed semi-automatically and fully charged, with fuel under pressure; and ships can work at greater distances. It reduces the manning requirement, presently from four to six at fueling stations, to two men; it permits fueling to be accomplished in bad weather without the need to wrestle with riding lines or line up recalcitrant couplings manually. In point of fact, during the service evaluation the average connect time, from the Passing of the messenger to pumping, fell to a scant three minutes, a 300 per cent improvement over other rigs. One rig actually passed from shot line to pumping in 30 seconds. One pf the unanticipated advantages was the in- mcreased flow through the probe, which has shown a capability of transferring up to 50 Per cent more fuel at a given head than the Robb coupling.
At present, the probe is in production, with first deliveries to the Pacific Fleet already accomplished. Developments are already underway to adapt the probe to double hose ngs from which to suspend two hoses, one for Navy special fuel oil, and one for jet fuel (jP-5), from a common span wire to appease the carrier’s demanding and varied appetite. Meanwhile, studies are continuing for further improvement in the fuel distribution system °n combatants, to realize the full potential °f the increased flow rate.
By Lieutenant William J. Green, Jr.,
U. S. Navy
RIVER GUNFIRE SUPPORT SHIP
A ship of shallow draft, coupled with tremendous fire power, pound for pound, appears to be what is needed to support a riverine warfare in Vietnam. The operational forces there, in a large part, have relied on craft like the ungainly looking Monitors and Swift-class boats. The firepower of these small craft is extremely limited, when caliber and rate of fire are considered alone and without supporting air strikes or artillery fire. It would seem that a boat with increased firepower and with a relatively shallow draft, 15 feet at maximum, would be the first requisite. Next, it should have good maneuverability, and be relatively invulnerable to mines and underwater detonated ordnance, as well as to surface ordnance. (Control of the air over the operational area is, of course, necessary.)
How much would it cost to produce such a river boat? This writer submits that the United States already has such a craft, if the fact is accepted that the roles for which they were originally built have changed so drastically that these hulls could not possibly fulfill their original missions today. Specifically, it is suggested that the answer may be found in about 150 destroyer escorts, which lie unused in the reserve fleet.
Destroyer escorts, such as the Rudderow and John C. Butler classes and earlier, draw only 15 feet. This navigational draft could be lessened by at least two feet if these ships were modified to fit the river gunboat role.
Their present armament consists of two single, 5-inch, 38-caliber, lightweight mounts, one forward and one aft, in addition to several 40-mm. mounts. Since the craft’s mission would include fire suppression, counter-river ambush, and inshore fire suppression, both heavy and lightweight weapons are needed. The modification would also include removal of all ASW gear with the exception of hedgehogs, which, if armed hydrostatically, could be used as anti-underwater ordnance “cleansers.” Next, cut off the mast, leaving only a nub for a short-range, navigational radar platform. Perhaps even the 02 and 03 levels could be cut off and the entire bridge lowered to provide an over-all reduction in silhouette. Next, remove the deckhouse and 40-mm. tubs, to leave essentially only the main deck aft of the very forward portion of the superstructure, which area could be more heavily armored, along with exterior projections, to cause premature detonation of incoming rounds. Additional armor could also be placed on the vulnerable portions of the hull.
Since the new mission of the ship would no longer include convoy escort, which requires long periods at sea, a considerable portion of
storage and living spaces could be filled with foam and sealed, to provide added floatation in the event of underwater damage. Since the ship would operate out of an advanced base or from a tender for periods of only one to three days, crew size could be cut drastically.
With the superstructure down to the level of the deck aft of the stack, which could probably be replaced with a better design, the resulting open space offers additional possibilities. Four or five General Electric 7.62mm. Mini-guns or reworked 20-mm. Vulcan rapid-fire machine guns might be installed on each side, in mounts limited in train and in elevation to overlap in fire area. These guns would be mounted and fired in short bursts from behind a splinter shield. On the stern or perhaps even forward of the after 5-inch mount, a 180-mm. mortar pit could be installed which, when not in service, would be covered with a deck grating.
Ship stability requirements could be met by dividing and sealing unused compartments; with the lower compartments made floodable from the sea. Possibly, some bridge- controlled system could be devised to minimize the number of engineering personnel needed below deck during battle periods.
Perhaps the resultant “sweetwater” ship would retain few of its original classic lines, and a destroyerman might well have reason to shudder, but look at the package: four or five 7.6-mm. or 20-mm. guns per side, a large caliber mortar, and two 5-inch guns for direct and deep fire support. All this means that hulls now headed for the scrap heap could be put to excellent use.
A SOVIET CHARACTER STUDY
Viewing past, present, and future assessments of courses of action by the Soviet Union on the international scene, many possible misconceptions of the Soviet mind and character in the United States have led to faulty analyses of Soviet intentions and possible courses of action. The failure to understand the Soviet mind has proved costly in both the Bay of Pigs disaster and the Cuban crisis
negotiations. Today, the Vietnam War is be- mg prolonged because the United States has not evaluated properly the Soviet Union’s interest or role. Often the U. S. government has initiated action to bring about a desired Soviet reaction that appears to be based on expectations incompatible with the behavior that I might anticipate, based on my experience of two years of daily contact with the Soviet military^ occasional encounters with Soviet civilians, and over 20 years of study of Communism and the Soviet Union.[1]
Set forth are some salient characteristics of the Soviet Communist that appear to have a strong influence on his conduct in contacts under many and different, often adverse, circumstances:
(1) He is completely unsophisticated. Although cunning and shrewd, he is simple and direct. His lack of worldly knowledge and understanding often overrides his deviousness. Many times the highly intelligent, quickthinking Westerner will neglect consideration of the most simple motivating force behind a Soviet proposal or course of action. Nine times out of ten the most simple motivational factor will be the correct choice.
(2) He is a victim of his own political propaganda. His beliefs have been conditioned and distorted by an unchanging onesided party line that has closed his mind to obvious practical considerations and evaluations. Even when deviation from the party line offers the only possible self-saving choice of action, he will revert back immediately, and rationalize his action, seeking support within the party line.
(3) He is impervious to anything but a hard line. Since the Soviet hierarchy considers soft-speaking, patience, willingness to compromise or negotiate to be weaknesses, a Soviet leader with these characteristics cannot rise to power within the Soviet sphere of influence. Even within his own sphere he views satellite governments in this manner, a situation that has produced hardheaded and rigid nationalistic-communist leaders. Therefore, only strong and loyal leaders survive in Positions of leadership within countries
aligned to the Soviet Union.
(4)He is pressured by satellite countries to a degree seldom recognized. “Satellite,” “puppet,” and other terms used to describe these governments were originated in the West and distort somewhat the posture of these countries. Since these Communist governments are advocating similar goals, it has been increasingly difficult for the Soviets to handle disagreements about the means to accomplish Communist aims. Nationalism also plays a role in causing differences in the Communist camp.
(5)National interests dictate his major moves on the international scene.
(6)Within the limits of national interests, he will recognize a legal position. Often this characteristic is motivated by a desire to maintain stature in the family of nations.
(7) Loss of face is important. He will play a “tit for tat” game in international politics, and thoroughly understands retaliation as a proper action by the side that has been subjected to a move initiated by an opponent. If there is no reaction to his move, he will take the next turn.
(8)Despite such righteous Soviet sayings as “the truth is brighter than the sun,” the Soviet official is an habitual liar. Surprisingly, he will admit openly that he regards truth and falsehood lightly.
(9)He lacks faith in anything but inductive reasoning or scientific evidence. Appeals on moral or religious grounds will be ineffective and viewed as having a superstitious basis.
(10) He is a further victim of his archaic general consumption propaganda. To this day, he views the United States as if it were controlled by the robber barons of the 19th century. He emphasizes the business interests, munition makers, and Rockefellers in every discussion concerning the United States today. His view is unchanged by the sight of thousands of automobiles in a U. S. city. He sees only thousands of exploiters instead of tens and hundreds.
(11) Years of peace and coexistence propaganda have affected the outlook of even the top-level military. The difference in mental readiness for possible warfare between U. S. senior military and their Soviet counterparts is striking. While our leaders are pragmatic realists who entertain no qualms about Communist motives, who view the Soviet bloc as a potential enemy, and who accept the possibility of warfare as a fact of today’s world, the Soviets, conditioned by a party line of future peace and coexistence, parrot the party line and openly propagandize for peace. They consequently become victims of this consistent party line. This condition in Soviet society has caused an ambivalent attitude toward military responsibility on which the West could capitalize.
(12) He is a victim of U. S. press reports. He is unable to fathom the wide range of political positions in the United States and will often misjudge our national purpose. Seemingly threatening statements by members of Congress or other prominent Americans cause him to panic and take action that he otherwise would not consider.
(13) He has a deep-rooted fear of the “German revenger.” This fear extends down to the individual. This characteristic is apparent in the Soviet press (despite political overtones) and is evident in every conversation with each Soviet citizen, despite his station in life, that touches on World War II and its aftermath.
(14) He is extremely apprehensive concerning involvement in a global war. This anxiety extends to the top military leaders and heightens his suspicions of the Western world.
(15) He is well-trained in his specific field (particularly the military), but is extremely slow in reacting to changing conditions or surprise moves.
(16) He is plagued with a massive alcohol problem, particularly in the military. Drinking on duty frequently occurs. Continuing attempts are made to curb excessive drinking. The latest measure, taken in the fall of 1966, imposes fines of three to ten rubles on persons found on the streets under the influence.
(17) He is confronted by a serious “hooligan” situation. Gangs roam the streets. Innocent people are abused by bullies. Wanton destruction of state property is not uncommon. With the reduction of strict controls and the increase of personal freedom experienced by the people after Stalin’s death in 1953, there has not been an increased shouldering of responsibilities. The granting of more civil liberties and other individual rights has resulted in a deterioration of law and order.
Considering the Soviet character, problems, and approach to international affairs, certain directions and attitudes can be expected. He will react strongly only to a threat of global involvement. Limited wars fought by the West to prevent what he views as national liberation movements do not move him to co-operate to seek peaceful solutions. He expects undeveloped areas to be involved in struggles with the capitalist countries and, accepting these conflicts as part and parcel of his party doctrine, he believes that they work to his favor in the inevitable march of history to Communism. The United States, therefore, should evaluate carefully any step toward an involvement in a limited war in an undeveloped area, should expect the Soviet Union to foster the conflict without direct involvement, and should not anticipate any sincere moves on the part of the Soviet Union to reach peaceful solutions.
The Soviet Union can be wooed only by cautious, step-by-step unemotional diplomacy, using a direct, unsophisticated approach. The initiation of any U. S. step should not be taken without a prior consideration of the effect of the action on the Soviet outlook.
The characteristics which make up the Soviet posture should be recognized as significant factors that will influence the future course of his action on the international scene.
★
Notebook
U. S. Navy
Q A-l Phase-out Nears Completion
(Aviation Week & Space Technology, 19 June 1967) Navy is nearing the final stage of phasing the dwindling number of propeller- driven Douglas A-l Skyraiders from its fleet inventory in favor of newer, faster, less vulnerable jet-powered attack aircraft.
One of five remaining Navy A-l squadrons, VA-25 based at NAS, Lemoore, California, reportedly will be the last Navy “Spad” squadron to be deployed in combat. The unit is expected aboard the USS Coral Sea this summer for a third Vietnam tour.
After this tour, the A-ls are expected to be turned over to the Air Force in Southeast Asia. The Air Force also will receive A-ls being phased from other Navy units. Both USAF and the South Vietnamese Air Force are flying A-ls in combat.
One of the most useful services currently performed by Navy A-ls in Vietnam is rescue cover missions for helicopter retrieval of downed pilots. These missions probably will be handled by A-4s after the A-ls are phased out, a Navy officer said.
Two MIG kills have been recorded by A-l pilots in the Vietnam war in separate air battles 20 June 1965, and 2 November 1966.
The A-ls are being replaced by Grumman A-6s, Ling-Temco-Vought A-7s or Douglas A-4s.
Elimination of the piston-engine A-ls over the next year or so will end more than 21 years of active naval service for the Skyraider in seven different versions and 28 sub-versions. A total of 3,180 A-ls were built by Douglas. First A-ls were delivered to the fleet in 1946. Of the five operational A-l squadrons, four are based on the West Coast and one is on the East Coast. Three former A-l squadrons completed transition to new aircraft in the last two years.
0 P-5 Marlin Closes Seaplane History
{Naval Aviation News, July 1967) On May 17, at Sangley Point, R. P., the history of Navy seaplanes closed with the P-5 Marlin’s last patrol. As the big plane roared down the sealane, the pilot, Commander Hugh E. Longino, VP-40’s Commanding Officer, kicked in the JATO, and the last seaplane antisubmarine patrol flight over the South China Sea had begun.
Seaplanes have been flown by the Navy since 1911 and have flown from Sangley for over 30 years. “I flew seaplanes out of here 20 years ago,” said Captain Ainsworth, Commander of Fleet Air Wing Eight and copilot on the last flight of the Marlin. “That was the old PBM seaplane when I was in VPB-21 in 1947.”
The personnel of VP-40 will make the transition to the landbased P-3 late this year or early in 1968.
0 A-7 Makes Record Flight to France (JOC John D. Burlage, U. S. Navy in Naval Aviation News, July 1967) Without even trying hard, two Navy A-7A Corsair II pilots set a record recently when they flew a pair of the new jet, light-attack aircraft on a non-stop, non-refueling flight from NATG Patuxent River, Maryland, to Evreux, France.
U. S. military officials in nearby Paris, where the two A-7As were part of the 27 th Paris International Aeronautical and Space Salon, said it was the first such flight ever made by single-engine, jet, light-attack aircraft.
The Corsairs were flown to the Evreux airfield, a former U. S. Air Force base about 55 miles from Paris that is now under French control, by Commander Charles W. Fritz and Marine Captain Alec Gillespie.
After they were launched from Patuxent River at 10:56 a.m. (Paris time) 19 May, the two pilots covered the 3,327 nautical miles (3,900 statute miles) to Evreux in seven hours and one minute—averaging, they said later, about 450 knots in true air speed. The A-7s represented only one of more than 100 different types of U. S. military and civilian aircraft brought to Le Bourget Airport for participation in the internationally-known air show.
After they took off from Patuxent River,
Commander Fritz and Captain Gillespie headed out over Long Island to make their long flight over the Atlantic. In doing so, they flew almost the same “great circle” route taken by Charles Lindbergh 40 years ago when he made the first transatlantic flight to Paris in the “Spirit of St. Louis” in 33 hours and 30 minutes.
In emphasizing that they had not set out °n the flight specifically to break or establish any records, Commander Fritz pointed out that both A-7s were strictly “stock” models being flown regularly by pilots at NATC and
elsewhere.
£3 Navy Ocean School Plans Expansion
{Journal of the Armed Forces, 1 July 1967) A sizeable expansion of the Naval Postgraduate School’s ocean sciences program at Monterey, California has been proposed to keep the Navy in the forefront of oceanography.
The proposed expansion—still in the planning stage—would give the school one of the |argest postgraduate educational enrollments in ocean science of any school in the United States within a year. Other effects of the planned five-year expansion:
• A 600 per cent increase by early 1968 (to an estimated 129 students) in the number °f postgraduate officers studying ocean science at the school.
• The establishment of a new $1.6-million hollar ocean sciences building on the school’s beachfront property in FY ’69.
• The acquisition by the school of an ocean-going research vessel capable of carry- lng more students and more research equipment farther to sea for longer periods of time than before possible.
By 1970 the school plans several specialized master of science programs in ocean science— including studies in such areas as biological oceanography, geological oceanography, geophysical oceanography, and ocean engineer- lng—a field concerned with the construction °f sea structures.
A doctorate program in ocean science also ls under consideration.
s Academy Swears-in Largest Class
(U. S. Naval Academy Public Affairs Office, July 1967) The largest class ever admitted to a United States service academy entered the Naval Academy on Wednesday, 28 June. From 50 states and eight foreign countries, 1,400 candidates took the oath of office as midshipmen.
For the first time in the Academy’s history, nominations were open to candidates from the Southeast Asian countries. The new class will include a midshipman from the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The contingent from U. S. states shows that most come from: California 141, Pennsylvania 99, New York 111, Illinois 63, Ohio 75, New Jersey 67, Maryland 58, Virginia 75, and Washington, D. C. with four.
A group of 111 enlisted Navy and Marine Corps candidates from the Naval Academy Preparatory School, Bainbridge, Maryland, were also sworn in.
Other U. S. Services
0 $165 Million for CG Passed by Senate
(Ernest Sandison in The New York Times, 28 June 1967) The Senate has passed the Coast Guard authorization bill for ships, planes and shore facilities for FY 1968.
The $165,014,000 bill, authorizing $58 million more in appropriations than the administration requested, is on its way to President Johnson. The bill adds four high-endurance cutters to the one requested. But $1 million in planning funds for the design work on a nuclear powered icebreaker and about $1.7 million for Coast Guard housing in the House version were deleted.
After a brief delay over a typographical error in the amended bill, the House accepted the Senate’s changes. When the administration recommended the Coast Guard appropriation, the request was for one $14.5-million high-endurance cutter. The House added four more. The Senate concurred. Reporting out the bill, Sen. E. L. Bartlett (D.-Alaska) said that the Commerce
Committee agreed to adding the ships as “the Coast Guard is in desperate need and will remain in desperate need of these replacements.”
The Senate committee report also praised the Coast Guard’s contribution to the Navy’s Operation Market Time. This began with a Navy request for 17 patrol cutters, was increased to 26 and now—with the recent addition of five large cutters—brings the total of Coast Guard ships in Vietnam to 31.
The House had increased the authorization for icebreaker design to $2.5 million. This was chopped back to $1.5 million after the Senate Commerce Committee was told by the Coast Guard that the next icebreaker would probably not be nuclear-powered after all and that extra funds for design work for a conventionally-powered one were not needed.
It had been assumed that the next icebreaker would be nuclear powered and both the House and the Senate expressed “strong feelings” that it should have been.
Included in the authorization bill is $2.5 million for rehabilitation of six ships built in 1936 and $2.7 million to up-date the present icebreakers’ communications, berthing and helicopter facilities.
The authorization bill also lists $3 million for two large patrol cutters of a new class. Appropriations for these were okayed last year. The Coast Guard expects an overall savings in operation costs inasmuch as the complement will be 34 instead of the 64 now aboard the medium endurance cutters they will replace.
A third ship for which design money was appropriated last year, an oceanographic research ship, is authorized at a cost of $12 million.
Nine medium-range recovery aircraft to replace nine over-age medium-range search airplanes; 12 short-range aircraft for deployment to icebreakers and for SAR in Chicago; one turbo-jet transport to replace two over-age piston-engined transports and funds for testing and reconfiguration of a medium-range SAR aircraft were in the bill. Authorization for aircraft totals $25,475,000.
a ESSA Adds Two Ships to Survey Fleet
(The Christian Science Monitor, 6 July 1967) Navigators will be happy to know that Rude and Heck are prowling the East Coast. These are two new wire-drag ships that will act as a team in searching for submerged hazards along major shipping lanes. A steel wire towed slackly between the 90-foot vessels catches on dangerous obstructions such as sunken wrecks and high rocks.
Rude and Heck were commissioned in March 1967 to join the fleet of oceanographic vessels operated by the Coast and Geodetic Survey of the Environmental Science Services Administration [ESSA]. The fleet of 15 government ships will cover approximately
125,0 nautical miles this year gathering maritime data.
The survey’s 300 commissioned officers are celebrating their golden anniversary in 1967. Created by an act of Congress in May 1917, the commissioned corps forms the nation’s smallest uniformed service.
The survey itself has explored and charted coastal waters of the United States, its territories, and possessions for 160 years.
Facts, figures, and symbols printed on large nautical charts published by the survey give remarkably detailed information on depths, sea-bottom obstructions, and visible shore landmarks. The latest electronic aids assure accuracy. Devices like the fathometer and Shoran make it possible—within seconds—to obtain water-depth readings and to give a vessel’s exact latitude and longitude. The survey works on land, too. A large part of its job is surveying the national domain to provide a framework of geodetic controls as a base for mapping and engineering construction work.
@ Pentagon Picks Litton for FDL
(Washington Post, 21 July 1967) The Defense Department yesterday picked the design submitted by Litton Systems, Inc., for a fast deployment logistics ship [FDL] whose funding had been denied by Congress. Litton, of Culver City, California, was one of three defense contractors invited to bid on the ship, designed for quick delivery of troops and material to potential world trouble spots.
The Pentagon indicated it plans to resubmit the $l-bi!lion proposal to Congress next year. If it were approved by Congress, the contract would go to Litton unless final negotiations with that company were un-
satisfactory, the Pentagon said. In that case the project would again be thrown open for bidding.
The other two bidders on the ship were General Dynamics Corp., of San Diego, and Lockeed Shipbuilding Co., of Seattle.
Earlier this year, the Senate cut authorization for the fast deployment ships at the urging of Chairman Richard B. Russell (D-Ga.), of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Russell said that if pre-positioned stores of U. S. arms were available, the United States would be under constant pressure to use its force—to be a policeman—all over the World.
S3 Two Jets to Be Tested in War Zone
{Navy Times, 19 July 1967) Two new airplanes are scheduled to be combat-tested in Vietnam. Both are jets, but there the similarity ends. The variable-sweep-wing F-111 is a highly sophisticated supersonic plane. The Cessna b-37, also a complicated piece of machinery, is a subsonic, lightweight aircraft designed for limited warfare.
The F-111, which was originally designated the TFX, is reported to have a top speed of 1,650 miles an hour and costs about $5 million each. The T-37, on the other hand, has a top speed of 480 mph.
33 Reserve Duty Cut for Veterans
(The New York Times, 28 June 1967) The Pentagon announced today that military reservists who have served two years active duty would generally be exempt from weekly drills in the Ready Reserve. The new policy rnay mean the release of thousands of men now required to attend weekly meetings of Reserve or National Guard units.
The Pentagon said that “in no event shall a rnan who has served in Vietnam be involuntarily assigned” to a Ready Reserve unit for weekly drill.
The Army estimated that there were 25,000 mdividuals mandatorily attached to Ready Reserve units who would be eligible for release, if they so desired, by 1 December. Some Navy and Air Force reservists also are involved. A spokesman estimated that of the
25,0 men involuntarily assigned to Ready Reserve units, about 1,500 were veterans of the Vietnam War.
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The new policy is not a blanket exemption. Some reservists, the Pentagon said, may be held in Ready Reserve units if “after diligent recruitment effort, it is determined that a vacancy cannot otherwise be filled.”
The Pentagon said that under the new policy men exempt from attending drills would still be required to attend two-week summer active duty camps to maintain their military skills.
Foreign
53 Britain to Leave Asia by 70s
(Dana Adams Schmidt in The New York Times, 19 July 1967) Britain announced plans today to withdraw from her bases in Singapore and Malaysia in the middle 1970s. The announcement, which foreshadows the end of Britain’s military role in Asian areas east of Suez, was made over strong opposition by the U. S. Government. Deeply embroiled in Vietnam, the United States has attached great importance to Britain’s presence in the Far East.
The new policy was contained in a white paper on defense, which said manpower of
80.0 in Singapore and Malaysia, half military and half civilian, would be halved by 1970-71. The white paper also announced a new long-term reduction in British military expenditures, by one-seventh below earlier estimates, and of military manpower, by
75.0 in the mid-seventies from the present figure of 417,360.
This was the third major British defense policy statement since February, 1966. Each one has represented a milestone in the winding up of Britain’s functions as a great power, and all have been dictated by the economic and political necessities of this island.
The key to London’s policy lay in the introduction to the white paper, which emphasized “a more pressing need to reduce overseas expenditure, a slower rate of growth than expected in the British economy, and the consequent necessity to keep Government expenditure as low as possible.”
But the withdrawal will be gradual. The precise timing of the British departure from the Far Eastern bases will depend on “progress made in achieving a new basis for stability in Southeast Asia and in resolving other problems in the Far East,” the statement said.
The Southeast Asia Treaty organization, Malaysia and the Commonwealth were informed that “we intend to change our Far East commitments.” To meet these requirements, she plans “a military capability” in the form of a strategic reserve stationed in Britain, as well as “some naval amphibious forces in the Far East.”
The possibility of “using facilities in Australia and of making a new staging airfield in the British Indian Ocean territory” is being examined, the statement said. Other key points in today’s white paper included these:
• Defense costs are to be reduced below the objective of $2-billion (85.6-billion) a year at 1964 price levels that was set in last year’s white paper. By the mid-nineteen-seventies, the budget is to be down to 1.8-billion.
• Manpower in the army, navy and air force will be cut by 37,000 by April, 1971.
• On the assumption that “a Soviet attack in Europe is unlikely in present circumstances” Britain has proposed to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization a shift of one army brigade and one Royal Air Force squadron from the Army of the Rhine to bases in Britain. This would save £5.5-million ($15.4-million) a year in foreign exchange.
s New Naval Region Formed by NATO
Tad Szulc in The New York Times, 25 June 1967) A two-story villa near Cintra, Portugal is the nucleus of what is planned as a vital North Atlantic alliance naval command.
For four months the villa has served as advance planning headquarters for the Iberian- Atlantic, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s command formed last December to cover the strategic ocean area facing Portugal and North Africa.
It was the withdrawal of the French Navy from the alliance in 1965 that led to the birth of Iberlant, as the command is code-named, although it had been on paper since 1950. But the recent events in the Mediterranean, including the closing of the Suez Canal, have added to the new command’s importance.
The area for which the command is responsible stretches over 410,000 square miles of the Atlantic from the northern coast of Portugal to the south of the Spanish Sahara and juts out into the sea to include Madeira, a Portuguese island, and the waters surrounding
Spain’s Canary Islands. The command has as lts main missions the protection of shipping moving from Europe to Africa and North America and the defense of the maritime approaches to this region. The area was originally controlled in the NATO structure from France.
After the French pull-out, Portugal was chosen as the headquarters because of her geographical position and because political considerations prevented the use of Gibraltar. Any new tensions in North Africa will also concern the command, since one of its missions is the co-ordination of support for land action between the Sahara’s southern extremity and Portugal.
Finally, Iberian-Atlantic has the added concern of the approaches to the Strait of Gibraltar, which links the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. That problem may become aggravated if the mounting Spanish pressures lead to the loss or neutralization of the strategic British and NATO base in the Gibraltar colony. At this stage, the new command’s operational capabilities are limited, if they exist at all.
Working under Rear Adm. Edwin S. Miller °f the U. S. Navy, a 56-year-old holder of the Navy Cross, the command’s staff of 10 American, British, Portuguese and Dutch officers is concerned mainly with the planned construction of its permanent headquarters and radio facilities at Fort Gomes Freire on the Portuguese coast 10 miles west of Lisbon.
It may be three years before the Gomes Freire installation and its two radio centers are completed. The full staff will number 70 officers and 100 men. For the time being, Admiral Miller’s villa has only two teletype channels linking his command, through Portuguese naval facilities, with the headquarters °f Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic, at Norfolk, Virginia.
@ Russian Navy Doubles in the Med.
(Orr Kelly in The Washington Evening Star, 22 June 1967) The Soviet naval presence in the Mediterranean Sea has doubled since the beginning of the Middle East Crisis—to its highest level in history.
The sharp increase in the number of Soviet ships—a build-up that has continued even since the end of the brief war—is considered by some U. S. Navy officials in Washington as one of the most significant developments of the entire crisis.
In recent years, the Soviet Union has maintained a fleet of about 10 to a dozen ships in the sea. The number is now more than 20, and includes two cruisers, four destroyers, 10 submarines and a flotilla of supply and service ships.
Among the ships that have been routinely stationed there is a trawler outfitted with sophisticated electronic gear. This “snooper” ship remains near the large U. S. Navy base at Rota, Spain—the home base for the U. S. Sixth Fleet and one of four bases for nuclear submarines armed with the Polaris missile.
The number of Soviet vessels operating in the Mediterranean is now about half that of the Sixth Fleet, which at the time of the war included 46 ships. In the Sixth Fleet are two carriers—the Saratoga and the America—two cruisers, 16 destroyers, three submarines, four minesweepers and service ships.
To get from the Black Sea into the Mediterranean, Soviet ships must pass through the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles before they can proceed through the Aegean Sea down into the Mediterranean.
Under the Montreaux Convention of 1936, Soviet warships have free passage through the Turkish Straits, but they must go through one at a time, the Turkish government must be notified and submarines must be on the surface. It is no great problem for the United States—or anyone else who wants to go out and look—to keep track of Soviet ships enter-
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ing or leaving the Mediterranean from the Black Sea. Some Soviet submarines also enter the Mediterranean from the other end, through the Straits of Gibraltar. But there are reasons to believe that their presence is rather quickly detected.
The Soviet ships have been carrying on maneuvers, harassing ships of the Sixth Fleet, and making port calls—reminding the world that the Soviet Union, too, has a navy. Normally, about this time of year, there is a changing-of-the-guard of Soviet ships in the Mediterranean. But these ships which would normally have been relieved didn’t sail home, so the result was a doubling of the guard.
s US—Panama Form Canal Treaties
(John W. Finney in The New Tork Times, 27 June 1967) The United States and Panama announced today that their negotiators had reached agreement on new treaties governing control of the Panama Canal and possible construction of a new sea-level canal.
Under the treaties, the United States will surrender its 64-year-old sovereignty over the Panama Canal Zone, and Panama will help run the present canal as well as any sea-level canal on her territory.
On Capitol Hill, it was reported that under the new arrangements, the canal would become the property of a U. S.-Panamanian authority, with the understanding that the canal was on “Panamian soil.”
Agreement on the treaties, reached after two-and-a-half-years of negotiation, is expected to remove a long-standing point of friction between the United States and Panama, dating from the 1903 treaty that gave the U. S. legal sovereignty over the Canal Zone “in perpetuity.”
Announcement that negotiating teams had reached agreement on “the form and content” of the new treaties was made jointly by President Johnson and President Marco A. Robles of Panama. Three treaties are involved—one concerning the present Panama Canal, another a sea-level canal and a third the defense of the canal and its neutrality.
The proposed texts of the new treaties were withheld until they could be approved by the two governments and submitted to their legislatures for ratification. In general, according to officials, the treaties follow the guidelines agreed upon by Presidents Johnson and Robles in September, 1965.
In effect, the new treaties will abrogate the 1903 treaty, as long demanded by Panama. The United States will surrender its absolute legal control over the Panama Canal Zone and the new treaties will “effectively recognize” Panama’s sovereignty over the 10-mile-wide strip of land containing the present canal.
The new treaties seek to insure that Panama will share with the United States in the running of the present canal. It is proposed that there be an orderly political, social and economic integration of the Canal Zone with the rest of Panama. It is also proposed that Panama, which depends heavily on income from the canal, will have a greater share in its financial benefits. She now receives $1,930,000 annually in rent from the United States, and will receive a higher share of the tolls. The amount—one of the more controversial issues in the negotiations—was not disclosed.
Administration sources said the terms of the new treaties have been generally well received by the Robles Government. The Panamanian National Assembly was not due to reconvene until 1 October, but it may be called into special session to ratify the treaties.
As in the past, the new treaties specify that the present canal and any new sea-level canal be open at all times to vessels of all nations. The treaty concerning construction of a sea- level canal contains no commitment that it will be built in Panama. For bargaining purposes, the United States desired to link negotiations on the present canal with a treaty permitting construction of a new one.
An Adantic-Pacific Interoceanic Canal Study Commission, created by Congress in 1964, is studying possible sites for a sea-level canal. The present canal, with its system of locks, is unable to handle some of the larger tankers and aircraft carriers.
The commission is concentrating on two possible sites—the so-called Sasardi-Bosti route in Panama, about 200 miles east of the present canal, and a route through northern Colombia. The Atomic Energy Commission is examining the possibility of excavation in those places by nuclear explosives.
Also under study is the feasibility of converting the present canal to a sea-level route. Another possible route lies along the border
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S3 Britain Now Has 3 Nuclear Subs
(Naval News Summary, Minister of Defense, U- K., March 1967) Britain’s third nuclear fleet submarine HMS Warspite, commissioned for service with the Royal Navy at the Barrow-in-Furness Yard of Vickers Limited (Shipbuilding Group), on Tuesday, 18 April 1967. Mrs. H. Wilson named the submarine at the launch in September 1965.
The Warspite is of all-British construction, with a length of 285-feet, and a beam of 33- feet. She is equipped with the latest underwater detection aids and weapons and fitted With an Inertial Navigation System. Her Propulsion machinery consists of a pressurized Water reactor driving a single-shaft through steam turbines. The nuclear reactor was built by Rolls-Royce and Associates in conjunction with Vickers, Ltd. and Babcock and Wilcox, and the steam turbines by English Electric. She also has the latest air-conditioning and Purification equipment, a water distilling Plant, and a high standard of accommodation for her complement of 13 officers and 90 ratings.
The Royal Navy now has six fleet submarines in service, building, or on order, and it ls planned, as announced in this year’s Defense White Paper, to order a seventh—an unproved Valiant type—later this year. Four Solaris submarines are also under construction.
Bfl AF Pilots Join Brazil’s Carrier
(Fernando P. Laux in Interconair, May 1967) The aircraft carrier Minas Gerais is the first unit of this type to join the Brazilian Navy, but the third ship to receive this name. As the British carrier Vengeance, of the Glory class, she Was launched on 23 February 1944, and joined the Royal Navy 10 months later.
After eight years of service in the British fleet, the vessel was loaned to the Australian Navy. In 1955 she returned to Great Britain, where she joined the reserve fleet. The Brazilian Navy, which had been planning on the acquisition of a carrier for some time, closed negotiations for the unit in December 1956, and modernization was entrusted to the Netherlands yard of Verolme Dock & Shipbuilding.
The extent of modification is indicated by the addition of an angle deck, change from hydraulic to steam catapults, mirror system of landing aircraft, and installation of a new island. Speed was increased and modern electronic systems ordered from the United States.
Under the official designation NAeL A-11 Minas Gerais, the ship was incorporated in the Brazilian Navy on 6 December 1960. As the nucleus of an ASW task force including 6 to 8 destroyers, the Brazilian carrier, flagship of the national Navy, is now the best and most important unit of the Navy.
It is a curious fact that the air group of the carrier is in large part composed of men from the Brazilian Air Force. This is the result of a presidential decision intended to settle a long dispute between the Air Force and the Navy over control of air groups destined to operate from the carrier.
It was decided that all the aircraft of the Minas Gerais should belong to the Brazilian Air Force and not to the Navy. Thus, the 1°/1 "GPAVEMB (the first squadron of the 1st carrier group) of the Brazilian Air Force, created in February 1957, received the responsibility for operating its aircraft from the carrier. On the other hand, the complement of helicopters is solely responsible to the Navy. As a result of this order, six Westland H-34 helicopters from the Brazilian Air Force were transferred to the Navy and designated SH-34J.
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Eddy Sampaio Espelletti, CO of the Minas Gerais, has 1,300 men under his command, including the air group commanded by Lieutenant Carvalho. As an ASW unit, the Minas Gerais is armed with radar-controlled 40-mm. antiaircraft Bofors guns.
In the normal aircraft complement, there are six Grumman S-2F-1 Trackers designated as P-16s of the BAF regularly on board. The other planes are ashore at an air base near Rio de Janeiro. Besides the SH-34J helos, the carrier has a number of old Whirlwinds which are being replaced with Wasp types. All of these helos are regrouped under the Naval Air Force, and as part of naval aviation are piloted by officers of the Navy.
s Soviet Shipbuilding in the East, West
(VDI-Nachrichten Nr. 19/10 May 1967) Sudoimport in Moscow is presently carrying on extensive negotiations for deliveries from Eastern and Western shipyards during the next two years. Finnish yards will build 26 coastal tankers to be powered by 2,900 h.p. propelling plants from the Soviets. In addition, Sudoimport is negotiating with Finnish construction groups for a Kiev-type (22,000 h.p.) icebreaker to be equipped with a
36.0 h.p. plant.
A Hungarian contract for 40 tugs of 2,000 h.p. is nearing conclusion. These units are destined for traffic on the Siberian rivers. Contracts are being negotiated for five salvage tugs of 5,000 h.p. each with Dutch and other European firms, as well as the Mitsubishi and Nippon Kokan steel works of Japan. Talks with Mitsubishi over delivery of a 25,000-ton floating dock have been deferred because of differences over price and delivery dates. Mitsubishi has already built a large floating dock for the Soviet Pacific harbor of Nakhodka. Sudoimport has now invited bids from West German yards calling for the delivery of two 27,000-ton docks to Riga and Novorossisk.
Within the next year, medium German yards will deliver 21 repair ships for the transport of forgings, motors, and mechanical installations. In addition, 22 harbor tugs, a large series of dry cargo vessels from 4,300 to
12.0 tons, a number of passenger vessels carrying 750 persons, and two scientific research vessels.
s U.K. Puts Assault Force in Far East
(Naval News Summary, April 1967) HMS Fearless, the Royal Navy’s first assault ship, has joined Britain’s Amphibious Group in the Far East and has just returned to Singapore from joint exercises in Hong Kong.
This powerful and versatile group consists of the Navy’s first assault ship HMS Fearless, the Commando ship HMS Bulwark and marines and soldiers of the 3rd Commando Brigade, Royal Marines, complete with helicopters, landing craft, vehicles and 95 Commando Light Regiment Royal Artillery. The Fearless is fitted as a headquarters ship and the force is jointly commanded by the Commodore Amphibious Forces and the Commander, 3rd Commando Brigade, Royal Marines.
The force of 2,500 troops can be landed by helicopter or landing craft fully prepared for combat within a few hours of an emergency arising. They are not dependent on ports or airfields, nor are they limited by weather conditions. Landings can be made across beaches, inland, or a combination of both. When trouble threatens, the Amphibious Group can be stationed at sea, over the horizon, ready for action if necessary but not provoking the situation ashore.
This group is a first-class example of joint- Service co-operation: The ships’ companies consist of some 1,500 sailors, and 120 soldiers and Marines. The group’s 40 helicopters consist of a Naval Air Commando Squadron, with Marine, Army and Royal Air Force pilots attached, three flights of Royal Marine light helicopters, a flight each of Army and Royal Air Force helicopters. Landing craft, capable of landing tanks or troops, are manned by marines, and the Commando Brigade consists of 1,650 marines, 800 soldiers, and 50 sailors.
With the commissioning recently of HMS Intrepid, the Navy now has two assault ships and two Commando ships, enabling Britain to maintain continuously this powerful and viable Amphibious Group East of Suez.
Merchant Marine
s U. S. Ship Tonnage Down to 7 Per Cent
(Helen Delich Bentley in Baltimore Sun, 7 July 1967) The U. S.-flag participation in the country’s total export-import tonnage in 1966 dropped to seven per cent, the lowest on
record since 1921, the American Merchant Marine Institute reported today.
Even though the overall amount of cargo shipped in foreign trade of this country was UP by nearly 23,000,000 tons, the share transported by American vessels decreased six tenths of one per cent, setting the undesirable record. Total trade, exclusive of Canada, amounted to 339,000,000 long tons or about a 6.4 per cent increase between 1965 and 1966.
The value of the U. S. foreign trade continued its upward climb by 14.5 per cent, reaching a high of $55,000,000,000, excluding military grant-aid, for 1966. Of this, $29,400,
600,0 was applied to exports and $25,550,000,000 to imports. The 1966 trade balance dropped to $3,800,000,000, a significant decline from $5,200,000,000 in 1965 and the record high of almost $7,000,000,000 in 1964.
The institute’s annual research report also Pointed out that of the 965 merchant vessels composing the privately-owned American- flag fleet, 682 or 71 per cent are 20 years old or older. The report, which was released today, broke the aged ships down further. By type, it said, 12 of 27, or 45 per cent, of the passenger- combination ships, 521 of 663 freighters, or 79 Per cent, and 149 of the 275, or 54 per cent, of the tankers fall in this group.
“A massive shipbuilding program will be required in the next five years just to maintain status quo,” the report stated. “For the bulk portion of the fleet, 56 of 59 vessels were 20 years of age or older. The average age for this group was 22.3 years.” The report covers every phase of maritime activity—from longshore strikes to containership movements in Vietnam, from passengers using American-flag ships to tanker trading areas—during 1966.
It points out that operations on commercial trade routes were drastically hurt because of the assignment of nearly 25 per cent of the commercial vessels to the Vietnam run. The tonnage utilization in this operation amounted to only 21 per cent.
Because of the Vietnam war, the percentage of American-flag ships engaged in foreign commercial operations was down to 60.5 per cent, compared to 77 per cent the year before. In the tanker field alone, some 19 per cent of the tanker operations were in the Vietnam pipeline while those engaged in foreign trade had dropped from 13 per cent in 1964 to 11.6 per cent during 1966.
53 Sea Pollution Laws Called Obsolete
(Baltimore Sun, 9 June 1967) Representative Thomas Downing (Dem., Va.), joined with Stewart L. Udall, Secretary of the Interior, today in urging modernization of laws to control pollution of seaways and harbors. Both said the larger oil cargoes in the much bigger tankers are an increasing hazard to beaches and marine and wildlife.
He and Udall, in testimony before Senate public works subcommittee on air and water pollution, urged an updating of laws to make shippers of oil and similar substances more responsible for damages if the cargo affects harbors and beaches.
Udall stressed that technically and institutionally the maritime nations of the world are not capable of handling the results of a ship collision or other mishap that could occur to large, modern ships carrying such a cargo.
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Downing said that as the law now stands, the enforcing agency, the U. S. Coast Guard, must not only pinpoint the source of pollution oil, take seawater samples for analysis, question ship officers and prove its case, but must prove gross negligence in order to prosecute offenders.
h Atom Ship Report Held 'Bottled Up’
(Edward A. Morrow in The New York Times, 26 June 1967) A joint report by three Federal agencies recommending the construction of a small fleet of high-speed nuclear-propelled merchant vessels by 1972 has been “bottled up” for more than a year by the Bureau of the Budget, according to Senator Warren G. Magnuson, Democrat of Washington.
In a report to the Senate, Mr. Magnuson disclosed that early last year he asked the Department of Defense, the Atomic Energy Commission and the Maritime Administration to prepare a joint study on all the aspects and issues involved in applying nuclear propulsion in the maritime field.
He asked that the study be submitted to the Senate Commerce Committee, of which he is chairman, by June of 1966. Although the study was ready on time, the Senator said, he only recently obtained the report through unofficial channels.
“The report’s impact upon the course of maritime development in this nation cannot be overestimated,” the Senator advised his colleagues. He said he planned to have the voluminous study published soon as a committee print by his group.
The specific recommendations in the study were as follows:
• The Federal Government should take an active role in a development program leading to economically competitive nuclear-powered merchant ships.
• The Department of Commerce and Industry, with A. E. C. support, “should proceed immediately with the construction of two to four large high-speed (27 to 30 knots) fast- turnaround nuclear-powered ships utilizing commercially available nuclear power plant technology in an integrated transportation system to be privately owned and in operation by 1972.
• Legislation should be provided to permit the Federal Government to pay the excess design, development, construction and operating costs.
Immediate construction was urged to provide further experience in nuclear-powered ship construction and operation, now limited to the nuclear ship Savannah, and to create industry interest in the development of more economical nuclear reactors. Senator Magnuson emphasized that although the study was “carefully and conservatively undertaken,” it cited the “immediate necessity” for constructing the ships.
Early this year, the Bureau of the Budget instructed the agencies to take no action, “not even interim” replies to the Senator’s requests for information on the study, Mr. Magnuson said.
He said that there was no chance now of compliance with the time factors in the study’s recommendations. “While I can appreciate the interest of the Budget Bureau in requesting an opportunity to review the report, I can see no justification whatever, following that review, for the report to be bottled up for a year,” the Senator declared.
With the ranking minority member of the Commerce Committee, Senator Norris Cotton of New Hampshire, and Senator Harrison A. Williams Jr., Democrat of New Jersey, Senator Magnuson co-sponsored a bill earlier in this session of Congress that would provide up to six nuclear-powered merchant vessels. The proposed bill, he said, is of the type recommended in the study.
Build Abroad Basic to Boyd
(Helen Delich Bentley in Baltimore Sun, 2 May 1967): Alan S. Boyd, Secretary of Transportation, today publicly declared that he would not give his support to any new policy for the American merchant marine unless it provided for building ships abroad.
Furthermore, in essence, he warned the objectors to the controversial proposal that if they continue to oppose foreign building so violently, there is a strong possibility the Administration will not make any effort to come up with a program to revitalize this country’s merchant fleet.
Since Boyd was assigned the difficult task of developing a maritime program—one that had unanimous support—by President Johnson, it can be presumed that whatever road is recommended by the Secretary is what the Administration will follow.
In addition, Boyd called for:
(1) Doubling the number of merchant ships under construction in American yards. Although thirteen is supposed to be the figure this year, only one will be contracted for by the end of the year. Privately Boyd has mentioned about 30 ships or as many as could be built with $230,000,000 in subsidy.
(2) A nuclear shipbuilding program. Although no specifics were mentioned today, Private discussions have moved around the expenditure of $300,000,000 over five years.
(3) Moving the Maritime Administration into the Department of Transportation. Nearly 100 bills have been introduced in Congress thus far to make the agency independent.
(4) Paying subsidy directly to shipyards to enable them to meet foreign competition.
(5) Converting 100 AP-5 troopships in the reserve fleet to cargo ships and rehabilitating 150 Victory ships now serving Vietnam. The cost to “redo” these World War II vessels has been estimated between $300,000,000 and $500,000,000.
Showing himself on the building of ships abroad, Boyd declared: “If anybody in the maritime industry has a hope of getting a Program other than I have recommended, I Will recommend against it to the Administration. I will recommend that the program I have suggested shall be supported right up and down the line. And to make it as strong as I can, I am talking about foreign construction. . .
0 Queen Mary Sold to Long Beach
(Richard Reeves in The New York Times, 27 July 1967) New York’s plans to make the Queen Mary a floating school were upset yesterday when Cunard Line officials announced that the liner would be sold to the city of Long Beach, California, for use as a maritime museum and hotel. It will take $6 million to convert the ship.
The California city of 382,000 people offered $3.45-million for the Queen, compared with New York’s bid of $2.4-million. New York had wanted to anchor the ship off the old Brooklyn Naval Yard.
The decision was announced by Cunard Line officials, who are selling the 31-year-old ship because she was losing $2-million a year on her weekly transatlantic voyages. More than 300 bids were submitted for the 1,015- foot liner, and the final selection was made from 18 bids. New York’s was understood to be the second highest.
0 Plan for Composite Nuclear Ship
(iShipbuilding and Shipping Record, 20 April 1967) The ability possessed by some vessels to separate motive and cargo parts of the hull is a well established concept in the water transport of cargo. This system is used extensively on sheltered waterways, in the form of pusher tug barge trains but, apart from one or two abortive attempts 100 years ago, the concept has not been adopted for deep sea applications. The separable concept offers the benefits of high utilization of the most costly section of a ship, i.e., the motive and accommodation part, when used in conjunction with a number of cargo parts.
Thus, if one cargo unit is in each of two
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Write for Vurther Information and Brochure terminal ports transferring cargo to and from the shore and a third unit is in transit coupled to the pusher ship to form the composite vessel, then the pusher ship may be worked almost continuously. Maximum benefit from the concept may be obtained by selecting terminal ports, size and speed of vessel and nature of cargo so that the voyage duration equals approximately one half of the loading and discharging time of the cargo.
Providing these requirements can be met then it is apparent that, for a particular cargo deadweight and speed, theoretically it would require three conventional (integral type) vessels to transport the same quantity of cargo per annum as one pusher ship and three cargo units. Of course it is impractical to expect an instantaneous turn-round and a realistic equivalence is unlikely to exceed about 2.8. Even so, consideration of this ratio indicates that it is likely that, for the same type of power source, both capital and operating costs would be substantially less for the composite ship project than for the equivalent integral ship service. Neither is it difficult to uncover a number of other advantages inherent in the concept, for example, the organisation of cargo transfer.
If all of the foregoing points are fact, one wonders why composite ships are not yet sailing the oceans. There appear to be several reasons for this; the main ones are doubts about the design of the coupling between two independent hulls, the reliability and maintenance of the propulsion plant and the cost of research and development. The first item, which concerns the coupling, is solely a problem in naval architecture but the remaining items, taking into account the large sum of money “freed” by the concept, led the author to wonder whether a nuclear power propulsion plant would prove to be the obvious choice for at least the high powered merchant ships of the composite type; whether in fact this was the way to obtain a competitive, nuclear-powered merchantman. It is claimed that a nuclear plant will be more simple and reliable than other systems and one research programme to develop the two concepts of composite ships and nuclear power in merchant ships, would probably impose less cost and risk than separate development.
To test the hypothesis it is necessary to carry out some overall evaluation of design parameters and economics. It was decided to study a general dry cargo, nuclear powered, composite type ship of 13,000 tons cargo deadweight and 21 knots service speed, trading between Liverpool and New York. Although maximum benefit may be obtained in the general cargo, break-bulk trade, it should not be thought that the separable concept has no application to any other types of cargo.
A feature of the project is that the pusher ship is designed as an independent vessel, free to operate without reliance on a cargo unit, and this characteristic produces a number of benefits. The adopted design principle for the join between pusher ship and cargo unit results in unusual but practical shape of vessel endings. There are a number of controversial points about the design, but none of the technical problems appear to be unsolvable at present.
An appraisal of the values which may be assigned to the primary unknowns confirms the initial belief that substantial savings in capital and operating costs may be obtained by an application of the separable concept, using established propulsion plants. As the size of composite vessels develops and installed power increases to, say, above 20,000 h.p., a nuclear-powered propulsion plant could be competitive with existing ship concepts.
Research & Development
s Missile Bids Sought by Navy
{Aviation Week and Space Technology, 3 July 1967) Eighteen companies have been invited to bid for initial production of 62 of the Navy’s new shipboard basic point air defense systems, unofficially called Sea Sparrow because it will employ Raytheon Sparrow III missiles originally designed for air-to-air use.
Contractor for the initial production, covering a two-year period will be selected on the basis of a two-step procurement, with technical proposals due 15 August. Technically qualified bidders will be asked to submit prices in October. The procurement includes a tracking-guidance radar fire control system and missile launcher. Missiles used will be regular Sparrow Ill’s from the existing inventory. Raytheon developed and produced six prototype models of the fire control system under an earlier contract and the missile shipboard launcher was developed and built by the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Naval Ordnance Station at Louisville, Kentucky.
S3 Antimissile Net at Sea Proposed
(William Beecher in The New Tork Times, 4 July 1967) The Navy, with the encouragement of Defense and Army officials, is press- *ng studies of an antimissile missile system based on large submarines and warships.
Such a system, it is said, could increase the Protection of the United States by stationing Water-borne antimissile platforms in international waters off Communist China and the Soviet Union to get an early chance to interCePt long-range missiles fired from those countries. And, in a crisis situation involving friendly nations such as Japan, proponents say, an antimissile fleet could be placed in Position between that nation and a potential aggressor to reduce or even eliminate the threat °f nuclear blackmail.
Defense officials say the proposed Navy system would not compete with the Army’s Nike-X missile defense. A decision is expected this fall on whether to start deployment of a $4-billion to $5-billion Nike-X system around the United States to provide a “thin” defense °f the entire country against a Chinese-type threat, as well as tight defense around Min- uteman silos.
The Navy system, code-named SABMIS for Seaborne Anti-Ballistic Missile Intercept System, would make Nike’s job more manageable by knocking down large numbers of enemy tntercontinental ballistic missiles well before they reached airspace over the United States.
And, in the event that the Russians and later the Chinese introduce very sophisticated iCBM’s that employ penetration devices, multiple warheads and maneuvering warheads, officials say, SABMIS—if deployed far enough forward—could intercept some of these missiles before they have a chance to make use of such advanced devices.
53 Navy Studies Sub-Launched Mines
(George C. Wilson in The Washington Post,
3 July 1967) The Navy has launched a highly secret program to develop a new generation of mines that could be shot into enemy harbors by a submarine. The project, nicknamed SLIM for “submarine launched mobile mine,” will run into the millions of dollars if the Pentagon approves it after looking at forthcoming designs.
The advantage of such a system is stealth. A submarine could stay submerged a long distance from the harbor while mining it. The mines are put inside torpedo-like cases and shot out of the submarine’s torpedo tubes. An electric motor would drive the mine to its position in the harbor bottom.
The Navy mined rivers in North Vietnam by dropping mines, with parachutes attached from airplanes. Navy officials said SLIM was not prompted by any need of the Vietnam War.
The Navy officials instead portray SLIM as a program to equip submarines with something better than the first-generation Mark-27 submarine mines now available. The new mine would have all types of sensors so that it could pick out the type of ship to explode under. The launching platform would be some of the 77 diesel-powered subs the Navy still has in service. There are some Navy leaders who would like to go beyond just a new kind of mine and build new launching platforms for them. But SLIM at present is not that ambitious a project.
0 Defense Eyes Service Metric System
{Christian Science Monitor, 11 July, 1967) Defense Department plans for a project called Mallard may forward world acceptance of the metric system. Mallard is a joint venture by the United States, Canada, and Australia to develop a common, tactical field-communication system for ground troops. It would link troops together regardless of their location in the world.
None of the three nations now involved in Mallard use the metric system. And the likely fourth party, Britain, doesn’t use it either. But eventually the partners hope that other NATO nations will be linked into the system. And these are metric nations. To integrate the system properly, equipment must be interchangeable between member nations. And the metric system would be easier to integrate between those countries.
Progress
Water Jet Hydrofoil—On 15 July 1967, the patrol gunboat hydrofoil USS Tucum- cari (PGH-2) was launched at Boeing’s shipyard in Seattle, Washington. The Navy craft, with a design speed in excess of 40 knots, is propelled by water jet. The 72-foot vessel will undergo tests and be delivered to the Navy late this year.
The Boeing Company
Back to the Wars—The Pentagon announced on 2 August that the USS New Jersey (BB-62) would be reactivated for service in Vietnam. About two months prior to that, the 59,300-ton full load battleship was towed from mothballs for a reactivation study at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, where the work will be done.
J. P. Garfinkel
Fiber Glass Fisherman—At Capetown, South Africa, an 80-foot fishing boat was launched which has a fiber glass hull. She was built by Maritime Industries, a firm which expects to launch another fiber glass trawler 146 feet long in 1968.
New Merchants—Sun Shipbuilding and American Export Isbrandtsen Lines have formed a joint firm called Sunexport and are building the Admiral William Al. Callaghan (top drawing). She is a roll-on/roll-off, gas turbine vessel, with six hatches, and two 120-ton booms. Her characteristics will be: 2 5-knot speed,
694-foot length over-all, 92-foot beam, 27-foot draft, and a 165,000-square foot parking area. Under construction at Sun Shipbuilding Company is the 25-knot, roll-on/roll-off ship Ponce de Leon (lower drawing), being built for Transamerican Trailer Transport. The ship is designed to carry 250 standard 40-foot trailers and 280 cars, using wheel.ed loading through side doors. Displacement will be 23,800 tons with an over-all length of 700 feet.
Non-Metallic Armor—Highspeed camera stops the motion of a high-velocity projectile fired at a new fiber glass armor being tested for helicopter crewmen in Vietnam. The bullet shown embedded in the armor did not penetrate the backing which is reflected in a mirror. The composite fiber glass-ceramic armor is made by Goodyear Aerospace.
Goodyear Aerospace
[1] See P. R. Schratz, “The Military Pulse in Soviet Politics,” U. S. Naval Institute Proceedings, October l967, pp. 78-81.