OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES 75 



No agency alone can come to grips with the sea in the sense of a 

 scientific or mathematical definition of the sea. It is far beyond our 

 means and limits. 



That is the reason why there has been limited activity in this 

 problem. 



As a corollary to this, we might say that if this concerted effort by 

 all the sciences involved in oceanography could be channeled in a way 

 that would lead to practical results, maybe we could get the answer we 

 want. 



Mr. Miller. Do you feel, then, that if we had some coordinated 

 agency it could define the different areas, give rather broad guide- 

 Imes to the different areas of research in this country ? 



Mr. Eusso. Mr. Cliairman, I am a ship designer, and I see this 

 problem essentially from the technical aspects. To me any system 

 that works would be satisfactory. That is not an answer to your 

 question. I would say, as an amateur speculating in the field, that 

 by the mere fact that several sciences have to coexist in order to come 

 up with some practical results, then a means of coordinating these 

 activities should be devised. 



Mr. Miller. Are you familiar with this report of the Academy of 

 Sciences ? 



Mr. Russo. I represented the Maritme Administration as a mem- 

 ber of a panel of this committee. The committee organized itself 

 and mstituted some panels. The panel in which I participated was 

 naturally the one that had to do with the types of ships that would be 

 desirable, the cost of these ships, and so on. To that extent, I am fa- 

 miliar with the activities of this committee. 



Mr. Miller. Do you think it is timely that this challenge be thrown 

 before us now or should we delay ? 



Would it have been better if we had undertaken this 5 years ago? 



Mr. Russo. The first answer is "better late than never.' 



The second thing is that I have participated in this activity. I 

 have been instrumental in instituting or fostering whatever research 

 in the field of seakeeping we have done in Maritime. As a naval archi- 

 tect, I think the problem of learning how to design ships to be efficient 

 in a seaway is the next advance. 



Mr. Miller. That is your immediate problem ? 



Mr. Russo. That is right. 



Mr. Miller. Mr. Pelly. 



Mr. Pelly. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



I wonder, is there a free exchange of scientific data as between na- 

 tions in ship design as far as you know ? 



Mr. Russo. I cannot answer that question. 



Mr. Pelly. Do not engineers and scientists publish books and are 

 not those books and papers available to us ? 



Mr. Russo. To the extent that we have access to technical papers; 

 yes. 



Mr. Pelly. "Who discovered the stabilizer, for example? Was it 

 invented in this country ? 



Mr. Russo. In this country, you say ? 



Mr. Pelly. Yes. 



Mr. Russo. Well, the stabilizer principle is as old as physics. The 

 stabilizer applied to ships has been tried in a small scale for a long 



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