176 OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES 



tributed so much to the expeditious routing of merchantmen, consti- 

 tutes the Navy's first formal entry into this particuhxr field of science. 

 It is interesting to note that even today, over 100 years later, the pilot 

 charts still bear the notation "Based on the research initiated by 

 Lieutenant Maury." 



In tlie connotation of antisubmarine warfare the devices of World 

 War I were so crude that variations in the ocean were never con- 

 sidered to be particularly significant. However, starting about 1935, 

 we began to tie antisubmarine observations into the general problem 

 of the phj^sics of the ocean. By 1937 the role of refraction, that is, 

 the bending of sound waves due to temperatures existing in sea water, 

 was clearly tied to problems of interest to the Navy. Later it was 

 realized that there were time and space variations in the thermal 

 structure of the ocean which influenced this problem. 



In the meantime, our oceanographers were devising instrumentation 

 for their own studies w^iich turned out to be of value to the Navy. 

 Notable among these was the bathythermograph devised by Dr. 

 Spilhaus in 1937, and adapted for military use by Dr. Ewing. The 

 bathythermograph principle has turned out to be a very versatile 

 means for determining the temperature characteristics of sea water. 

 This type of instrumentation is used by oceanographers for many of 

 the various purposes of oceanography. 



The urgent requirement for better submarine detection in World 

 War II led to the rapid development of an extensive Navy ocean- 

 ography program which was tied to the antisubmarine warfare prob- 

 lem. At that time we began to use the bathythermograph as a 

 device for assisting in the prediction of antisubmarine oceanographic 

 warfare conditions. At the same time pilot charts for general indica- 

 tions of expected seasonal and geographic ocean phenomena were 

 compiled. Further, an oceanographic data program was instituted. 

 Starting in 1940 the National Defense Research Commitee formed 

 research groups at several of our institutions of higher learning 

 which were coordinated by the Navy into one national program. 



In handling this national program the oceanographers of the 

 country were mobilized, and it can be safely said that the results of 

 their efforts contributed materially toward our ultimate solution of 

 submarine warfare. 



At the end of World War II oceanographic research at civilian 

 institutions was continued on a reasonably large scale basis. The 

 major portions of this continuing program have been carried out at 

 the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Lamont Geological Ob- 

 servatory of Columbia University, and the Scripps Institute of Ocean- 

 ography of tlie University of California. This postwar program 

 differed from the wartime program in that it was directed much more 

 specifically toward understanding the basic phenomena of the oceans 

 from which are drawn the byproducts of better information of use to 

 Defense. 



This limited background information should serve the committee's 

 immediate purpose. We are now prepared to discuss some of the 

 postwar work with special reference to the future program if the com- 

 mittee has no questions on this particular part of the presentation. 



I would be glad, Mr. Cliairman, to respond to any questions you 

 might care to direct to me. and, of course, we have the distinguished 



