182 OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES 



achieve with the other Government departments and other activities 

 outside of Government, especially through the agency of the National 

 Academy of Sciences. 



Mr. Miller. I do not want to give you the impression nor do I 

 think that any one on this committee has jumped at any conclusions 

 that there is any way of doing a shortcut on this thing. We are 

 after information and we do not want to overlook any phases of it. 



We are going to try to develop it as across the board as we come 

 along. 



If there are no other questions of the captain, we thank you, Captain. 



Tell Admiral Bennett how sorry we are that he could not get here. 

 We look forward to seeing him at some other time. 



Captain Metsger. I thank you, sir. 



Mr. Miller. Mr. Lill, are you ready, sir? 



STATEMENT OP GORDON G. LILL, HEAD, GEOPHYSICS BRANCH, 

 OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH, DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY 



Mr. Lill. Mr. Chairman, I consider it a privilege to appear before 

 your special subcommittee and thank you for the opportunity you 

 have given me to discuss oceanographic research in the Navy. While 

 my remarks will emphasize the research program of the Office of 

 Naval Research, various other aspects of the Navy's program will be 

 alluded to and mentioned where appropriate. 



I would like to go back 12 years to 1947, in order to pick up the 

 trend of Captain Metsger 's remarks. At that time, it was my priv- 

 ilege to work with Dr. Roger Revelle, who was the first head of the 

 Geophysics Branch of ONR. We formulated several matters of 

 policy with regard to oceanography, during those early days of the 

 Office of Naval Research. 



Because our military use of oceanographic knowledge had been ex- 

 hausted in overwhelming the German submarine fleet during World 

 War II, we made four important decisions. These were : 



1. To lay the groundwork for future understanding of the 

 oceans required by a maritime nation such as ours; 



2. To initiate financial support for the oceanographic labora- 

 tories in existence at the close of World War II ; 



3. To establish or influence the establislunent of new labora- 

 tories ; and 



4. To encourage the entrance of additional scientists into the 

 field of oceanography. 



AVith regard to the first of these policy objectives, it became obvious 

 that the cost of exploring the sea would be so large, and encompass 

 so many branches of science, that only the Federal Government could 

 afford to consider the matter. Since the Department of the Navy 

 is one of the greatest users of oceanographic information, it was de- 

 cided that there must be an oceanographic program in the Office of 

 Naval Research. 



The second objective, the establishment of a system of financial 

 support, was given careful consideration. It was decided that the few 

 laboratories Ave had, would have to be supported in toto rather than 

 pr(\ject by project witli hundreds of separate contracts covering all 

 individual scientists. This was done to incorporate the guidance of 



