198 OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES 



The great demand by the fleet for oceanographic information dur- 

 ing the next few years led to a further increase in the staff of the 

 Division, which reached a high figure of 235 employees in 1953. The 

 present onboard count is 237, representing a recent increase from 220. 



The oceanographic missions assigned it in 1946 have been carried 

 out by the Hydrographic Office in varying but generally increasing 

 degrees of intensity. Sponsoring of basic or fundamental oceano- 

 graphic research b}^ the Navy was assumed by the Office of Naval 

 Research, after that organization was created by Public Law 588 on 

 August 1, 1946. Although oceanographic research and development 

 has always been carried out within the Hydrographic Office, when 

 necessary to supply information needed for its product, the Hydro- 

 graphic Office has not until recently been considered formally a re- 

 search and development agency since its efforts have been directed 

 more toward the application of oceanographic knowledge. The 

 Hydrographic Office expects to play a large and expanding role in the 

 national oceanographic program. 



The major portion of the oceanographic effort of the Hydrographic 

 Office has been devoted to the preparation of oceanographic charts 

 and manuals. We have turned out a wide variety of items in this cate- 

 gory. They include fundamental tables of sea- water density, hand- 

 books of methods of forecasting waves and breakers, glossaries of 

 sea-ice terminology, and manuals on how to take oceanographic ob- 

 servations and process data. These have been widely accepted not only 

 nationally but internationally, and some have been translated into 

 Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese. Collectively they constitute a 

 singularly useful contribution to the science. Less basic, but of more 

 immediate military importance, are regional descriptions of oceano- 

 graphic conditions of all the waters of the globe, giving the in- 

 formation needed for general strategic planning or for conducting 

 specialized types of military operations, such as mining, mine counter- 

 measures, amphibious operations, submarine operations, icebreaking, 

 convoy routing, or antisubmarine warfare. 



To collect the necessary information, our oceanographers participate 

 in operations all over the world. When the Skate surfaced at the IGY 

 ice-floe Station Alpha last summer, an oceanographer from the Hydro- 

 grai)hic Office stepped ashore from her to be greeted by another 

 Hydrographic Office oceanographer stationed on the ice-floe. At the 

 same time, another oceanographer from the Hydrographic Office was 

 in charge of the wintering-over party at Wilkes Station in Antarctica : 

 two more were steaming south in the Atlantic on the flagship of 

 project Argus; another group had just returned from the Hardtack 

 tests at the Pacific Proving Ground; another group in the U.S.S. 

 Rehohoth were conducting oceanographic surveys in. the Pacific Mis- 

 sile Kange; another group were observing a mine-sweeping exercise 

 in Danish and German waters; still another group were aboard the 

 YF-854 (now the U.S.S. Littlehales) surveying in the Canal Zone; 

 and another oceanographer was attending an IGY meeting in Moscow. 



In producing oceanographic charts, the Hydrographic Office has 

 gone even farther in meeting tlie operating needs of the fleet. As al- 

 ready mentioned, numerous atlases are available showing average 

 oceanographic conditions for various oceans in appropriate seasons. 

 These include charts of ocean surface temperatures, currents, wave 



