OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITFD STATES 215 



Of primary importance today, because of the cold war threat and the 

 Kussian submarine buildup, are our antisubmarine and submarine 

 warfare developments. This area of accelerated research has been 

 given high priority. Bureau-managed laboratories, such as the U.S. 

 Navy Electronics Laboratory, San Diego, Calif.; the U.S. Navy 

 Underwater Sound Laboratory, New London, Conn.; and the U.S. 

 Navy Mine Defense Laboratory, Panama City, Fla., are actively en- 

 gaged in this ASW and mine research which is extremely difficult to 

 separate from oceanographic research. 



Oceanographic research has been of great importance in the devel- 

 opment of the high-speed characteristics of our nuclear-powered sub- 

 marines. In this respect I would like to draw a comparison between 

 the development of stratospheric research and the development of 

 oceanographic research. In the early 1930's the Piccard brothers, 

 through use of specially designed ballons, began their probe of the 

 upper atmosphere. It is truly remarkable that one of these brothers 

 has also developed the bathyscaph, now owned by the U.S. Navy, 

 which is leading the research in the ocean depths. Thus, the same men 

 have provided the means for probing both the stratosphere and the 

 ocean depths. Much of the research that has gone into airplane design 

 is equally applicable to submarine design. The submarine Alhacore 

 and the nuclear-powered submarine Skipjack^ for instance, both in- 

 corporate the airplane-type stick control. 



I just returned from a nearly 24-hour period in Skipjack in oper- 

 ations at depth and at full power. I would like to announce to the 

 Atomic Energ;y^ Conunittee that we beat their record made during 

 their trip. We went faster again than man has ever gone submerged 

 and we were extremely successful in observing the efl'ect of the re- 

 search that has l>een done not only in hydrodynamics but also in aero- 

 dynamics because those models were tested in both air and in water in 

 order to insure that the proper relationship of the two media could 

 be analyzed in getting the optimum form. 



The Skipjack herself is a practical application of research at a very 

 early date of the fundamental things learned from the research ship 

 Alhacore and, as a result, I think we will find that the pride of our 

 Navy in having pioneered in this field only tends to emphasize the 

 magnitude of the problem we have in countering such a threat pro- 

 viding the Russians ever get to that state of the art themselves so 

 that the importance of the oceanograj)hic research that this committee 

 is invesigating to the antisubmarine problem is emphasized by the 

 very strides that we make on the other hand. 



In fact, it can be said tliat these new submarines fly through the' 

 ocean much as planes fly through the atmosphere and this is literally 

 true. 



We observed in the proper operation of the sail planes, the proper 

 operation of the stern planes, the rudders, and so on, that you must 

 operate these ships as a freely moving body in a medium and not as 

 a surface ship that is submerged. 



AYith the recent trips under the Arctic ice pack by the submarines 

 Nautilus and Skate, a new and better operational platform for 

 oceanographic research has been unveiled. Oceanographers now can 

 obtain a great deal of information about the ocean from inside these 

 underwater research platforms without leaving the 70-degree comfort 



