OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES 217 



STATEMENT OF CAPT. E. A. WRIGHT, USN, COMMANDING OETTCER 

 AND DIRECTOR, DAVID TAYLOR MODEL BASIN, DEPARTMENT 

 OF THE NAVY 



Captain Wright. Mr. Chairman, the entire staff of the David 

 Taylor Model Basin joins Admiral Mumma in welcoming you here 

 today. 



The David Taylor Model Basin, as Admiral Mumma has pointed 

 out, is under the management control of the Bureau of Ships of the 

 Navy Department and the technical control of both the Bureau of 

 Ships and the Bureau of Aeronautics. In addition, because of our 

 unique facilities, the model basin has a national responsibility and so 

 serves all departments of the Government, as well as the merchant 

 marine industry and private parties. 



Admiral Munnna has described to you many aspects of applied 

 oceanography. The David Taylor Model Basin is one of the Navy 

 laboratories making such applications. It will be our pleasure today 

 to show you some of this research and development on a tour through 

 the David Taylor Model Basin. As a preview of your tour, I shall 

 outline briefly some of our work in applied oceanography. 



Laboratory research requires that test conditions be reproducible 

 over and over again so that systematic design variations in models 

 can be compared quantitatively. This slide [slide 1 — full-scale pneu- 

 matic wavemaker] shows the large pneumatic wavemaker here at the 

 David Taylor Model Basin. Air through the ducts alternately 

 creates a ):>ressure and vacuum on the water surface, generating a 

 series of parallel-crested waves which move down the model basin. 



Wavemakers of this type will be used in the large seakeeping basin 

 now under construction here at Carderock. In this slide [slide 2 — 

 1/10 scale seakeeping basin] is a 1/10 scale model of the new facility. 

 Eight pneumatic wavemakers line one side of the basin, and 13 pneu- 

 matic wavemakers the adjacent side. Intersecting wave trains create 

 short-crested seas and the waffle pattern shown in the photograph. 



As shown in this model [slide 3 — model of seakeeping facilities], 

 the seakeeping basin will have over it a bridge, 376 feet long weighing 

 230 tons, with a car rimning on its underside to carry instrumentation 

 and personnel. Housed under the same roof will bo a circular basin 

 with a rotating arm for research on the steering and turning of ships. 



The seakeeping basin [slide 4 — construction of seakeeping basin] 

 will be larsfer than a football field, including the end zones, and will 

 be covered by a roof with a 374-foot clear span and 700 feet long. 

 Over 32,000 cubic yards of concrete are being poured during construc- 

 tion. 



The bridge spanning the basin [slide 5 — interior of seakeeping 

 basin] can be rotated so that ship models can encounter the waves 

 from any direction. In one side of the seakeeping basin is a deep 

 trench for free-running submarine models, which can be observed 

 and photographed through windows in the wall of the basin. 



In collaboration with the Maritime Administration, and in prepara- 

 tion for experiments in the new seakeeping basin, the David Tajdor 

 ]VToflel Basin has been conduc*^ing comprehensive observations at sea 

 on two Liberty ships [slide 6 — seakeeping research on Liberty ships], 

 one with a lengthened and finer bow. Instruments measure the am- 



