deeper depths and for longer duration ; development of tools, equip- 

 ment, power sources, and underwater workboats to augment man's 

 capabilities at deeper depths. 



Ships and Deep Submersibles 



As one of the nine areas for emphasis, the Council endorsed a pro- 

 posal of the Coast Guard that one of that agency's major ships, 

 planned originally as a replacement for the twenty-three-year-old 

 Evergreen on the North Atlantic ice patrol, be designed and outfitted 

 especially for subpolar oceanography. In addition to ice patrol, it 

 will be employed to investigate water-mass interchanges in support of 

 the Navy and will be one of the most effective tools to accentuate a pro- 

 gram of oceanography in near- Arctic waters. 



This is the only new ship for marine sciences being requested for 

 general observational activities in the fiscal year 1968 program. 

 To some extent, the slowing down of ship construction reflects the 

 foresight of decisions over the past few years in funding new ships 

 in phase with anticipated requirements. It also signals an interval 

 of taking stock and considering what platforms or devices other than 

 ships may better serve needs for marine observations. Aircraft, heli- 

 copters, ground effect machines, and stationary buoys, either manned 

 or unmanned, offer alternatives to be examined. 



The deep-submergence research vehicle is one of the most exotic 

 new developments in the arsenal of research tools. The Government's 

 acquisition of the bathyscaphe Trieste in 1957 signaled the begin- 

 ning of this era, and the privately funded design and construction of 

 Aluminaut in 1958 constituted a quantum jump in depth capability 

 of a true submarine. A whole family of such vehicles has followed, 

 with a wide span of depth, performance, and payload characteristics. 

 Most have been designed and built by private industry, but more often 

 than not are deployed on Federal research and development projects. 

 The evolution of these vehicles, shown in Figure 19, was accompanied 

 by an initial lag of demand behind supply. 1967 may be the year of 

 transition. Two Alvin-ty^^ vehicles should be delivered to the Navy 

 in fiscal year 1968, and unless more small submersibles are built in the 

 near future, the demand for these craft may exceed the supply. 



Of particular importance is the NR-1, the small, nuclear-powered, 

 ocean engineering and research submersible being constructed by the 

 Navy which should be ready for operation next year. Its endurance 

 of thirty days submerged (as compared with a maximum of about 

 thirty hours for a working dive in today's vehicles) opens significant 

 opportunities for exploration of the Continental Shelf and for bio- 

 logical, physical, and acoustic research. 



Experience in operation — including the unprecedented mobiliza- 

 tion of these capabilities for the ordnance search off Spain — ^has pro- 



92 



