Ocean Engineering 



existing maritime safety programs to nonmilitary submersibles and includes : 

 Technical aspects 



Technical review and approved of designs and submersibles 

 Inspection during construction of equipment 

 Qualification standards and operator licensing 

 Casualty investigation 

 Operating limitations 

 Search and rescue capability 

 Operational control regulations 

 International coordination. 

 This initiative will not only increase safety but should help to lower con- 

 struction and insurance costs. Consideration is being given to legislation to 

 authorize the Coast Guard to carry out these duties. 



Instrumentation and Communication 



Modern science and engineering depend critically on a wide variety of 

 sophisticated instrumentation. Measurements in the ocean are more difficult 

 than on land due to the adverse effects of the environment on reliability of 

 instruments. Thus, one of the goals of ocean engineering is to develop better 

 instruments, tools, and communication and navigation equipment. Impor- 

 tant advances by the Department of Defense during the past year illustrate 

 a variety of accomplishments : 



— a wide angle (115°) lens for photographic search of large bottom 



areas, 

 — a multi-sensor "Fully Instrumented Submersible Housing" (FISH) 



for accurate mapping of bottom micro-structure, 

 — techniques and instrumentation for detecting sand transport by means 



of isotope tracers, 

 — miniaturized acoustic and inertial navigation systems for small 

 submersibles. 

 To avoid the problem of wave-induced motion inherent in surface buoys, 

 the COSMOS Underwater Stable Platform was developed by the Coast 

 and Geodetic Survey (ESSA) to measure tides, currents and variations in 

 magnetic field intensity. The principle of the COSMOS Platform has po- 

 tential for a variety of applications that require minimum-excursion moor- 

 ings for ships or large buoys. In 1966 an experimental platform was deployed 

 off California, 1 10 feet below the surface in 4,500 feet of water. It was tied to 

 the bottom by three mooring cables, arranged to be neutrally buoyant and 



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