Perspective 



Table 11-8 — Selected Milestones in Ocean Exploration — Continued 



NATIONAL ACTIVITIES 



Date Program Event 



1946-1952 Alaska King Crab Fishery. . Exploration and development. 



1947 Offshore oil production. . . . First producing well drilled in offshore oil 



field off Louisiana. 

 1952 R/V Hugh Smith Discovery and charting of subsurface cur- 



rents leading to recognition of equato- 

 rial undercurrents as a permanent feature 

 of oceanic circulation systems. 

 1 954 Development of Outer First Federal lease sale of Outer Continental 



Continental Shelf. Shelf lands off Louisiana. 



1957 USCGC Storis, Bramble, First deep draft transit of Northwest Pas- 



and Spar sage in cooperation with Canada. 



1958 USS Nautilus First under-ice transit to North Pole. 



1960 USS Triton First underwater circumnavigation of the 



world. 



1961 Bathyscaphe Trieste First deep sea research vehicle to descend 



to bottom of world's deepest ocean 

 trench. (35,800 ft.) 



1961 Project Mohole First successful deep ocean drilling experi- 



ment in water depth of 10,000 feet. 



1962 FLIP Experiments with first large stable deep 



ocean research platform. 



1963 Data Monitoring by Na- First use of satellite communication for ship 



tional Oceanographic to shore relay of oceanographic data. 



Data Center. 



1963 R/V Cham First operational use of shipboard general 



purpose computer. 



1963 Location of USS Thresher. . . First successful effort in locating and 



identifying objects on the deep ocean 

 floor. 



1964 Oceanographic Buoy First use of radioisotopic power in un- 



Development. manned oceanic weather buoy. 



1964 R/V's Conrad, Vema First use of satellite navigation by private 



oceanographic ships. 



1964 NIMBUS I First remote sensing of oceanic surface 



phenomena from spacecraft. 



1965-1968 SEALAB Experiments Manned underwater laboratories. 



1968 Glomar Challenger Discovery of indications of oil in Gulf of 



Mexico at depth of 1 1,700 feet. 



47 



