22 OCEAN SCIENCES AND NATIONAL SECURITY 



I believe that in another decade or so warfare is going to be conducted primarily 

 in the oceans. 



I believe that the emergence of the Polaris submarine is a strong indication 

 that we have already gone a long way down this path. 



Now, if we are going to fight a war in the oceans, it means we have to know 

 something about the oceans. 



The victor, in such a war, will l)e that nation which knows most about the 

 oceans. 



An analogy which members of my committee have used is that in the old 

 days of the Indian wars the Indians often achieved victory over the white.s, not 

 because they were superior in strength, but rather because they knew how to 

 handle themselves in the forests and in the woods. 



Similarly, in the oceans, we must learn how to handle ourselves, and it is for this 

 reason that essentially anything that we learn about how to maneuver in the 

 oceans, how to find things in the oceans, will help us should we be forced to fight 

 such a war. 



Now, the problems of offense in the age of undersea warfare are difficult. 



We have long-range nuclear submarines, but these submarines have to find out 

 where they are under the water. 



Now, how are they going to find out where they are under the water? 



Well, one way is to recognize certain geographic objects such as mountains or 

 valleys. 



If they cannot find where they are under the water, then they have to surface, 

 and then they are in danger of being found. 



Similarly, how are they going to find out where they are without emitting 

 radiation? 



It is very difficult to communicate without giving out some kind of a signal or 

 receiving some kind of a signal, and if you give out some kind of a signal then 

 enemies as well as friends can find you. 



So the problem of self-protection in relation to communications is extraordi- 

 narily difficult. 



These problems really will only be answered as we learn more and more about 

 the properties of water — sea water — and the properties of the life forms which 

 exist within the sea. 



Let us take the analogous problems of defense. 



Today we find submarines using what is known as sonar. Here we take sound 

 waves and shoot them down and they are reflected off of objects. 



The whole problem of the behavior of sound waves in sea water is a very com- 

 plex one. For example, arrays of living organisms will give off background sound 

 or noise. This has to be interpreted. 



Aggregates of living organisms can confuse and attenuate acoustic signals 

 which we ourselves send out. 



All of these things make the problem of using sound waves for detection pur- 

 poses, or for that matter for communication purposes, extremely difficult. And 

 indeed, I believe myself that the long-range nuclear-powered submarine capable 

 of carrying long-range missiles is in the long run the most serious military- threat 

 that the United States faces. And learning how to find such submarines is per- 

 haps the most serious and difficult technical problem which we face today in the 

 military field. 



I don't believe that this problem is going to be solved really until we learn a 

 lot more about the oceans than we now know. 



If I might move to another area of defense, it involves the handling of subma- 

 rines and it involves the handling of surface ships. '^ 



2. Implications Concerning Scientific and Economic Development 



The general problem of studying the sea is intensified because of its 

 expanse. Water covers roughly 71 percent of the surface of the 

 Earth, a feature well known to every observer of a globe; tlie area 

 is immediately visible; the identity of the shoreline is well defined. 

 But this is just a two-dimensional portrayal of the oceans; the third 

 dimension — that of depth — is seeminglv neglected. The sea averages 

 about 13,000 feet in depth. The deepest point is roughly 35,800 feet; 

 80 percent is deeper than 9,000 feet. The oceans contaui 1.5 billion 

 billion tons of water; if the surface of the Earth were bulldozed 



" "Frontiers In Oceanic ■Reeearrf)," Uearlng.s before House Committee on Science and Astronautics, Apr. 

 -^--ifi, I860, pp.' 6-6. 



