94 OCEAN SCIENCES AND NATIONAL SECURITY 



precise navigation. The C. & G.S. also has responsibihty for predic- 

 tions of tides and has estabhshed warning systems for tsunamis, the 

 seismic sea waves which accompany submarine earthquakes. 



Activities of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, in terms of ships and 

 funds, have been included in the previous tables. 



(6) Weather Bureau.— The Weather Biu-eau has an interagency 

 responsibility for weather forecasting, for huiTicane warnmgs, and for 

 the conduct of research on weather modification. As noted in Section 

 V the weather, which is a phenomenon of the atmosphere, is directly 

 coupled in the heat budget of the planet Earth with the seas and, as a 

 consequence, the Weather Bureau has a very direct interest m both 

 surface and subsurface currents, in the physics of heat exchange be- 

 tween the atmosphere and the ocean at the interface, and on local 

 phenomena which trigger the birth of storms. It currently sponsors 

 a small amount of extramural research. 



(c) Maritime Administration. — The Maritime Administration has 

 a statutory responsibility to foster a merchant marine of the United 

 States, both for defense and commercial pm-poses. It is thus funda- 

 mentally interested, along with the Bureau of Ships, in research and 

 development concerned with seakeeping of ships, in investigations 

 concerned with stresses induced in ships' hulls by the sea, and with 

 methods for obtaming data concerning wind and sea state by which 

 ships may be routed so as to arrive at their destination in the least 

 time and with the least damage to cargo. 



The most recent study of the role of the U.S. Merchant Marine in 

 national security was developed through a special committee of the 

 National Academy of Sciences — National Research Council and pub- 

 lished as "Project Walrus." With the objective of "examiniag the 

 present and future military demands on the U.S. Merchant Marine 

 in order that technical requirements can be derived for maritime 

 research and development planning," it became clear to those under- 

 taking the study that the U.S. Merchant Marine was deterioratmg. 

 Among other points, it was recommended that "The Maritime Admm- 

 istration should earnestly pursue opportunities for coordiuating 

 facilities, for the conduct of scientific, engineering and economic 

 research in support of the entu-e maritime industry," and "research 

 and development * * * should be directed toward * * * (a) devel- 

 oping a self-supporting U.S. Merchant Marine which can compete 

 successfully in the world market (possibly achieving a competitive 

 status relative to foreign merchant fleets tkrough higher speed) and 

 (6) developing a U.S. Merchant Marine which will be of the greatest 

 possible use with sound operations for national defense pm"poses." ®^ 

 Projects were recommended to study improved hull forms for higher 

 sustained speeds and on the loads experienced by sliips at sea. Recom- 

 mendations were also made to collaborate with the military services 

 in design of submarine tankers and of sul^mersiblo barges pushed or 

 towed by combatant submarines. 



At the present time, the Maritime Administration has no oceano- 

 graphic research program or capal^ilities but it is ])ossible, in light 

 of these recommendations, that their ])articipation ma}^ emerge. In 

 the meanwhile, tliey share sponsorship of the Ship Structure Com- 

 mittee. 



on "Project Walrus," (ip. cit., |). 15. 



