Pacific. The highly successful deep-sea drilling expeditions of the Glomar 

 Challenger continued their important contributions to modern scientific 

 theory concerning physical process in the earth's crust, such as continental 

 drift. 



The Nation's shipyards, shipping companies, and other segments of the 

 maritime industry responded strongly and positively to enactment of the 

 Merchant Marine Act of 1970. Construction subsidies required by shipyards 

 were reduced more than 10 percent, and American merchant fleet moderni- 

 zation proceeded apace, particularly in terms of converting break-bulk ships 

 into containerized cargo carriers. Shipyard backlogs of commercial tonnage 

 at year's end were the largest since the beginning of 1958. Associated research 

 and development programs investigated shipyard automation, propulsion 

 systems, shipsized cryogenic tanking, offshore terminals, navigation and 

 traffic systems, and prevention and mitigation of pollution by ships. 



National Security 



The largest single agency expenditure in the Federal Ocean Program con- 

 tinues to be that of the U.S. Navy and other agencies of the Department of 

 Defense. Much of the work reported for 1971 concerned sustaining and im- 

 proving the Navy's ability to operate on, under, and over the global ocean, 

 and associated ocean services. Despite the largely operational character of 

 the Navy's program, many of its research and development products found 

 their way into the civil sector as the flow from military to civilian applica- 

 tion accelerated. 



Projects aimed at developing deep ocean power sources, new materials 

 technology, deep-submergence vehicle research and development, studies 

 of acoustic energy transmission underwater, advanced imaging systems, and 

 underwater construction techniques are among the reported items with 

 eventual civil impact. During 1971, a new automated oceanographic data- 

 acquisition system became operational; the Navy accepted the first Deep 

 Submergence Rescue Vehicle, DSRV-1, now planned for certification to 

 5,000 feet; and an automated shipboard forecasting system was installed 

 aboard some Navy ships to provide onsite environmental predictions tailored 

 to the requirements of specific weapons systems. Plans were underway to 

 move selected Navy mapping and charting operations into the newly es- 

 tablished Defense Mapping Agency, probably in mid- 1972. 



States and Nations 



The Federal Ocean Program is politically bounded on one side by the rights 

 of coastal States and on the other by the international character of the ma- 

 rine environrhent. Since 1966, the United States has sought to forge strong 

 cooperative bonds at all governmental levels, here and abroad. 



Internally, the Nation is developing functional ties between State and 

 regional centers of strength in the marine sciences and various Federal agen- 

 cies engaged in the ocean program. The Office of Sea Grant in NOAA has 

 been a principal agent of this development. NOAA's National Marine Fish- 

 eries Service has also been actively moving in 1971 into the early phases of 



