Oceanography — The Ten Years Ahead 



two-thirds, where ten years ago it was less than 

 one-half. Expenditures amount to about $12.4 

 billion. Ten years ago, they were less than $3 

 billion. 



The reason for this is well understood. Science 

 and technology have become great, if not our 

 greatest, national resources. The discoveries of 

 science and their applications in technology have 

 become so woven into the fabric of modern life 

 that "our economy, our defense, our material 

 welfare and comfort, and our physical well- 

 being"* would soon disintegrate and vanish with- 

 out them. 



Federal support for basic research has also 

 grown — to well over $1-1/2 billion this year, 

 roughly 70 percent of the Nation's total. 



Much has been written about the need to main- 

 tain a vigorous and growing base of fundamental 

 research, adequate to meet the suction for knowl- 

 edge imposed upon it by the applied and develop- 

 mental activities. Such a capability that ostensibly 

 is free of concern for immediate use does not 

 flourish without some measure of federal inter- 

 est—and in fact, it has become a fact of history 

 that governments become patrons of the sciences, 

 as well as of the arts. But in contemporary terms 

 this is not sheer altruism. We know from exper- 

 ience in war, in tough economic competition, and 

 in man's fight for a life free of poverty and dis- 

 ability that research pays. It is the Federal Govern- 

 ment that, in oceanography as in other fields, has 

 strengthened basic research to provide the reser- 

 voir of intelligence needed to satisfy specific prac- 

 tical objectives. It must thus assume some respons- 

 ibility for training and educating highly skilled 

 manpower that it consumes, including the spon- 

 sorship of basic research undertaken by graduate 

 students and their faculty advisors. 



The scientific goals in oceanography whose 

 pursuit is most likely to produce worthwhile scien- 

 tific advances are described in the next chapter. 

 At the federal level, the National Science Founda- 

 tion and the Office of Naval Research have formal 

 commitments to see that basic work directed pri- 

 marily towards the goals of the oceanographic 

 scientists themselves is adequately supported. 

 Large programs in the universities and various 

 private laboratories and institutions, including 



those of industry, are supported by these agencies. 

 But in addition, other agencies have found it 

 necessary to support some basic research as well 

 as applied in their own agencies or laboratories. 

 The funds from all federal agencies which are 

 directly applicable to the conduct of basic ocea- 

 nographic science in 1963 amount to about 43 

 percent of the entire budget, making this goal of 

 approximately equal importance to that of de- 

 fense. During the next ten years, this figure is 

 expected to rise to 57 percent. + 



B. Improving National Defense 



It has become widely accepted that we, like the 

 other major nations of the world, have a heavy 

 stake in the preservation of peace. In the cur- 

 rent world situation, military strength is a neces- 

 sary element in our way of life. This must be a 

 national capability so strong that the fact of its 

 availability to the Free World is a deterrent to 

 major infractions of the peace of the cold war. 



Within our defense team the Navy's domain is 

 the world ocean, from its deepest depths through 

 the air-sea interface and into skies above. During 

 peacetime one of its most important missions is 

 maintaining the freedom of the seas so that we 

 and the other nations of the world may enjoy the 

 advantages of water-borne commerce and trans- 

 portation so vital to our growing economy. Dur- 

 ing wartime it must, in addition, deny this freedom 

 to the enemy. 



Freedom of the seas is a phrase and a concept 

 which, through long usage, has been taken for 

 granted and has, for many, come to have the in- 

 evitability of a law of nature. It should be remem- 

 bered that it is instead a term for a situation which 

 in the last analysis depends on the willingness and 

 ability of those nations dedicated to it to resist the 

 encroachments of those who would deny it to 

 them. The United States Navy is the major Free 

 World force upon which this freedom now de- 

 pends. Since we are without question being faced 

 by a serious challenge to our mastery of the 

 oceans, the Navy is energetically pursuing a mul- 

 titude of significant research and development 

 programs to maintain our dominant posture at 

 sea. 



5^*'A Great Age for Science," by Warren Weaver, in Goals for Americans, 

 The American Assembly, Columbia Univ., 1960. 



t Funds for conduct of basic research include costs for ship opera- 

 tions, instruments, and expendable supplies. 



