PREFACE 



The Committee on Undersea Warfare of 

 the National Research Council was estab- 

 lished in the fall of 1946 at the request of 

 the Office of Naval Research. One of the 

 principal functions of the committee was 

 to advise the Navy upon matters pertaining 

 to scientific problems and research related 

 to submarine warfare. In considering these 

 problems, the committee recognized that 

 many of them are inextricably associated 

 with the human factor, that is, with the 

 adaptabihty and efficiency of the human 

 individuals who will man the submarine and 

 operate its technical equipment. 



A Panel on Psychology and Physiology 

 was appointed by the Committee and was 

 authorized to draw up an outline for a survey 

 of basic and apphed research on problems 

 related to the human factor in undersea 

 warfare. On 8 July, 1947 this panel met at 

 The Johns Hopkins University and outlined 

 plans for the Survey. The principal topics 

 and sub-topics to be covered in the survey 

 report were decided upon and the authors 

 were selected. 



Despite the fact that many of the authors 

 were busy in post-war academic and research 

 activities, and some were still in the process 

 of transition from wartime research to peace- 

 time pursuits, there was almost one hundred 

 percent acceptance of the Committee's invi- 

 tation to prepare chapters for this volume. 

 All of the authors are experienced investiga- 

 tors who have conducted research upon some 

 phases of the field in v\'hich they were asked 

 to write. Although a number of these men 

 had served in research capacities in military 

 or civilian agencies during the war, only a 

 few had been directly connected with the 

 submarine problem. This was not befieved to 

 be a serious handicap however, since it was 

 felt that a fresh and somewhat detached 

 point of view might prove valuable in point- 

 ing up new problems. 



The purposes of this volume as outlined to 



each author were as follows: first, to provide 

 a concise, but comprehensive, account of the 

 present status of basic and apphed research 

 related to the efficiency of the human indi- 

 vidual who will use the technical equipment 

 and who will live under conditions such as 

 are encountered in a submarine; and sec- 

 ondly, to formulate recommendations for 

 future research, based on the usual scien- 

 tific objective of increasing our knowledge 

 of relevant phenomena. 



Each author was informed that he need 

 not consider in detail the problems associated 

 with the specific items of equipment and the 

 particular operations entailed. That is, he 

 need not concern himself alone with a survey 

 of research on each of the operations as they 

 actually exist. Rather, he should emphasize 

 the basic knowledge which may be expected 

 to result from scientific research on the topics 

 which encompass the fields of activity in 

 which the submariner engages and the gen- 

 eral conditions under which he works. 



For example, there are numerous activities 

 which involve the use of vision in particular 

 ways and under special conditions and re- 

 quirements. There are problems of instru- 

 ment legibility which include the placement, 

 type, and function of dials and indicators so 

 that the maximum information may be ob- 

 tained in a minimum of time and with the 

 greatest accuracy. Other types of visual func- 

 tions include the use of optical scopes, radar 

 and sonar presentations, maps and charts, 

 and lookout activities. In each case there is 

 the problem of whether the task imposed by 

 the equipment and the amount of informa- 

 tion to be obtained from it is within the range 

 of the capacities of the human individuals 

 using it, whether they can translate the 

 information, interpret it if necessary, and 

 pass it on to control centers where it can be 

 used to best advantage. It is obvious, there- 

 fore, that the design and arrangement of 

 equipment and of the panel layouts must be 



