DISCUSSION OF WORLDWIDE NAVIGATIONAL 



REQUIREMENTS AS RELATED TO THE 

 NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM 



Rear Admiral Donald McG. Morrison 



U. S. Coast Guard 

 Washington, D. C. 



One of the primary duties of the United States Coast Guard is 

 the development, establishment, maintenance, and operation, with 

 due regard to the requiremients of national defense, of aids to 

 maritime navigation for the promotion of safety on and over the 

 high seas. Thus, the Coast Guard is vitally concerned with the 

 navigational requirements of the National Oceanographic Program. 



Loran, which is a long-range aid to navigation operated by the 

 Coast Guard, may be installed anywhere in the world to meet the 

 needs of the Armed Services or the commerce of the United States. 

 This system, which I will describe in detail later, will be useful 

 to the National Oceanographic Program. Coast Guard interest is 

 not confined to the navigational aspects of the program. In past 

 years, we have conducted a limited amount of oceanographic study 

 in connection with the International Ice Patrol, aboard our vessels 

 assigned to ocean station duty, on lightships, and at fixed struc- 

 tures. Legislation is now pending before Congress which will 

 enable the Coast Guard to increase its effort in this field. 



In any planned, systematic, oceanwide survey program a 

 paramount requisite is accurate navigational control. The other 

 speakers today have emphasized this particular point. It is of 

 questionable value to collect and report voluminous environmental 

 data unless it is accompanied by reliable positioning data. Without 

 quality control in navigation, the collected data cannot be intelli- 

 gently and effectively correlated in our National Oceanographic 

 Data Center, or serve a useful purpose in exchange situations with 

 other nations. In the U. S. National Oceanographic Program, the 

 Survey Task will be one of the most time consuming and difficult 

 to accomplish. Many existing systems of navigation, visual or 

 electronic, are capable of providing precise navigational data in 

 areas adjacent to inhabited coastlines. Conversely, relatively 

 few systems are capable of providing this information over the 



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