THE YEARS OF IMPETUS (1957- 1959) 



In 1957 the third National Academy of Science's Committee on Oceanography (NASCO) 

 was established. The second committee, established in 1949, produced a report OCEANOG- 

 RAPHY 1951 which was overshadowed by the Korean War and thus received little attention. This 

 report stressed the necessity of regaining the balanced program of basic research that had 

 characterized oceanography in the years before World War II. 



The third Oceanography Committee consisted of the following members: Maurice Ewing, 

 Lamont Geological Observatory, Columbia University: Columbus O'D. Iselin, Woods Hole 

 Oceanographic Institution; Fritz Koczy. Marine Laboratory, University of Miami: Sumner Pike, 

 formerly with the Atomic Energy Commission; Collin Pittendrigh, Department of Biology, 

 Princeton University; Roger Revelle, Director, Scripps Institution of Oceanography;Gorden Riley, 

 Bingham Oceanographic Laboratory, Yale University: Milner R. Schaefer, Inter-American Tropical 

 Tuna Commission; Athelstan Spilhaus. Institute of Technology, University of Minnesota; and 

 Richard Vetter, Office of Naval Research. 



The creation of this committee was promoted by three Federal activities with oceanographic 

 programs: The Office of Naval Research, the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, and the Atomic 

 Energy Commission. These activities, concerned that the United States was spending less than 

 one-half percent of the national basic research budget annually for studies of the ocean, requested 

 NASCO to identify the national requirements for oceanography and to propose a ten-year program 

 for their accomplishments. The first task of NASCO was to make a thorough survey of U.S. marine 

 research— the level of support, activities, manpower, facilities andproblems— and to evaluate the 

 probable future needs for oceanographic information and understanding. Based upon the status 

 and forecast of needs, NASCO prepared a set of recommendations for minimal strengthening of 

 U.S. marine science over a ten-year period at a rate considered consistent with the requirements 

 and limitations imposed by reasonable increases in shipbuilding, laboratory building, recruitment 

 and training. 



While NASCO labored to prepare a series of reports under the general title OCEANOG- 

 RAPHY 1960 - 1970, the excitement created over the launching of Russia's SPUTNIK in October 

 1957 and the attention being aroused by the significant oceanographic programs of the Inter- 

 national Geophysical Year (1957 - 1958), had placed the U.S. on the verse of a scientific 

 explosion. 



The NASCO Report was released in 1959 with the conclusion that: 



"Action on a scale appreciably less than that recommended will jeopardize the 

 position of oceanography in the United States relative to the position of the 

 sciences in other major nations, thereby accentuating serious military and po- 

 litical dangers and placing the nation at a disadvantage in the future use of the 

 resources of the sea." 



This awakening of national concern over the need to expand the marine sciences necessitated 

 the infusion of larger and more capable oceanographic ships. The Navy provided two 217-foot, 

 2,000-ton, ocean going salvage tugs, one to Woods Hole (R/V Chain) and the other to Scripps 

 Institution (R/V Argo), and also a 310-foot seaplane tender (USNS Joslali Willard Gihbs) to 

 Hudson Laboratories of Columbia University. The Navy's hydrographic survey tleet was enhanced 

 by the addition of three 455-foot, 13,000-ton Victory ships for deep-ocean surveying, renamed 

 USNS Bowditch (T-AGS 21 ), USNS Dutum (T-AGS 22) and USNS MIclielson (T-AGS 23). 



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