342 OCEANOGRAPHY 1961 — PHASE 3 



Dr. Lyman. If it is in the budget. 



Mr. Bauer. The point I am trying to get at is why should we build 

 new ships when we apparently find that conversions work very well. 

 That is what I am getting at. 



Dr. Robertson. Of course, the antarctic ship is not a general- 

 purpose oceanographic ship. It is a floating laboratory for antarctic 

 use and it required an ice-strengthened hull. I feel that that is 

 rather a special case and does not bear too closely on the problem 

 of what is the best way of obtaining the kind of oceanographic re- 

 search ships that we have to have if we are going to get ahead with 

 this important field of science. 



Mr. Miller. Who will operate this ship, incidentally ? 



Dr. Robertson. Which ship ? 



Mr. Miller. This antarctic ship. Will that be operated by one of 

 the foundations, or will it be operated by the Federal Government? 

 I am speaking of that specially designed ship to take up the stresses 

 in the antarctic. 



Dr. Robertson. MSTS provides the operation for that ship, which 

 forms a part of our antarctic research program. 



Mr. Miller. That ship is retained entirely as the property of the 

 Federal Government at all times ? 



Dr. Robertson. That is a Government ship. 



Mr. Miller. There is no grant involved here. 



Dr. Robertson. That is correct. 



Mr. MiLLEE. Of course, the point that Mr. Bauer makes is that this 

 ship is available and by converting it you just turn it into the type 

 of laboratory that you want. 



Mr. Bauer. With respect to the operation of the Woods Hole ship, 

 I hate to belabor the point, but you have testified. Dr. Robertson, that 

 half of the operational cost would come from the Office of Naval Re- 

 search by contract, and half will come by grant from the National 

 Science Foundation ; is that correct ? 



Dr. Robertson. That is my estimate, 



Mr. Bauer. Will the Office of Naval Research in its contract spell 

 out what the ship shall be used for ? 



Dr. Robertson. Oceanographic research in certain broad areas. 



Mr. Batter. No more than that ? 



Dr. Robertson. The Office of Naval Research, as I recall it — this 

 may have changed since my day — had several contract tasks at the 

 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, one of which was for a broad 

 program of basic background, oceanographic research. In addition 

 to this, they had others which called for rather specialized programs 

 in fields of special interest to the Navy. 



Mr. Bauer. The theory by which you have given Woods Hole the 

 ship is that they can do anything they want to with it. Yet half of 

 the operational cost will be by contract spelling out the tasks ; is that 

 corrGct 



Dr. Robertson. As I said, the basic research contract tasks writ- 

 ten by the Office of Naval Research provide for a broad program of 

 oceanographic research, and we assume that this ship will be used 

 for such programs in connection with Navy work perhaps at the same 

 time that other people on the ship are working under NSF grants. 



Mr. Bauer. In the event that this committee and the House enacts 

 Congressman Miller's bill requiring title of ships constructed with 



