208 SEA GRAXT COLLEGES 



mussel). The potential of these approaches is immense. Indeed, they are 

 immensely successful in limited areas now. 



(g) Certain minerals, such as manganese, are accumulating in the oceans 



at rates greater than any immediately foreseeable harvest. They, therefore, 



can be considered to be renewable resources. 



I have selected the above as examples of the guidance that can stem from 



overall evaluation of the planetary resources. It is clear that further 



research will refine the evaluation of these constraints and permit and reveal 



others. 



III. IDENTIFICATION OF GENERAL OPERATIONAL INADEQUACIES AND EXPLORATION 

 OF IMPROVED APPROACHES 



One of the important functions of ocean technology must be to recognize broad 

 deficiences in our ability to deal with the environmental conditions. If a case is 

 of sufficiently broad applicability should be subjected to a generalized analysis, 

 with the intent of arriving at an analysis applicable to the broadest possible 

 ranges of related problems. Stated somewhat more objectively, there comes a 

 time when problems such as motion control at sea or pressure exclusion are of 

 sufficiently wide importance in manifold circumstances that sophisticated 

 analyses of the most general application are demanded. 



Examples resulting from quite general analyses of operational problems of 

 this nature include : 



(a) The FLIP platform that has shown itself to be so emancipated from sur- 

 face motion that a new order of magnitude of measurements can be conducted 

 from it. 



(ft) Su7-face platforms moored in the deep sea. — General analysis of the prob- 

 lems (and the solution of unanalyzable environmental constraints) have made 

 possible the mooring of instrument platforms in depth as much as 3,000 fathoms 

 for periods of a large part of a year. 



(c) Pt^essure exclusion. — Advanced, analysis of pressure resistant materials 

 and structures have greatly enlarged our capabilities of operating on or near the 

 bottom of the deep sea. 



(d) Others. — A rather large inventory of power sources, recall devices, auton- 

 omous operators, sound sources, etc., all are of wide applicability and use. 



There are still many generalized problems, however, that are so universal and 

 disabling as to demand careful attention and thought. 



Conspicuous examples include : 



(a) The handling of masses overside in a seaway. — We have made very little 

 progress in handling masses over the side of a ship since the time of early naviga- 

 tors. The lowering of a small boat in a seaway is still fraught with serious 

 hazard, even from the greatest vessels of our Navy. Part of the problem of the 

 control of motion, we nevertheless are obliged to operate from rolling ships, and 

 the capability of handling masses over the side should he greatly enhanced. 



(6) Mastery of the ocean air. — Present investigations and operations at sea 

 are restricted to clumsy surface craft or to brief vicarious overpasses by aircraft 

 or satellite. 



The development of a truly marine aircraft would have almost inestimable im- 

 pact on every phase of oceanographic investigations and ocean operations, civil 

 and military. Present aircraft are barely tolerated by the sea in brief passages. 

 Careful attention should be devoted to the possibilities of a craft designed spe- 

 cifically for pelagic operations. Interim advantages could ensue from develop- 

 ments leading to improved ocean contact by fixed winged aircraft. 



IV. INTERDISCIPLINARY OCEAN TECHNOLOGY 



One point that I hope to emphasize in these remarks is that the traditional 

 mechanical, structural, electrical, or agricultural technology of man's terrestrial 

 activity, cannot simply be immersed in sea water, and thus brought to bear on 

 the problems of the marine realm. There are many reasons for the inapplica- 

 bility of this approach, but paramount among these reasons is the strong inter- 

 action between the various organic and inorganic entities. The chemicals, 

 organisms, and motions of the sea interact in complex and intimate ways. For 

 example, whereas intervention of native creatures or plants into terr(?strial 

 engineering works is a newsworthy event (e.g. squirrels biting cables, or starlings 

 in a jet engine), the absence of such biological intervention in the sea is the 

 unusual event. Thus floats are fouled by attached organisms ; fish gather about 



