22 THE NAVY OCEANOGRAPHIC OPERATIONS PROGRAM 



navigators as the final authority on marine navigation. In 

 perpetuating the volume, the Naval Oceanographic Office accepts 

 the challenge to pass to successive generations of navigators the 

 codified accumulation of what they have discovered, tested, and 

 accepted. 



With oceanographic and hydrographic surveys extending farther 

 from shore there is a loss of accurate positioning for survey 

 control. The control available from the precise electronic posi- 

 tioning systems is limited in range and area coverage. Celestial 

 positioning, prevented at times by weather, is available to ships 

 at sea only during periods of darkness and is generally not of 

 sufficient accuracy for survey control. This has generated the 

 requirement to support evolving position fixing systems which are 

 available continuously, or nearly so, on a world-wide basis. 

 Accuracies are investigated and calibration charts and tables 

 are prepared. 



PROMOTION OF SAFETY AT SEA 



The Navy provides for the safety of ships of the United States 

 on the high seas and other navigable waters through the collection 

 and dissemination of timely nautical information. The Oceano- 

 graphic Office is in constant communication with ships of the 

 international maritime community, foreign hydrographic offices, 

 and other government agencies concerned with shipping. This 

 collection effort is supplemented by five Branch Oceanographic 

 Offices, four collection representatives located at naval activities 

 in the United States, and by rotational assignments of specialists 

 to problem areas, such as Vietnam. A Maritime Proficiency 

 Program, wherein Marine Information Specialists make personal 

 contact with naval and maritime activities as well as foreign 

 hydrographic offices, was inaugurated in Fiscal Year 1967 to pro- 

 vide for additional interchange of navigational safety information 

 and to develop closer customer relations. 



The steady flow of marine navigational information received 

 is evaluated and published as urgency demands. In Fiscal Year 

 1967 about 180,000 navigational information items from various 

 sources were evaluated. Receipt of such information results in 



