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ference of opinion as to whether the winch should be located forward or aft. The 

 Navy's SAN PABLO and REHOBOTH have their somewhat smaller winches 

 mounted aft, and with them have been able to anchor successfully in well over 

 2000 fathoms of water. But winches take up valuable space and in addition 

 placement aft requires that the ship's stern be presented to the sea when an- 

 chored. This is not particularly desirable when freeboard aft is to be kept at a 

 minimum. Mr. Martin PoUak and others are strongly in favor of making space 

 available forward for this purpose although this too means inconvenience when 

 handling long, heavy coring devices. Placement forward also precludes use of 

 the winch and wire for towing purposes but this difficulty may be partially over- 

 come by having a smaller unit handling smaller wire of shorter length mounted 

 aft. Most oceanographers are in favor of mounting two winches in this manner. 



Hydrographic Winches - The hydrographic winches are rapidly becoming stand- 

 ardized to the electro-hydraulic, self-accumulating type capable of handling 

 about 6000 meters of 5/32"cable. These units are becoming progressively 

 smaller as designs improve and there should be no particular weight or space 

 problems for mounting such units either topside or internally. 



Other Winches - Other winches include at least two bathythermograph winches 

 having variable-speed controls and a winch for the geomagnetic electrokineto- 

 graph cable. In addition to these there should be one winch forward for han- 

 dling acoustic gear to the depth of the permanent thermocline and a number of 

 steam -operated gypsys and windlasses spotted about the decks for handling mis- 

 cellaneous running rigging. In any event, the ship must be equipped to handle 

 nets, trawls, dredges, coring tubes, cameras and samplers of all kinds at any 

 depths. 



CONTROL OF THE SHIPS 



It has been stated that the ships should be sponsored by the governmental 

 agencies most needing the results of oceanic research. But they should be op- 

 erated in the most efficient manner and must be free from severe operational 

 and scientific limitations. The Navy finds it difficult to operate research ves- 

 sels efficiently because it is usually bound by military requirements and admin- 

 istrative procedures which are not amenable to scientific research. Further- 

 more, the Navy does not possess in its officer or civilian scientific corps per- 

 sonnel of appropriate experience in sufficient numbers to^ carry out many phases 

 of oceanographic research. Many of the major talents in oceanography are lo- 

 cated in private establishments and in a few universities and this will always be 

 the case. However, they have never failed to attack military problems to the 

 utmost of their ability when such have been presented to them by the Government 

 and in numerous cases they have brought to light military needs of which the 

 governmental agencies were not aware. 



Operation of research vessels by the private establishments provides an 

 economic advantage to the Government in still another respect. In the universi- 

 ties of the world and in most of the research institutions there is the traditional 

 inexpensive labor known as the graduate student system. They are students of 

 ability and enthusiasm who will work long hard hours for what amounts to a pit- 

 tance. Under the guidance of the nation's leading oceanographers these stu- 

 dents provide much of the data of the present and most of the knowledge of the 

 future in the science of oceanography. It is a good deal for the Government. 



Therefore there can be no doubt that the actual operation of some of the 

 research ships should be done by non-profit institutions who have proven their 

 ability to originate and solve many military problems. In view of the wider 



