OCEAN ENGINEERING AND TEST FACILITIES 



To carry out development programs in ocean engineering, the Navy is 

 particularly dependent on certain laboratories* and activities with special 

 engineering and test facUitiesJ No attempt will be made in this report 

 to describe either the Navy laboratories or all the facilities that the Navy 

 owns. Each facility addressed in this section is unique. It may be the larg- 

 est Government facility of its kind in the nation, or it may be the only 

 facihty of this size and scope. Navy laboratories and activities with mis- 

 sions related to ocean engineering perform research, development, test, and 

 evaluation in broad areas of technology. For example, the programs ad- 

 dressed in this report are performed directly by these laboratories and 

 activities or indirectly through them by universities and industrial firms. 



OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTRUMENTATION CENTER 



Since its formation in 1963, the Oceanographic Instrumentation Center, 

 Washington D. C. has been engaged in solving instrumentation problems of 

 importance to Navy laboratories and to other government, academic, and 

 industrial laboratories. The Center carries out three major functions: 

 testing, development, and field services. 



The testing program is designed to determine performance of oceano- 

 graphic instruments and related devices. New facilities which allow for 

 the laboratory simulation of the ocean environment have been acquired. 

 Typical of these facilities are large water baths in which temperature and 

 pressure may be varied in a manner similar to the deep ocean. Salinity 

 chambers and salt spray baths test the effect of the saUne quality of ocean 

 water on instruments and equipment. A flume which simulates ocean 

 water flow from 0.01 to 5.00 knots is a recent acquisition. The infor- 

 mation gathered from this test program is available to all government, 



*Navy laboratories and activities and their addresses are listed in Appendix A. 

 t Facilities in this context refers to particular pieces of hardware or equipment. 



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