INTRODUCTION 15 



Sciences Committee on Oceanography (NASCO) published its 

 far-reaching report "Oceanography 1960 to 1970" in February 

 1959. This study was requested by the Chief of Naval Research 

 and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. 



With the awakening federal interest in oceanography that 

 followed the issuance of this report, the Navy assumed the role 

 of national leadership. Dr. James Wgikelin, then the Assistant 

 Secretary of the Navy for Research and Development, became 

 the first Chairman of the Interagency Committee on Oceanog- 

 raphy in 1960 and guided it through the early period of develop- 

 ing a coordinated Federal Oceanography Program. Within this 

 program, the Navy, working closely with the National Science 

 Foundation, assumed major federal responsibility for developing 

 an academic and institutional capability in ocean-science 

 research and strengthening the government program through 

 increased eflForts of the in-house Navy laboratories. The Navy 

 was largely responsible for the establishment of the ocean- 

 science programs at the Johns Hopkins University, Texas A&M 

 University, Oregon State University, and the Massachusetts 

 Institute of Technology, as well as for the expanded eflForts at 

 the University of Rhode Island and the University of Miami. 

 In addition to establishing new programs, the Navy also assisted 

 appreciably in building up the capabilities of Scripps Institu- 

 tion of Oceanography, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 

 Lamont Greological Observatory and Hudson Laboratories of 

 Columbia University, New York University, and the Uni- 

 versity of Washington. 



Besides providing the financial support for research and 

 essential operating costs, the Navy has assisted these labora- 

 tories by providing ships through new construction or conversion. 

 At present, this fleet, operated by private laboratories and 

 jointly funded by federal agencies, receives about 50 percent 

 of its support from the Navy. The balance of ship support required 

 in the program is, of course, financed entirely from naval sources. 



Within the framework of the Interagency Committee on 

 Oceanography, the Navy has worked cooperatively on problems 

 of mutual interest with other federal agencies sponsoring ocean- 



