PANEL DISCUSSION-HYDROFOIL CRAFT 



J. P. Breslin, Panel Chairman 



Stevens Institute of Technology 



Hoboken, New Jersey 



INTRODUCTION 



The session was opened by a plea from the chairman for active participation 

 from all and a dictum that this meeting was not to be reduced to a succession of 

 prepared presentations. All prepared material was to be abstracted, leaving a 

 maximum of time for airing of diverse opinions. 



It was also arbitrarily announced that discussion would be largely limited 

 to three aspects of hydrofoils with the hope that some answers to basic questions 

 in each of these subtopics might be achieved. These aspects and questions were: 



(1) Application of hydrofoil craft —what are the future size and speed 

 prospects for military and commercial vessels? 



(2) Research in all hydrofoil -related phenomena— are the results of past 

 research of use to designers and what kinds of investigations should be conducted 

 in the future ? 



(3) Current features of hydrofoils — what are the expected trends in hydrofoil 

 technology, particularly in regard to control and propulsion? 



TOPIC 1 



Topic 1 was initiated by J. Weller (Director of the NATO ASW Research 

 Center at La Spezia), who virtually cast a bomb at all hydrofoil enthusiasts when 

 he concluded that hydrofoils would prove to be too slow and too range-limited 

 to be effective as a countermeasure for future high-speed submarines. To the 

 dismay of the chairman, there was no hue and cry to this dramatic challenge, in 

 spite of the presence of representatives of nearly all of the firms and agencies 

 involved with current hydrofoil craft development and operation! W. Carl 

 (Grumman Aircraft, Bethpage, N.Y.) suggested that certain studies were under- 

 way which might allow hydrofoils to listen for submarines while foil-borne at 

 high speed. Weller brushed this aside by stating he knew of no way of solving 

 that problem and retired uncontested from the podium! Reluctantly, the chair- 

 man introduced the second topic, hydrofoil-connected research. 



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