92 



Fiscal year 1967: Two medium AGS class (in-liouse Navy use) ; 1 

 medium AGOR class (new design, institution use) . 



Fiscal year 1968: Two small AGOR class (in-house Navy use). 



These ships will provide modern, versatile facilities to meet the de- 

 mands of oceanographic research, development, and survey programs. 



Our program for fiscal year 1966 totaled $167.5 million. For 1967, it 

 totaled $227.3 million. We expect to go forward at a level of about 

 $235 million in fiscal year 1968, vice our budget request of $250 

 million. 



The effects of the military appropriation cuts are still being appor- 

 tioned at the lower levels which involve some of our projects, so our 

 1968 figure is still not yet firm. 



In the ocean science segment of the program, knowledge important 

 to both the design of undersea systems and the operations of naval 

 forces is being developed within the scientific community. A few 

 examples of scientific oceanography problems related to military 

 progress are particularly interesting. We have strengthened programs 

 ■of research concerned with effects of marine scatterers on acoustic 

 propagation. Because of the adverse effects such scatterers have upon 

 submarine detection equipment it is important to understand their 

 distribution and character. Worldwide marine geological and geophys- 

 ical investigations have delineated sediment patterns and character- 

 istics that affect sonar equipment performance. The critical influence 

 of bottom topography and sediment structure on the newer sonar 

 systems and on ocean bottom structures will require further strength- 

 ening of the Navy program in this field during the coming years. As 

 our weapons systems have become more sophisticated, the need for 

 predicting the influence of the ocean enviromnent on their perform- 

 ance has become essential to their proper employment. Two large-scale 

 and long-term scientific efforts were begun in fiscal year 1967 to study 

 specifically the variability of the oceans and their dynamics. The 

 field programs for these studies will press forward this year, investi- 

 gating the causes of large-scale physical changes in the upper layers of 

 the North Pacific Ocean and the dynamics of large oceanic systems in 

 the North Atlantic Ocean. 



One long-term development which will contribute significantly to 

 these studies is the ocean data station. This is a buoy system designed 

 to obtain and transmit oceanographic data from anywhere in the 

 world's oceans. As national and naval needs for oceanographic data 

 collection networks expand over large sections of the world's oceans in 

 future years, the results of this development can be expected to make 

 a valuable contribution. 



Through cooperative efforts, the Navy derives greater benefits than 

 would be possible by its resources alone, and, in turn, the Navy con- 

 tributes to programs of other agencies. Examples of such efforts are 

 the studies of the Eastern Tropical Pacific (EASTROPAC) in which 

 ONR contract scientists are cooperating with Bureau of Commercial 

 Fisheries and Coast Guard scientists, and the Barbados air-sea inter- 

 action study now being planned in which ESSA will be primarily 

 responsible for atmospheric measurements and the Navy for oceano- 

 graphic aspects of the program. The Navy gains in both data and 

 scientific techniques from such ventures, as do the others concerned. 



The ocean engineering and development efforts of the Navy men- 



