340 



Many of the oceanographic problems related to submarine operations con- 

 cern the use of sonar. For example, we have learned that changes in sound 

 velocity can cause marked variations in detection zones and ranges. These 

 changes cause the true position of a target and that shown by sonar to differ. 

 Our limited knowledge about these changes makes the fire control problem more 

 difficult than it should be. We require more understanding of the velocity and 

 direction of sound through an entire water column. 



The North Atlantic is an ocean space that requires priority attention. The 

 Gulf Stream region along the east coast of the United States possesses many 

 imperfectly understood phenomena that affect ASW operations. We must in- 

 vestigate these phenomena and exploit them intelligently in order to gain advan- 

 tages for our own forces. 



The Mediterranean represents a unique array of various basins of sea water. 

 The dynamics of the Mediterranean waters may well prove to be a miniature 

 model of the circulation and mixing that occurs within and between the great 

 seas. As in the Western Atlantic, it is militarily desirable that we know the 

 maximum possible concerning ocean phenomena, its geographic locations, and 

 seasonal variations that affect ASW operations in the vital Mediterranean area. 



Our knowledge of the great currents and countercurrents at the surface, bot- 

 tom, and at various intermediate depths in the ocean is limited. We know that 

 many great submerged currents do exist, but very little is known about their 

 daily, seasonal, and annual variations. These variations affect the reliability of 

 sonar detection and the effectiveness of anti-submarine warfare weapon systems. 

 We also require more understanding of the relations between weather and the 

 oceans, in order that an improvement in the accuracy of weather forecasting 

 may result. 



This required regular collections of oceanographic data in order that synoptic 

 analyses and forecasts of oceanographic factors may be available for fleet opera- 

 tions, particularly anti-submarine warfare, in the same way that weather phe- 

 nomena is now analyzed and forecast for air operations. For example, to support 

 ASW forces, experimental synoptic sea surface temperature and mixed-layer 

 depth charts are currently prepared by the Naval Oceanographic Office and Fleet 

 Weather Central and transmitted to the Fleet via daily radio facsimile broad- 

 casts. 



The world weather maps that are now drawn at least four times daily are 

 based primarily upon representative data from about twenty-five percent of the 

 earth's surface (limited to land areas) and a small number of ocean stations. 

 It is therefore advantageous to develop more ships, buoys, manned small sub- 

 mersibles and various instruments to measure ocean parameters, and it is desira- 

 ble that we provide for the simultaneous collection of meteorological data as 

 well. 



The ability to monitor and survey the entire ocean is vital to ASW. ASW is, 

 as practiced in World War II. a war of attrition, and in addition a strategic con- 

 frontation. It may be characterized as the closest parallel that we have in the 

 ocean to guerrilla warfare. In order to be able to combat guerrillas, one must be 

 able to know their environment — where the trees and ravines are — and how they 

 can be identified in an unknown hamlet. We have the same problem in the 

 oceans. In order to find the "guerrilla," or in this case the submarine, we must, 

 in addition to a good understanding of the oceans, know exactly how we can 

 best take advantage of the ocean permeability to our benefit, and how a subma- 

 rine will employ the medium to avoid us. And it is our task to concentrate on the 

 area which he is employing to successfully detect, classify, localize, and remove 

 him as a threat. In order to cope with the strategic threat it is important to learn 

 the scope and characteristics of his deployment. 



The effectiveness of the submarine-based missile force is hisrhly contingent on 

 concealment, dispersion, high mobility, and very long patrol time. It is precisely 

 for this reason that key interests of oceanography and the Navy, reflected in the 

 development of the submarine-based strategic-missile force, have so much in 

 common. With this relationship in mind the Navy instituted a special program 

 of long-range research support for oceanography and intensified field studies by 

 its own laboratories and ships. 



A Remark on Arms Control 



Since much of the sea is remote from population centers there are special de- 

 sires and suggestions for arms control and arms limitations there. These desires 



