416 



Rickover, the Navy's nuclear propulsion expert, has said that this $67. 5-million 

 vessel's depth capability {which is classified) is equivalent to that of exploring an 

 area several times the area of the United States. He believes that-a tremendous 

 potential discovery by the NR- 1 should keep the Navy busy for a long, long time. 



Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation - We recently observed 

 Grumman's PX-15 "Ben Franklin" deep diving research vessel \andergoing tests 

 at its base in West Palm Beach. Since then it has successfully been tested down to 

 2, 000 feet. Sometime this year.tlie "Ben Frankliri'is expected to drift a thousand 

 feet down in the Gulfs tream from Palm Beach to Cape Cod with a crew of six. The 

 "Ben Franklin" was built to demonstrate Grumman's capability and establish a 

 reputation for reliable underwater vehicles in the same way that its reputation for 

 reliable aircraft and space vehicles has been so well established. The Navy is 

 interested in it for accurate bottom profiling surveys in order to determine where 

 submarines could hide at considerable depth. The Navy is also interested because 

 this vessel offers the first opportunity for extended submerged surveys, as is NASA 

 because it provides an opportunity to study the problems of living aboard a sealed 

 vessel for long periods of time which many will be required to do in future manned 

 space flights. The oil and gas company pipelines are also interested because the 

 "Ben Franklin" could perform long distance continuous pipeline surveys for which 

 it is felt there will be a large market. Finding and preventing one potential pipe- 

 line break or pipeline foundation washout, according to Grumman, can more than 

 pay for the cost of such a vehicle. 



"OCEANOLOGY INTERNATIONAL '69" 



In order to keep the United States Oceanographic program in proper per- 

 spective.a brief review of "Oce.anology International '69", a joint ocean technology 

 conference and exhibit held in Brighton, England, on February 17-21 , 1969, as 

 reported by Ocean Science News for March 7th, seems relevant. Well over 2, 000 

 people from 32 countries registered, considerably more than expected. Every 

 session of the technical meetings apparently was oversubscribed. Papers from 

 over a dozen countries were read and some four volumes of preprints of the papers 

 totaling over 800 legal size single spaced pages were submitted. In reviewing 

 the papers, Ocean Science News reports that although the United States is certainly the 

 most active and advanced nation in terms of effort, technological development and 

 activity in oceanology, there are other nations in the world whose ocean interests are 

 mounting and who are doing some things better than the United States. It might be 

 said that an international oceanographic race is developing. There were 34 U.S. 

 exhibitors among the 200 total. Russia was strongly represented and intent on 

 establishing sales outlets for its oceanographic instrumentation. So were the 

 Germans, Japanese and French, and of course the British. U.S. companies 

 reportedly made over $1 million in sales on the floor of the exhibit hall with another 

 $5 million in prospect over the following 30 days. This was primarily a technology 

 rather than a science meeting and was well publicized and promoted in advance. 



The Soviet delegate announced his nation's intention to double the size of 



