Dahlgren's First Leading Scientist 27 



There were other experiences within the Navy that confirmed the value of 

 the experimental and developmental work, but the fact that this occurred 

 within the Navy itself meant a great deal to the chane& of having it set up 

 properly. I can remember the discussions that we had when we were getting 

 ready to set up the center at China Lake. Of course, at that time, it was well 

 accepted that the sort of thing that had been done at Dahlgren was a beginning. 

 You have to have a starting point somewhere. It wouldn't have been as easy to 

 get ahead at China Lake without the kind of beginning we had at Dahlgren. I'm 

 not speaking specifically of a weapons program, but the kind of philosophy of 

 how to do weapons programs.* 



The evolution of the philosophy of how to conduct weapons programs had 

 two major periods. The first one was the Dahlgren period, and I doubt if we 

 would have had anywhere near as much success with those programs that came 

 later if it hadn't been for the Dahlgren experience, although a great many 

 people did not have that feeling or that interpretation of the early Dahlgren 

 experience. 



I can imagine how someone sitting here listening to this would think, "Why 

 did it take so long to do it? Why didn't they get busy and do it earlier?" Well, 

 there was, as I said, a framework that had to be built. We had people with 

 various backgrounds and various ideas about what was necessary to do good 

 work, and they didn't all agree. It took time to build this up, and it took the kind 

 of experience that happened at Dahlgren and at China Lake later to create the 

 foundations for successful programs in weapons work. 



'This philosophy evolved into the concept of self-containment for a research and development 

 facility. This encompasses the ability to conceive military devices, theoretically analyze their 

 potential, make the hardware, test the performance, and evaluate the results all at one place in 

 order to save time, money, and manpower. — Ed. 



