70 



Dahlgren 



Naval Weapons Laboratory Advisory Council meets with NWL officials, 1959. Front 

 row (left to right): Dr. H. L. Hazen, Dr. H. K. Ihrig, Captain A. R. Faust, Dr. R. A. 

 Sawyer, Admiral W. A. Kitts III, Dr. L. T. E. Thompson. Back row (left to right): 

 Mr. C. B. Green, Dr. R. H. Lyddane, Captain V. V. Utgoff Mr. R. A. Niemann, 

 Mr. D. W. Stoner. 



The A&'P Lab seems to be the fruition of a lot of work Dr. Thompson did at Dahlgren. 



Yes, Thompson was the Chief Scientist there until 1942, and he had gotten 

 the idea from measurements that penetration and armor quality could be 

 tested in small scale and scaled up. He persuaded the Navy, through the Chief 

 of Ordnance, to build a small laboratory which would do small-scale work to 

 save using heavy guns and heavy armor for all the test work. 



That was a critical point in Dr. Thompson's career. His development of the small-scale 

 testing ca7ne when proof and testing was losingfavor with the government officials. After 

 World War I, there was no great allocation of funds for that type of testing. 



Yes, Dr. Thompson was very active. 



Let's get back to your early work at Dahlgren. 



Well, I was sent back to the University of Michigan shortly after I arrived at 

 Dahlgren. I was doing work in the spectrographic field. Then the war broke out 

 and I received orders to come back to Dahlgren. I reported on the 16th of 



