CHAPTER VII 



Times of Crisis 



Dr. Russell H. Lyddane 



Dr. Lyddane received a PhD in physics from Johns Hopkins University in 

 1938. He then taught physics at the University of North Carolina before 

 coming to Dahlgren in 1 94 1 . From 1 94 1 to 1 946, he was a physicist at the Naval 

 Proving Ground, Dahlgren, and from 1946 to 1948 he served as Head of the 

 Armor and Projectile Laboratory. Dr. Lyddane directed terminal ballistics 

 research at Dahlgren from 1948 to 1954, at which time he was appointed 

 Assistant Director of Research. He was selected Technical Director of the 

 Laboratory in 1956 and served in that capacity until 1964 when he joined the 

 General Electric Company in Schenectady, New York, as a member of the 

 company's Engineering Service Group. 



The following interview with Dr. Lyddane was conducted by Cynthia Rouse 

 in Dr. Lyddane's home in Schenectady, New York, on January 24, 1977. 



When you came to Dahlgren during World War II, what was the work environment like ? 



When World War II came along, the proof and test burden at Dahlgren went 

 way up. There wasn't as much proportional time to do experimental work or 

 any kind of R&D work, although there was more absolute time. The Navy had 

 recognized quite early that it needed competent professional technical help, 

 and of course you had that at Dahlgren when Dr. Thompson got there. He 

 started building that almost single-handedly, and by the time the war came, he 

 had a small staff which I joined near the beginning of the war. 



Then the big influx of professional people came with the reserve officers. 

 These, of course, were young men who had, while they were in college, gone to 

 Navy ROTC or joined one of the few Naval Reserve units, and when war came, 

 they were called to active duty. In these ranks were many engineers, physicists, 

 metallurgists, and other technical personnel who were very fine candidates for 

 firing officers. 



The burden of proof and test, as I said, was enormous. This was Dahlgren's 

 mission during the war. There was, in fact, very little thought given to other 



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