Naval Guns 



139 



Mr. Carl H. Wingo, Jr., has had a long-standing excellent relation 

 with naval gunnery at the Dahlgren Laboratory. 



What was the scientific environment like at that time regarding proof and testing of guns 

 and ammunition'? 



Well, scientifically, testing has really come into its own in R&D, and proof and 

 testing is a completely different kind of testing. I wouldn't even describe 

 proof and testing in the same scientific terms as I would R&D. Very little has 

 changed here in the approach to proof and testing over the past several 

 decades, and the scientific requirements in proof and testing are not very great. 

 I've never known, for example, a "lot" of ammunition to be rejected here. So 

 that kind of says very little for the actual testing itself. As long as it stays 

 together, about the only requirement is for it to hit the ground or the water 

 somewhere. However, in the last 10 years, remarkable things have happened at 

 this Station in R&D testing — things that I don't think are recognized very 

 widely, probably not even in our own house. We probably have the capability to 

 do things here in the instrumentation and testing of ammunition in R&D that 

 can't be done anywhere else in the world. 



