Dahlgren in Perspective 171 



jet aircraft, and the activity no longer exists, so the direct connection between 

 Dahlgren and aviation also no longer exists. I fear that this is not for the general 

 good of the Navy. 



In May 1934, you returned to the Navy Yard to work in the Naval Gun Factory until 

 June 1936. Was there any detectable buildup in testing or research and development at 

 that time"? 



At the Navy Yard, which was really the Gun Factory at that time, there was 

 also a considerable effort in fire control. The Navy Yard was building torpedo 

 directors and gunfire control directors. My job was to see that these rather 

 complicated instruments got built. I know that there was considerable de- 

 velopment involved in putting together the components which came from 

 commercial contractors and assembling them with the large castings the Gun 

 Factory made to hold the machinery of the torpedo directors and the gun 

 directors. This was before the time of radar, and the only way to measure range 

 was with the optical range finder. There was yery little research and develop- 

 ment, as such, in the Navy at that time. 



There was a very small research activity in the Navy Yard called the Navy 

 Mine Unit. One man was there — Dr. Duncan. I think he might have had a 

 half-dozen helpers, and he was responsible for developing all the mines for the 

 Navy for many years. This little activity was the seed of the present Naval 

 Ordnance Laboratory at White Oak. But there was very little real activity, 

 certainly not at the Navy Yard, in research or development. 



From June 1939 until March 1942, you were again with the Bureau of Ordnance 

 serving in the first Fire Control Section. At that time, was there talk about a west coast test 

 facility for ordnance-what we now know as the Naval Weapons Center* at China Lake, 

 California'? 



Yes, I was aware that there was an activity being generated in California 

 centering around rockets and their testing. My classmate, McLaren, was con- 

 cerned very directly in the initiation and development at that place, and 

 through my friendship with him, I was aware of that activity. I've forgotten how 

 many hundreds of square miles are in the Station — almost all desert. This was 

 an enormous undertaking and has proven through the years quite successful. 



During the pre-war period, there was a type-desk organization, not the 

 present organization where research is separate from production. The Fire 

 Control Section, which 1 was in, was responsible for development, production, 

 and other things. Fortunately, through NRA and other sources from President 

 Roosevelt, who smelled the war coming, we had lots of money, more money 



*The China Lake facility was started in 1943. 



