Chapter 5 Basic Marine Science and IMational Security 



Historically, the security of the Nation has been 

 fundamentally tied to the ability of its Navy to 

 operate effectively in and under the sea, over all of 

 the oceans of the world. The basic marine science 

 effort of the Nation has been crucial in main- 

 taining naval capabilities abreast and ahead of any 

 potential enemy. The Navy's operations are so far 

 flung, so complex, that there is hardly an area of 

 marine science which does not bear directly on the 

 effectiveness of its operation. It has been the 

 agency which, out of self interest, has fostered and 

 supported by far the largest fraction of basic 

 marine science research in this Nation. It has 

 conducted its stewardship well. It is largely 

 through the support of the Office of Naval 

 Research that the Nation's eminence in basic 

 marine science was developed. 



The Office of Naval Research, which directs the 

 Navy's basic science research effort, has, since its 

 creation in 1946, played a historic and unique role 



Figure 14. Many modern arrays utilize sub- 

 surface floats such as this one for the Sea- 

 spider Buoy System to support the instru- 

 mentation. Scuba is often used in maintenance 

 of oceanographic research equipment (Navy 

 photo) 



in the Nation's science growth. It has been notable 

 for sponsorship of long-term studies. It has also 

 provided ships for the use of its contract institu- 

 tions, and has, in general, supported a broad 

 spectrum of basic research in all sciences. Its 

 programs have done much to bring the Navy to its 

 present state of scientific excellence. 



The Navy of tomorrow may well operate in a 

 context which a generation ago would have ap- 

 peared implausible. It may include operational 

 underwater habitats, deep submersibles and com- 

 plex structures on the ocean bottom. 



The Navy today is engaged in an imaginative 

 man-in-the-sea program, designed to demonstrate 

 that its forces can not only survive but work 

 effectively in an underwater habitat and overcome 

 progressively the depth and other environmental 

 limitations on such operations. It is concurrently 

 engaged in developing a capability not only to 

 operate deep submerged vehicles but to conduct 

 rescue operations on a world-wide basis. It is also 

 engaged in the development of buoys and buoy 

 systems as means for sensing and recording ocean- 

 ographic data of significance to basic research as 

 well as to naval operations. 



These programs are typical of areas in which 

 the Navy will continue to develop, in addition to 

 more traditional roles. 



Aspects of National security are involved in 

 many of the areas considered in the panel's report, 

 particularly in environmental monitoring and pre- 

 diction. In addition to the matters discussed, many 

 other aspects of basic research are important to 

 the Navy. 



In its 1967 report, "The Navy's Ocean Science 

 Program,"' the Navy named eight areas considered 

 worthy of research in the interest of National 

 defense: ocean dynamics, air-sea interaction, 

 oceanic chemistry, benthic boundary studies, sea 

 floor topography and sediment, crustal and sub- 

 crustal composition, oceanic biology, and under- 

 water sound. It added that the emphasis will 

 change from year to year, "as our realization of 

 potential application grows." 



The Ocean Science Program of the U.S. Navy, Office 

 of the Oceanographer of the Navy, 1967. 



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