sinking some of the convoy vessels, what was the cause and was 

 there a cure? Was It the method used in routing convoys, or 

 was it the spacing of the ships in the convoy? Was it because 

 escort vessels were too few in number, or were they improperly 

 disposed? If the convoy commander could show that he had 

 followed doctrine, was the doctrine at fault? Did the detect- 

 ing gear perform as expected? Was any fault to be found in 

 the performance of personnel? And - a major item - were the 

 operations records in current use sufficiently complete so 

 that they contained all the data necessary to make an anal- 

 ysis which would improve future operations? 



The Navy itself lacked the means to make detailed quan- 

 titative analyses of operational experience • Virtually every 

 person in the Navy with any operational experience in anti- 

 submarine warfare had been hurriedly assigned to go out and 

 sink submarines or carry out important executive tasks o More- 

 over, these technical analyses callec for specialized mathe- 

 matical and scientific skill which few Naval officers might 

 be expected to possess 



Navy Request. 



On March 16, 1942„ Captain (now Rear Admiral) Wilder Do 

 Baker cf the Ant i -Submarine Warfare Unit of the Atlantic 

 Fleet asked NDRC to establish an Operational Research Group „ 



On 20 March, Dr Tate, as Chief of Division 6, asked 

 Dr Po Mo Morse j, Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts 

 Institute of Technology, to head the group „ Then a search 

 started for the best possible men to form the initial staff,, 

 The laboratories of NDRC and laboratories and institutions 

 not yet engaged in war work combed for personnel contribu- 

 tionSo A loan of the services of Dr William Shockley of the 

 Bell Telephone Laboratories was obtained so that he might be- 

 come the group's Director of Research and Assistant Super- 

 visor o Dr M, E, Bell and Mr „ J R» Pellam were contributed 

 by the Harvard Underwater Sound Laboratory, The first sta- 

 tistical studies of depth charge attacks had been carried 

 out for Section C-4 by Professor Wilks„ He now agreed to 

 contribute part of his time in order to get the new group 

 started*, As Group M s the Operational Research workers 

 started to function under the existing contract ( OEMs r- 20) 

 with Columbia University* During this first period, Captain 

 Baker acted as the service liaison officer,, 



46 



