for the Pacific fleets., In conducting these courses, lectures 

 were given by Laboratory staff members, naval officers repre- 

 senting the Bureaus and fleets, personnel from other research 

 laboratories, representatives cf manufacturers, and later, by 

 experienced field engineers - 



The Naval training centers made available ASW practice 

 equipment for the trainees. The Group went on many trial 

 operations conducted at sea and made visits to factories, 

 naval bases and stations, and research laboratories „ Some 

 field engineers were employed for months on laboratory de- 

 velopments so that they could learn all the details of cer- 

 tain newly developed pieces of equipment. Engineers usually 

 spent a brief period in the Bureau of Ships to learn Bureau 

 procedures and to meet the personnel c 



The period of training varied from several months to more 

 than a year depending on the need for the engineers' services 

 and individual capabilities, 



The Manual. 



An important part of training field engineers was the 

 unique volume, "The Field Engineering Manual,," For con- 

 venience, a wide variety of information on installation, 

 maintenance and operations was collected in a single volume 

 in order to digest essential information from Navy publica- 

 tions, to permit the continued study by engineers, to enable 

 them to keep up to date on new equipment as it was releasedj, 

 to provide information in compact form not otherwise avail- 

 able, and to provide material suitable for informal or formal 

 training of Naval personnel. 



Very little material produced by others was used as 

 originally published, and much information was developed 

 on new devices from the ground up, and issued ahead of the 

 manufacturers' regular instruction books. An example of 

 this is the attack plotter guide, discussed in another 

 section , 



Field Training, 



The first group of field engineers to go out under Navy 

 orders to various Navy yards did not have the benefit of ad- 

 vanced field training. Subsequent groups were first assigned 

 to work with and assist senior field engineers who had alreadv 



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