The BDI units were of early manufacture and required 

 field modification as there was no time to send them to the 

 mainland for revision. Because she crew was unfamiliar with 

 the equipment, arrangements had to be made so that these 

 new units could be disconnected from the sonar gear in case 

 of failure or damage <> The field engineers furnished all the 

 technical information and devised a system of disconnecting 

 the equipment which the i T avy Yard produced. 



The two field engineers made the modifications, checked 

 and tuned the equipment, corrected the errors, and finished 

 the iob several hours before bhe ship's scheduled sailing 

 time. To do this they worked for a continuous 36 hour 

 period. The ship's subsequent report -- a confirmed sinking 

 of a Japanese submarine -- furnished ample reward to these 

 men and their associates who helped to introduce this com- 

 plicated equipment , 



Development of New Systems and Techniques for Using Equipment, 



Inevitably, field engineering work leads to the develop- 

 ment of new systems or techniques of testing, appraising and 

 operating equipment, instructing personnel. Even ASW tact- 

 ical operations were influenced. 



When field engineers were testing or inspecting ship- 

 board equipment, or training radio technicians and sound 

 men, they frequently found that the men did not use the 

 sonar equipment efficiently because they did not know how 

 to tune it properly . 



The Group developed several methods of tuning echo- 

 ranging projectors and receiver amplifiers to peak perform- 

 ance. They evolved empirical methods for general application 

 of these methods to all ASW vessels. Cards as visual aids to 

 enlisted men were developed which were suitable for easy 

 dissemination and use in the sound rooms and these were 

 printed in BuShips official publications. Two such cards 

 were "How to time a receiver," and "How to tune your QC 

 driver c ." The cards were provided for shipboard coaching 

 work and were convenient to use either lying to or underway 

 and helped to ensure proper functioning of the equipment 

 under any circumstances. 



The importance of such a contribution may be difficult 

 to understand. But to the field engineers who saw so many 

 inadequacies in the life-and-death business of fighting 



- 152 



