of Mexico at depths of atout 12,000 feet. The geophysical evidence indi- 

 cates that these could be salt domes, which may be commercially important, 

 because salt domes commonly are found in the vicinity of petroleum deposits. 



The Naval Material Support Establishment has established research and 

 development programs in oceanography within the Bureau of Ships, the Bureau 

 of Naval Weapons, and the Bureau of Yards and Docks, accounting for another 

 25 percent of the oceanographic RDT&E effort . These are programs centered 

 at the Bureau's laboratories, that are generally mission-oriented to support 

 approved system development and engineering programs. 



One of the major oceanographic programs in this category is supported 

 by the Bureau of Ships and conducted at the Naval Electronics Laboratory in 

 San Diego, where they have a balanced program of sea floor studies; physi- 

 cal oceanography; marine biology, concentrating on investigations of the 

 deep scattering layer; and sea ice and Arctic studies. 



The Bureau of Naval Weapons has a research and development program in 

 oceanography, which is still small, but is being strengthened at the Naval 

 Ordnance Laboratory and other in-house and contract laboratories . The pur- 

 pose of this program is to develop oceanographic models and obtain oceano- 

 graphic data, with which to improve the design and effectiveness of future 

 naval weapon systems . 



In addition, the Special Projects Office of the Bureau of Naval Weapons 

 supports oceanographic and underwater acoustical research and development 

 to provide a strengthened foundation in marine science and technology for 

 FBM submarine operations and advanced sea based deterrent systems; now, 

 however, an additional program of research and development in oceanography 

 is req.ulred to adeq.uately support the development and world wide employ- 

 ment of deep submergence systems. 



The third major program in the Naval Material Support Establishment is 

 that sponsored by the Bureau of Yards and Docks. This is an expanding pro- 

 gram being conducted at the Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory at Port 

 Hueneme, California, to investigate the physical properties of marine 

 sediments influencing the design of undersea foundations and to develop 

 and select optimum procedures and material for deep sea construction and 

 engineering . 



Thus far we have accounted for roughly 85 percent of the Navy's RDT&E 

 program in oceanography. The remaining 15 percent of RDT&E and the total 

 O&MN program in oceanography is concentrated at the Naval Oceanographic 

 Office, which, in the main, produces oceanographic and hydrographic pro- 

 ducts for naval operating forces, although to an increasing extent, ocean- 

 ographic surveys and studies are performed for other Offices and Bureaus 

 of the Navy Department as well. In general, the RDT&E program at the 

 Naval Oceanographic Office is devoted to the development, test, and cali- 

 bration of oceanographic instruments, the development of oceanographic and 



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