The BEB's international role is further reflected by tlie agency's participation in a 

 number of programs involving other countries. In 1958 there was the International 

 Geophysical Year Program, for which the BEB provided wave data. When the Third 

 International Course in Hydraulic Engineering was held in Delft, The Netlierlands, from 

 October 1959 to September 1960, Rudolph P. Savage of the BEB's staff attended. Sixteen 

 nations were represented at this year -long course. Then in the early 1960's a cooperative 

 study was undertaken between the BEB and the HydrauHcs Research Station in Wallingford, 

 Berkshire, England."^ ^ This study involved the use of fluorescent tracers in model testing. 

 Duplicate tests were run at small scale in England and at large scale in tlie BEB's 

 635-foot-long wave tank. 



The BEB's Mihtary Intelligence Division was also' affected by the easing of international 

 tensions. The work of this group, which initially consisted of gathering and evaluating data 

 on foreign coastal conditions, had originated during a period of world turmoU and hostility. 

 • When John R. Vogler succeeded W. Clark Iseminger in the fall of 1959 as head of the 

 Division, efforts were expanded to include such things as the analyzing of foreign scientific 

 literature dealing with coastal engineering generally, and making this information available 

 to coastal engineers and scientists in the United States. Volger suggested that the Division 

 name be changed to the International Division. This was done in April 1961. 



In 1962 it was decided that the various segments of the U.S. Army which were engaged 

 in intelligence work, including parts of the Corps of Engineers, should be united into one 

 group. The U.S. Army Area Analysis Intelligence Agency (USAAAIA) was organized in July 

 of that year. The International Division left the BEB, physically as well as organizationally, 

 in the fall of 1962 and became a part of this new agency.^ ^^ Thereafter, beach intelligence 

 was no longer a function of the BEB. 



b. The March 1962 Storm. In early spring of 1962, the Atlantic seaboard of the United 

 States experienced a storm that was destined to have a considerable effect on the BEB 

 (as well as its successor agency). This moderately intense, extra-tropical storm, with winds 

 of 40 to 45 miles an hour, iiad several unusual behavioral features. Most storms of this type 

 move out over the North Atlantic Ocean and gradually dissipate. The March 1962 storm 

 moved slowly out over the Atlantic, but in the meantime, a high-pressure system had come 

 down from the north and impeded the storm's northeastward course. This forced the storm 

 to slowly drift east-northeast and also resulted in its developing an elongated shape. This 

 elongation gave the northeasterly winds a 1,000-mile fetch of open water. Thus, the 

 prolonged high seas that struck the east coast of the United States resulted from both the 

 storm's slow movement and the long fetch.^ ^ '* 



Winds generated from the storm forced tlie ocean waters to "pile up" against the shores 

 of the eastern seaboard States, especially the area between Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, 

 and southern New England. This increased water level lasted through four complete tidal 

 cycles, during which five high tides occurred. These tides also happened to be perigee 



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