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132 E-2A Early-Warning System Operations in the Western Pacific
By Lieutenant James J. Mulquin, U. S. Naval Reserve
135 The Choco Project
By A. H. S. Candlin
137 The Photo Journalist at Syracuse University
By Russ Egnor, J01, U. S. Navy
139 Non-Judicial Punishment in the Royal Navy
By Lieutenant Commander Byron A. Wiley, U. S. Navy
142 The U. S. Naval Space Surveillance System
By Lieutenant (j.g.)
D. L. Jones, U. S. Naval Reserve
and Lieutenant (j.g.)
E. A. Tessier, U. S. Naval Reserve
146 Notebook
Professional Notes
Edited by Captain Daniel M. Karcher,
U. S. Navy
By Lieutenant James J. Mulquin,
U. S. Naval Reserve Advanced Systems Concept Division of the Naval Air Systems Command
E-2A EARLY-WARNING SYSTEM OPERATIONS IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC
With little fanfare, the Navy has completed the first full year of combat service with its newest and most efficient airborne early-warning system, the Grumman E-2A Hawkeye. Detachments of the aircraft, deployed aboard attack carriers of the Seventh Fleet, have been stationed in the Western Pacific on a continual basis since the fall of 1965. While the majority of their activity is classified, it is common knowledge that much of the fleet success in warding off surface and air attacks against ships in Tonkin Gulf is the direct result of the E-2A system’s proficiency. In fact, the weapon system has proved so successful that additional units are scheduled for early transfer to the Far East.
Basically, the mission of the aircraft is to provide sufficient advance warning of hostile presence to permit adequate counter action. Such threats could be in the form of highspeed motor torpedo boat sorties, usually at night or under the cover of heavy weather. Attacks of this type have been attempted on several occasions by North Vietnamese surface naval units. They may someday also consist of multiple aircraft formations attempting to penetrate the task force screen surrounding principal fleet units—carriers, cruisers and large auxiliaries. Since ship-mounted radar is limited in range, the presence of an efficient aircraft-borne system offers obvious advantages to any tactical commander. Such a system, with advanced communications equipment, has additional advantages, including application in air strike control and the direction of intercept missions by fighter aircraft. By means of the Air Tactical Data System (ATDS), of which the E-2A is an airborne element, a degree of strike force con-
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trol and operational command intelligence has been achieved which is without precedent in sea warfare. Technical descriptions have been published, detailing the elaborate array of electronic gadgetry packed into the E-2A.
After extensive testing and demonstrations at the manufacturer’s facilities and a thorough systems checkout by Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Maryland, the first E-2A fleet deliveries were made to squadron VAW- 11, Naval Air Station North Island, in early 1964. As the principal Pacific Fleet airborne early-warning squadron, this group supplied detachments to carriers deploying to the
Western Pacific. Until this time, carrier- based aircraft early warning (AEW) consisted of Grumman E-IB Tracers and a few remaining EA-1E Skyraiders. The former was a modified S-2 antisubmarine airplane, equipped with a large topside antenna, dual vertical fins, and conventional engines. The EA-1E, one of the numerous versions of the familiar A-l or AD in Fleet service since the late 1940s, featured an underslung radoine and several additional crew positions for airborne controllers. Neither aircraft had anything approaching a modern, data-link communication system or the electronic range of newer equipment, but each in its time, represented a sizeable advance over the existing state of the art. The EA-1E has since retired from active service, after more than ten years of continuous use. The E-IB is scheduled for several more years of sea duty, backing up the Flawk- eye on board smaller carriers and filling the
gap until the E-2 inventory is complete.
Detachment Charlie, formed from VAW-11, was placed at the disposal of Commander Carrier Air Wing Eleven. Intensive carrier qualifications and air wing operations off the West Coast improved ship and aircraft proficiency and permitted a concentration on
individual crew training, tactics familiarity, and integrated air wing compatibility.
In October 1965, the detachment sailed from San Diego on board the USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63) for the Seventh Fleet. Charlie was followed, in December, by Detachment Foxtrot in the USS Ranger (CVA-61). These two units, alternating at Yankee Station off Vietnam, were not only the first to deploy but also were the first Flawkeyes to participate in combat actions. Of even more significance, they successfully employed the advanced warning network and other tactical data system components for the first time against enemy aircraft.
These two detachments were followed in succession by Delta in the USS Constellation (CVA-64), Alfa in the USS Coral Sea (CVA-43), and Mike in the USS Enterprise (CVAN-65). Detachment Charlie returned to that area late in 1966, again in the Kitty Hawk and still part of the much-decorated Carrier Air Wing Eleven. During the latter half of 1966, the Navy maintained five attack carriers in the Western Pacific, plus one antisubmarine support carrier. Of this assemblage, two and often three attack carriers were at Yankee Station, and another at Dixie Station off the South Vietnamese coast, at any given time.
Although the aircraft is operable from any ship with a steam catapult, policy has been to restrict the relatively few E-2s to the larger ships and deploy E-IB units on the SCB-27C ships (modified Essex class). These “Willy Fudds,” as they are called, will continue to be the AEW element aboard the nine ASW carriers (CVS) presently in commission. The reasons for this are twofold. First, there simply are not enough of the highly-complex and expensive Hawkeyes to permit a complete Fleet transition; there is a relatively large inventory of its predecessor, the E-IB. Secondly, there is a danger factor apparent when attempting to launch and recover the large E-2 from the smaller .Ewex-class flight decks. The deck areas of Midway-class and Forrestal-class ships are longer and wider, have higher capacity catapults and arresting gear, and provide greater maintenance and service space. Extensive electronic data transmission and processing facilities on the larger ships, often including the Naval Tactical Data System (NTDS), means that the vast potential which the E-2 represents can be fully exploited, a capability not yet present in the older hulls.
In Vietnam, the normal practice has been to fly Hawkeyes about the perimeter of the strike group whenever there is a possibility of hostile surface or air penetration. The E-2A and ATDS combination proved effective in the detection of low-flying aircraft. Other uses have included performing as a relay for signals between aircraft strike elements over the mainland and the task group, and as the strike control aircraft. The planes are routinely employed in surface surveillance missions, in-flight refueling rendezvous and control, identification of transient shipping, and in the co-ordination of search and rescue operations. Perhaps the most vital service provided to date has been the airborne control of various combat air patrols which fly interceptor air cover for the task force (FORCAP), target cover for low-level attack planes over enemy territory (TARCAP), and barrier defense against retaliatory shore-based air assaults (BARCAP). Depending on the particular mission, they are flown by F-4B and F-8 fighters and, due to the extended ranges of targets, must depend heavily on electronic guidance to vector them to their objectives. Hawkeyes have become very prominent members of the air-sea screen around Yankee Team elements, bolstered by newer and more efficient electronic detection apparatus.
The E-2A is one of the few Fleet aircraft to incorporate nose-gear tow catapulting. This system, in use with the Grumman A-6, the Ling-Temco-Vought A-7 and the General Dynamics-Grumman F-111B, is a firm Navy requirement in subsequent carrier aircraft designs. Its principal advantage is a radical reduction in the number of flight deck personnel required to direct, position, hook-up, check, and launch an airplane. It is the first of a number of efforts intended to automate fully the carrier launching and recovery process. With nose tow, the aircraft approaches the catapult battery position, cams itself into the shuttle mechanism using its own engine thrust, receives tension force, and is launched without need of bridle-pendant installation, separate holdbacks, deck cleat link insertion, manual tension bar location, bridle-arrester lanyard checks, or any other function man-
ually performed during a conventional catapult shot.
Other new developments along these lines are an integral catapult control station, an automatic weighing platform, automated jet blast deflectors, computer-directed catapult and arresting gear controls, and advanced systems for arming and servicing aircraft between strikes. While automation is not without its limitations in a shipboard environment, it does offer a promising path toward the depopulation goals established for our future ships. Such advances are only beginning to have their effect on Fleet manning levels, but they will prove more and more advantageous as the newer systems are developed and introduced.
In operational service, the E-2A system has enabled task force commanders to exercise a degree of tactical flexibility never before feasible. The ability of the airplane to detect sea and air traffic at extended ranges means that fewer interceptors need be maintained in the air and at condition one alert on the catapults throughout the night. Control of Alfa strikes, major air attacks on principal military target complexes in North Vietnam, has been vastly improved in way of mission reliability, safety, target access, and the ability of day- attack aircraft successfully to carry out missions despite marginal weather conditions. Much of the Navy success against MIG-17 and 21 fighter intercepts has apparently been due to advanced detection and tracking by the E-2A on patrol, diverting F-4B sections from their bomber-escort assignments and vectoring them into position for Sparrow and Sidewinder missile attack. E-2A assists have been partially responsible for the Fleet’s ability to limit bombing to recognized military objectives, and to reduce instances of civilian casualties to the lowest figure ever experienced in modern warfare.
The E-2 has been particularly useful in the identification of large numbers of commercial cargo carriers and small craft, which ply the region south and west of Hainan Island and along the coast of North Vietnam through its vectoring assistance to other aircraft.
The presence of friendly forces in large numbers, ships and aircraft, has posed major operational problems. Units engaged in search and surveillance missions occasionally fail to receive radio challenges and must be certified as friendly by other means, principally electronic. The use of the Hawkeye and its extensive identification friend or foe (IFF) capabilities has been responsible for major improvement in this area.
This is only a portion of the total E-2 scope of activity. Its introduction has permitted performance expansion in every phase of naval operations in the Far East. Improved versions of the Hawkeye are already off the drawing boards and under active production consideration. While the present situation in Vietnam concentrates emphasis on that region, there is an active Atlantic Fleet E-2 program, which is furnishing Hawkeye units to carriers in the Caribbean, Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. VAYV-12, the Norfolk-based counterpart of the San Diego group, also deploys E-IB detachments to both the Second Fleet in the Atlantic and the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. Initial E-2A deliveries have been completed to VAW-12 and the first detachment has already deployed with the Sixth Fleet.
By A. H. S. Candlin,
Research analyst,
Hudson Institute,
Groton-on-Hudson
THE CHOCO PROJECT
The construction of large inter-oceanic canals, such as those at Suez and Panama, and the important political considerations which arise from the nature and form of their controls, have always been recognized as major influences on strategic dispositions of naval power and on patterns of trade.
When canals are concerned solely with the transit of shipping their influence is strong, but when they can also be combined with such important developments as the generation of power in significant amounts the influence of the ship canals can be great, indeed.
Recently, a project of this latter kind has
made its appearance in Latin America in the Choco Project of Colombia. This remarkable and historic enterprise, which will rank as one of the great achievements of the 20th century, owes its conception principally to the staff at the Hudson Institute, New York, headed by Robert Panero and a group of consultants, among whom the international engineer, Marcello de Leva, has played a leading part. Its official status has been sanctioned by the former President of Colombia, Guillermo Valencia. It is recognized as a national goal of that country.
The design of the Choco project, in essence, calls for damming up of the Atrato and San Juan Rivers which traverse the desolate Choco Province of Colombia, using two earthwall dams that would form an interoceanic passage connecting the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It was recognized from the beginning of studies on the idea that:
(1.) The flooding of the inland area of the Choco, which is mostly marshland, would give access to the sea and to world commerce a large and potentially rich interior zone of Colombia.
(2.) It provides an inter-oceanic route that would undoubtedly be used by shipping serving the West coast of South America and possibly Australia.
(3.) It offers to the world an alternative route to the Panama Canal, in the event of a blockage of that waterway. While such a blockage might derive from aggressive action or political influence, it could occur through some natural cataclysm.
(4.) A large part of Colombia would come open to development, with its rich mineral resources of timber stands and agricultural potential.
(5.) The creation of artificial lakes more than a hundred feet above sea level in an area of high rainfall means hydro-electric power of about one to one-and-a-half million kilowatts may be generated at a reasonable cost.
Under the auspices of the Hudson Institute, a group of consulting organizations has been responsible for the theoretical and field studies which have produced a rational, coherent and essentially simple plan which is expected to transform the map of South America. The project, if constructed, will, doubtless, become a pattern and an inspiration for similar projects in different areas. It will also offer experience and trained manpower to a region badly in need of both. The entire project can be broken down into geographic areas, as follows:
The southern project area involves building the Malaguita dyke and power plant. The length of the dyke would be 1,300 meters (4,625 feet) and the elevation of the new lake would be 30 meters (98 feet). The power plant would supply about 400 kw of power. Constructed here also would be the Malaga- Malaguita navigational canal and locks, consisting of two twin-locks to accommodate ships of 20,000 tons, the length of the canal being 7.5 km (4.7 miles).
The central project area embraces three subprojects: The Andragoya-Istmina navigation canal, with a length of six kilometers (3.7 miles); the San Pablo cut, with a length of six kilometers, and the El Tembo-Quibdo navigation canal, with a length of 44 km (27 miles).
The north project area incorporates the building of the Domingodo-Cuchillo dyke and power plant. The length of the dyke would be 34 km (21 miles), while the elevation of the lake would be 30 meters (98 feet). About 1.4 million kw of power would be produced here.
In addition, there would be built the Uraba- Cuchillo navigation canal and locks. As in the other area, two twin-locks for 20,000-ton ships would be constructed. The length of the canal would measure 56 km (35 miles). The Atrato lake would be considerably larger than the San Juan lake and would be 200 km (128 miles) in length with a volume of 56,000 cubic meters (2 million cu. ft.). The length of the San Juan lake would be 120 km (74 miles) with a volume of 16,000 cubic meters (565,000 cu. ft.).
There has been much national enthusiasm for the project because important and far reaching economic results are expected from it. For example, Medellin and Manizales are advanced industrial cities and with a major inter-oceanic passage about two hours away by road; great possibilities for export for Colombian commodities may be anticipated. Thus, a further industrial stimulus will be
added both to the advanced upland industrial regions of the country as well as to the initiation of progress in the wilder country of the Ghoco itself. It is estimated that the project can be made to generate three million kilowatts of power and that it would cost about $750 million.
While it is not yet quite clear how the huge project will be financed, there is every indication that it will become a reality within the course of the next two decades; and, that it will set a pattern for extensive similar developments in other countries of South America, where vast untapped resources exist.
By Russ Egnor, JOl,
U. S. Navy, graduate Navy Photo Journalism,
Syracuse University
THE PHOTO JOURNALIST AT SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
Since the fall of 1963 Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York has been taking Navy journalists and photographers and transforming them into professional photo journalists. The academic approach for the Navy students is much the same as with Syracuse’s regular students, except that their curriculum is concentrated and condensed into one academic year.
The Navy, after a series of failures in obtaining high-quality photographs of several major operations and events, decided to improve the quality of its documentary, still photography. The one-year program at Syracuse was designed especially for the Navy by Professor Fred A. Demarest, head of Syracuse’s Photographic Department. The Navy has spent or committed more than $400,000 m tuition, salary and transportation costs to train 45 graduates in the Fleet, together with the 15 men who were in the class which concluded in June.
Another aim of the program is to advance in rate those who attend the one-year course. Chiefs with less than 15 years service and first and second class petty officers with less than 12 years service usually advance one rate.
Applicants must be recommended by their commanding officer, have a GCT and ARI combination score of 110 (with no waivers), and the skill to type. A portfolio of at least 10 documentary photographs must be submitted also to the Chief of Naval Operations (OP-346) by 15 April each year. Representatives from the Chief of Information, Chief of Naval Operations and the Bureau of Personnel review the photos and select the 15 candidates 13 Navy and two Marine—for the next year’s class.
The concept of the program, new to those in the Navy, meant learning to think differently and to interpret rather than record. Once adjusted to this approach and having absorbed some of their supporting skills, they began actual photographic work.
Syracuse holds warm hospitality for the
Russ Egnor, JOl, USN
WINGS FOR THE FLEET
By Rear Admiral George van Deurs, U. S. Navy (Retired). A narrative of Naval aviation’s early development, 1910 -1916. The story of the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of the men who ventured into the air in the Navy’s first frail aircraft. They patched cooling systems with chewing gum, they lived by “crash, repair, and fly again,” but they succeeded in developing this new service into an effective arm of the Fleet. Over 100 photographs were selected from official and private sources to illustrate this book.
Navy, since previous classes have established an excellent reputation for themselves and the Navy. The accepted by-words when students seek co-operation are: “I’m in the Navy program and ...”
The Navy class each year puts into practical application the new skills learned. Students produce brochures on subjects around the campus, doing the entire job from research, writing, and photography, to layout and type specifications.
During the first semester, the men studied graphic arts, which included the fundamentals of type and its correct usage, the alphabet and its origin, and the elements of good layout. For the first three weeks in photography, students learned the fundamentals and advantages of 35-mm. photography. They also became familiar with Leica cameras, used in the course.
A class in public speaking taught speaking before groups, conference procedures, interview techniques and good speaking habits. Two of the most important things learned in this class were the importance of being a good listener and that words often don’t have the same meaning to the listener as they do for the speaker. The speech class was added for the past year’s class at the request of the Navy when it was discovered that many prior Syracuse graduates were being called on to give lectures to Navy and civic groups.
Probably one of the most important classes was news writing. This class was taught by the editor of the Syracuse Herald Journal, the city’s largest daily newspaper. The Navy benefits from this class because journalists and photographers who have been taught the Navy way, learned just what the editor of a large metropolitan daily newspaper seeks in Navy news and photo releases.
To round out the first semester, a sociology course in human group behavior taught us to understand not only people in the Navy but the news media as well.
By the time the first semester was over, photographers or journalists had begun to feel that they had lost the individuality of Navy ratings. Instead, they were starting to work and think like photo journalists; or, as the Navy says, total communicators.
Navy students carried 15 hours the first semester and 17 the second. In the three
previous classes, students received 30 hours credit for the one-year course. The June class received 32, with the new course in public speaking adding the extra two hours of credit.
The second semester was a little busier than the first. Students had classes in publications photography, theory, and application of negative and reverse color; news reporting, magazine writing and marketing, graphic arts (print shop), and advanced black and white photo workshop.
Each year the University schedules lectures by well known photo journalists for the class, as well as for other photo students. This year there were two such lectures—Ernest Haas, known for his artistic application of color photography, and a representative from Photography International of California. This gave Navy students a first-hand chance to question professionals on what they would like to see in Navy photography, and the best methods to achieve these results.
Syracuse was chosen to teach photo journalism to Navy students because of its excellent reputation in the field of communications and because it agreed to establish the special course for the Navy. Classes were held in the Samuel I. Newhouse Communications Center, which is one of the newest buildings on campus, housing modern facilities designed specifically for teaching communications.
The Navy now has 51 enlisted photo journalists and one officer working in the field, including graduates from this year’s class. This is not a rate itself, but graduates received a Navy Enlisted Classification Number (NEC-8148), which is assigned to both photographers and journalists.
Until recently, the Navy did not stress credit fines for individual photographers for released photos, but this trend has been reversed. The current Navy Manual oj Photography (OpNavInst P-3150.6C) states that all official photographs released for publication will include the photographer’s name with the caption so that a credit line may be published with the photograph.
Photojournalism is a creative business that is nourished by ideas and built on the enthusiasm, creative talents, and technical skills of this Navy-selected class, who are trained to do the best job possible.
By Lieutenant Commander Byron A. Wiley,
U. S. Navy
NON-JUDICIAL PUNISHMENT IN THE ROYAL NAVY
The Royal Navy’s system of military justice represents a highly interesting subject, particularly in view of the changes which have been introduced in the last few years and the further modifications that are presently under consideration in this field within the U. S. Navy.
Any observation of the Royal Navy’s procedures and practices of military justice necessitates at least a brief look at the enlisted rating structure, which, in many respects, is quite different from the U. S. Navy’s. Advancement, expressed in terms with which we are familiar, is from grade E-l to E-6. At the minimum legal age of 15, a man can enter the naval service as a junior seaman. The path of his advancement, achieved through qualifying exams and the completion of required time in grade, is ordinary seaman, able rate, leading rate, petty officer (there are no different classes of petty officer) and, ultimately, chief petty officer.
The existence aboard each ship and station of a department known as the “regulating branch” contributes greatly to the rapid and smooth administration of military justice. In addition to handling all the paper work associated with disciplinary cases, the regulating branch also provides a permanent shore patrol force. The head of the branch is the master- at-arms, and the members are never of a lower grade than leading hand. Although they perform no duties other than those of the regulating branch, the staff is selected from volunteers from all branches with a wide variety of ratings represented. Normally, the applicant must be a leading rate (though able rates are eligible to apply), at least 20 years of age, and have the personal recommendation of his commanding officer. Once a man is selected for the regulating staff, he will remain in this billet for the remainder of his naval career.
The basic authority for the administration of discipline is the Naval Discipline Act, which is incorporated into the Admiralty Memorandum on Naval Court-Martial Procedure. In both content and employment, this publication is quite similar to the Uniform Code of Military Justice and Guide for Courts-Martial.
When someone is charged with an infraction of naval regulations, a report, listing all pertinent data and details, is made to the regulating office. The master-at-arms sees the accused and drafts a charge sheet, the format of which is laid down in the court-martial procedure publication for each specific offense. He then informs the man that he “will be in the report” to the officer of the watch. In large ships, such as carriers, the report is normally made to the officer of the day (OOD) rather than to the officer of the watch; thus relieving the officer of the watch of the necessity for ever having to leave the quarterdeck when the ship is in port. This report to the OOD is made immediately, regardless of what time of the day or night it may be.
The officer of the day then becomes the investigating officer for the case in question. With his division officer present to act as his defense, the accused is brought before the OOD, and evidence is heard from the regulating staff and all witnesses. The accused is then informed of his rights: to make a statement, to call witnesses in his behalf, or to remain silent. He is given a formal warning that anything he says can be taken down and used as evidence in the event of further proceedings. Provided the officer of the day is a lieutenant or above and the accused is an able rate or below, the OOD can try the offender and impose punishment immediately, if he judges him guilty. The only punishment which can be imposed, however, is two hours of extra duty or military drill to be performed during the dog watches for one day.
If the offense is of a more serious nature, the OOD remands the accused to the “commander’s report,” which means that the man must appear before the executive officer. The hearing before the executive officer (known as “the commander’s table”) is usually held within 24 hours of the initial investigation; and, at these proceedings the investigating officer will act as prosecutor.
The executive officer is legally empowered to impose punishment. His authority to do so, and the limited authority of the OOD, is set forth in the captain’s standing orders. The captain’s right to delegate such power is stated in the Naval Discipline Act and elaborated in the Queen's Regulations. The maximum punishments which he can award are:
(1) 14 days extra duty and military drill. This punishment is restricted to able rates and below, work is usually substituted for the drill periods. The reasoning is that it is better to have the man performing a practical task.
(2) Restriction for 24 days, or stoppage of leave for a similar period.
(3) Stoppage of rum for 14 days. A common punishment when the offense is one of drunkenness.
(4) Admonishment.
The only restriction on the imposition of these punishments is that the executive officer must be of the rank of full commander before he can award any punishment other than admonishment to a petty officer or a chief. If, in the opinion of the executive officer, the offense rates a greater punishment than he is empowered to assign, the man is remanded to the “captain’s report.”
With the executive officer acting as prosecutor, the captain sees the accused at the “captain’s defaulters,” the equivalent of the U. S. Navy’s captain’s mast. If the accused is found guilty, the captain is empowered to impose the following punishments:
(1) 14 days extra duty.
(2) 30 days restriction or stoppage of leave.
(3) 30 days stoppage of rum.
(4) Reprimand. Reserved for leading rates and above, this is regarded as a relatively severe punishment.
The commanding officer can award summarily any and all of these. Other punishments which he can assign require the use of a special form known as a “punishment warrant.” The major distinction between warrant punishments and non-warrant punishments is that the latter are removed from a man’s record at the end of the year in which he reports to a new command, whereas the former become a permanent part of his record.
In ascending order of precedence, the warrant punishments are:
(1) Loss of good conduct badges and/or medal. An enlisted man can earn a good conduct badge each four years. A maximum of three badges can be earned and then, upon completion of 15 years service, the man can qualify for the good conduct medal. Each award brings a corresponding increase in pay.
(2) 14 days’ solitary confinement in a cell on board.
(3) Reduction to second class for conduct. This is restricted to men of, or those reduced to, able rate or below. While in this status, the man is subjected to extra work and military drill for the first 14 days at the rate of two hours per day. Thereafter he performs one hour of extra work or drill daily, is mustered frequently, forfeits one-sixth of his pay and is deprived of his rum ration. At the discretion of the commanding officer, he may be granted one day of liberty each week. He can be kept in this status up to three months.
(4) Reduction in rating to able rate.
(5) Three months’ detention. This is served in a detention center. The only naval detention center within the United Kingdom is at Portsmouth, but a combined forces center is located at Singapore.
(6) Dismissal from the service. There are no categories of dismissal. In years past “dismissal with disgrace” was sometimes employed, but it is no longer used.
(7) Three months’ confinement in a civilian prison. This is normally restricted to men who are over 21 years of age, or to those whose punishment includes dismissal from the naval service.
Only reduction in rating of a leading rate or below, solitary confinement and loss of good conduct badges can be awarded without flag officer approval. Approval is also required for reduction of a leading rate, if the man is in possession of the good conduct medal.
When flag officer approval is required, the warrant and a summary of the case is forwarded to the appropriate flag officer. Upon completion of the review, the flag returns the warrant either approved or with a recommendation for reduction or increase in the punishment. Once the warrant has been approved, the convicted man is brought before an officer, specifically nominated by the captain, for a reading of the warrant. To give the matter the widest possible dissemination, regulations require that it be read publicly. Some ships attempt to have a man’s entire division present; but, in any case, at least one section of the watch is required to attend when this notification is made.
Another punishment, which may be regarded as automatic, is scale punishment. Queen's Regulations contain a maximum and a minimum punishment for any offense of drunkenness or unauthorized absence. This punishment is always in the form of restriction and forfeiture of pay; and it is awarded regardless of what other disciplinary action may be taken.
In disciplinary proceedings, in which the accused is a leading rate and the alleged offense is one for which punishment might be confinement, detention or dismissal, or if the accused is a petty officer or chief and the punishment might be confinement, detention, dismissal or reduction in grade, the man is brought before the captain, reminded of his rights and informed of the charges against him. He is then given 24 hours in which to decide whether or not he is willing to accept non-judicial punishment. During this period the man’s division officer is available for counsel and advice. If the man does not desire to accept non-judicial punishment, he has the legal right to insist that his case be referred to trial by court-martial.
There is only one type of court-martial in the Royal Navy. It must be composed of a minimum of five officers (a president and four members); and the accused does not possess the right to have enlisted representation among the members of the court.
It seems readily evident that a commanding officer in the Royal Navy has wider ranging and more extensive powers of non-judicial punishment than does his American counterpart. And his authority to delegate certain disciplinary powers frees him from having to handle personally all of the cases.
★ ★ ★
THE U. S. NAVAL SPACE SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM
In 1957, the Soviet Union surprised the Free World with the announcement that a satellite, Sputnik I, had successfully been placed in an earth orbit. At this time, the United States had nothing specifically designed for detecting objects at orbital altitudes. A military requirement, therefore, for a surveillance system was established to detect subsequent unannounced, non-radiating and possibly threatening satellites.
At the time of Sputnik, the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) was working on the Minitrack System. Minitrack was essentially a passive receiver system used to track and compute orbits of Vanguard satellites which would be constantly transmitting on a frequency of 108 million cycles per second (mhz). Receiver sites were initially located on a line of approximately 80° West Longitude from 37° North Latitude to about 37° South Latitude, stretching on this Longitude from New Jersey to Western South America. One of these sites, at Fort Stewart, Georgia, is now the easternmost receiver site in the U. S. Naval Space Surveillance System (NavSpa- Sur). To become operational as soon as possible, NavSparSur used this same frequency of 108 mhz from its inception 29 July 1958 until December 1965, when conversion to an operating frequency of 216.98 mhz was completed.
The Naval Research Laboratory envisioned a new system, similar to Minitrack, that would be capable of detection and surveillance of dark (non-radiating) satellites. The new concept would consist of a vertical beam of continuous wave radio energy emitted from transmitters located on the ground and co-planer with receiver sites operating on the same frequency. This beam, generally referred to as the fence, fans out very wide in the east-west direction and is very narrow in the north-south direction. An object passing through this fence would be illuminated by the transmitted beam and the reflected energy would be received by one or more of the receiver sites. The signal received would be reduced to azimuth and zenith angles by means of a radio interferometer, using an array of antenna base lines.
On 20 June 1958, the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the Department of Defense authorized NRL to construct two tracking complexes, one in Eastern and one in Western United States. The Eastern complex was put into operation on 29 July 1958— less than six weeks after the ARPA order was issued. A Space Surveillance Operations Center was then established at the Naval Weapons Laboratory in Dahlgren, Virginia, operating around-the-clock, seven days a week, acting as a processing and dissemination point for incoming receiver station data.
Because of the success of the system while still in development, the Department of Defense transferred project control from ARPA to the Navy in October 1960. On 1 February 1961, the U. S. Naval Space Surveillance System was commissioned as an operational command under the Commander-in-Chief, North American Air Defense Command, who exercises control through the Space Detection and Tracking System (SpaDatS) Operations Division.
The North American Air Defense Command (NorAD) was reorganized in 1965 and in September of that year, the Space Defense Center (SDC), vice SpaDatS, assumed the operational direction of NavSpaSur.
The mission of NavSpaSur is to maintain a constant surveillance of space and provide satellite data as directed by the Chief of Naval Operations and higher authority to fulfill Navy and national requirements.
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NavSpaSur is unique in the field of de
tecting and identifying earth orbiting objects. Most complementary facilities use radar as a fundamental device for establishing orbital elements on any particular satellite. To do this, though, the radar sites must know approximately where an object is going to be at a particular time in order to lock-on and track it. With a tracking radar there is, essentially, no way of detecting an unpredicted satellite unless it happens to pass within range of the radar and is monitored by chance.
Using the continuous wave energy fence, NavSpaSur observes any object passing through it. Fence-crossing time, longitude, altitude, and zenith angle at each individual receiver station is recorded at NavSpaSur Headquarters in near real-time, permitting instant association and identification, in the case of multiple-station sightings. An accurate set of orbital elements is normally computed after NavSpaSur has observed passes on both sides of a satellite’s orbit. Due to the rotation of the earth, it takes approximately eight hours for the fence (the earth) to rotate from one side of the orbit, where the satellite passes from south to north, to the other side where the satellite passes from north to south. Launch location and inclination are factors which may determine which side of an orbit is first seen. Two and sometimes three passes are normally observed on each side of the orbit of a passing object.
The NavSpaSur detection system consist of nine field stations: three transmitter sites— two 50-kw transmitters at Gila River, Arizona and at Jordan Lake, Alabama, and a one megawatt transmitter at Kickapoo, Texas —and six receiver sites—two high-altitude receivers at Elephant Butte, New Mexico,
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Hawkinsville, Georgia and four low-altitude receivers at San Diego, California, Red River, Arkansas, Silver Lake, Mississippi, and Fort Stewart, Georgia.
All three of these transmitters, plus the six receivers, are constructed as near as the terrain will allow, on a great circle at approximately 33° North Latitude. From these transmitters, an electronic fence of continuous radio wave energy stretches across the entire United States from approximately 65° West Longitude to 135° West Longitude. It is very narrow in the north-south direction being about four miles thick at 8,000 miles altitude. The moon is regularly observed by the Nav- SpaSur fence, at a distance of 240,000 miles from the earth.
When an object passes through this fence, transmitted energy is reflected back to any one or a combination of the six receiver stations. Each station has an array of antennas consisting of dipoles arranged on multiple baselines in a north-south direction for east- west electrical effect for computation of zenith angle and in an east-west direction for a north-south electrical effect for computation of azimuth angle. When an object passes through the fence, because there is a finite thickness to the fence, there will be a Doppler shift in the reflected signal. The alert antenna, the longest and most sensitive at a site, tunes the multiple interferometers to this reflected frequency with the aid of a series of comb filters called a preselector.
The multiple interferometers at the receiver sites are used to determine the zenith angle. The antennas are set up on designated east- west baselines; individual baseline distances range from two feet to 1,200 feet, the arrangement being either physical or electrical. The two-foot baselines give an unambiguous solution of low precision; the longer baselines give greater precision, and solutions equal to the number of wave lengths in the baseline distance. Only one solution out of the many given for each baseline distance is correct, therefore, the two-foot baseline solution is used as the governing criterion in picking successive refined solutions.
Zenith angle values represented as phase difference between each interferometer pair of antennas are transmitted from each field station to NavSpaSur Headquarters, Dahl- gren, Virginia, in analog form over commercial telephone lines by means of a tone telemetry system. Upon arrival, the data are changed to digital form by the Automatic Digital Data Assembly System (ADDAS) for computer processing. The ADDAS is a one- of-a-kind piece of equipment designed and built by the Naval Weapons Laboratory for NavSpaSur, to allow for fully automatic data reduction and assembly prior to processing by the digital computer systems.
In the ADDAS, phase data first go to the bit assembler (one for each receiver station) where the data are checked for transmission error. Time is next associated with these data by a clock calibrated by the National Bureau of Standards Section WMV, to an accuracy better than one one-hundredth of a second. Following this, the data flow simultaneously in three directions. First, all the data from the six bit assemblers are recorded on magnetic tape. This includes all the actual satellite-pass signals plus noise and interference. This ensures backup in case of data loss later in the data reduction and processing phase. Next,
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data go into an analog conversion unit for visual display of all incoming phase data on a graphic recorder for manual monitoring as required. Finally, these data go to the message assembler where satellite signals are separated from noise and other such collected interference.
Following this, data are recorded on an ADDAS tape unit, a magnetic tape recording of only actual satellite signals. The tape provides data backup in the event that the transfer channel between ADDAS and the 7090 IBM computers break-down. At the same time, data is fed into one of the two 7090 computers for immediate processing, resulting in the actual zenith angles from the receiver site being printed on-line and put on magnetic tape by the computers. All of this, from a satellite pass to on-line printing of actual zenith angles, has occurred in a few seconds.
As was mentioned before, raw phase data are fed directly into the 7090 computer from the ADDAS. This is done on a time-sharing basis. Daily operational programs are run until a satellite pass comes in. A control unit will then shift from the operational program to the ADDAS data reduction program to process the pass. This finished, control will shift back to the operational program until another pass is received. This time-sharing system allows for immediate print-out of satellite fence crossings while using computer time most profitably.
Through such satellite observations, orbital elements are improved. In the case of new launches, accurate orbital elements are calculated from passes on opposite sides of the orbit. From the latest elements, new fence crossing predictions are made. This completes the NavSpaSur’s self-sufficient and self-contained cycle of observation, orbital element calculation and predictions. All customer output is derived from this latest set of orbital elements and updated with every new observation.
This output consists of orbital elements, satellite observations, equator crossings, look angles, and ephemerides. Customers include
Continental Air Defense Command, North American Air Defense Command, Chief of Naval Operations, Naval Research Laboratory, Naval Observatory, Joint Chiefs of Staff, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and missile test sites. NavSpaSur supplies the fleet with a fleet ephemeris, which enables all units to plot the ground track of selected satellites.
At the time of commissioning in 1961, NavSpaSur processed about 2,000 valid observations per month. At present, NavSpaSur processes over a quarter million observations per month, almost 10,000 per day. These figures will increase in the near future with stepped-up activity in space.
In order to determine when a new object is in orbit, it is necessary to predict the fence crossing of all known objects. Anytime an object comes through the fence that cannot be immediately identified, it is subjected to further analysis. This information is then sent to the NorAD’s SDC for processing. If the object cannot be identified by NavSpaSur but can be associated with a particular launch, this information is also sent, along with other associated observations, to SDC on a daily basis. The historical difference between predicted time and observed time for about 94 per cent of all observations is 0-3 seconds. The remaining six per cent of the observations that fall out of the zero to three second accuracy limit do not represent a loss of quality control, but instead are due to high apogee satellites that are lunar perturbed, to satellites in the final stages of decay where it is difficult to predict their orbit, and to new satellite launches where an accurate set of orbital elements have not been obtained.
With only 15 officers, (no enlisted men) and 110 civilians at Headquarters, and about 135 contractor personnel at the field stations, a unique, highly accurate, and self-contained satellite detection system functions for less than $4.5 million per year.
See also Frank P. Morrison, “The Navy in the Space Age—Space Surveillance,” U. S. Naval Institute Proceedings, February 1961, pp. 42-45.
★
Notebook
U. S. Navy
e Navy Guards Defenseless Vessels (Helen Delich Bentley in Baltimore Sun, 17 March 1967) The Navy calls the operation “Stable Door”: the way the bluejackets protect unarmed merchant ships while waiting in Vietnam harbors to unload their vital cargoes or while discharging in open anchorages.
Divers and small fiberglass boats manned by experienced sailors form a protective screen around the defenseless merchant ships at Nha Trang, Qui Nhon, Cam Ranh Bay, Vung Tau, and Nha Be. The purpose is to prevent the Viet Cong from getting close enough to throw an explosive or to attach a mine or a plastique to the propeller or bow of a ship awaiting a berth.
Since the Viet Cong has proven to be such an elusive enemy, every merchant ship is given a thorough check twice a day. With American bottoms at such a premium, it is particularly important that no more American ships are lost to the enemy. Such surveillance is particularly important at Nha Be and Nha Trang where about five freighters discharge simultaneously some 40,000 tons of ammunition, eight miles from Saigon.
A near mishap frightened many military personnel in Nha Be within the past two weeks when an inexperienced longshoreman damaged a pallet of ammunition which caught fire while being lifted. Fortunately, he dropped it over the side into the water rather than the hold of the ship.
The largest number of ships at anchor at any one time in Vietnam waters is at Vung Tau, at the confluence of the South China Sea, Ganh Rai Bay, and Long Tau River. Ships destined for Saigon, Newport, and Nha Be await their turns in the Vung Tau anchorage. Although the total kept there at any one time now ranges between 25 and 35, as many as 100 vessels were anchored at Vung Tau last year. Because seamen received war risk pay as soon as their ship is within 100 miles of the Vietnam coastline, the Military Sea Transportation Service now holds the vessels back in Manila and Subic Bay to keep down the additional expenses.
At Vung Tau, the divers who accompany the fiberglass patrol boats are Australians with explosive ordnance disposal experience. In the other ports, the divers are regular United States Navy personnel with ordnance backgrounds. The divers search the bottom of every merchant vessel twice a day. The divers and the boat crews compose one half of the harbor defense teams as they scout around the anchored ships and inspect an average of twenty Vietnamese fishing and cargo junks daily in Vung Tau and as many or more in the other ports.
The other half of Vung Tau’s “Stable Door” operation consists of the men of the Harbor Entrance Control Post who maintain a 24-hour radar and visual surveillance of all movements in the anchorage area from a hill overlooking the anchored ships.
Navy Lt. James P. Austraw, of Washington, D. C., heads up the Vung Tau inshore defense team, consisting of five officers and 53 enlisted men, while Lt. (j.g.) Neil P. Quirk, of St. Louis, has four patrol boats and 68 enlisted men manning them under his command.
Every member of landing craft personnel large detachments crews was “hand-picked for this assignment,” Lt. Quirk points out. “They are unusually capable with three of the men being qualified tug masters.” For twelve hours at a stretch, the sailors live aboard these boats, which he described as “seaworthy” and “good riding.” Although the boats are as comfortable as possible, he emphasizes that the patrol duty can be hazardous and tiring—hence, the careful selection of the men.
s House May Restore 2 FDL Ships
(Charles W. Corddry in Baltimore Sun, 31 March 1967) A congressional source said today the House probably will vote to restore Navy authority to build two Fast Deployment Logistic ships, the huge and controversial vessels urgently wanted by the armed forces for speedy reaction in crisis areas.
This source, not identifiable by name but familiar with Armed Service Committee deliberations, said Robert S. McNamara, Secretary of Defense, had done much to allay the concerns that led the Senate to cancel the previously authorized ships and eliminate five proposed new ones as well.
The Senate, in voting a $20,765,332,000 defense authorization on March 21, knocked out the FDL ship project primarily on the expressed grounds that the ships could foster an image of the United States as behaving like a global “policeman.” With FDL vessels stationed strategically and loaded with Armed Services Committee military equipment, the Senate Armed Services Committee reckoned, “There is the temptation to intervene in many situations.”
The Defense Department rejects this proposition, arguing, as McNamara reportedly did in closed House committee sessions, that the ships are to serve as deterrents to aggression and to enable America to back up its treaty obligations more effectively.
With sentiment in the House divided and with considerable maritime opposition, said the House source consulted today, the likelihood is that two ships will win House authorization for five more as sought by the Pentagon was not likely.
The Pentagon objective is to build 30 FDL ships by 1973—the first entering service in 1970—at a cost of about $1,300,000,000 and, as explained by Navy officials today, to have the entire job done under a unique “total package procurement concept” used thus far only for aircraft production.
The contract, if Congress assents, would be placed this summer with a builder who would design the ships, build modern, mechanized construction facilities, demonstrate required ship performance and guarantee that reliability and maintenance requirements would be met.
It was learned the Navy and Army planners, distressed by the Senate action and apprehensive about the FDL project’s future, already are examining alternatives. One is to use Victory ships, built in World War II, for the forward deployment of Army equipment, a more costly, much less efficient means but a possibly necessary one.
It thus appears that the Pentagon is determined to have in the future the combination of ship-based supplies and high-speed air transports to move troops to trouble areas.
The Navy and Army plan for the FDL ships is to be able to deploy at sea or in ports the equipment for two Army divisions—260,000 tons in all and enough for 70,000 troops including support forces for 15 days. Re-supply would be by conventional ships and aircraft. [Editor’s note: The Senate deleted the FDLs from the measure; the House restored them, and after a joint conference they were deleted from the bill sent to the President.]
s Last Navy Polaris Launched
(The New York Times, 28 March 1967) The nation’s 41st and last planned Polaris submarine will be commissioned into service Saturday, the Navy said today. The commissioning of the nuclear-powered Will Rogers rounds out the fleet of sleek submarines capable of firing atomic ballistic missiles while submerged in the ocean. The 41 Polaris submarines carry a total of 656 nuclear-tipped missiles.
Ceremonies marking the event will be held at the United States Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory in New London, Conn. The principal speaker will be Adm. Arleigh A. Burke, who participated in the launching of the first Polaris submarine in 1957. Adm. Burke, who retired from the Navy, is now director of the Center for Strategic Studies at Georgetown University in Washington.
The Navy said the construction phase of the ballistic missile class of submarines has now been completed, a full two years ahead of the original schedule. Conversion work lies ahead for about two-thirds of the Polaris fleet. The Pentagon has announced plans to refit 31 of the submarines with the multiple- warhead Poseidon in response to the Soviet Union’s increased deployment of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
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0 Navy Criticized on Shipbuilding
(Edward A. Morrow in The New York Times, 31 March 1967) The entire Navy nuclear shipbuilding program “is far behind schedule” in both naval and private shipyards, Robert E. Harvey, board chairman and president of the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, said yesterday.
In a telegram to the Commander of the Naval Ship Systems Command, Mr. Harvey accused Navy officials of making “unwarranted allegations” against the shipyard’s capabilities and asked the Navy staff to “make a more thorough review of the facts.”
A Navy report issued 10 days ago stating that the company was two years behind schedule in building the nuclear submarine Pogy has “inflicted the most serious damage” to the shipyard’s business, Mr. Harvey declared.
The Navy report suggested that the Pogy, now 70 per cent completed, might be moved
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from the Camden, N. J., shipyard to another facility for completion. The Navy statement implying that the delay in the construction of the Pogy was the yard’s responsibility is “a misleading one of horrible proportions,” Mr. Harvey said.
“You omit to say that the entire nuclear attack submarine program is far behind schedule, and that it is farther behind in other shipyards, both naval and private—including the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard—than it is in our yard,” he continued.
“And you omit to state that the reason that the entire construction program is so far behind is because, after the Thresher disaster, the Navy inaugurated a submarine safety program, which is still in the developmental stage, which has upset the entire sequence of material procurement and submarine construction, and temendously interfered with and delayed its progress. In addition late deliveries of Government-furnished material, for which the Navy is responsible, are also causing delays.”
0 Navy Augments Vietnam Shipping
(Werner Bamberger in The New York Times, 30 March 1967) The Navy’s Military Sea Transportation Service yesterday awarded Sea-Land Service, Inc., one of the nation’s major operators of containerships, a two-year, $70-million contract for the transport of Department of Defense cargoes between the West Coast and South Vietnam.
The contract, service on which is slated to begin in 60 days, calls for the employment of seven Sea-Land container vessels, six of which will be operated between San Francisco or Seattle and Danang or Camranh Bay. A seventh vessel is to shuttle between Camranh Bay, Saigon and Quinhon.
Under the terms of the agreement, Sea- Land is to furnish M.S.T.S. with four selfsustaining C-2 type containerships, each capable of carrying 274 boxes of 35-foot length. Sea-Land also agreed to provide three nonself-sustaining C-4 type vessels, each of which will have a capacity of 609 boxes of 35-foot length.
Self-sustaining ships are vessels equipped with cargo gear capable of loading and unloading the containers, nonself-sustaining vessels depend on shoreside cranes to lift con-
tainers off and on. The three nonself-sustaining ships are scheduled to begin service in about 120 days, after the installation of a special container-handling crane at Danang. The shuttle vessel will be a 274-container C-2.
The three self-sustaining ships, scheduled to start operating out of San Francisco and Seattle, will offer a 15-day sailing frequency from the two ports. The same sailing frequency will be offered by the three larger nonself-sustaining vessels from the same ports. The larger ships are to call at Camranh Bay only, and the terms of the contract provide for an arrival there every 15 days.
This is the second military-cargo shipping contract received by the line. Last year Sea- Land was awarded a two-year $12,787,200 contract for transporting cargo between the West Coast and Okinawa and the Philippines.
0 Navy AA Missile to cost $100 Million
(George C. Wilson in The Washington Post, 30 March 1967) The Navy has decided to spend more than $100 million to buy new antiaircraft missiles for its ships. The big contract will be announced soon. The Pomona (Calif.) plant of General Dynamics will produce the missile, as plans stand now.
The antiaircraft weapon is known as the Standard missile. It will replace the “3 Ts” antiaircraft missiles—Terrier, Tartar and Talos—already on many Navy ships. The 3 Ts have been a $3 billion disappointment, as even the public record shows. Many Navy leaders feel that the missiles replaced guns on ships far too soon. The 3 Ts have just not Performed as they were supposed to, not even when President Kennedy was watching.
The Standard missile is an attempt to salvage the Navy’s antiaircraft missile program, although the Pentagon announcement will Probably not portray it quite that way. De- ense Secretary Robert S. McNamara has cited the 3 Ts to Congress as an example of a weapon that looked good in the laboratory but not so good in service.
Some $2 billion was spent to develop and Produce the 3 Ts and $350 million to convert defects once they were put aboard ships. The entagon estimates it must spend still another
50 million to improve the missiles, which will remain in service until the Standard becomes available.
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S A. F. Asks Bids on A-l Replacement.
{Wall St. Journal, 9 March 1967) The Air Force has asked U. S. aircraft makers to revive a 20-year-old warplane. Twenty-one companies have received Air Force requests for proposals for preliminary design studies for a new plane, called the A-X, to be designed for close support of ground troops. The Air Force said the proposed aircraft would have “capabilities equal to or better than the Douglas A-l.”
The A-l, built by Douglas Aircraft Co. and known as the Skyraider, went into production more than 20 years ago; 3,180 were built in 28 variations before output ended in 1957. Propeller-driven, with a top speed when new of 280 miles an hour, the A-l can pack an 8,000-pound bomb load and has been extensively used in Vietnam to provide air support for troops. It is able to remain over battle areas for long periods and, because of its slow speed, provides aerial fire support with great accuracy. But fewer than 100 A-Is are still fly-
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ing and the Air Force has been dredging up discarded planes from boneyards and vocational training schools to use in Vietnam.
In this jet age the proposed new plane might well be another propeller-driven aircraft. The Air Force said the plane would be “relatively inexpensive, rugged, highly sur- vivable and would meet Air Force needs for specialized air support in the future.”
The Air Force was unable, or unwilling, to explain why it needs another close-support aircraft when it will be getting in 1969 the 650-mile-an-hour A-7 jet, built by Ling- Temco-Vought Inc. When that plane, which the Navy is putting into operation now, was ordered by the Air Force last October, it said it would be employed in a variety of roles, “including strike missions, close air support of ground troops and interdiction of enemy supply lines,” which seems to fit the requirements for the A-X.
While the A-X is described as a “relatively inexpensive” plane, it probably will cost $1 million. By the time the A-l was nearing the end of its production life, it cost $400,000. The A-7, ready to fight, costs $1.8 million. The F4, a new supersonic fighter extensively used in Vietnam, costs up to $2.9 million.
The F4 is one of the best fighters made and at least a match for Russian MiGs. But the A-l, the A-7 and the proposed A-X all must operate in what the Air Force calls a “permissive environment.” That is, the U. S. must have control of the air before these planes can operate because with their limited speed they would be sitting ducks for enemy fighters.
The Air Force didn’t say how many of the new planes it wanted. Gen. John P. McConnell, Air Force Chief of Staff, recently testified before Congress that the service wanted “limited numbers.” They should be simpler and cheaper than the A-7, he said.
The Air Force’s request for proposals is the first step in a long road before the new plane sees production, if it ever does. Aircraft makers are to indicate before April 3 whether they’re interested in proceeding in development of the craft.
53 A-Missile Being Retired by Army
(George C. Wilson in The Washington Post, 25 March 1967) The Army’s Davy Crockett nuclear missile is being retired from most units without ever having been fired in anger. Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara made the announcement yesterday. The retirement of the battlefield missile had been rumored for some time.
The Davy Crockett is shaped like a bulbous bomb and sits atop a tube for firing. The missile went on active duty in 1961. The only Davy Crocketts to be left on duty are those for airborne or airmobile divisions which do not have 155 millimeter howitzers. Those guns can fire nuclear as well as conventional shells.
The Davy Crockett has a range of about three miles and was designed to blow up enemy strong points with a nuclear blast equal to about 250 tons of TNT.
McNamara said the weapon filled the need back in 1961 for “a light, mobile, rapid response weapon” but that “it was more vulnerable to enemy counter fire than desired.” The 155 mm. howitzers to replace the Davy Crocketts have “greater range, less vulnerability and greater tactical capability,” McNamara said.
Retirement of the Davy Crockett is slated to be completed by June 30, McNamara said. The U. S. still has other types of nuclear battlefield missiles with its forces in Europe.
B Research Vessel for C. G. Planned
(The New York Times, 25 March 1967) The Coast Guard plans to award a contract for its first newly built oceanographic vessel and to make a feasibility study for its first new oceangoing icebreaker in two decades.
The two projects, as well as others, are to e financed under a $107-million appropriation proposed in President Johnson’s budget message earlier this year. A Coast Guard spokesman said later that the oceanographic cutter—a replacement for the 180-foot converted buoy tender Evergreen—was to be a vessel of from 2,500 to 3,000 tons displacement.
The new ship, which will have laboratories and enough working space for 15 civilian scientists, will be equipped with the latest navigational and control devices, such as stabilizers and directional control at zero speed. She is to have a range of 13,000 miles at 12 knots and a top speed of 20 knots.
Other features of the ship, the contract for which is expected to be awarded after July 1, are accommodations for helicopter operations and a meteorological office complete with a balloon-inflating center.
The $107-million earmarked in the 1968 budget for acquisition, construction and improvements, also contains funds for contract design services for a replacement icebreaker.
The feasibility study of the replacement icebreaker will determine the size and the speed of the vessel and whether the ship is to use nuclear fuel. The service now operates eight icebreakers, three of which have been under Coast Guard control for some time and five former Navy icebreakers, that were transferred to Coast Guard jurisdiction last year.
Another project to be financed under the $107-million appropriation is the installation of a balloon radar tracking system aboard four oceangoing cutters, assigned to weather balloons duty. The Coast Guard said the new gear, would permit the ships to track weather balloons directly overhead to altitudes of up to 100,000 feet, something they cannot do with existing radar equipment. Data on wind conditions as far up as 100,000 feet are essential for North Atlantic flight weather forecasts.
53 Oceanography From Space Satellite
(■Undersea Technology, March, 1967) Fascinating new possibilities in gaining detailed information about the oceans from space are being considered at high government levels. In the short period since April, 1965, when a conference at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, reviewed the state-of-the-art in this area, new techniques have already rendered the conference findings obsolete.
Now most of the electromagnetic spectrum from radio waves through the infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-ray and Gamma ray portions can be tapped. For instance, river, bay, lake and ocean waves, even small ones, emit electromagnetically on their own in the millimeter, or gigacycle, range. Gemini orbital photographs in color, even though they are relatively primitive hand-held camera products, have yielded a lot of information.
Biggest stumbling block to thorough, open oceanography from space is the dichotomy between civilian and military space programs. The Navy’s mission in the upcoming military Manned Orbiting Laboratory program includes all of these possibilities, but how much will spill over into the civilian information bank is not known. Unmanned systems already in being yield a wealth of environmental data to electronic and photographic interpreters, but the secrecy wraps are strict. Thus the non-military counterparts in government must stumble along with horse-and- buggy state-of-the-art data and procedures.
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jnj Two Canadian ASW Ships Planned
(S&SR Marine Intelligence, 12 January 1967) Saint John Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Corporation, Saint John, New Brunswick, has been awarded a Canadian contract of $47.5 m to build two supply ships for the Canadian Navy. Construction of the two ships, the Protecteur and the Preserver, each of 22,000 tons, will start in the Saint John shipyard in the spring and will be completed late in 1969.
The ships, with a length of 564 ft., are de-
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signed to provide operational support for the navy’s anti-submarine vessels on sea patrol. They will have a loaded speed of 20 knots.
Each ship will be able to transport and transfer at sea more than 12,000 tons of fuel and lubricating oil. They will also carry 1,250 tons of ammunition, stores and provisions. This will allow the ships of the fleet to remain at sea for considerably longer periods than at present.
Both ships will carry spare anti-submarine helicopters and will be capable of providing major maintenance for the navy’s helicopter destroyers. They will also have a limited capability of transporting army vehicles, helicopters, stores and maintenance personnel.
s French Launch First Atomic Sub
(Baltimore Sun, 30 March 1967) France took another long step into the atomic age today. President Charles de Gaulle launched the first French nuclear-powered submarine that will be able to deliver Polaris-type missiles when it becomes fully operational in 1970.
De Gaulle glowed with pride and applauded heartily after the 7,900-ton Redoutable splashed into the gray waters off the Cherbourg Naval Arsenal. In presenting medals to workmen who aided in constructing the submarine, he called it an important day for France’s defense and independence. Pierre Messmer, Defense Minister, said the Redoutable is the first of a series that will become part of France’s delivery system for its atomic and eventual hydrogen warheads.
The keel for the second nuclear-powered submarine will be laid in May, with completion scheduled for 1972. A third is due to be finished in 1975. Messmer said that others could follow at two-year intervals. Naval officers are pressing for a fleet of five.
The submarine will be armed with 16 missiles that can be fired from submerged positions toward targets at a distance of about 1,860 miles. By the time the missiles are ready, France expects to have completed its hydrogen weapons. Tests on fusion devices will be staged next year at the South Pacific test range.
The submarine is 422 feet long and has a maximum width of 35 feet. At a maximum speed of 20 knots, it can conduct cruises of several months. There will be 135-man crew.
0 Nasty Boats Bought by Navies
(Shipbuilding and Shipping Record, 12 January 1967) In the military field Boatservice have excelled with motor torpedo boats, and in 1958 completed as a private speculation the prototype Nasty. After a period of evaluation this craft was incorporated into the Royal Norwegian Navy, who subsequently placed orders for 20 units. In addition, two boats of this type were supplied to the Federal German Navy (currently on loan to Turkey) and 14 to the United States Navy. Orders are also in hand for six “Nasty” class for the Royal Hellenic Navy, and a further six are to be built under license in the United States.
These craft are of all wood construction and powered by two 18-cylinder Napier Deltic turbo-charged diesel engines. They can continuously maintain 40 knots over a 450-mile patrol, and have proved highly maneuverable and seaworthy. They are normally armed with one 40-mm. and one 20-mm. gun, and four 21-in. torpedo tubes.
b Soviet to Open Its Arctic Route
(Raymond H. Anderson in The New York Times, 29 March 1967) The Soviet Union is preparing to open its Northern Sea Route, linking Europe and Asia along the north coast of Siberia, for vessels of all foreign countries, the head of the Soviet Union’s swiftly growing merchant fleet said today.
The sea route, plowed 2,500 miles through the Arctic Ocean by icebreakers, is kept open 150 days a year. It significantly shortens shipping between northern Europe and northern Asia. The distance from the Soviet port of Archangel, in north European Russia, and Vladivostok, on the Pacific Ocean, is about 6,500 miles via the Northern Sea Route.
The announcement that the Soviet Union would open the Arctic route to all nations was made at a news conference by Viktor G. Bakayev, Minister of the Merchant Marine.
The route is defined by the Soviet Union as an internal shipping link, since parts are within the country’s 12-mile territorial limit and all of it depends on the use of the Soviet icebreakers and shore facilities.
The navigation season on the northern route has been lengthened in the last seven years by the use of icebreakers, including the nuclear-powered Lenin. Before the introduction of the Lenin in 1960, the season lasted 90 to 100 days. Now it has been extended to 140 to 150 days.
Soviet use of the route has risen in recent years in pace with economic development of the Arctic coastal territory and exploration of coal, oil, tin, gold and diamond resources.
s British Polaris Renown Launched
(iShipbuilding and Shipping Record, 9 March 1967) The second of the Royal Navy’s nuclear powered Polaris submarines, HMS Renown, was launched on February 25 by Mrs. Dennis Healey, wife of the British Minister of Defence, at the Birkenhead yard of Cammell Laird & Company. This company, together with Vickers Limited, Barrow-in-Furness, shares the contract for the four Polaris vessels which, when completed, will form the 10th Submarine Squadron and take over the deterrent role from the Royal Air Force.
In addition, Cammell Laird received an order for a nuclear powered fleet submarine last summer, and a further vessel of this type was ordered from Vickers on March 1. A more advanced fleet submarine is to be ordered this autumn, and the indications are that this order will most probably go to Cammell Laird, who have three nuclear powered submarines building, while Vickers have com-
pleted two (the Dreadnought and Valiant), has another (the Warspite) undergoing trials, and three under construction.
Except in Dreadnought the main propulsion unit for these vessels is of British manufacture and comprises a pressurised water-cooled reactor by Rolls Royce & Associates and English Electric geared turbines. The fleet submarines are solely for anti-submarine work and armed with torpedoes, while the Polaris vessels carry sixteen missiles in a compartment abaft the fin plus torpedoes.
S3 Britain To Buy 40 More U. S. F-Ill’s
(Baltimore Sun, 30 March 1967) Britain intends tomorrow to order 40 more American F-lll’s, bringing its total expenditure on the swing-wing fighter-bomber to nearly $1. billion.
The decision, confirmed tonight by Government sources, packs far-reaching implications for the country’s defense and political relationships.
1. 11 will inextricably link Britain’s air power and strategic planning with the Americans at least until the mid-1970’s.
2. It will underline the resolve of Prime Minister Harold Wilson’s Government to go on playing an active military role east of Suez in defiance of rising demands from within his own Labor party for a pullout.
3. It will provide President Charles de Gaulle of France with another argument that the British are so close to the Americans that they do not yet rate membership in Europe’s Common Market.
The F-lll has a range of 1,500 miles, a speed of 1,600 miles an hour and costs about $15,700,000.
Merchant Marine
s Liberty Ship Replacements on Rise
(The New York Times, 27 March 1967) The placing of orders last year for 13 modern tramp ships in a program designed eventually to replace the 800-vessel fleet of war-built Liberty ships still afloat has been called an encouraging development by the American Bureau of Shipping.
The ship classification society noted in its annual report made public last week that it was fully participating in the classification of such ships that are now being built in
Japanese and British yards.
In reviewing the activities of the bureau, Andrew Neilson, chairman and president, noted that 1966 was a good year for the worldwide organization. He reported that compared with 1965 the number of new and existing vessels classed by the bureau had increased by 170.
Even more impressive, he said, were figures for new vessels under contract to be built, to bureau classification at the end of 1966—305 more than in 1965 and representing a gross tonnage increase of 3,366,000 tons.
As a result, Mr. Neilson said, the bureau now has 3,067 vessels of more than 1,000 gross tons under classification for a total of 37,685,000 tons of shipping.
Mr. Neilson declared that his organization certified the construction standards last year of the 151,265-ton Tokyo Maru and the 205,953-ton Idemitsu Maru, two Japanese tankers and for the moment the world’s largest cargo ships.
He also noted that a total of 14 ships over 170,000 tons were under contract to be built to bureau specifications with an aggregate tonnage of 3,048 tons, including six 276,000- ton tankers for operation under charter to Gulf Oil Corporation. These six tankers, the largest ships in the world on order at present, are being built for National Bulk Carriers and have these dimensions—1,135-foot length, a beam of close to 175 feet and a draft of close to 72 feet. Other developments cited in the bureau’s annual report were:
• The opening of an office in Mexico City, to be staffed by an exclusive surveyor.
• Formation of a panel of container ship operators, container manufacturers and insurance underwriters to advise the bureau on future certification of containers.
• Formation of a committee to establish rules for the construction and maintenance of oil drilling rigs.
Research & Development
S3 Risk of Pollution in Seas Is Problem
(Werner Bamberger in The New York Times, 29 March 1967) The huge water pollution danger created by the stranding of the tanker Torrey Canyon off the coast of Cornwall calls attention to a kind of ocean contamination
problem that no one, certainly not the world’s oil industry, seems prepared to control.
By and large the anti-pollution efforts of the world’s oil industry are geared to prevent the escape of oily wastes into the sea during normal shipping operations. Most of the major oil companies, among them Standard Oil, Shell and British Petroleum, have adopted methods by which most oily wastes are retained aboard, treated chemically to reduce water content, and then are either added to the next cargo or pumped ashore.
Only crude oil is considered a source of pollution, since most of the refined petroleum products are volatile enough to disappear from the seas in varying periods of time.
At present an estimated 700 million tons of petroleum and petroleum products a year move by sea and about 420 million tons of this total consist of crude oil. The rest is refined products. Until recently, tanker crews usually washed the tanks at sea and pumped the contaminated waste overboard before calling at the next loading port.
Besides tank cleaning operations at sea, such hazards as shipwrecks, accidents at sea, accidents during loading, unloading and bunkering contribute to the problem.
To help combat pollution created accidentally in harbors, the Shell Oil Company has developed a novel craft in the Netherlands called the Waterwisser (water wiper). The craft, a 47-foot self-propelled barge, has a rigid hinged-on boom, which skims a broad strip of water when the vessel is moving forward at a certain speed. In front of the hinge the vessel has an inlet slot through which the collected oil and water is sucked into the hold.
Under the most recent amendments to the International Convention of Prevention of Oil Pollution of the Sea, the zones in which discharge of oily wastes is absolutely prohibited have been extended.
As a result of the extensions, the entire North Sea and the Baltic Sea, and a large area of the northeast Adantic extending 1,600 miles from Britain, have been designated prohibited areas. In addition, it was agreed to extend to 100 miles from the present 50 the prohibited areas extending from the coasts of countries surrounding the Mediterranean, Adriatic, Black and Red Seas, and the Persian Gulf.
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Impressive Partners—The Polaris A-3 at left looks small next to the new Poseidon Fleet Ballistic Missile at right. The full-scale engineering mock-up model unveiled at the Lockheed Missile and Space Co. is three feet longer than the 31-foot Polaris and measures six feet in diameter compared to its four-and-a- half-foot little brother.
No Hands—The test crew of an Air Force C-141 Star- lifter fanjet transport approaches for a landing, using the Air Force-FAA- Lockheed All Weather Landing System. Note that the windshield of the pilot at left is hooded and that the hands of both men are not on the controls.
Air-Cushion Merchantman —The concept of highspeed ocean transportation by air-cushion ships, is being studied at Bell Aerosys- tems. The 420-foot vessel would have a beam of 140 feet and could cruise at 80 knots. Lift and propulsion would be provided by 140,000 s.h.p. engines. The SES would weigh 4,000 gross tons.
ESSA’s Newest—On May 3 the USC&GSS Discoverer, sister ship to the Oceanographer, was commissioned injacksonville, Florida. The 303-foot, 3,800-ton deep
sea research ship will be home-ported in Florida. She has an automated engine room with closed circuit TV and computer to monitor and control the plant (shown below), a computer for both research and operational use, a central well beneath the ship open to the sea, bow viewing ports below the water line, a bow screw, remote engine controls on the bridge, air-conditioning nearly throughout, and an enclosed crow’s nest with a complete conning station. The normal complement is 16 officers, 39 crewmen, and 45 scientists; there are also accommodations for visitors.
Environmental Science Service Administration