1939: Naval Science, American

The year 1939 will long stand as an eventful one in the development and enlargement of the United States Navy. The sporadic burst in the building program may be attributed to the outbreak of the European War, conditions threatening world peace and the all important fact that the American people have a full realization that national security, in the form of an adequate first line of defense, is a potent factor in preventing aggressor nations from disturbing the peace in the western hemisphere.

The administration, with clear vision and an understanding of the value of the Navy, has presented a building program that when completed in 1943, will augment our sea power to a relatively high position among the great maritime nations of the world.

Building Program.

Such a Naval building program has taxed to the utmost the design sections of the various governmental departments charged with the preparation of contract and building plans. It has caused a revival of activity in the nations great private shipbuilding yards and at the same time speeded up production at the government yards. The net result being to create employment in all sections of the country.

New battleships of exceptional size and displacement will necessitate marked deviation in design. The armor, armaments and power plants of these new monsters of war will present complex problems to the Naval Constructor and Marine Engineer. A reorganization within the Navy Department itself has been initiated to promote efficiency and to coordinate the tremendous work this new construction will entail.

The cruiser, destroyer and submarine program is progressing steadily without acceleration but great strides are being made in the design of aircraft, aircraft carriers and tenders. Developments abroad under conditions of war and actual combat will cause the introduction of new features, proven by experience, to a steady development of this new and important arm of the Naval Service. It is particularly fortunate that the expansion of the air branch is so well timed that the lessons of practical air warfare may be incorporated in the design of our new Air Fleet.

Foreign orders for planes and engines will accelerate aircraft production in this country and enable United States designers and producers of planes to keep abreast of the times in the important elements of quantity production.

A concrete example of what can be done when government and business cooperate is the completion this year of the new high speed tanker Cimarron, the first of twelve high speed ships of this type so urgently needed by the Navy in war. These vessels were built by the Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey on a design approved by the Navy Department and given financial support by the Maritime Commission. The Cimarron is a 16,300 ton ship capable of making 18 knots with a service speed of 16½. Twin screw, turbine driven developing a normal shaft horsepower of 6,750, steam being supplied by 4 Babcock and Wilcox sectional header water tube boilers designed for working steam pressure at the superheater outlet of 450 lb. per square inch and a total temperature of about 750° F.

Diesel Engines.

Naval Engineers have made a definite contribution to Naval Science in the development of the Diesel engine, both in form and application.

The oldest Diesel application in the Navy is in submarines, where no other form of power can be used. Another successful development that has been fostered by the Navy involves a less specialized type of Diesel, more suitable for general purposes than the submarine engine, but more compact and having less unit weight than the ordinary commercial type. Experimental engines of two different designs, developing approximately 800 hp. per cylinder, have successfully passed exacting and prolonged tests.

The Navy has not yet gone to Diesel propulsion for surface combatant ships, but it is an interesting fact that one of the new submarine tenders will be powered by Diesels and every new ship coming into the Fleet has some Diesel power on board. The Diesel auxiliary power plants on some ships are of a size comparable to the power plants of small cities.

A Diesel activity of the Navy that involves only small engines but is of considerable magnitude is the replacement of gasoline-powered launches with Diesel boats. A rough estimate of the number of these launches is about 1,800, with more being added as more ships go into commission. The change has been received with enthusiasm in the Fleet as the new installation promoted both efficiency and reliability.

In addition the new Fleet tugs and other auxiliary craft equipped with this form of drive will provide design and operative experience that will be of value in connection with the design of machinery for future larger ships. The Diesel drive for combatant ships is rapidly gaining favor.

Changes in Naval Warfare.

The Navy is confronted with a huge building program. The design departments are pressed to speed plans and specifications for new construction. Naval operations are receiving from abroad reports on the programs of our most probable opponents and the results of war experience on present day material. The sum total of this bewildering amount of detail is enormous and entails close inspection and mature judgment before final decision is made on what is best for the United States and our national security.

The elapsed period of over twenty years has brought many startling changes in the conduct of the war at sea. The injection of new and improved weapons; the kaleidoscopic changes in policy; the shift in relative Naval and Maritime strength of important nations; and the world depression as it has affected wealth and economic conditions are all factors that contribute to the scientific development of the new Navy and its prospective use. The conduct of the war at sea will undergo certain definite changes resulting from modern conditions.

The repeal of the embargo on the shipment of munitions of war will prove a great asset to scientific development.

Orders for certain war material by the belligerent nations will give American manufacturers the benefit of foreign scientific development and design that will become available to the military forces of the United States.

The practical application of warfare will unquestionably introduce new types and uses for naval craft which will be advantageous to a wide awake naval establishment in this country.

Important strides are being made in the communication service, observation facilities and in listening devices. Radio is coming in for an unusual amount of attention. By means of radio detection finders, positions of enemy vessels at sea using radios may be accurately plotted, unless rigid radio silence is observed. Also extremely useful in navigation are two or more shore stations giving the vessel at sea a very accurate 'fix.'

Observation planes and balloons are being provided with the latest type of cameras for photographing enemy territory and military objectives. It will not be surprising to see television come into its first practical use as an adjunct to military observations.

The intensive anti-submarine campaign is centering attention on the development of supersonic listening devices for detecting the movement of underwater craft. By a succession of such plots the position, course and speed of a submarine may be determined and the surface craft supplied with information that will enable effective depth charge attacks. Listening devices will also enable shore stations to give warning of the approach of submarines to harbors or naval bases, thus giving greater security to an anchored fleet.

Mines, bombs, depth charges, torpedoes and aerial bomb sights will also come in for their share of attention under the pressure and constantly changing conditions of actual combat.

Much attention has been given the subject of poison gases and their generation as well as the protective measures necessary to insure safety to both military and civilian elements in case of hostile attack.

Developments in Research.

The Navy Department maintains a planned program of research, experiments, and tests. Engineering and scientific disclosures which appear in this country and abroad are developed in order to provide the latest methods of machinery design and operation. The program extends in many directions and ranges from large-scale ship design, construction, and propulsion problems to small devices and materials which form details of apparatus.

Some of the more interesting items of development during the year, not covered by the veil of secrecy, are enumerated as follows:

Development of apparatus and technique for diving with oxygen-helium mixtures in lieu of normal air was continued at the Experimental Diving Unit, and the use of these mixtures contributed to the successful dives made in salvaging the U.S.S. Squalus, which was an outstanding accomplishment in naval diving history.

Increasing use is made of spectrographic analysis of materials under inspection and also use of gamma-ray and X-ray for nondestructive testing of important castings, forgings, and weldments (see below, X-Ray Detective Device.)

Improvements in the methods of driving high-tensile steel rivets into galvanized hull structures have resulted in more satisfactory riveting being accomplished.

Research and investigation has continued in many fields including: welding technique and strength of welding materials; improvement in die-lock anchor chain; sand control and mixture in casting steel; abatement of noise in naval vessels; durability of materials for salt water piping; packing, insulating, and lubricating materials for use with higher pressures and temperatures; methods of cleaning Diesel oil storage tanks and dehumidification and preservation of humid compartments on board ship.

The Navy Department has continued its cooperation and collaboration with scientific and technical agencies, both within and without the Government, to aid in the improvement of technical standards, and to find and develop new materials adopted to the problems of national defense.

Model Basin.

The Navy has completed its new experimental model basin, near Cabin John, Maryland. This is said to be the best equipped laboratory of its kind in the world and is of the greatest use to the ship designer. Models may be tested under all conditions of service and at any speed. The effects of underwater form are noted and from data derived the horsepower needed to drive any model at any desired speed may be obtained. The results attained have had a marked influence on American ship design and have given our naval constructors the great advantage of scientific data on water and skin resistance on the several types at varying speeds; matters of great consequence that may be settled before the final working plans and specifications are made. They are also of great value in coordinating the labor of the hull design and propulsive section in producing maximum efficiency in the finished product.

This model tank is put to many uses in determining the form of body and propulsive power necessary to drive not only surface and subsurface craft but the large sea planes of all types. Water and current resistance play an important role in anything built to move in water and this unique laboratory will supply the desired information. The Navy has had much experience in model tanks, being a pioneer in the field, and this new feature has incorporated the accumulated knowledge and experience of many years experimentation along these lines.

X-Ray Device for Detection of Flaws.

The Navy has turned out one of science's newest and most interesting developments for material inspections, in the X-ray and gamma-ray, capable of detecting all-important defects in metals up to a thickness of three inches and more. Flaws once spotted by this device will give the opportunity to eliminate or strengthen defective areas, with a consequent probable saving of a disaster at a later date. It is also of special importance in airplane inspection and in valves and steam lines carrying high pressure steam as well as large castings and forgings.

An important feature of the new unit is that, although it weighs three-quarters of a ton, it can be loaded aboard ship and moved about easily on its balloon tires. It is approximately three feet wide by five feet long over all, with a ten-foot tube stand. Yet so delicately balanced are its counterweights that the tube head can be manipulated with the ease of a garden hose nozzle. It is a powerful machine that can be utilized on board ship during the period of construction and detect flaws from shop work prior to installation. An oil cooling system, shock proof cables, and surge resistors render the apparatus safe for handling under all service conditions.

The results attained at the New York Navy Yard by the unit described have been of the greatest service in new construction and have not only been the means of great economy but are insurance against accident at times that might be of great consequence to the national security. The same machine will be available to private enterprise and will find many uses in the commercial field.

Hydrographic Office.

The Navy carries on a highly scientific function concerning which the country as a whole hears very little — the Hydrographic Office — established at the Naval Observatory in the National Capital, and charged with the supply to our Navy and Merchant Marine of navigational charts, navigational publications and information of foreign as well as local waters. It gives the country the correct time. The Naval Observatory has trained scientists constantly watching the celestial sphere for data in connection with the nautical almanac and expeditions are constantly at sea acquiring knowledge of the ocean depths and making accurate charts of the navigational waters of the world. This office has made valuable contributions to astronomy.

Naval Communication Service.

The Naval Communication Service stands high in the development of communications. It has a radio service that encircles the world and thirty-five radio direction finder stations that render valuable assistance to ships at sea. This service also broadcasts weather reports and the time to ships at sea. The truly scientific service rendered by the naval communication service is in the development of radio, radio direction finders and the supersonic detection gear for the detection of underwater movement and the bearing and distances to objects beneath the surface of the sea.

Naval Air Force.

A distinctly air-minded Navy is proud of the achievements of the Naval Air Force. During the past year it has been expanded greatly and its operation afloat has progressed in proportion. Five large carriers with their attached squadrons have operated with the Fleet and several new units added as new cruisers were put into commission. The patrol squadrons of the Scouting Force have been augmented and have operated extensively in the following areas: East Coast, Caribbean, Canal Zone, West Coast, Alaska, and Hawaiian Islands.

One wing of this squadron, comprising forty-eight patrol airplanes departed from San Diego for Coco Solo, non-stop, and from Coco Solo the wing flew to San Juan, P. R. Based in this vicinity they operated in Fleet Problem XX, on completion of which they proceeded non-stop to the East Coast of the United States for exercises in the New England area. Two squadrons of this wing were retained on the East Coast, the remaining two flew back to the West Coast by way of Guantanamo and Coco Solo. Exclusive of distance flown in connection with the Fleet problem, this wing covered a distance of over ten thousand miles on its cruise, which is an outstanding accomplishment for so many large planes flying in formation.

There is no branch of the service where more scientific thought is being devoted for new ideas in material, design, and training of personnel. The U. S. Naval Air Force, today, is acclaimed by foreign nations to be the best in the world. The best brains in the Navy are exerting every effort to maintain this position; the development is rapid; real genius is required to lead a world at war giving an unusual amount of attention to this branch.

Accomplishments and Personnel of Naval Service.

The Navy, itself, is a highly scientific organization, the officer personnel of which are technicians in some branch or other connected with its design or operation. The naval officer is fundamentally a seaman, but his daily work is with complicated gear that requires an intimate knowledge of its construction and operation. This technical knowledge is usually acquired at post graduate schools after graduation from the Naval Academy or by long application and study in the particular line in which the individual desires to specialize.

The operation of a ship at sea from one point to another is a very simple operation but the fighting of a modern man-of-war injects some complications. The control of gunfire alone, from a moving platform, at a target that may be over the horizon involves ballistic calculations and the operation of fire control instruments that are highly technical in character.

The operation of fleets and the types that go to make up fleets requires another form of naval education which is known as naval warfare. Officers of the Navy are given a special form of training at the Naval War College. This course is very broad in character and covers a good deal of ground. It is designed to promote a line of thought that will develop sound thinking and mutual understanding. Here, the art of war, is approached and dealt with in a scientific manner.

It has been aptly said that the Navy is the greatest training institution in the country. Not only are the officers given special education throughout their careers, but special attention are given the enlisted men at different schools where they are made trained specialists in some line. The American bluejacket is representative of a cross section of American life and is very intelligent as evidenced by the rapid advancement made by many in their chosen profession. The modern sailor may not be skillful in rowing or sailing a small boat, but the great majority are skilled mechanics or know a trade. All of which tends to promote an intelligent personnel imbued with initiative.

The Secretary of the Navy in his annual report to the President of the United States makes the following observation on the general condition of the Naval Service for this year: 'I am glad to report that in my opinion the battle efficiency of the United States Fleet fully measures up to the confidence reposed in it by the citizens of our country in whose service it is dedicated. The morale of our personnel is high. The education and mental caliber of our enlisted personnel are superior. The fine quality of the leadership of the officers has been again confirmed by gratifying accomplishment in the naval operations conducted during the year. The Navy is prepared to exercise its vital function of bringing the enemy to our terms as quickly as possible, while keeping him at a safe distance from our shores.'

The U. S. Navy has contributed its share to American Science during the year. To some, it will be a source of regret that this same ability and genius should be devoted to engines for war. But let us not lose sight of the fact that the American Navy has made contributions to science that have been useful to all branches of society. The Navy was first in the advancement of the steel industry, electric propulsion for large ships, a leader in the development of radio, and has contributed much in engineering and navigation. See also COAST GUARD; MARINE CORPS, UNITED STATES.