The New Navy

THE

NEW NAVY

The USS

Enterprise. (U.S.

Navy)

THE NEW NAVY By

E.

P.

HANSON W. BALDWIN

DUTTON

&

COMPANY,

INC.

°

NEW YORK

©

1964 by Hanson W. Baldwin ° All rights reserved. Printed Copyright in the U.S.A. ° No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper or broadcast, o Library of Congress catalog card number: 64-17336 ° Published simultaneously in Canada by Clarke, Irwin

& Company

Limited, Toronto and Vancouver ° First Edition

°

To

the ships, the planes, the weapons, the

but especially the of the

New Navy

Men

—

of the United States

Men-

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My

thanks for professional help and encouragement in line of duty, and

beyond

it,

are gratefully

Vice Admiral John

acknowledged

S.

McCain,

Jr.,

to:

whose presentations on sea power

have interested many audiences; Vice Admiral Elton W. Grenfell; Vice

Admiral John T. Hay ward; Rear Admiral V. L. Lowrance; Rear Admiral Jr.;

Rear Admiral James C.

Dempsey; Captain (now Rear Admiral) Eugene

P. Wilkinson; Captains

B.

J.

Semmes,

Jr.;

Rear Admiral Donald Gay,

J. M. West; Raymond E. Peet; Charles Thomas C. Harbert, Jr.; Commander Thomas B. Brittain, Jr.; Commander P. J. Hannifin; Lieutenant Commander S. M. Jenks.

Vincent P. de Poix; John R. Sweeney; E. Nelson;

My Allied to

appreciation, too, to

Admiral R. L. Dennison, former Supreme

Commander,

and Commander

Admiral H.

To fied

Atlantic,

P. Smith, present

personal logistics,

I

am

Chief Atlantic Fleet, and

incumbent.

the Navy's public information officers,

my

in

who provided

facts

and simpli-

particularly grateful, especially to: Lieuten-

Commander D. M. Cooney, USN, Head Magazine and Book Branch, Navy Department, and his able assistant, Lieutenant F. X. Steele; Captain B. S. ("Barney") Solomon, USN, Fleet Information Officer, United States Atlantic Fleet, and his predecessor, Commander R. H. Mereness, USN; and Lieutenant Commander Donald J. Maynard, ant

Office of Information,

USN.

My

acknowledgments are due, too, to the New York Times for the utilization and adaptation of some material originally collected, or written, for that newspaper.

H. W. B.

CONTENTS

I

The Importance

of Sea

Power

—

the

Technological Revolution

1

Submarines

31

III

Aircraft Carriers

68

IV

The Destroyers

93

II

V ASW—Antisubmarine VI VII VIII

IX

Warfare

102

Cruisers

121

The "Amphibs"

138

Keys

157

The

to Victory

Fleet of

index

Tomorrow

174 187

THE

NEW NAVY

I THE IMPORTANCE OF SEA

POWER

-THE TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION

"Those

far-distant,

Army

storm-beaten ships upon which the Grand

never

looked/' but which nonetheless, stood between Napoleon "and the dominion of the world."

—Mahan

It

was the greatest

had

States

in

the world

fleet

had ever

commission some 68,936

and kinds, including 99

seen.

At war's end,

ships, vessels

and

the United

craft of all sorts

23 battleships, 73 cruisers of

aircraft carriers,

vari-

ous types, 737 destroyers and destroyer escorts, and 234 submarines.

Yet

in

the United States

marine menace

in

War

many Americans thought Navy, which had helped to defeat the German subthe Atlantic and had swept the Japanese Navy from

1945, after the end of World

the seas of the Pacific, had

worked

itself

II,

out of a job.

Air-power enthusiasts believed that the peace of the world could be maintained by a few Americans flying a few bombers carrying a few atomic

bombs. Ground

soldiers

forces, to quell

minor

had won

victory.

might be needed

conflicts, or to

in small

mop up

The Navy had nothing

numbers

to act as police

after the air-atomic forces

to fight.

The

seas

had been swept

clean of enemies.

Winston Churchill, the great Prime Minister of Britain during the war,

had declared that he was "not the King's side over the dissolution of the British

the sult.

end of the old

Former

era, the

minister" in order to "pre-

Empire." Yet the forces of change,

breakup of old empires produced

British colonies,

just this re-

dominions, and dependencies, like India,

and the bonds of Empire loosened. The Navy, which had ruled the seas for centuries to the end of World

became independent British

first

nations,

11

New Navy

The

12

(1918) and which had been matched in strength between the two great wars by the United States fleet and by the Imperial Japanese Navy, became a shadow of its past greatness. Britain could no longer afford the

War

I

price of power.

The German and Japanese French and other vessels,

dated

were minor

fleets

in their

ravaged by war

losses,

were destroyed

fleets

in

World War

II.

The

and consisted of obsolescent

in size,

weapons and equipment. The Russian had only one significant component

—

fleet, its

old and

submarine

force.

Whom

was the Navy

States faced

no

to fight? the critics of sea

real opposition

on the

power asked. The United

seas.

In any case, the old concepts of sea power were no longer applicable in the

age of air power and atomic bombs.

ceded,

become a supply

might be employed,

and

to

back up

air

The Navy might,

service. Its transports

in small

it

was con-

and tankers and cargo ships

numbers, to supplement

air transportation

power and ground power. There would be no need

for

any significant number of fighting ships.

These mistaken notions were based upon capabilities

interpretations of the

false

and the functions of sea power. Yet they gained a good many

when the United States Navy had become by far the largest and most powerful in world history. The attacks upon sea power persisted in various forms, until the Korean

supporters in the triumphant era

War (1950-1953), and

they have not entirely ended today. Just a year

or two before Korea, a prominent general

—

of Staff

—chairman

of the Joint Chiefs

predicted there could never again be any major amphibious

operation or landing of troops upon

atomic bomb, he

said,

But history soon

had made

set the

enemy

coasts

from ships

at sea.

The

impossible.

it

record straight.

The

critics

had not only mis-

interpreted the past and misunderstood the functions of a navy; they had also failed to anticipate

revolution would have

Korea demonstrated

the far-reaching effects that the technological

upon

navies.

that navies

were

still

vital to the successful prose-

cution of war. Airlift, despite its speed,

of

combat

in

Korea.

was

in

no way capable of meeting the needs

Some 54,000,000

of petroleum products

(gasoline and

ported to Korea by ship.

tons of cargo and 22,000,000 tons oil

Of every seven

of various kinds) soldiers

and

were trans-

civilians sent to

THE IMPORTANCE OF SEA POWER

13

Commander M. W. Cagle and The Sea War in Korea, that "for

Korea, six were transported by sea.

F.

Manson

every

point out in their book,

270

ton of trans-Pacific air freight, there were freight.

had

For every ton of

A.

tons of trans-Pacific sea

air freight, four tons of gasoline for the planes

be delivered across the Pacific by ship." (In the Lebanon landing

to

was required

in 1958, a "sea tail" of about twenty-five ships

and support one airborne

battle

Naval blockade sealed

Naval guns provided

back up

group of about 2,000 men.)

off the coasts of the

fire

to

Korean Peninsula.

support; naval planes furnished close air sup-

port and an air umbrella.

In the Inchon landing, later landing operations, the ships

States

Navy

the

Wonsan, and

Navy demonstrated

and techniques were

There was no enemy

at

still

in countless other small

that specialized

fleet in

the

Korean War,

yet without the United

war could not have been fought.

enabled the United States to maintain

main bases back home

—

amphibious

as important as ever in war.

in

Korea

It

was the Navy

— 5,600

that

miles from their

a force that outshot and outfought a numerically

armed horde of North Koreans and Chinese, supplied by

vastly superior

land from bases close by.

Korea, as World

War

had done, simply

II

verified old lessons,

proved

old principles of sea power, and demonstrated dramatically that the basic functions of sea

power and of a navy had not changed.

Those principles are for supremacy,

Roman

series of so-called

as old as history.

sea

When Rome and

power was the ultimate

Carthage clashed

arbiter of victory in the

Punic Wars (264-146 B.C.) that ended

in the

complete

destruction of Carthage.

Ever since then, control of the the use of the sea by your

wish,

and the

partial or,

own if

sea,

which

in

ships in any role

its

broadest sense means

and

for

any purpose you

possible, complete denial of such use to an

enemy, has been of major importance to

all

nations that border on the

world's great waters.

Sea power has always included more than fighting ships. bat ships of

all

types,

and the arms and equipment that

fight effectively; auxiliaries,

a

means comenable them to It

merchant marine, factories and bases and

building yards and resources to construct and maintain the ships, and trained

men

to operate all these facilities.

Fundamentally, sea power

exists to use the

ocean waterways, to exploit

The nuclear-powered cruiser Long Beach, up since World War II. (U.S. Navy)

the only cruiser built

from the keel

for trade or strategic reasons the seven-tenths of the earth's surface that

Since ancient times

water.

Today no nation can its

and

to

if

make

it

in

itself."

by sea raw materials

it

It

must exchange

lacks,

buy food and

does not possess them. Navies exist to protect this trade

possible the use of the oceans.

Naval blockade or the maintenance of patrolling ships and planes coast of a nation to sever

its

if

the

enemy has

off the

seaborne supply lines can quickly strangle a

small and vulnerable country, and can slowly one. But

is

have prospered by overseas trade.

"an island entire of

live

goods for others, bring

medicines

nations

weaken

a fleet, the blockade can

a large

and powerful

be maintained only by

defeating or confining or neutralizing that fleet (a role the British fleet

played vis-a-vis the

German

fleet in

World War

major naval power must be prepared War I and World War II to ensure

—

actions,

though possible, are unlikely.

ment of naval power, plane.

is

I,

1914-1918). Thus, any

to fight fleet actions its

And

—

as in

World

control of the sea. Today, fleet

blockade, or any other employ-

incomplete or impossible without the aid of the

THE IMPORTANCE OF SEA POWER But even more important

in

15

modern times

is

the naval

war

of attrition

that comprises small-scale actions, the so-called guerre de course, or guerrilla

war

at sea

by submarines, surface

I

and planes against an enemy's

commerce

or his troop convoys.

The

Nelson's day, played a major role in such attacks; in World

War

seaborne supply frigate, in

raiders,

against his

lines,

and World War

II the

submarine was the principal marauder of the deep.

Sea power's indirect influence has always extended far inland. The pressure of the British blockade created major food and other shortages in

Germany sea

in

World War

I

and helped

to defeat her.

The

direct influence of

power upon land warfare and land operations has extended

of

its

weapons

—

of

its

missiles

and planes.

in the past, within the

port ground forces, land this,

sea

It

range of

its

guns, today within reach

has been measured, too, by

them upon foreign

power frequently had

coasts,

to the range

its

ability to trans-

and supply them. To do

to challenge land power.

Naval

barded enemy coastal positions, destroyed or silenced

bom-

vessels

fortifications

and

gun emplacements, swept or eliminated sea mines. They overcame coast defenses of

all sorts

and protected the

modern

and, in

times, intercepted

transports, supply ships,

enemy

and landing

air attacks

against

parties

bombing. All these historic functions of sea power are

though line

of

air

among

power and

missile

still

valid today, even

power have smudged the once

sea power, land power, and air power. In

power overlap and are mutually interdependent;

clear dividing

modern war

all

forms

military force today

is

indivisible.

Nevertheless, unless the seas can be controlled and used for their ancient

purposes no great power can remain great. The landing of the Marines in

Lebanon during President Eisenhower's second term in quent demands upon the Seventh Fleet in the Far East

office

and the

fre-

for support of our

foreign policies are recent examples of the continued importance of sea

power. So, too, was the naval "quarantine" or partial blockade of

Cuba

force the Russians to withdraw their missiles from the island in the

1962. All these and recent past have

many

shown

fall

to

of

other incidents in the troubled history of the

that sea

power

is

vital to the welfare

and

security

of the United States.

Two

other major developments since 1945 have convinced most of the

critics of that

day that there are major roles for the United States Navy

in

the last half of the turbulent twentieth century. These developments are the

— The New Navy

16 great growth of Russian sea power,

and the

startling changes, in less

A

twenty years, in the capabilities of sea power.

revolution, in

than

many ways

more profound than the transition from oars (as a form sail, or from sail to steam, from wooden-hulled ships (like the old frigate USS Constitution) to steel, has completely altered the technology and the of propulsion) to

methods of naval warfare. This book on the cal revolution

—

its

New Navy

today the Stars and Stripes flagstaffs; the

largest

Hammer and

submarine

to those of the

is

concerned primarily with

description and

fleet,

is

its

effects.

not the only flag that

Sickle of

this technologi-

But one must remember that

Communist Russia

flies

from

flies

over the world's

gaffs

and

and the Soviet Navy's surface ships are second only

United States

number and

in

in

tonnage.

becoming a sea power, and the merchant ships of the

Red China, too, is Communist powers

ply the waters of the world.*

Thus, the no-man's-land of blue water belongs to the to

dominate

The sea

—

fleets

it

relatively simple requirements of Nelson's time for

plenty of

wooden

ships

infinitely

supremacy

and "Iron Men" (men tough enough

the seagoing hardships of those days),

now become

with the power

on, over, and below the surface of the oceans.

commanded by good

at

to take

admirals

—have

complex because of the technological revolution.

This revolution has forever changed our world.

The

may be

technological revolution

dated from the invention of radio,

the airplane, and the internal-combustion engine.

Radio made possible

wide-ranging communications, and hence extensive military control.

The

internal-combustion engine does not need boilers but burns fuel internally

manner

in the

of an automobile or airplane engine.

for aircraft, missiles, automotive vehicles,

made what

Technical progress has

one

lifetime,

went

to sea during their

ships, capable of a

at

War

maximum it

II.

The

Annapolis, Maryland

midshipmen summer

nautical measure of speed;

provides the power

and tanks.

scientists call a

and particularly since World

United States Naval Academy

It

"quantum jump"

—

the class of

1924

cruises in old coal-burning

of eighteen to twenty knots.

means one

(A knot

*

The

in searing heat to

final

keep the

is

a

nautical mile, or 2,000 yards, per

hour.) Stripped to the waist, the midshipmen of that day labored in the

rooms

in

author's class at the

fires in

fire

the boilers burning brightly, for

chapter includes figures on Russian and Chinese sea power.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SEA POWER

17

the coal-fed boilers generated the steam that drove the huge pistons in the

The

pistons,

through crankshafts, turned

the propeller shafts, and the propellers

moved

the ship awkwardly, like a

reciprocating engines up and down.

clumsy leviathan, through the water.

The spoiled.

ships carried

The

refrigerating

little

made

evaporators that

down, and when the

machinery; the food frequently

fresh water

from the sea often broke

bunkers were empty coaling ship was an

ship's

hands," all-day, all-night job which

left ship,

"all-

men, and equipment covered

with coal dust and grime.

Today, forty years nuclear power.

The

modern naval

a

later,

may be

vessel

propelled by

fissionable fuel element will last, normally, for years,

or even for an "entire war." Submarines glide at speeds in excess of 30 knots far

man had

beneath the sea in depths

flying

from

carrier decks,

or vessels that rise on

move

never before penetrated. Jet

aircraft,

at twice the speed of sound, and hydrofoils,

stiltlike "legs,"

may skim

across the sea at 50 to 100

knots.

(The speed of sound

varies with the

medium through which it passes and move much faster in water

with temperatures and densities. Sound waves

than in

air.

At

sea level at freezing temperature (32°)

per second, about 763 miles per hour.

20,000

feet

and about 660

to exceed the speed of

36,000

at

sound

at

low

It is

about 1,088 feet

more than 700 miles an hour

feet. It is

levels

it is

much

where the

harder for an airplane air is

heavy and dense.

Because the speed of sound varies with altitude and temperature, speeds are often measured in of sound;

MACH

.8 is

MACH

numbers.

MACH

eight-tenths of that speed,

Guns, which could

fire

at

1

aircraft

equals the speed

and so on.)

effectively at targets

no more than

fifteen or

twenty miles away, have been to a great degree replaced by missiles that extend sea power's shattering

fist

inland for thousands of miles.

The dimensions of change are so fantastic as to seem incomprehensible, to many the New Navy appears to be not a descendant of the old, but some strange new creature, nurtured by a witch's broth. Yet it is well to remember the wise words of the great apostle of sea and

power, Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer

Mahan (1840-1914), whose books

on naval

history

thinking.

Admiral Mahan pointed out that "based

fundamental

and strategy had a tremendous

truths,

effect

as

upon global maritime naval strategy is upon

which when correctly formulated, are

principles, these truths,

when

rightly called

ascertained, are in themselves unchangeable;

The

18

but

it

by no means follows that

rience in war,

new

light

methods introduced into This

is

what

is

may

in

New Navy

elucidation and restatement, or by expe-

not be shed upon the principles, and

new

their application."

happening today.

New

light

is

being shed upon the old

principles of sea power, and new methods are being introduced in their

new naval capabilities. supported by new weapons, new

application as the revolution at sea produces ever

In simple language, the old principles are

equipment, and new methods.

The

revolution at sea has altered everything from keel to masthead.

Propulsion systems, the means of driving a ship through the water; hull forms, or the shape of the hull; weapons; equipment and

men have

all

been

profoundly changed.

The combined changes have been so great that navies have assumed totally new dimensions of strategic power. Submarines firing missiles with nuclear warheads represent a potential threat of devastation to nearly every city

on earth and a major threat

to every nation

on

earth. In non-nuclear

war (war fought without nuclear weapons, often called limited war),

heli-

copters and jet aircraft flown from ships' decks, destroyers protecting the

landing forces with guided antiaircraft rockets, and a host of other strange

new

types of ships

States

power

and weapons are a basic means of projecting United

to troubled areas overseas.

In marine engineering the revolution in propulsion systems has been

profound.

New

designed to

fuels

have been developed, and new systems have been

utilize these fuels.

Atomic power has had by far the greatest impact upon the New Navy. Small amounts of uranium, which can be fissioned or split by the bombardment of neutrons, are encased as a core of a nuclear reactor. The rate of fission

can be accelerated or decreased by controlling the neutron bom-

bardment. The fissioning process gives This heat

is

off great heat.

used to turn water into steam in a specially built heat

exchanger, usually called a steam generator, or a modified form of boiler.

The steam is then used in a more or less conventional way to drive turbines. The turbines, bucket-bladed devices that rotate rapidly in a horizontal plane, are geared to the propeller shafts.

Special problems in nuclear

power plants are many, though so far all in a heavy amount of lead

have been solved. The reactor must be encased

or other shielding to prevent the spread of radioactivity, and

its

control

THE IMPORTANCE OF SEA POWER

complex and numerous. The piping and and within the heat exchanger must be of specially fine toler-

mechanisms and the valves to

ances,

19

carefully

safety devices are

built

But once the heat

prevent radioactive leaks.

to

exchanger has turned water into steam, the

rest of the

power plant

is

like

a conventional steam-turbine driven ship.

There are two great advantages of nuclear power from a naval point of view.

One

is

problem of

that a nuclear-powered ship does not have the

frequent refueling that an oil-burning ship has. fissionable core,

is

Once

the uranium fuel, or

placed in the reactor, the ship normally has enough fuel

The second advantage is of peculiar importance to submarines. Nuclear propulsion has made the dreams of Jules Verne's imaginative story Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea virtual realities. For to "last a war."

the

first

Since

its

time in history nuclear-powered submarines are true submarines. fuel, unlike

most

fuels, requires

no oxygen

to support

combustion

modern submarine can remain completely submerged as long as its crews can take it. (Some United States submarines have remained submerged more than ninety days.) The nuclear submarine is as inde-

or burning, a

pendent of the earth's atmosphere as a spaceship.

Nuclear power, though the most important,

is

only one of several

new

forms of marine propulsion.

The

oil-burning, boiler-steam-turbine combination

marine power plant for because of

its

major high-speed

all

high costs and

its

ships.

is

still

Nuclear propulsion,

safety problems, has so far replaced this

standard system in a small number of ships in only three navies States, the Russian,

powered

ships,

and the

the standard

British. (Britain in

1964 had

just

—

the United

two nuclear-

both of them submarines.)

But the oil-burning boiler and the steam turbine have been refined and

improved

in so

many ways

that the

most modern plants make even the best

World War II look like something from the horse-and-buggy new boilers are high-capacity, quick-action types, which means

of

the oil-burner nozzles are turned

This

is

you can "get up steam"

The

that once in a hurry.

important to a warship that must be prepared for quick action. The

turbines have been

made

far

more compact. Their bucket

which the steam expands and

more

on

full

days.

efficient.

blades, through

so drives the turbines, are far stronger

Steam pressures and temperatures used

in these

systems are far higher than those of several decades ago. They are high as 800 to 1,000 degrees in temperature (hot enough

if

and

modern

now

as

a wisp of steam

The USS Plunger underway off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii. Nuclear propulsion has made it possible for modern submarines to remain completely submerged as long as their crews can take it. (U.S. Navy)

escaped to

set a

broom

instantly afire)

and are

as

much

as 1,200

pounds

in

pressure.

Turbines utilizing various types of chemical fuels are also under develop-

ment and

are used for small fast patrol boats.

A

modern

jet

airplane engine

has turbines that are powered by chemical fuels; various types of kerosene

and

jet fuels

are burned to turn the turbine blades, and either drive a pro-

peller or provide the jet thrust.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SEA POWER

21

In marine gas turbines, various combinations of chemicals are burned to provide the power to turn the turbines. Hydrogen peroxide, a very volatile or unstable and potentially explosive fuel, has been utilized experimentally

power has largely displaced it. Most gas some kind of fuel oil, usually diesel fuel, and boilers are dispensed with. The fuel is injected directly into the turbine, and burns. The burning gases expand and pass through the turbine blades, thus driving to drive submarines, but nuclear

now

turbines

the turbine. bility,

use

The advantages

of this

form of propulsion are

simplicity, flexi-

and high speed.

New

diesel engines, like those that drive

are used by

some

called diesel fuel,

system of propulsion a low-grade

ships. In this is

some big trucks or locomotives,

burned internally

in the cylinders

so-

oil,

(as in a gasoline-

fueled automobile engine), and the expanding gases force huge pistons up

and down, turning crankshafts and, have improved tremendously is

in turn, propeller shafts.

in reliability

and

new form

of propulsion,

"hydro (water)

jet" or

ship, the

-jet,"

in

its

engineering infancy,

is

heavy systems. is

the

"pump-

or "hydro-rocket." So far, only one major

United States destroyer Witek, has been

The Witek

device.

still

diesels

efficiency; their disadvantage

that the larger diesel installations are relatively slow-speed,

A

Marine

one of the few ships

in the

fitted

with

this strange

world without propellers.

In their place underwater are barrel-shaped cylinders, each measuring about ten feet in diameter by fifteen feet long.

and there ship

is

is

a

pump

driven by a

or turbine or rotor to

jet

of water.

hot gases expelled from the

advantage:

much

jet

one

is

"barrels" are

pump

The water pushes

open

at

both ends,

the water through.

The

against the sea, like the

engine of a plane, and drives the ship. The

quieter operation (even the best propellers cavitate, or

thresh about in the water, and

tages:

The

trying to pick

when disadvanThe an enemy submarine.)

make

a lot of noise, a great handicap

up the sound of

added weight and slower speeds.

Some surface-skimming

craft fitted with hydrofoils use the conventional

airplane propeller (so far these are

all

experimental types), rather than an

underwater propeller, for propulsion.

And,

finally, there is a

completely new and as yet entirely experimental

ship-plane combination, a hover-craft device, which literally travels above the water

on a "cushion" of

air.

A

British craft of this sort has

skimmed

across the English Channel a few inches above the waves, never getting

its

keel wet, and the United States has experimented with several different

The New Navy

22 types.

Powerful engines, usually of an aircraft type, and ducted fans, or

huge propellers that push the

air

downward through

distances around the hull, literally water.

A

slight

change

in the

lift

nozzles set at uniform

the hover craft, or skimmer, off the

angles of the nozzle settings propels

it

forward

or backward or sideways.

There are various kinds of these

craft,

with different systems for utilizing

the air cushion for suspension and propulsion.

completely clear of the water by craft the vessel

is

beneath the hull.

its

The "hydroskimmer"

air cushion,

is

lifted

but in the "hydrokeel"

raised partly out of the water by trapping an air bubble

The

craft rides in part

on

air,

thus reducing the friction,

or "drag," of the sea, and increasing the speed.

The advantages: far greater than

tages:

a hovering capacity

in early

capabilities

any craft held back by the "drag" of water. The disadvan-

the tremendous

power required, limited payload, and the great

spumes of spray and water is still

and potential speed

stirred

up by the downdraft. This type of

craft

experimental status.

"Sea Legs," a five-ton experimental hydrofoil craft, is fitted with two fullyfoils, one forward and one aft. The craft reaches speeds in excess of 25 miles per hour. ( U.S. Navy)

submerged

THE IMPORTANCE OF SEA POWER The

23

technological revolution has affected hull forms as well as marine

propulsion systems.

The Albacore, an experimental submarine high-speed nuclear submarines, the dolphin or whale,

is

that pioneered the

name

for the deckhousing containing

and turns so rapidly

the bridge or conning tower amidships). She dives

hang on,

as in a

to

and has a dorsal rudder on the aftersection of the

bridge structure, or fairwater (the

underwater that she

way

streamlined, with a teardrop shape, like

is

equipped with straps and handrails for the

subway

train,

and with airplane-type

men

to

controls, or a diving

"stick," for the "pilot."

This streamlined hull form, coupled with stronger and thicker pressure hulls (the cylindrical-shaped inner

body of a submarine

and with new forms of propulsion,

stand tremendous water pressures)

modern submarines

enables

about three times as

The underwater ically as

submerged

to cruise

fast as they

stressed to with-

could in World

hulls of large surface vessels

at far greater depths

War

and

II.

have not changed so dramat-

have those of submarines. However, there have been refinements

or modifications to improve speed, seakeeping ability, or detection capabilities.

Smaller surface vessels, such as landing craft and patrol

craft,

have tested

planing-type or V-shaped bottoms, the historic catamaran, or double-hull, principle (something like outrigger canoes), and, most important, hydrofoils.

Hydrofoils are really sea

high speed,

lift

or a kind of ship water skis that, at

a craft bodily out of the water, thus breaking the powerful

water friction on are far

stilts

its

hull

and enabling

it

to "fly" over the water. Hydrofoils

more complicated than they sound, and although hydrofoil

operate across the Strait of Messina from Italy to Sicily and there are river

and lake hydrofoil

craft in Russia

ferries

many

and elsewhere, rough weather or

high waves have so far prohibited their use on the high seas. The largest naval hydrofoil craft so far interestingly enough, its

is

a 110-ton subchaser or patrol craft, built,

by the Boeing Company, internationally famous for

construction of big bombers, like the Flying Fortresses of

and the B-47 and B-52 of the

The profound changes

in

Strategic Air

World War

II

Command.

marine propulsion systems and hull forms have

been matched by the development of amazing new weapons and equipment. Guns, which can spew out 20 to 30 rounds per minute, controlled by the

magic eye of gunlaying radar (RAd\o Direction

^nd

flange) are far more

The New Navy

24

War

accurate than in World

But they are being supplemented, and for

II.

The Navy's

functions almost completely replaced, by missiles.

many

many

are of

kinds and

craft missile of

missiles

bear curious names: Terrier, a short-range antiair-

extreme accuracy; Talos, a longer-range ship-to-air missile;

and Tartar. Perhaps the most famous

be

Polaris, the giant rocket designed to

is

launched from the tubes of a submerged submarine against surface targets as

much

as

2,500 nautical miles away.

which have revolutionized warfare,

Missiles,

between a giant

shell

opment they are new

and a

are,

a sense, a cross

in

pilotless aircraft. In their present state of devel-

to war, but rockets

and, in various forms, have

were used centuries ago

made dramatic appearances

in

China,

in history ever

since.

Unlike the motive power ing gas from

shell fired

in the

its

and a means

changing course

though

it is

fins,

carries within

form of rocket motors that spew flaming

nozzles;

—

from a gun, a missile

its

own

movable

in flight.

or directional

missiles even

have their

human one. They no human being aboard.

a mechanical rather than a

with the greatest of ease with

of burn-

guidance system (there are several kinds), stabilizers,

Some

trails

own

its

it

jet

nozzles

own kind fly

—

for

of brain,

through the

air

Antiaircraft missiles have virtually displaced the small quick-firing 20-

and 40-mm. guns of World War

II,

and many of the larger guns. Ship-

versus-ship missiles are in operation, or in advanced stages of development,

and

air-to-ship or air-to-submarine missiles are

The

missile has

numerous.

tremendously extended the range of the gun.

It

has

supersonic speed, and the reliable guided versions have very great accuracy.

Indeed, they represent almost certain death to a plane that

flies

within their

range. Jet aircraft

and many new specialized types of planes are other weapons

that have helped to revolutionize

war

at sea.

World War II Chance Vought slightly more than 400 miles an

Propeller-driven planes like the famous

F4U hour.

Corsair

The

made maximum speeds

jet aircraft utilize

"scoops," compressing

it,

turbines, sucking air in through great

mixing

fuel (kerosene or a special

of

it

brand of

open

with the burning gases of the injected jet fuel),

and expanding and expelling

the flaming mixture from the rear of the engine. This thrust pushes the

plane through the

air at

speeds greater than that of sound.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SEA POWER

To

those

who remember

the

25

World War

supersonic speed for

II era,

piloted planes seems a miracle.

Only two decades ago the boundaries of our aeronautical knowledge seemed

to indicate that a

that there

was a "sound

winged plane could not

fly faster

than sound;

barrier," like an invisible stone wall in the sky,

against which any aircraft

would dash

itself to pieces.

The

first

aircraft to

disprove this theory did experience a great deal of buffeting and vibration as

it

passed through the "barrier." But designers quickly learned to "beef

up" the

A

aircraft's structure for

high-speed

flight,

Polaris missile breaks the surface of the ocean

a pre-selected flight path. (U.S.

Navy)

slim

and

down

ignites,

the fuselage to

sending

itself into

The New Navy

26

a sort of "coke-bottle" or "wasp" waist, and sweep back, or angle, the wings to streamline

Today,

and strengthen the plane for supersonic speeds. one of the Navy's operational

at least

F4B Phantom,

fighters, the

McDonnell

has zipped through the air at considerably more than twice

the speed of sound, or at 1,606.3 miles per hour. Similarly, altitude, range,

and load-carrying records have

all

been recorded

in

new

superlatives.

The

modern plane can fly faster, farther, and higher than most pilots twenty years ago dreamed possible. With air refueling, the range of the piloted plane has become virtually unlimited. The Navy uses modified tactical aircraft that can take off from carrier decks for tanker planes, and it employs the "probe

and drogue" system

to refuel, rather than the flying

boom

first

used by the Air Force. The tanker reels out one or more cup-shaped drogues

connected with the tanker's fuel tanks by flexible fuel trail behind the tanker, the refueling aircraft

lines.

As

these drogues

maneuvers her probe into the

drogue, and drinks up the fuel from the mother plane, like a bee sucking pollen from a flower. This system permits one tanker to refuel several

planes simultaneously. Helicopters have also altered the face of naval war.

They have largely The admiral

replaced small boats for communication between ships at sea.

now comes aboard from

a helicopter rather than

ing boat. Because helicopters can hover

surface of the sea

up a ladder from a bounc-

and maneuver close above the

and can lower sonar (SOund Navigation

^nd

flanging)

gear by cables into the ocean, they are extremely important in antisub-

marine operations. They are also used extensively by the Marines to supple-

ment amphibious landing

craft in ship-to-shore landing operations.

All these aircraft, in special forms and with special weapons, are em-

ployed in a variety of light

roles.

They

bombers), reconnaissance

are used as fighters, attack planes (or

aircraft; for

antisubmarine and antishipping

missions; as sky sentinels (with radar) for early warning of planes; for

mine detection; transport and cargo work;

as

enemy

ships or

communication

in many other roles. They have all kinds of weapons and equipment, from the Bullpup air-to-ground missile (guided by radio)

relay stations,

to electronic

and

"jamming" equipment that

will

drown out an enemy's radio

circuits.

new weapons and almost human equipment are increasing the Navy's punch, lengthening its reach, and In addition to aircraft, other strange

making

its

combat

reflexes almost automatic.

'%..

Combat-equipped Marines embark assault. (U.S. Navy)

in a helicopter to take part in

an amphibious

Nuclear warheads, or bombs or depth charges capable of destroying a submarine, a plane in

power. the to

A

flight,

or a city, have given the

new

fleet frightful

sixteen-inch shell, the most powerful shell used by the

now vanished

500 pounds

of

battleship era of

TNT

World War

I

and

II,

Navy

carried about

(depending on the type of ammunition).

A

in

50

depth

charge for use against submarines had about 600 pounds of explosives.

Today, the nuclear warhead of a single Polaris missile carries explosive

power equivalent of

to

about 600,000 tons, or more than one billion pounds,

TNT. Combinations of rockets and torpedoes

^OCket),

a

Rube Goldberg

device that

is

like

ASROC

(Antisubmarine

launched through the

air like a

and then becomes a homing prey, are now operational or under development

rocket, drops with a parachute into the sea,

torpedo hunting for in several forms.

wires or

homing

and drone, or

its

New

high-speed, long-range torpedoes, guided by trailing

in silence, attracted

pilotless, helicopters

by the sound of the enemy's propellers;

(DASH

—Drone Antisubmarine

copter) that seek and hunt by remote radioed

weapons.

command,

are other

f/eli-

new

New Navy

The

28

weapons and the tremendous increase in the effectiveness of other destructive explosives have virtually ended the age-old duel between the projectile a ship fired and the armor it carried. Armor,

The power

as

it

of nuclear

was once known, has gone;

no longer worth

it is

its

weight.

No

longer

do ships carry the great girdle of armor around their middles; no longer are conning towers and barbettes and turrets built of steel ten to twenty inches thick. Some of the new ships carry light aluminum armor around the bridge structure for protection against splinters or small-arms others

still

The

have some

light

equipment of the

deck or side armor, but

New Navy

is

this

and radar

or blast;

is all.

startlingly different

old. Electronics, the utilization of radio

fire

from that of the

for communications,

detection, identification, navigation, gunlaying, missile-control,

and other

purposes, have tremendously strengthened the Navy's capabilities.

same time

this

nance, repair and upkeep.

A

destroyer built in 1937 had

some

tronic tubes aboard. Seven years later the destroyer of that

Today

tubes.

a

At the

equipment has greatly complicated operation and maintesixty elec-

day had 750

modern destroyer may have 14,000 tubes (and thousands

many

of transistors, the tiny electronic devices that have replaced tubes in roles).

Radar

is

used aboard ship for detecting and tracking surface ships and

Radar provides a "seeing eye" on the

planes and for missile guidance.

bridge

when

a ship

is

blinded by fog, and has largely displaced optical

human

range finders (devices dependent upon the

Airborne radar

enemy

is

used for

all

kinds of missions.

attack, guides air-to-surface missiles,

It

eye)

for gunlaying.

gives early warning of

and helps

in navigation,

and

soon.

Sound waves are

still

the chief

means

are supplemented by infrared, or the detection of heat,

Anomaly Detector),

netic

They (Mag-

of detection beneath the sea.

and by

MAD

a device that distinguishes, though only at short

ranges, metal objects, such as a submarine beneath the surface.

Radar or

radio wavelengths penetrate the surface of the water only to shallow depths; thus sound detection

is

of key importance in

ASW

(Antisubmarine War-

fare).

Sonar, or sound-detection gear, as revolutionary as that of other

War

is

in a process of

developments

in

improvement almost

naval technology. World

sound gear could pick up an enemy submarine at a maximum range of perhaps 2,000 yards. Today, long-range sonar, or "bottom-bounce" II

THE IMPORTANCE OF SEA POWER

29

sonar, a detection device that literally bounces powerful sound waves off

the ocean bottom, reaches out for scores of miles.

Woods Hole Oceanographic

Intensive studies at

the Navy's underwater sound laboratories

setts, at

Massachu-

Institute in

on both

coasts,

other institutions have resulted in the accumulation of a mass of

about the oceans,

its

ent temperatures),

and

at

new data

currents and thermal layers (layers of water at differ-

and how sound waves behave when transmitted through

water. Hydrophones, or underwater listening devices, have picked up the

sound of a

thousands of miles away. The approximate

ship's propellers

"fix," or position, of a

submarine can be determined, sometimes from hun-

dreds of miles away,

hydrophones,

if

set at different places

beneath the

sea,

can secure approximate "bearings" or direction of the sound of the submarine's propellers.

To ment

digest, interpret,

and present

like this; to select

all

and control the

be used, and to aid the commanding erly, the

New Navy

ship, various

the information gathered

by equip-

weapons

ships, the planes, the

to

prop-

officers to evaluate the situation

uses several kinds of mechanical computers aboard

automatic navigation systems, and complicated visual display

boards, which, by lights or symbols or other means, give the admiral at a

glance his

The

own

situation

and

all

that

is

revolution at sea obviously has

known about the enemy's. affected the men who operate

these

gadgets.

One

of the chief requirements for a stoker, or fireman, in the days of the

old coal-burning Navy, was a strong back (and,

mind").

He had

to

wits added, "a

to

indeed, must have, physically

keep steam up. Today, the Navy fit

men, but the emphasis

brawn, on education and training, on

stability

For the complex nature of modern war

and planes and

all their

dollars'

men who fight and maintain and manage them; Man" of the old Navy is not enough today. The new a tremendous It

requires

all,

wants,

brains, not

in this

most careful

modern age

worth of equipment.

complex equipment are no better than

the

gent and, above

on

at sea requires the

can lose a ship or damage or destroy millions of ships

is

still

and judgment.

kind of selection and training of personnel; one mistake

The

weak

be a tough fellow physically to stand the searing heat

and the acute discomforts

just

some

this is

why

the "Iron

breed must be

intelli-

must have the capability of learning and of absorbing

amount

of

knowledge quickly.

months and years

to turn out

men competent

to

go

to sea in

The New Navy

30 a nuclear-powered Polaris submarine; to build the submarine. like

A

$100,000.

A

it

takes longer to train the

great percentage of the jobs aboard ship require

kind of technical education, which often only the there are

Going

no exactly comparable jobs to sea

advance

in grade,

If a

than

man wants

he never stops

Navy can

offer

some (since

in civilian life).

today demands more than

a love for blue water. to

men

jet pilot's training costs the nation something

a yen to see the world,

more than

make a career of the Navy, and studying. The technological revolution to

has brought to the Navy, indeed, has necessitated, the enlistment and com-

missioning of the highest type of cally,

and morally

—

in the

man

—

mentally, physically, psychologi-

Navy's history.

The machine has revolutionized sea power, but man is and man commands; man fights. Man not the machine

—

battles and wars. Victory today, as in the past,

Crew members

in the

—wins

master,

or loses

measure of man.

responsible for controlling the preparation of the Polaris missile

check out equipment in the center missile George Washington. (U.S. Navy)

for firing,

USS

is

still its

level station

aboard the

II SUBMARINES

At 9:13 a.m., April 10, 1962, near 41 degrees 45 minutes north latitude, 64 degrees 59 minutes west longitude, some 200 miles east of Cape Cod, the United States nuclear submarine Thresher, hundreds of feet beneath

on her underwater sound telephone:

the Atlantic, reported ".

.

experiencing minor

.

difficulty.

Have

positive

up

angle.

Am

at-

tempting to blow. Will keep you informed."

Three minutes

the submarine rescue vessel Skylark, on the surface,

later,

heard in the throaty gargling tones peculiar to sound-powered underwater

phones a garbled message, with the words: ".

test

.

.

That was the sank with 129 feet of

water

."

depth

.

last

men

be

lost,

ter in

off the Atlantic shelf.

is

first

and

intensified the

first

chap-

underwater operations

conventional submarines

—

to

in particular.

silent,

in general

For the submarine

was the same

"run

It

Navy's research and development into

and construction of new seagoing power plants

objective after Thresher's loss

as

it

had been

sailor,

and the

in the era of

run deep."

But detailed and minute studies of how *

nuclear-powered submarine

destined to be the long history of nuclear maritime power.

greatly stimulated

into

of the Thresher, the

brought to a tragic end the amazing and revolutionary

what

the design

message ever received from the USS Thresher as she

aboard, far below crushing depth,* to her grave in 8,400

The sudden death to

.

to achieve this goal

were

re-

The crushing depth

marine

is

is the depth at which the strong heavy pressure hull of the subcrushed, like an eggshell, by the tremendous weight of hundreds of feet of water.

31

The nuclear submarine Thresher, whose in the design

tragic end intensified the Navy's research and construction of submarines. (U.S. Navy)

doubled and speeded up submarines, indeed, of

combat

after all

effectiveness with

Threshers

ship design

optimum

loss.

The

old, old

—how —was more

best to

safety

problem of

all

combine optimum

carefully studied than

ever before. Thresher's

loss, far

from halting the development of nuclear power for

the Navy, far from delaying the transition of the submarine navy to the

use of fissionable fuel, has accelerated man's research into the

Mount

Everest, the world's highest peak, has claimed

many

unknown.

lives,

but has

been conquered. So, too, long before the twenty-first century commences, will the

to

murky canyons and black depths

submarine

sailors

who

will

of the oceans yield their secrets

follow where the dead of the Thresher

pioneered.

Nuclear power not only has made possible the development of the true undersea craft (capable of indefinite submergence);

vided the means for exploitation by the

Navy

it

first

has also pro-

of vast subocean areas never

SUBMARINES

33

before utilized for peace or war.

systems and hence ship design.

It

has revolutionized naval propulsion

development,

Its

parable in importance to the transition from

The

principles of nuclear

incomplete,

still

sail to

steam.

power and the general design

of the

power

and submarines.

plants so far built are similar in both surface ships

application to submarines, however, presents

com-

is

some

(Its

special problems that

will be discussed later in this chapter.)

Nuclear power plants of heat

when atoms

utilize the

tremendous energy released

are fissioned or broken up.

form

in the

The processed

materials,

the so-called fissionable materials, U-235, a derivative of uranium, and

plutonium, provide in a nuclear reactor the fuel that off heat, just as oil or coal

or gas

when burned

in a

when "burned"

gives

furnace gives off heat.

In a nuclear explosion two so-called "critical" masses of fissionable terial are

be, like

brought together in fractions of a second so that the reaction

some chemical laboratory experiments,

explosive.

One

is

to a crisp, in fact, turns to gas, anything

This "thermal," or heat, effect

is

it

touches.

used in a nuclear reactor. But, unlike

a warhead or a bomb, a nuclear reactor

is

devised with

guards to prevent an explosion or supercritical reaction. utilize, in

all sorts It is

of safe-

designed to

a self-sustaining, carefully controlled manner, the heat given off

when atomic

fission

occurs in the fuel in the reactor.

nuclear reactor

is

thus really a furnace containing in carefully pack-

aged and separate packets the enriched uranium which, when supplies the heat.

of

the great

with heat measured in millions of degrees (as hot as the sun),

which sears

A

will

of the most

spectacular and dangerous of the effects of a nuclear explosion fireball,

ma-

uranium the

The

potential energy, the

size of a golf ball

Navy has

(two pounds)

is

fissioned,

estimated, "in a

lump

the equivalent of 460,000

gallons of fuel oil or 3,000 tons of coal." This radioactive fuel in a carefully

compartmented core

is

constantly giving off tiny particles called neutrons.

Unchecked neutrons dash back and soda water heat

is

The

fizzling.

given off and

Neutrons

split,

more neutrons

secret of a nuclear reactor

is

forth frantically in all directions like

or fission, atoms, and in the process fly

about.

the control of the neutrons

—

the limi-

number permitted to strike and thus fission other atoms. This is done by means of control rods of special metal which, like baffles, absorb or slow down the neutrons and thus control the number of atoms that are split. The rods are carefully spaced in the reactor to separate the packaged tation of the

i

The New Navy

34

When

fissionable elements.

and hence the reactor

It is

more heat and hence

the

heat, the fission

can occur

When

they

The more

they

occurs and heat results.

more power. which prevents

its

run-

under certain conditions,

faintly conceivable that reactors might,

much

emit so

fission

is

fission

being burned.

built-in safety factors in every reactor

There are away.

stopped, for no fuel

some

are partly withdrawn,

are withdrawn, the

is

no

the rods are fully lowered,

might become so tremendous, that the reactor

might melt. But there can be no nuclear explosion as such.

The

fuel,

or fissionable material, thus gives off heat, which must be har-

The United

nessed to do useful work, as in the case of any other fuel.

States Navy's nuclear reactors use the heat to turn water into steam to drive

through steam turbines, the ship's propeller

electric generators and,

But

this

shafts.

has to be done carefully to prevent the spread of radioactivity, from

the enclosed

and heavily shielded and protected reactor, throughout the

ship.

The Navy's to prevent

a series of

it

reactors are pressurized-water types. Water, under pressure,

from turning

It

is

circulated through the reactor in

This water, called the primary coolant,

coils.

temperature.

into steam,

then passes,

still

in the carefully built enclosed piping system,

through a boiler or heat exchanger, where the heat

ondary piping loop, entirely enclosed and loop.

The primary coolant

to the reactor in

Because of the

what

is

distinct

heated to a high

is

distinct

from the primary coolant

water, after transferring

called a closed cycle,

transferred to a sec-

is

and

its

heat,

pumped back

is

starts the process again.

and compartmented nature of the two piping

tems and because of the extreme care taken in pipe radioactivity can be transferred

fittings,

from the primary coolant

sys-

and so on, no

to the

secondary

system.

The water

in the

secondary piping loop, passing through the

boiler or heat exchanger, turns into steam. This steam electric

is

coils in the

then piped to the

turbogenerators to provide light and power, and to the steam

turbines that are geared to the ship's propeller shaft.

work, transforming

its

When

heat or energy into useful power,

a closed piping system, or cycle, to the boiler.

On

the

way

it

it

it

has done

is

returned, in

its

passes, as in all

normal steam systems, through a condenser, where the cool water of the sea,

piped in loops through a separate piping system, turns

water for use again.

To compensate

it

back

into

for the gradual loss of fresh water,

evaporators, which literally evaporate, or separate, the salt from seawater,

SUBMARINES thus

making

water

35

amounts of secondary-system

fresh water, supply additional

" Jf>

A

when needed.

Sounds complex?

,Q more complex than

actually a thousand times

It is

\

it

sounds.

The steam-engineering But

and

to ensure safety

from the reactor core, valves had attempted.

had

to

New

no major

part of the plants present

to prevent or to

difficulties.

minimize the escape of radioactivity

be ground to tolerances never before

metals, such as the rare metals zirconium and hafnium,

be employed

for the tubes housing the fissionable fuel, the control

rods and other structural parts in the reactor core. These metals resist corrosion and permit the passage of neutrons, or they can absorb them or stop

them, as desired. These, and other, engineering breakthroughs were successfully accom-

power plant

plished in the construction of the original nuclear

submarine Nautilus. Lead shielding, many inches to leak only

one cubic centimeter

from which

it

is

in

thick,

for the

pumps designed

100,000 years, and a reactor system

estimated that only one neutron out of each 30 billion

"escapes" ensure safety.

The

entire reactor

is

housed

in a

tremendous

steel shell, called the pres-

sure vessel, and protected by lead shielding and surrounded by other layers of insulating

and protective material. All

sorts

automatic control mechanisms were devised

—

in order to

—each

keep the reactor from "destroying

The Navy's operating reactors today are water type, although they differ in efficiency since the Nautilus

was

details,

all

and semi-

of automatic

duplicating the other

itself

and the submarine."

of the standard pressurized-

and have improved markedly

built in 1954.

The Seawolf, second

nuclear-powered submarines, used liquid sodium

in

of our

instead of pressurized

water in her primary coolant system, but because she encountered some corrosion and leakage problems, this part of her system was replaced.

The

great advantage of the pressurized-water reactor

water in the primary coolant system

is

irradiated as

it

is

its

safety.

The

passes through the

reactor to absorb the heat generated by fission. But the chemical half-life

—

the time in which radioactivity "decays" or

for every chemical element)

oxygen constituent reactor reactor

is

—

is

becomes innocuous

(different

only seven seconds for oxygen. Thus the

in the water, while intensively radioactive

when

the

operating, "decays" to virtually nothing quickly. Indeed, the

compartment

of a pressurized-water plant can be entered safely

by

New Navy

36

The

the engineering crew within a short period after shutdown,

and some of the

primary coolant can be, and

pumped

is,

no detectable

into the sea, with

increase in radioactivity.

The amount power,

tial

is

power, more

of fissionable material in each reactor, arbitrarily

limited for safety reasons.

and hence

To

poten-

achieve greater

hold

efficient fissionable material, better tubes to

its

it,

improved

and other engineering advances are being made. But any major step-up in power to provide enough energy for a big ship is taken controlling rods

care of by adding to the

number

of reactors.

All of our attack and Polaris submarines are designed for one reactor only.

The

Triton, originally a giant radar picket

re-equipped as an underwater

command

ered frigate Bainbridge has two pressurized-water

Beach has two. The giant

submarine (now being

The nuclear-powreactors; the cruiser Long

ship), has two.

warship in the

aircraft carrier Enterprise, largest

world, has eight reactors, and they give her so

much

speed, really in excess

of her needs, that subsequent nuclear-powered carriers will probably be

designed for four or

The

six reactors only.

great advantage of nuclear reactors for warships

of the necessity for frequent refueling. In

Korean War, the normal routine refueling for every

two

Now,

aircraft carrier

and during the

was one day of

a

little

lump

(when

of fissionable material, care-

packeted and distributed throughout the tubes of a reactor, permits

ships so equipped to steam

As

an

II

the elimination

to four days of intensive aircraft operations

high speed was needed). fully

for

World War

is

more than 100,000 miles without

the efficiency of the reactors

cruising radius

and

their ancillary plants

and seagoing endurance of our ships

the capability of their crews to "take the world without refueling are

tomorrow

will carry

any war,

in fact

enough

now

it."

will

is

refueling.

increased, the

be limited only by

Voyages of many times around

possible.

Nuclear-powered ships of

fuel in their initial core to last

them throughout

throughout the normal twenty-year lifetime of the ship.

This eliminates the costly business of refueling at sea, the necessity for fleet oilers,

There

and so on.

are, of course,

disadvantages to nuclear power.

system; so far considerably systems. Today,

it

is still

more expensive, by perhaps

A

an expensive

a third, than other

possible, despite advances in nuclear technology,

to build three conventionally

powered ones.

It is

powered ships

nuclear reactor

is

for the cost of

two nuclear-

heavy and bulky (largely because of

SUBMARINES

37

and the steam plants that go with

the shielding necessary),

it

use relatively

low-pressure, low-temperature systems, which are inherently less efficient

than the newest high-pressure ones. But the weight and bulk of reactors

more than compensated

are

An

fuel oil.

for

by the space that used to be

aircraft carrier like the Enterprise

can now

fill

utilized for

most of her

fuel

tanks with "av-gas" (aviation gasoline) or so-called JP-3 (a kerosene-type fuel), thus enabling her air

group

Another problem peculiar of

greatest advantages,

its

Steam turbines, pumps,

powered

To

vessel

to the

keep

flying for far longer periods.

nuclear-powered ship stems from one

its

ability to cruise indefinitely at high speeds.

gears,

and other components of the conventionally

were not designed for such continuous high-speed

cruising.

withstand the strains placed upon them by the introduction of nuclear

many

power,

of these

strength, ruggedness, It

to

is

components had and

reliability,

to be redesigned, or "beefed

up"

in

with consequent increased expense.

noteworthy that the major operating problems encountered by our

nuclear-powered ships have had nothing to do with the reactor

but

itself,

with the conventional components utilized in the normal steam engineering plant.

There

some inherent

are, also,

safety

handling of highly radioactive elements.

must be refueled, she

will

problems

And when

connection with the

in

a nuclear-powered ship

be out of operation for a long time. The process

of removing her old, highly radioactive core and of replacing

it

with a

new

one, and the necessary checking and overhaul of piping systems and other

engineering equipment

months will

for completion.

become

a long and expensive one requiring quite a few

The

process will be simplified and shortened and

expensive and far

less

Nevertheless,

is

all

less

these factors, particularly expense and weight, have so

far limited the application of nuclear

carrier Enterprise; the cruiser

nation's

Long

power

The

Beach, the frigate Bainbridge

Each had

A2W

Westinghouse).

Beach

is

aircraft

were the

(Aircraft Carriers It

in

a slightly different nuclear-reactor installation.

Enterprise installation, designed especially for aircraft carriers,

nated the

includes eight reactors.

a slightly modified version of the

is

desig-

—

—Second

Model Manufactured by The installation aboard Long

A1W

two reactors. Bainbridge, on the other hand, first

to surface ships.

(and the world's) only nuclear-powered surface men-of-war

operation in 1963.

The

frequent with more experience.

is

installation, but with only

powered with the world's

reactor plant specifically designed for destroyers

—

the

D2G

(Destroyer

The New Navy

3g

Model Two installation]

—

pact than the

model was a land-based training and prototype General Electric). It is considerably lighter and more com[the

first

Long Beach

All these plants

—

the

plant.

first

of their kind for surface ships

—have

presented

marine engineers and naval designers with peculiar problems, and all of them so far cost more than conventionally powered marine installations. But, as nuclear reactors are lightened and improved,

more and more surface

warships will "burn" atoms.

Nuclear power has a peculiar advantage for submarines. Fission does not require oxygen to permit "combustion." coal, oil

—

Any

other type of fuel

mix with the

needs air in large quantities to

fuel

—

gas,

and permit

burning and thus heat. The old-fashioned submarine was limited in per-

formance and there

capabilities.

For when the submarine was

was no way of getting

combination

(common

to all

and of

submerged,

sufficient air to use ordinary fuels.

submarines

in

the world

was commissioned on September 30, 1954) of cruising

totally

electric batteries for

And

the

until the Nautilus

diesel engines for surfaced

submerged was the only propulsion

system available.

Engines driven by hydrogen-peroxide were developed by the Germans.

But

and dangerous chemical engine had a short and largely

this volatile

experimental

and was quickly replaced by nuclear power.

life

The Germans, capabilities

at the

end of World

War

II,

increased the submarine's

by development of a Dutch invention, the snorkel, with which

most of the world's submarines are now equipped. This like a large pipe,

is

cruising at periscope depth, or air,

simply a device,

with a flapper valve at the top, which extends, like a peri-

scope, from the submarine hull to the surface.

down

is

fifty

It is

used when the submarine

or so feet beneath the surface.

It

sucks

so that the diesel engines can be used while the submarine

submerged, and

it

closes temporarily

expels the exhaust gases. if

a

The

is

flapper valve automatically

wave washes over the snorkel head. This gadget

permits diesel-powered submarines to cruise indefinitely at periscope depth,

and since only a small snorkel head and periscope are above the water, the submarine

is

far harder to detect.

But radar has been tremendously improved, and exhaust gases leave telltale clues to delicate

tion for submarines.

instruments. Snorkels, therefore, are no sure protec-

Only the depths of the

sea,

beneath the thermal layers,

SUBMARINES

39

or different temperature strata of the ocean, provide a high degree of "invisibility." Electric batteries,

—

for totally

submerged

speed, quickly ran

down

which provided power

cruising,

—without

had short endurance, and

like the batteries of a car. Since

types of batteries have been devised that give far ones.

the need for air

The experimental submarine Albacore,

if

used for

World War

more power than

for instance, has

been equipped with the most powerful submarine batteries

II,

full

new

the old recently

in the world;

they give her a top speed far in excess of 20 knots, but only for a short time.

When

the batteries are run-down, the conventional submarine must

come

or

surface,

to

snorkel depth, to run

its

diesels

and recharge

its

batteries.

Normally,

process occurs every day. Cruising at very slow speeds

this

submerged, an electric-battery submarine may be able to stay down for forty-eight hours, longer

The

if

the submarine

lies

on the bottom with no motion.

introduction of nuclear power to submarines completely revolu-

arm of combustion was

For the

time a fuel that required no air

tionized this

the Navy.

for

available, a fuel that provided

first

tremendous power for

very high submerged speeds and for very long endurance.

marked

of the Nautilus

Thresher's loss

—

ately introduced

—

a chapter that

of an era of true underwater navigation.

by naming the

lus for her fabled

dream ship

the opening chapter

namesakes

in Jules

first

The development It

ended with the

was appropri-

nuclear-powered submarine the Nauti-

—Robert

Fulton's Nautilus of 1800, and the

Verne's classic Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the

Sea.

Drawing of the Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, showing and relative size of its compartments. (U.S. Navy)

tion

the loca-

The

40 Nuclear power

only one of the postwar developments that have revo-

is

The development

lutionized submarine construction.

and of

steel alloys

New Navy

of the high-speed hull

with tremendous tensile strength are of almost equal

importance. Nuclear power has given the submarine indefinite underwater

endurance. The new streamlined hull form with a blunt bow, variously called shark-shaped or teardrop-shaped, permits great speed,

mean greater depths. The standard hull form today

and the new

steels

Albacore, the prototype of

though equipped with

derived from the experimental submarine

is

high-speed

all

electric batteries

and

submarines. diesels,

is

The Albacore,

possibly the fastest

submarine in the world, though only for short bursts. She

and the combat

submarines that followed her were designed for underwater cruising, unlike the fleet "boats" of to

World War

II,

which were

really surface ships, able

submerge. Albacore, Skipjack, one of the fastest of our nuclear-powered submarines,

the Polaris submarines,

When

and

all

the newer ships are

cruising at high speeds, the great

awkward on

bow waves

the surface.

they kick up curl back

over the entire foredeck to the "sail," or midships' superstructure. But their

whaleback deck, streamlined form, and bulbous bow are ideal for sub-

merged

cruising

New

have no

flows past the

and thicker

increased the design

plates

steel test

new ocean

submerged, completely independent of

stay

it

can cruise around the world under-

can navigate under the polar ice cap, thus open-

It

to shipping. Its speeds, limited to about seven to nine knots

submerged and

fifteen to eighteen

have increased

to speeds unofficially estimated at

— —have

knots on the surface in World

maximum

more than

submerged. Test depths

the

normally designed

increased from 300 to 500 feet in

to

perhaps

aside as

and improved welding techniques have

the earth's atmosphere, indefinitely;

water as the Triton did.

it

effect.

depths tremendously.

The modern submarine can

ing a

friction

new hulls; the blunt bows do not push submarines and modern surface ships do.

The water the older

where wave action and surface

triple that figure.

And

others, together with engineering

War

II,

thirty knots

depth for which the submarine

is

World War

II

with these changes have gone a host of

problems of many types, not

all

of

them

completely solved.

The long-endurance, high-speed, deep-diving submarine has encountered, like every new type of weapons system, problems peculiar to the medium

SUBMARINES in

which

it

41

operates. This

is

why

the Threshers loss marked, in one sense,

end of an epoch and the beginning of a new chapter.

the

For the introduction of nuclear power whole maze of piping,

all

of

it

to

submarines has meant that a

subjected to sea pressure, must penetrate the

strong pressure hull of the submarine. Electric batteries could be used with-

out cooling seawater; hull openings were few in the conventional submarine.

But

in the

modern submarine propelled beneath

water in pressurized piping

is

the surface by steam, sea-

required to condense the steam used to drive

generators and turbines into water for use again. Evaporators, or are needed to

make

fresh water out of salt,

and seawater

is

"stills,"

also used for

plumbing.

The nuclear-powered submarine has

the tremendous pressure of the sea

outside the hull, and also inside, in the form of a

much

amount

greater

of

high-pressure piping, bending and curving through the ship.

The modern submarine has been built to cruise much faster and far deeper than its World War II predecessors. The greater the depth, the more difficult

joints

the problems. Packing boxes around the propeller shafts, piping

and piping, and the

hull itself are subjected to

—more than 44 pounds per square inch For

all

for

each 100

feet of depth.

these reasons the complexity of the task of ensuring safety has

The maze of piping presents, to date, something more than 7,000 to 9,000 pipe

greatly increased.

There are

tremendous pressures

the major problem. joints in saltwater

systems alone in the nuclear submarine. During construction each of these joints

ods.

and the pipe

The pipe

itself is

joints are

carefully inspected

formed by welding, wherever space that

in the constricted interior of a silver brazing,

and tested by several meth-

where space

is

is

precious

submarine permits, or by a process called

limited.

Welding provides a kind of built-up seam with new metal joining the two ends together. Silver brazing, utilizing a silver alloy,

the

is

a kind of physical

two ends of the pipe with the application of

heat,

bonding of

somewhat

similar to

soldering.

There are various types of pipe others. all

No

some

inherently stronger than

one type, because of space and other reasons, can be used for

somewhat stronger process than silver but both have been used successfully for some years for joining

purposes. Welding normally

brazing,

joints,

is

a

high-pressure piping. (Silver brazing

is

not used for joining high-pressure

The New Navy

42 steam

However, the inspection techniques developed for welded a much higher guarantee of a good joint than do the available

lines.)

joints offer

inspection techniques for a brazed joint.

During construction physical inspection of the joint is the first step. A trained inspector can tell a good deal by simply looking at a welded or brazed

X-ray or gamma-ray photography

joint.

is

then used on

all

welded

joints to take an actual picture of the cellular condition of the metal.

Trained operators are required to read the photographs properly. cannot be used for brazed

which sound energy

is

joints,

good or

rays

but a type of ultrasonic inspection by

passed through the joint and the reflected sound

waves are measured on an oscilloscope picture of a

X

*

can show a trained operator a

faulty joint.

After these inspections are made, there are various blow-down and hydro-

has been found that even fine dust

static tests. It

may

left in

ances. High-pressure air blows out the system.

then submitted to hydrostatic pressure

tests.

The piping and the Water is pumped

pressure equivalent to that to which the submarine and

seawater piping would be subjected.

same pressure

The water

as that of the submarine's test

which the ship

The

a piping system

jam or slow the closing of a high-pressure valve ground to fine toler-

will

normally operate

is

first

depth

— and then

—

its

joints are

in

under

high-pressure

pumped

in at the

the lowest depth at

at its

"crushing" depth.

"extra" hundreds of feet represent a safety factor to strengthen the

whole design. Moreover, the pipe metals themselves and sample tested again

joints are

and again under extreme hydrostatic pressure to determine

the effect of metal fatigue.

The

loss of the

Thresher and other nonfatal piping failures in United

States submarines led to an intensive re-examination of the design

and

construction of submarines. All operating submarines are being retested

and re-examined with a fine-tooth comb

as they

become

available for yard

overhaul. Hull sections as well as piping are X-rayed, and any modifications in design that trical

can be made, such as the relocation or the protection of elec-

switchboards from exposure to flooding by broken piping, are being

made.

More major built.

*

An

But

just

design changes will be incorporated in submarines not yet

what they

oscilloscope

the oscillations or

is

will entail

no one can now

say.

So much has

to

be

an instrument that presents visually on a screen or graduated dial the sound waves.

movements of

SUBMARINES

43 submarine, and a submarine

packed into a small hull

in a

many

nature of some of them unknown, that any design

stresses, the exact

is

subjected to so

must represent a compromise between optimum combat effectiveness and

optimum

safety.

Diving deep into the sea

at great

depths

ardous, as every submarine sailor knows; the problem

is

inherently haz-

the level of risk

is

that the designer should accept.

But

is

it

already clear that future submarine designs will reduce mate-

number

rially the

by the numbers of

ers believe, are multiplied

of

For the chances of

of piping joints.

workmanship needed

is

failure,

some

design-

and the quality control

joints

so high that the possibility of

human

failure

by

inadequately trained or careless inspection personnel increases.

Bending, rather than joining, of pipes wherever possible; rerouting them

would be

so that welds rather than brazing

haps, the development of

some

and eventually, per-

possible,

sort of propulsion system that

would

elimi-

nate, or at least reduce, the piping subject to sea pressure within the hull

are

all

part of the planned changes.

So, too,

is

a system called

FRISCO

(Fast Reaction /ntegrated Submarine

COntrol), an automatic reaction type of submarine control and safety

By means

system.

and

controls,

FRISCO

ing submarines of

The

of computers will react

and electronic and hydrostatic monitors

more quickly

tomorrow than the human brain and nervous system

size of the sail planes, the

either side of the in debate.

kind of ventral

Some submarine

amount

buoyancy

sailors feel they

of

in case of

mental submarines its

sail, is

can.

out from

another issue

should be somewhat larger so

an airplane, would provide a

buoyancy and could compensate

for

some negative

unexpected flooding.

Revolutionary changes in future designs

with

fins that stick

submarine superstructure called the

that the planes themselves, like the wings of

certain

to the high-speed, deep-div-

now

may

result

from the experi-

operating or under construction.

sensitive airplane-type controls,

The Albacore,

pioneered the deep high-speed

trend.

The Albacore has She has

sail

a joy stick to control her rudder and diving planes.

planes, or ventral

structure in place of the

bow

fins,

sticking out

from her midships super-

planes in older boats. Her diving angle can

be so steep, and her underwater high-speed turns make her heel so much, that her

compartments are

fitted

clutch, so that, like passengers

with straps or handrails for the crew to

on a subway

car, they

can keep their balance.

The New Navy

44 Albacore has had a number of different

tails

and other

tried out dive brakes (similar in a sense to those

from her

hull,

fittings;

she even

used on planes) extending

and a parachute streamed from her

sail,

to

check her rate

of dive.

Another experimental submarine, the Dolphin, Navy.

It is

is

being built for the

designed for far deeper dives than any submarine afloat.

depth has not been revealed, but

it

is

believed

it

will

be

Its test

at least three to

four times the limits of the Thresher class. Threshers top speed and depth limits

were

have a

secret,

depth of perhaps 1,000

test

more than 30 will

but speculative published reports indicated she might

knots.

will

and a top underwater speed of

The Dolphin, an experimental 950-ton research

have only a 21 -man crew, but

mated, and

feet,

will

ship,

be highly instrumented and auto-

have a computer recorder to tape and assimilate the

immense amount

of data she

in the solution of

such seemingly simple, but actually exceedingly complex,

engineering problems as

is

how

expected to record. She will be used to

assist

best to seal a propeller-shaft bearing against

the tremendous pressure of hundreds or thousands of feet of water.

The Aluminaut,

to

be built of high-strength aluminum forgings, 6V>

inches thick, bolted together,

is

under construction by Reynolds Inter-

national, Inc.,

and the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Cor-

poration.

designed purely as a research submarine for use

It is

depths of 15,000 feet by the

crew of three and

will carry a

miles. This

is

Woods Hole Oceanographic will

down

to

Institution. It

have a horizontal range of about eighty

one of several small research submarines designed

to explore

the mysteries of the ocean deeps.

New

materials, capable of greater strength than

any now available, are

being developed. The United States Steel Corporation recently received a research and development contract to develop a for use in hull plates of

new type

of tough steel alloy

deep-submergence submarines. Welding techniques

of greater strength are also being developed.

The Navy

believes that these,

and many other developments, may make

possible test depths for operating submarines

(as distinct from research and development submarines) of a maximum of 4,000 feet in the 19701980 period. Many officers see no combat or military requirement for any

greater depth capability, but

some

disagree.

In any case, the present and future designs and capabilities of the Navy's

SUBMARINES

45

submarines have been put under the microscope.

submarine "elder statesmen," including naval

was established of the

Navy

in

1963

to operate directly

mergence Systems Review Group, and

it

board of experts and

and

civilian scientists,

under the Assistant Secretary

Research and Development.

for

A

officers

It

studied

was called the Deep Subaspects of deep under-

all

water operations.

Navy in

experts feel that the loss of the Thresher, like

all

other tragedies

man's exploration of the unknown, taught many lessons and stimulated

development of future submarines.

greatly the

The Navy's submarine

fleet is

of the old wartime fleet boats, modernized with snorkels

more powerful

Many

today a mixture of old and new.

and with new and

still in operation. Some of the older AGSS, manned with reduced crews, simply provide service Key West, Florida, and for ASW HUK (//C/nter-^iller)

electric batteries, are

ones, designated

base at

at the

groups. Other conventional classes, including one small and silent hunterkiller

type (displacing about 765 tons) and two post-World

built to

Two

launch the winged Regulus guided missile, are in

older

World War

There are thus

II craft

have been converted

five Regulus-firing

submarines

to

in all;

full

War

II ships

commission.

handle the Regulus.

one nuclear-powered,

four conventional-powered.

The most numerous type

is

the attack submarine. Three of these, of

the Barbel class, with the Albacore-shaped hull, were the last conven-

powered combat submarines built for the United States Navy. They were completed about 1960. A total of twenty-one conventionally powered submarines, including a midget submarine the X-l of twentytionally

—

nine tons, were built after World

War

The Navy had commissioned by of 35 nuclear-powered submarines,

II.

the beginning of

—were more

command

The

first

two

total

An

Nautilus

or less development types; another, the Triton,

designed as a huge radar picket submarine,

underwater

1964 a grand

including the pioneer Nautilus.

additional 51 are under construction or planned.

and Seawolf

—

ship,

is

being converted into an

which could be the flagship of the President of

the United States in case of nuclear war.

The Halibut was

built to

launch

Regulus, and a small nuclear-powered ship, the Tullibee, was designed as a quiet hunter-killer.

The New Navy

45

All the others, built and being built, though they differ in details, are the so-called attack submarine (SSN), or the fleet of two general types

—

ballistic-missile

submarine (SSBN).

attack submarine

The

and

—merchant

to scout

heavily weaponed, high-

designed and equipped to attack enemy maritime

speed deep-diving ship, targets

a general-purpose,

is

shipping, surface naval vessels, or

and patrol

off

enemy

enemy submarines,

coasts.

Alongside the dock, a typical nuclear-powered attack submarine looks like a whale.

something

She appears to be barely awash;

most of a modern submarine

is

underwater.

From

like

an iceberg,

her bulbous

her tapered stern, along her curved and rounded deck only the

bow sail,

to

a

superstructure rising above the pressure hull, breaks the clear streamlined

and uncluttered deck. Even the

cleats

and deck

fittings

fold flush into

the hull in the interest of speed.

The

sail

simply provides underwater streamlining for the small bridge,

used only on the surface, and a housing for the clutter of periscopes and masts a modern submarine uses. Each submarine normally uses at least two long periscopes, which can project above water (one for search and a small one for attack) erally defined in

when

the submarine

most navies

thirteen masts for radar

is

at "periscope depth," gen-

as forty to sixty feet. It also utilizes six to

and radio antenna, snorkel tubes, and so on.

Most of these can be

raised or lowered

hull of the submarine.

The

sail

from inside the heavy pressure

superstructure, in addition to providing a

bridge for surface cruising and streamlining for the masts for underwater cruising,

the pivot point for the sail planes.

is

These, extending like stubby wings on either side of the replaced

bow

diving planes in our

sail,

have

modern nuclear-powered high-speed

submarines. Similarly, the most recent submarines no longer use conning towers, that peculiar feature of most of our conventional submarines and

The conning tower was a heavy excrescence, somehump, that projected above the heavy pressure hull of the submarine. It was pressure-tight and could be closed off from the sea and from the pressure hull below. Normally it was the skipper's control of the

first

nuclear ones.

thing like a camel's

position

in

action.

strength, the skipper

Today,

in

the interest of streamlining,

conns from the control room, which

is

speed,

and

within the main

cylindrical pressure hull.

As an

attack submarine gets under

way and

cruises seaward,

it

is

easy

SUBMARINES

47

new submarines

to see that

are built for the ocean's depths, not

For the whalebacked teardrop

face.

hull

sur-

its

cranky on the surface; the

is

maneuvering power, and the wind catches the

single screw gives little

and gives the ship leeway. The deck

itself is

sail

rounded, and offers a pre-

carious foothold.

Crewmen

required to be topside as the sub moves out of port wear

and

tennis sneakers

from safety

life

around

belts

As

length of the ship. arcs

back

jackets,

in a great

and

the sea

if

is

rough, they hook the lines

their waists to a slotted rail that extends the

bow wave bow is under-

the submarine speeds up, the frothing

furrow of foam to the

sail.

Her

entire

water as she plows the sea.

A

modern submarine's domain

of the submarine

is

its

underwater. The strength structure

is

pressure hull, a tapered cylindrical body built of

The

thick steel plate, welded together and fixed to heavy ribs or frames.

pressure hull

marine's

test

designed to withstand the crushing effects of the sub-

is

depth. But a safety factor

hull will not collapse, or

siderably deeper than

A

be crushed,

its test

is

provided; normally a submarine

until

it

reaches crushing depth, con-

depth.

completely submerged submarine, like a spaceship,

of the earth's atmosphere. But there

or a high-flying

jet,

is

must be pressurized

is

one major difference.

independent

A

spaceship,

and

to sustain the life of the pilots

passengers, or else they must wear pressure suits and breathe oxygen. For

and

in space,

ship, therefore,

as the

first

pressure

is

the rarefied atmosphere of the outer envelope of the

in

earth's air, there

is

is

a virtual

on the

of the British

vacuum. The pressure

inside;

Comet

on the outside

—

if

there

jets

is

in the

a rupture, the ship will explode,

did in

flight.

But

hull

is

The

ruptured

it

will

in a

submarine, the

the weight of water gripping and contracting

the hull of the submarine in an inexorable giant vise. tion within the hull; the

plane and space-

men

live at

There

is

no pressuriza-

normal atmospheric pressure.

If the

"/mplode," or be crushed.

attack submarine Skipjack, commissioned in

1959 and

still

re-

putedly one of the world's fastest, carries a crew of thirteen officers and

ninety-two enlisted men. In some of our older submarines there were not

enough bunks

for

all;

men took

turns sleeping in them.

however, there are two- or three-man has his

own bunk, and none have

to

officer staterooms,

double up. This

Aboard

Skipjack,

each enlisted

fact,

man

an index of her

Reputedly one of the world's fastest nuclear-powered submarines, Skipjack is shown with her decks awash during an early, builder's trial in Long Island Sound. (General Dynamics Corporation)

three-deck spaciousness, sailor of the revolution

occurred since World Skipjack has

six

is

in

War

a

sufficient

yardstick

to

any old "pigboat"

submarine design and construction that has II.

torpedo tubes forward, with more room for spares than

most of the world's subs. She carries the big long torpedo for use against

SUBMARINES

49

number

surface shipping, and a large

homing

of stubby high-speed

tor-

pedoes for use against other submarines. Later attack submarines of the

Sturgeon class (an improved and modified Thresher design) with amidships torpedo tubes, angled outboard two to a side. class

is

being armed with

"torpedo with a PhD."

SUBROC

It is

(SUBmarine ROCket), the so-called long-range weapon fired underwater, which

a

then leaps into the air with rocket propulsion and thirty miles or

are fitted

The Sturgeon

more away. SUBROC's

destructive

falls into

warhead

the sea again

is

a nuclear or

conventional depth charge.

SUBROC

is

the

weapon system.

It is

ties

Navy's

submarine-launched

newest

antisubmarine

a 4,000-pound gadget, with the hydrodynamic quali-

of a torpedo and the aerodynamic qualities of a missile, which

launched, like a torpedo, underwater.

Its

rocket motor ignites,

water, at a safe distance from the launching ship. to the surface, inertial

and

is

The

in its flight

separates from the nuclear depth charge, which

warhead follows

preset

its

guided

flight

is

under-

missile then angles

placed in the proper trajectory for

guidance system. At a given point

still

target

its

is

up

by a preset

path the rocket motor its

warhead, and the

path into the sea.

A

special

device cushions the shock of re-entry into the water, and the depth charge sinks

and explodes

at a preset

depth

—

destroying,

if it is

a nuclear charge,

anything within thousands of yards.

The weapon

itself

is

only part of a system that includes advanced

built-in sonars, a specially designed fire-control digital

computers.

five attack

SUBROC

is

system and analogue and

scheduled to be installed on some twenty-

submarines, which will stalk the enemy in the depths of the sea.

Skipjack, like

all

the latest submarines, has an integrated sonar system

built into her hull.

Forward and

aft,

inside the pressure hull there are

two

levels,

or decks;

amidships there are three, with battery compartments and small storage spaces beneath the lowest level.

Her

S5W

reactor (Submarine

Model Number

the familiar pressurized-water type, but to the reactor that

"re-cored." She

is

it

is

5

—Westinghouse)

so advanced, as

is

of

compared

powers the Nautilus, that Skipjack has not yet been still

operating, four years after commissioning, on her

The

S5W

more powerful than the Nautilus reactor, yet the heavily shielded reactor compartment occupies only 20 feet of the ship's 252-foot length. The reactor vessel itself is some 15%

first

load of nuclear fuel.

is

far

The New Navy

50

The submarine-to-target path of the Navy's SUBROC missile artist's concept. (1) The anti-submarine missile is launched

is

depicted in this

horizontally from

conventional torpedo tube in the attack submarine; (2) the rocket motor ignites a safe distance from the ship and ( 3 ) thrusts the missile upward and out of the water; (4) the rocket motor separates from the nuclear depth bomb; (5) a guidance system and automatic controls regulate the flight of the missile; (6) the missile re-enters the water at supersonic speed, and (7) the nuclear warhead explodes, destroying the enemy submarine. (Goodyear)

feet high

and 7

feet in diameter.

devices amplified.

The

cost

Controls have been simplified; safety

was $12,000,000

for the entire nuclear-pro-

pulsion plant out of the total $45,000,000 to $50,000,000 cost of the

submarine. Skipjack silent

speeds,

speed

is

not only one of the fastest,

it

is

probably one of the most

submarines yet developed. The Navy never announces submarine

at

but unofficial figures have estimated Skipjack's top submerged

30

to

35 knots.

SUBMARINES

51

In case the nuclear reactor should "scram,"

*

or be shut

down by

its

modern submarines, carries a diesel engine for standby and auxiliary power with fuel for cruising at snorkel depth. She also has electric batteries that will provide power for very safety devices, Skipjack, like other

submerged

restricted

The Skipjack

cruising.

displaces

3,000 tons surfaced; more than 3,500 sub-

merged. She has a single screw. Her propeller

—

any other

abaft a huge rudder

class,

and she can

The primary mission enemy submarines. But

—

slice

fifteen-foot, five-bladed, twelve-ton

gives her a smaller turning circle than

down

in a dive at a forty-degree angle.

of the attack submarine this

is

the destruction

is

of

a secondary, or auxiliary, mission of the

SSBN's, the huge ballistic-missile submarines that provide a principal part of the nation's deterrent to nuclear war.

The SSBN's represent Combined into one huge sion,

all

the peak of the technological revolution at sea. hull as big as a light cruiser are nuclear propul-

the special design features and equipment required by a true

submarine, and a weapons system of

complexity and ingenuity

infinite

can launch 2,500-mile missiles with nuclear warheads deep into the

that

heartland of any nation on earth.

The USS

Lafayette, the lead ship of a

submarines,

fleet ballistic-missile

She

is

first.

is

new

class, a third

generation of

the largest submarine in the world.

the eleventh of our Polaris submarines;

Submerged, she displaces about 8,400

George Washington was the tons,

and

is

425

feet long,

about the same size as the nuclear-powered frigate Bainbridge. In she

is

effect,

an attack submarine of the Skipjack class with a great amidships

missile section added.

Like the great white whale

and the forty other

in Melville's classic,

ballistic-missile

submarines

symbols of destiny. For they hold the fate of

Moby

built

Dick, Lafayette

and being

men and

built are

nations in their

bowels; the destructive power of the nuclear warheads in the sixteen missik tubes of just one of these submarines exceeds the total

dropped

in

World War

power of

bombs

II.

Lafayette symbolizes the conflict between the old and the

SCRAM

all

new

that

is

* (Safety Control Rod. Activation Mechanism) is a reactor safety device. The rods are driven all the way down into the pressure vessel, causing instantaneous shutdown.

— The

52 part of

all life.

New Navy

Submarines, until the development of the huge monsters

of the Nuclear Age, used to be called "boats."

*

The

senior chief petty

many responsibilities, was, and still is, called "the chief of the boat." But now huge leviathans like Lafayette and Skipjack are so big that many skippers prefer to call them "ships," and the Navy's rank structure commanders or lieutenant commanders as skippers of the attack submarines; senior commanders and captains for the Polaris craft officer,

who

shoulders

—

growth of the submarine from "boat" to

verifies the

much many

many

tradition, so

toil

patrols are capsuled in the term "boat" that the

war

gallant

years of

ship. Nevertheless, so

and development and hardship, so

Com-

mander, Submarine Force, Atlantic, a vice admiral, and many others

still

use the term "boat."

Lafayette conveys a greater sense of spaciousness than any other sub-

marine.

To

a surface-ship sailor she

an old submariner

Forward the torpedo

she's like Paris to the kid

room with

in the

torpedo room

itself,

Unlike other submarines, there are no bunks although there

is

a small berthing

Aft of the torpedo

room

the ship, or "boat," opens

the upper level are the radio

submarines

in the

The

radio

Navy room

room and

that gives the is

also

on

chief petty officers' quarters, the

the lowest level, spaces. tress,

down another

Each man has

up

into three levels

and other equipment near the

two senior

this level.

keel.

separate staterooms for the

skipper and executive officer, with a connecting bath

privacy.

compartment

it.

plus a small storage area for batteries

On

from the farm.

bow in a big two-level compartment is and many spare torpedoes and an escape

four tubes

hatch

and below

congested and small, but to

extreme tapered

in the

in the pressure hull.

aft

may seem

On

wardroom, and

—

the only class of

officers

this

kind of

the second level are the officers'

staterooms.

On

ladder, or staircase, are the crew's berthing

a six-foot six-inch bunk, with sponge rubber mat-

separate adjustable ventilation and reading light, and lockers for his

clothes.

Farther Lafayette

aft,

—

and

directly

under the

sail, is

the "brain" and heart of the

the ship's control center on the upper level,

and "exec" have

their battle stations

where the skipper

and where the ship

is

conned and

* This was a kind of slangy and affectionate diminutive, not really properly applied, but universally used. boat, properly speaking, is carried by a ship.

A

SUBMARINES

53

commanded. The crew's mess and galley are on the middle missile control room on the lower level. Lafayette has some thirteen masts, including periscopes, and radar antenna, and so on, and

it is

from the

and the

level,

snorkel, radio

ship's control center that

these masts can be raised or lowered. Here, too, are the diving controls.

Lafayette the three

and kept on an even keel by only two men instead of

steered

is

on some of our

earlier nuclear boats. Controls for the sail planes

man

and rudder are combined; one

handles them both with a kind of

"yoke" arrangement somewhat similar to the controls of an airplane. The

The two planes-men

stern planes-man, next to him, has separate controls.

bank

face a

of instruments that

show speed, depth, trim-angle

indicator,

rudder angle, plane angle, and so on. Directly astern and to port

now

Tree,"

to

be called the "Christmas

the "board," plus a series of electronic hydraulic controls for

ballast tanks

ship

what used

is

and

vents. This illuminated panel tells the skipper

trimmed, what vents are open, what tanks

is

filled.

presents a visual display of each of the missile tubes. /nertial

Navigation System)

compartment;

in this

—

how

The SINS

(Ships

three of them, each to check the other

maze

so, too, are a

of instruments

the

Another panel

—

and controls

are for

controlling and navigating the ship

and

its

missiles

The compartment. The

communications systems focus

in this

or torpedoes.

ship's

radio

internal

room

is

for directing the fire of

nearby.

The underwater

telephone, which

permits voice communication with another submarine or a surface ship, is

room.

also in the control

On

a small elevated platform in the center of this compartment

is

the

attack center, where the captain stands during general quarters. Periscope control

mechanisms are nearby; he has

monitor missile

A in a

broad

own

control panel, and can

firings.

staircase,

wide enough for two

submarine, leads to the lower

the lower level, the

weapons

the aid of digital computers *

on

his

levels.

officer

men

to pass abreast, a novelty

In the missile control center on

has his battle station, and here, with

and a maze of instruments, he

"rides herd"

his missiles.

Directly aft of these control centers

*

There are about

thirty

computers

in

is

the missile room, the largest

each Polaris submarine.

com-

The New Navy

54 partment on the ship. Eight huge missile tubes on either all,

extend fore and

and

aft

side, sixteen in

through three levels from the keel of the

rise

ship to the heavy watertight missile hatches, which,

when

lock

closed,

tight into the upper part of the pressure hull of the submarine. Access

hatches or doors open into the missile tubes at three different levels. This permits last-minute checks,

adjustments,

or replacements

defective

for

parts.

The

missile

compartment was dubbed

in the first of the Polaris sub-

marines "Sherwood Forest," presumably because the huge green-painted launching tubes looked something like the trunks of great forest

name

stuck;

Robin Hood

is

it

The

"Sherwood Forest" today; the mythical haunt of

still

has gone to sea.

room with

Aft of the missile compartment are the reactor shielding

trees.

its

heavy

and engineering spaces, with a separate engineering control room

where the engineer

officer of the

watch, with three

stantly monitors the reactor, the electrical system,

men

to help him, con-

and the steam

plant.

Lafayette and the other Polaris subs, built for extended underwater patrols,

have many comforts undreamed of

aboard, and there

is

a sick bay.

is

in earlier

submarines.

Each man wears

has always been

less,

in all of the

submerged

doctor

a film badge, or

dosimeter, which records the level of radioactivity to which he (It

A

is

exposed.

cruises of our nuclear

submarines, than the average person on the earth's surface receives from natural radioactivity and the sun's radiation.) There oratory,

is

a nucleonics lab-

where constant checks are made of the purity of the water

in the

primary coolant system. Valves and piping are designed to prevent corrosion, but even so the water

and

all

other elements of the system are

checked to eliminate impurities that might decrease the efficiency of the system and increase radioactivity.

There are a crew's study room, separate from the mess compartment,

and a good

hooked up

when There

library.

to hi-fi,

the submarine is

There

and is

is

a ship's entertainment system,

there's television in port or

sometimes near shore

surfaced. Seawolf has both a jukebox

an automatic laundry, with washers and

which can be

and an organ.

driers.

Movies are shown, usually once or twice a day, and there's a small compact gymnasium with barbells, weights, stationary bicycles, and exercise mats.

coffee urn

And is

food: there's plenty of

it

and

at frequent intervals.

The

always hot, and there are soft-drink machines available.

SUBMARINES

As

55

USS

the

the crew

Nautilus speeds under the ice on her transpolar voyage members of watch one of the two movies shown daily in the crew's mess. ( U.S. Navy)

Living spaces are finished in pleasing colors, with bulkheads covered with plastic-type "wallpaper."

To

cruise with safety beneath the sea

officers

must be

an

art

and a

science.

Submarine

specially qualified after a long period of schooling at

Submarine School and,

The dolphin pin

is

in learner status,

aboard an operating submarine.

of a qualified submarine -er (accent

syllable; never, unless

you want

to pick

on the next

to the last

an argument, sub-mariner)

is

the

coveted award of long training and service.

Submarines stand out of port on the surface; the water in nearly all the world's

is

too shallow

harbors to permit safe diving. Indeed, the modern

submarine rarely finds plenty of water beneath her keel

until she's past the

:

The New Navy

55 100-fathom curve, where the depths shelve

off to

600

feet of

water or more.

In deep water, the skipper speaks to the bridge by telephone:

100 feet." the loudspeaker system, the two over and The diving klaxon sounds, "This

is

the captain. Dive the ship to

words *

"Dive! Dive!"

All exposed gear on the bridge

down

the hatch clangs

it

is

much

stowed away. The

instantly

dogs and locks

shut,

it.

last

man

Instantly the ballast tanks

500 tons of water are sucked into the tanks. The diving planes are depressed, and the ship settles down into the depths. The diving officer or officer of the watch keeps his eye on the illuminated panel that indicates what valves and vents the "board" are opened to the sea; as

as

300

to

—

are open or shut.

He

reports a "straight board"

when

sure hull are closed as indicated by

all

little

the major openings to the pres-

bars or rectangles of red light on

the top line of the "board," or ballast control panel,

and the intake

valves,

or vents, to the ballast tanks are open as indicated by illuminated circles.

The planes-men watch

the depth indicator,

their planes as the ship sinks

the vents"

—

gives the

command:

and take a

little

angle off

deeper into the sea. The diving officer "cycles

gets all of the air out of the tanks as she goes deeper,

and then

"Recirculate! Recirculate!"

This realigns the ship's air-conditioning system for submerged operation.

"Bring her

The

down

to

officer of the

dive and takes a surface ships.

As

100

feet."

watch, or the captain, "ups periscope" during the

good look around the horizon

to

watch for trespassing

the submarine approaches her 100-foot

from the keel to the surface) the planes-men

mark (measured

level her off,

meeting her

descent sometimes by a slight up-angle of the planes.

The he

diving officer then checks her trim to see

may have

stern or

A

to

if

blow some water with compressed

from bow tanks

to put her

submarine submerged

—

is

on even

the ship air

is

balanced;

from amidship or

trim.

maintained, as close as possible, to a state

—

* The word dive "Dive! Dive!" is always repeated twice, but when word surface is repeated three times: "Surface! Surface! Surface!"

surfacing,

the

SUBMARINES

57

of neutral buoyancy,

where she

will hover, like a helicopter, in the

and experience

depths. It takes great skill

buoyancy, when the submarine tends to

tive

buoyancy, when

rise to the surface,

tends to sink. Just the correct

it

mean between

to reach a

tive

aboard or

—

the

buoyancy

movement,

number

for instance, of a

the temperature and

aft;

and nega-

right.

The problem

complicated by the shifting of weights

is

salinity of the water;

depths at which the submarine

posi-

weight of water must

be in the ballast tanks, and the trim must be exactly of attaining neutral

ocean

is

operating.

of the

crew forward

ocean currents and the

One can

never be absolutely

sure that neutral buoyancy has been achieved until the engines are stopped

and the sub

entirely

is

allowed to seek her

In earlier submarines brief

periods.

equilibrium

this

own

"free flight"

level.

was sometimes achieved

took a skilled submarine skipper to

It

with

engines

the

down without

shut

the

maintain boat

descending. Today, part of the equipment of the Polaris ships ing" device that

pumps water

and out of the

in

is

ballast tanks

for

exact or

rising

a "hover-

and auto-

matically maintains the submarine at a constant depth and even trim

during missile

As

firings.

a submarine dives deeper and deeper into the sea, she becomes at

extreme depths

—

at her test depth, for instance

—something

like

an

air-

craft at stalling speed.

The

groans and creaks as the immense pressure

ship's structure literally

and compresses

of water grips her hull

it.

Necessary openings into the

pressure hull for water pipes, propeller shafts, and so on, often "weep," or

show

tiny leaks.

When

submerging to

test depths,

each additional hundred

is

it

usual for the ship to level off after

submergence, and the order goes out:

feet of

"All compartments check for leaks, and report."

Normally leaks are measured

in

"30 or 40 drops a minute," or "a

stream like a pencil lead."

But any sizable gerous.

leak, even a one-inch stream, at great depths

For the pressure of the outside sea

into the pressure hull with

A valve

tremendous

must be closed quickly

weight of the water taken gravity

and give

it

in

to

is

is

dan-

so great, the water spurts

force, spraying

equipment and men.

minimize the danger. For the increased

by the leak may

alter the ship's center of

decided negative buoyancy, which will tend to cause

the submarine to sink

still

further.

New Navy

The

58

Moreover,

at

extreme depths

takes a measurable length of time to

it

out the ballast tanks against the pressure of the outside sea. For these reasons many skippers prefer to keep considerable way on the submarine at least twelve knots when they are running very deep. If

pump

—

—

there

engine failure or

is

the ship

if

much water and planes may bring

suddenly ships

acquires negative buoyancy, a sharp up-angle on the

her up to safer depths, despite the weight of the water. And, as she

blown

the ballast tanks are

and

faster

rises,

faster as the pressure of the sea

decreases.

The mating

was an achievement pulsion

remarkable as

as

the development of nuclear pro-

itself.

The is

submarine

of the Polaris missile with the nuclear-powered

Polaris fleet ballistic missile, like

a

rapidly

of cast,

or chemical.* Liquid fuel

the

of the

first

the Atlas,

the

the

was developed

in three successive

is

more

too volatile and dangerous for use aboard ship. Solid fuels are Polaris

missiles,

very burning "powder" — kind used by and second generation Titan — — German V-2, and

propelled by solid fuel

great land-based missiles

most Navy shipboard

models. They were

stable.

all

two-

stage missiles, each with an initial booster stage that separates after firing;

then a second stage which puts the warhead into ballistic,

trajectory before final separation.

The

its

first

final free-flight, or

A-l

missile, with a

range of 1,200 nautical miles (1,380 statute miles), went into the missile tubes of the George Washington class of submarines.

The A-2

missile has a range of

1,500 nautical miles (1,725 statute

miles), and the A-3, which will be fully operational in 1964, can target

2,500 nautical miles

Washington

class will

be

new

a

away. The George

(2,880 statute miles)

retro-fitted with

fly to

tubes to carry the larger

missiles; all the rest of the nation's forty -one fleet ballistic-missile

sub-

marines are being built to launch the longer-range Polaris. Polaris weighs about 15 tons,

is

some 28

to

30

feet long

on the model), and has a maximum diameter of about

4V2

feet.

called jetevators, or, in later models, rotating nozzles in the

which vector the spewing stream of burning control.

* Its technical

name

is

castable polyurethane propellant.

gas,

(depending

provide

Devices

motor base, directional

SUBMARINES

59

This control incredibly

monitored and provided by a guidance package, an

is

complex but

and the change

tiny brain built to stand the

shock of launching

environment from the ocean depths to the cold of outer

in

space. This guidance system has been miniaturized or reduced remarkably in weight

package

and bulk

A-3

in the

missile

and

earlier systems,

models were developed. The

as the various Polaris is

about one-third the

and weight of the

compact yet developed

the lightest and most

is

size

for

United States ballistic missiles.

The guidance system system, which scopes.

is

is

what

called a "stable table," or an inertial

is

held in one plane relative to the earth by spinning gyro-

The course

the missile must take to target

is

set electronically in

this stable table before launching. After launching, a system of gyroscopes,

tiny accelerometers, or devices that

measure acceleration or

velocity,

and

a small electronic computer keeps the missile on proper course. Winds, slight errors in

errors are

mitting

speed due to variables in the burning of the

compensated

commands

to the jetevators, or rotating nozzles,

the stability, or "attitude," of the missile in pitch, at the precise instant required,

the

it

of gravity brings

tion

ing.

is

something

from a gun or a stone thrown by a boy

it

which occurs

back at

The

—

to the earth. After

it

gun

as the pull

burnout and warhead separa-

must be done

the "gun-barrel" phase,

when

in the first one-sixteenth of

the rocket motors are burn-

"bird" (all missiles are "birds" to missilemen) travels at about

mean an

Error Probable

—

of five miles;

in velocity at

error at the target of about one mile.

original Polaris accuracy requirement

all

through

leaves the

downward

14,000 miles per hour, so that a five-foot-per-second error

Since

and separates

an altitude of about seventy miles, no course correc-

time of burnout could

The

Finally,

like that of a shell

—low when

then arching

at midflight,

possible. All the guidance

is

the trajectory

and yaw.

missile, after burnout, follows a free-flight trajectory

muzzle or the hand; high

tion,

roll,

casings.

space, affected only by gravity. Its arc fired

and other

also maintains

shuts off the rocket motors

warhead from the spent motor

A ballistic

fuel,

The guidance system, by trans-

for automatically.

it

is

far

was

a

CEP

—

more accurate than

or Circular this

today.

three models of Polaris carry thermonuclear warheads unofficially

reported to have yields of

more than

more than 500,000 tons

of

TNT,

destroy nearly any target on earth.

half a megaton, or the equivalent of

the missile

is

more than adequate

to

(The bombs dropped on Hiroshima

The New Navy

A

series of underwater photographs of a Polaris missile launching from the Theodore Roosevelt. The launch was made from beneath the surface of the Atlantic off the coast of Florida. (U.S. Navy)

and Nagasaki

in

World War

II,

which destroyed those

equivalent of about 20,000 tons of

TNT.) The

cities,

released the

weight-to-yield ratio of

nuclear weapons has been greatly improved since Polaris was veloped.

The

latest

first

de-

warheads probably "pack a punch" of a megaton

(1,000,000 tons) or more.

The development

of Polaris

was only a part of the problem of creating

a seagoing submersible missile weapons system.

SUBMARINES Polaris tical

is

61

cradled,

and coddled,

in air-conditioned,

shock-mounted ver-

launching tubes. There are inner and outer tubes. The inner tube in

which the missile

rests

supported by shock absorbers. Great hatches

is

up and outboard

that swing

close off the tops of the tubes

from the sea

until the

moment

moment

before the missile leaves the tube, prevents flooding of the tube

until firing.

The

compressed

air,

and a tough

of firing,

missile

launched, in the

is

which hurls

it

punctured

plastic cover,

first

at the last

of the Polaris class, by

through the water to toss

it

high above the

surface where ignition of the rocket motor takes place in the midst of spray

and foam. Later

Each time a

classes use a steam-gas ejection system.

missile

launched, some fifteen tons of weight leave the

is

submarine, and 10,000 pounds of seawater flood into the tube. tain

stability

and

which vents water

trim, in

To main-

an automatic hovering and stabilizing system,

and out of the

ballast tanks

and

tubes,

is

part of the

equipment. Missiles can be launched faster than one per minute.

The accuracy

of the ballistic missile depends largely

with precision the exact point on the globe from which the exact location of the target. table

is

to function,

which way

The is

missile

it

must know,

upon knowing is launched and

too,

if its

stable-

true north.

All sorts of devices for precise navigation are therefore part of the ballistic-missile

System

is

It

Inertial

Navigation

simply an aggregate of gyroscopes and measuring devices that

trace with extreme care

marine.

The Ships

equipment.

submarine's

is

and precision the course and motions of the sub-

a sophisticated dead-reckoning computer.

currents and other factors cause

some

errors,

it

Because ocean

must be checked by other

means.

The

ship's

fathometer, or depth-finder, carefully calibrated, helps to

locate the position of the ship in relation to

known underwater peaks

or

ocean-floor "landmarks." Radio bearings, or fixes, secured by utilizing

one of the antenna masts

at periscope depth,

provide another check.

A

navigational periscope, which can be elevated, take a star sight, and then

lowered in a few seconds, provides

still

another check. The ship's com-

puters store a complete nautical almanac, with azimuths the stars in the heavens, utilized at

The will

in

their

taped

memory

and

altitudes of

system. This can be

any time for any latitude or longitude.

latest of the Polaris

submarines also carry a computer system that

enable the ship to determine

its

precise position

by radio

fixes trans-

The New Navy

52 mitted from the Navy's navigation

Some Before many

satellites.

have been launched successfully.

of these satellites already

years have passed they

be crisscrossing the heavens. Their exact orbits will be known and plotted, so that they will serve the same purpose as artificial stars. will

A

fire-control

special

system, which receives

information about the

from the SINS and the computers, feeds constant data to The missile is zeroed in prior to launch on a specific target.

ship's position

each missile.

The

assignment will be provided by the Joint Chiefs of

target

through SIOP (Single Integrated Operational Plan). This plan

up

to date

Air

by a combined targeting group from

Command

headquarters

new data on another

target

Omaha.

at is

If

all

kept

is

the services at Strategic

the target

be changed, the

to

is

memory

available in the

Staff,

unit of a

computer

aboard the submarine and can be fed electronically to the missile in seconds.

To

prevent undue stresses on the missile in launching, there

is

an auto-

matic device that measures the water velocity over the tubes and the wave state

on the surface

time of launching.

at

The computer

will "notify" the

launch crew seconds before launch when the water velocity

and

will

launch the bird

This, then, missile system.

of sea

is

the

It is

at the

minimal,

proper moment.

phenomenal technological wonderland of the weapons system

the

Polaris

that can reach with the mailed

power the heartland of any country on

can operate

is

in the international waters of the

earth. It

is

fist

the system that

world that cover about two-

thirds of the earth's surface. It is

a system that could ravage the world.

system that can preserve our

The

way

of

For the United

States

it

is

a

and maintain the peace.

life

Polaris submarines are so powerful, so important,

and so expensive

(roughly about $136,000,000 apiece, including missiles)

that they are

kept at sea and on patrol as continuously as possible. Each submarine has

two crews of 12

officers

and 124 men

crew takes the ship out for a

—

the Blue and the

fifty-six-day

submerged

patrol, returns

the forward base where a submarine tender reprovisions

minor repairs necessary. The

on another rest,

cycle, while the first

and refresher

The

relief

missile

wegian Sea and

Gold crew. Each

it

is

flown back to

home

to

and makes any

crew takes over and puts

crew

it

to sea again

port for leave,

training.

submarines patrol in the

in

assigned patrol

areas in the Nor-

Mediterranean, and a new squadron

will eventually

SUBMARINES

63

cruise in the Pacific. In the Atlantic, the

Scotland, where a tender

lies at

and the home ports are

at

advanced base

New London, home

South Carolina. In the Pacific the

Connecticut, and Charleston, port will be at Pearl Harbor,

Hawaii, and the advanced base, with tender, will be at with the

are fitted

new

Holy Loch,

at

is

anchor as mother ship to the submarines,

Guam. As

the ships

2,500-nautical-mile missile, the A-3, the patrol

areas, well within reach of their assigned targets, will

be farther offshore.

A

in mid-Atlantic

submarine with a 2,500-mile bird can cruise

missile

still

destroy

Moscow.

Invisibility

and secrecy are the armor of the submarine.

location of the missile submarine

destroy patrol. until

To run

it.

The

is

phere for

its

finished. It it is

comes

it

completely independent of the earth's atmos-

crew

—have been

submerged cruising

of

built a

to shallow depths,

in the world.

come when

to be fired against

United

and

and the

powerful net of radio stations that can communicate with

the time should ever

warheads had

—communications

solved.

submerged submarines anywhere

of the

the objective of every

is

submerges, does not surface again

States,

The submarines monitor

command

periodic broadcasts and specially guard If

enemy, he cannot

to periscope depth occasionally or puts

Low-frequency radio waves penetrate water

Navy has

the exact

If

entire patrol.

The two major problems air for the

to the

run deep, and run quiet

silent,

up a whip antenna, but

unknown

is

missile submarine, once

patrol

its

and

channels at

times.

all

the Polaris missiles with their nuclear

an enemy, the order from the President

transmitted

command

over

would be

channels,

received in the form of a coded signal. Regulations require that the captain

and

at least

Then,

two other

and

officers identify

after the order, the

words

verify the order.

"Man

broadcast through the ship, and there

is

battle stations!

Missile,"

are

a fifteen-minute readiness count-

down.

The

missiles cannot

which are connected

There

is

very

in series,

little

system; indeed, one of sary. If a blip

is

fired until

and the launch

the missile officer,

tion.

be

its

and

each of three officer

flips

—unlocks

them

is

that

—

the captain,

separate

to the "Fire" or

possibility of accident or assets

officers

switches,

"On"

posi-

mistake in the Polaris

no instantaneous reaction

is

neces-

picked up on a United States radar screen that might be

an enemy aircraft or missile, shore-based planes or missiles must take

off,

The New Navy

64 if

salvo lands. But a Polaris sub-

enemy

they are to survive, before the

marine, invisible in the depths, can wait to ascertain whether or not the blip

an electronic "ghost" or false echo (perhaps the image of a

is

flight

of geese) or the real thing.

A

on patrol transmits by radio very infrequently

Polaris submarine

except in emergencies.

even has a garbage-compressor machine, which

It

packs the waste into about 20 percent of

normal bulk, and

its

metal sieve containers which sink and leave no

telltale

ejects

it

in

wake.

In long submerged cruises by Polaris or attack submarines, the diurnal cycle of day

and night

is

penetrates the ship's hull.

maintained, even though sun never

artificially

Each man stands normally two four-hour watches If he has the midwatch he is normally allowed

each twenty-four-hour day.

to sleep in until lunch. Breakfast

down"

—

a snack

at 3: 15 to

at

lectures

darkened

is

At frequent

about an hour, and then an hour

and study. In between there are frequent

general quarters or battle stations. ship

At night

drills

the red lights go on,

and

and the

as in surface cruising.

intervals

each compartment

in the ship

struments for radioactivity and for atmospheric purity. dials are

11:15; "soup

about 11:15 p.m. and 3:15 a.m. After

there's a daily clean-up period of

and a half of

at

3:30, and dinner at 7: 15 p.m. There are night

watch standers

rations for the

luncheon

—

about 7:15; lunch

is

is

monitored by

in-

(No luminous watch

allowed since they would "confuse" the monitoring instruments.)

Air purity

is

carefully maintained

by a variety of devices. Oxygen

is

manufactured from seawater by an electrolytic process (the decomposition of chemical elements by electricity).

The seawater

is

broken down into

chemical constituents of hydrogen and oxygen; the oxygen

hydrogen pumped overboard. This machine tanks,

is

filter

the air

and remove

tobacco smoke and odors.

And

particles

"scrubbers"

used and the

supplemented by oxygen

which can "bleed" additional oxygen into the

machines that

is

its

from

hull. Precipitrons, or it,

cleanse the ship of

(absorption chemicals)

of

various kinds eliminate the carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. "Candles," big cans of

sodium chlorate

(cost,

$25 each), can, when "burned,"

supply oxygen enough for one hour for the entire crew per candle.

Wax

for linoleum-covered decks, certain types of grease for cooking,

paints, aerosol types of shaving

might give

off

cream, chlorox, and other substances which

odors or contaminate the atmosphere are forbidden. Usually

after a couple of

months underwater the

ship's air

is

more pure than when

SUBMARINES

65

the patrol started, in the

and

considerably

is

more uncontaminated than

the air

average city home.

A small green-leafed plant, been growing healthily leaves yellowed

which has never been exposed

Seawolfs wardroom for years.

in

died, an officer pinned

and

with a legend beneath

it:

new dimension

time the depths of the sea. tofore largely closed to

The

to the ship's bulletin

of

its

board

"Murder."

Thus the modern submarine, the has created a

it

to the sun, has

When one

in

first

true submersible in world history,

naval warfare.

has also blazed the

It

It is

way

utilizing for the first

into

new oceans

here-

man.

Arctic, sheathed in ice, has

now been

subnavigated time and again.

Nuclear submarines have crisscrossed that ocean, far beneath the floating white armor of the ice pack, and have surfaced at the North Pole and in so-called "polynyas" (or lake-like openings in the ice)

elsewhere in the

northern sea.

Yet navigation under the

ice

is

hazardous; to the inherent dangers of

deep submerged cruising are added the dangers of an

pack many

ice

feet thick

might be disastrous

if

A

ice.

casualty under

the submarine could not

break through the crust to surface. Icebergs seven-tenths underwater extend below the surface for 100 feet or more.

And

may

the exact location of

open-water leads in the ice and of the lake-like polynyas, thinly sheathed with ice (usually found in summer), can never be accurately predicted; the submarine must search carefully for such openings before surfacing. Special equipment "ice suit," as sail,

needed before a submarine braves the Arctic.

called, costs

from a quarter

An

The damage

to half a million dollars.

or superstructure, must be strengthened to protect

as the

also

it is

is

it

from

ice

submarine surfaces. The delicate sonar domes and the propeller must

be protected; a

TV set to

look upward under the

ice;

an ahead sonar to

give warning of icebergs or thick pack ice extending deep into the sea, an

upward-beamed fathometer to indicate clearances are some of the additional equipment needed.

Some submarines type of

sail

The

bottom of the pack

are even being fitted experimentally with a pivoting

plane to allow the sharp edges, rather than the

be turned upward when surfacing costs, difficulties,

larly the

to the

flat

surface, to

in the ice.

—and —have combined make

and limitations of Arctic navigation

range of the new A-3 Polaris missile

particu-

to

the

The

66 conquest of the Arctic Ocean by submarine somewhat tegically than

it

less

New Navy

important

stra-

once appeared to be. Polaris submarines equipped with the

and operating with greater freedom, and less expense, in the warm, ice-free waters of the Atlantic and Pacific and Mediterranean can reach any inland point on earth with their nuclear punch. Subnavigation of

new

missile

the Arctic for scientific

and exploratory purposes and

for special military

missions (for reconnaissance and to sever the Soviet northern sea route, for instance)

is still

important, but from a strategic point of view far from

essential.

The development of

war

of nuclear

power

for ships has revolutionized the art

at sea.

Seadragon, foreground, preparing to moor at the North Pole after a historic rendezvous with the USS Skate under the polar ice pack. The submarines surfaced together at the North Pole, carried out antisubmarine warfare exercises, collected scientific information, and established a new year-round submarine channel by exploring a passage through the Kennedy and Robeson Channels, between Greenland and Ellesmere Island. (U.S. Navy)

USS

SUBMARINES The mating

67 of nuclear

power with streamlined

(highest tensile-strength steel

known) heavy

and the long-

steel plates,

range missile with nuclear warhead have altered the strategic

The submarine has become

world.

modern

the

tional roles as the guerrilla of the sea, the

commerce

of the

its

tradi-

destroyer, the assassin

of surface men-of-war, the deep-sea raider, the hidden Its

map

"capital ship," or principal

and expanding tremendously

ship, of nuclear war, while retaining

water spy and sentinel.

Hycon-80

hull form,

and lurking deep-

new-found importance can be emphasized dra-

matically by one statistic: from

1960

to 1963, the personnel assigned to

submarines in the United States Atlantic Fleet increased from 8,000 to

15,000

and men, and another 10,000

officers

be added by the end

will

of 1965.

For surface men-of-war, the advantages of nuclear power, though

less

dramatic, are real and increasing.

A

ship

powered

for an entire war, or, in time, for the ship's useful

life,

is

a ship with far greater flexibility and capability than one tied to a tanker.

It

can keep pace with a nuclear submarine.

far faster than a conventional ship. It It

no

can accelerate or slow down

can patrol

eliminates the "dead time" of refueling. air, its

It

And

high speeds indefinitely.

at

because

its

engines require

engineering spaces, unlike the firerooms in a conventionally pow-

ered ship, can be "buttoned up" tightly to keep out radioactivity, gas, or biological agents.

A

nuclear-powered surface ship, closed up and

airtight,

with filtering systems operating, could pass through the base surge or radioactive

waves and spray caused by a nuclear explosion

at sea

without

much

fear of internal contamination.

And,

in time, the costs of nuclear

power

will

drop and

its

efficiency will

increase. Experts predict that within five years the costs of the fuel in nuclear reactors will

The

lifetime, or

creased in the think

now

be competitive with the costs of naval fuel

oil.

endurance, of nuclear cores for warships already has in-

first

decade of the nuclear Navy by many times; one must

in terms of a reactor core

The number type) power

uranium

which

will last

more than seven

of remotely operated valves necessary in the

plant has decreased by one-tenth.

first

The number

years.

(Nautilusof

pumps

required has been reduced. Reactor designs have been simplified.

The Navy is still, in some ways, in tion. Atomic power is here to stay.

the

Model-T age

of the nuclear revolu-

Ill AIRCRAFT CARRIERS

"It's like

steering Central

This was

who 123

the

Park from the top of the Empire State building."

awed "gee-whiz" comment

of an Air Force officer recently,

stood on the bridge of the nuclear-powered carrier Enterprise, about feet

enough

above the water, and looked down on the 4 /4-acre 1

flight

deck, big

for four football fields.

He was speaking

of the world's largest

combat

any navy powered with nuclear reactors, the

and the only one capable of

ship, the only carrier in

fastest big ship in the world,

circling the globe at high speed several times

without refueling or stopping.

The newest "Big E," successor

to the

famous World War

chalked up victory after victory against the Japanese,

is

II carrier,

which

indeed "Queen of

the Seas."

But she

is

only the latest of a long line of "flattops," moving air bases, or

"islands in the sea," that are used to project the Navy's air power, in

many

various forms, to the seven seas and the far shores that border them.

The

aircraft carrier replaced the

Navy,

ship," or principal ship, of the

big-gunned battleship as the "capital in

World War

II,

the victorious campaigns in the Pacific. Today, there

ship in commission;

all

these great

the scrap yards or are lying in

Yet the carrier

itself

may

when is

in the

spearheaded

not a single battle-

and powerful ships have

back channels

it

either

gone

Navy's reserve

fleet.

rule but briefly as the

"Queen

to

of the Seas";

indeed, the history of naval warfare shows that ship types change rapidly, particularly in this age of technological revolution.

The Queen

is

dead;

long live the Queen!

In one type of warfare, 68

if it

can be called such, all-out nuclear war, the

y.

The

Enterprise, a nuclear-powered carrier with a 4Vi-acre flight deck.

aircraft carrier already has

Navy)

been largely replaced by another type of "capital

ship," the nuclear-powered, missile-firing submarine. still

( U.S.

The

carrier's planes

have, however, a supporting role, secondary to land-based missiles and

planes and to Polaris submarines, as a part of the nation's deterrent to

nuclear war and in follow-up "strikes"

And

since the carrier's planes can

if

such a war should come.

do many

things,

it is

much more

of a

"triple-threat" player than the submarine.

The aircraft carrier can launch a strike force with nuclear weapons or bombs" (conventional bombs) deep into the heartland of any nation

"iron

on

earth. It

can provide close

And,

support or a defensive

air

umbrella for

commanders in our (HUnter-Killer) groups, which seek and destroy enemy submarines.

amphibious landings.

HUK

air

It

in modified design,

Marines now use

is

the flagship of task-force

it is

the mother ship for a brood of helicopters the

in their "vertical

envelopments," or helicopter landings

behind enemy-held beaches. Particularly in limited war, the aircraft carrier

may

hold the key to victory

New Navy

The

70

or defeat. For this floating airfield can steam quickly to the vicinity of any trouble spot in the world.

can win local

Its fighters

air superiority,

and

its

various types of planes can provide a military flexibility no missile or combinations of missiles can match. cal

problems inherent

So the carrier its

The riers

a floating airfield with

land bases

—

for the sea

And

none of the

politi-

free.

is

immediate future anyway, though

here to stay, for the

design will surely change.

succeed

is

is

in

It is

time another maritime "Queen" will

in

it.

Enterprise, while unique

may be

more

built,

among

but whether there

carriers,

also typical.

is

will ever again

More

car-

be another Enterprise

doubtful.

For she

not only the largest naval vessel in the world

is

displacement of close to 90,000 tons

load

full

—but

she

is

— 1,123

feet long,

probably the most

expensive, $450,000,000 without her planes.

Her almost

half-billion-dollar cost

is

due not only

to the

eight nuclear reactors but also to the revolutionary kind of

which she

is fitted.

She has new and powerful radars,

digital

expense of her

equipment with computers, and

other electronic and mechanical devices, most of which were not even

dreamed

much

of,

less invented,

All this equipment,

all

during World

War

II.

these devices serve one primary purpose

launch and recover, control and maintain the planes whose "Big E."

An

aircraft carrier

is

a floating airfield;

controlling the air over the sea. This

weapons,

The

if

any, are incidental

Enterprise

is

is

it is

the reason for

home

the Navy's its

—

is

means

to

the for

existence. Its other

and secondary.

probably the only carrier

in

any navy which has no

weapons of any kind, except planes, and the bombs, torpedoes, and rockets that planes carry. Other carriers

have

now been

were equipped with guns, most of which

replaced by antiaircraft missiles.

missile sponsons bulging out just beneath the flight

The Enterprise has two deck

aft,

but the missiles

were not mounted in the first years of her life. One school of thought in the Navy believes the Enterprise and other carriers should have some defensive armament guns or missiles. But other officers believe that a carrier's

—

planes are enough defense and that the addition of missiles or guns adds

another element to a type of ship that

is

already one of the most complex

—

—provide

imaginable.

The vital statistics of the Enterprise and a look at her design some indication of the "wonders Man hath wrought."

AIRCRAFT CARRIERS The "Big E"

71

so big and has such a broad beam, like a fat

is

you could

the sea, that

literally, if

dowager of

there were a crane in the world large

enough, place a couple of Queen Elizabeths (the pride of the Cunard Line)

on her deck, and have room

From

keel to masthead she

one of the largest crews She

is

man" cer,

in the

about twenty-three

is

world

—4,600

to

stories tall.

5,000

the only ship in the world with three captains (actually a very

and the

Her

to spare.

flight

young man

surgeon

—

all

as

most pleasure

—

—

She carries

a whole village.

the skipper, or "old

captains go)

;

the executive

offi-

of captain rank.

spotless galleys serve about

of electric cable; four rudders

Navy

men

14,000 meals daily; she has 625 miles

which weigh 35 tons apiece

craft or small boats;

—more

than

and there are more than 1,800 telephones

to knit this floating city together.

From

keel

masthead, the Enterprise

to

is

about twenty-three stories high.

(US. Navy)

.

^S^

S»>

I

^

x

.

#"

itt

M

New Navy

The

72

The Enterprise is built something like a honeycomb; inside her hull there are more than 3,200 compartments or spaces (ashore they might be called "rooms"). Each compartment and space is numbered; the system is essentially simple, but sometimes the numbers become almost as involved as long-distance digit dialing.

The Enterprise, and all Navy ships, number their decks or levels up and down from the main deck, and their space locations fore and aft by "frame" numbers from bow to stern. (A "frame" is a steel beam or strength member extending upward from the keel like the rib of a rib cage, and they are spaced, depending on the ship's size, a few feet apart.) The compartments numbered from the center line outboard, with even numbers on the port side, and odd numbers on the starboard side. that In the Enterprise the main deck, or first deck, is the hangar deck are also

—

where planes are serviced and repaired.

vast enclosed cavernous region

The hangar deck can be divided by

a great

a drenching spray "barrier" used in case of

door and by water "curtains,"

fire. It is

linked with the flight

deck by four huge aluminum deck-edge aircraft elevators. aviation and jet-engine repair shops

The hangar deck it

is

the

It is

flanked by

and small magazines.

deck. All decks and levels above and below

first

are numbered.

The numbers what

the flight deck,

On

it

are preceded by a zero. There are

is

called the island superstructure

on the starboard

which houses the bridge, radar, and so

side of

forth.

the 0-1 level, directly above the hangar deck, are various offices,

repair shops, battery shop, barbershop, large enclosed forecastle

(bow

hawse pipes

On the second

and

of the ship)

(each link weighs more than a the

some

above the hangar deck, but only four of these are decks; the

fifteen levels rest are in

of those above

.

sales office.

Forward there

is

a

Here are the huge anchor chains

— 360 pounds), out through main deck CIC — combat

fat

man

leading

to the thirty-ton anchors. level

above the

is

the

intelligence

center and air operations, and the various auxiliary spaces clustered around

them. Here is

all

information gathered by the ship's radars and by other means

combined and presented

electronically

the ship's planes are controlled

puters that

by a visual display system. Here

and vectored (with the help of

digital

com-

memorize and calculate) by experienced air controllers to Here the types of aircraft to be used in a particular mission

interceptions.

are selected; here

on radarscopes and other

visual display devices

one can

AIRCRAFT CARRIERS

Each

link of this

73

huge anchor chain weighs about 360 pounds. The chains lead

out through the hawse pipes to the Enterprises thirty-ton anchors. (U.S. Navy)

see at a glance the entire

enemy or

combat

situation for miles

unidentified contacts beneath the sea,

around the

on the

air are presented, as well as the positions, courses, speeds,

own planes. By means of the magic

and

ship.

and

surface,

The

in the

altitudes of

our

it

of electronics, the entire situation

is

up

to date;

does not show what happened half an hour ago or two minutes ago, but

two seconds ago. The Enterprise in their

is

CIC and communications

— a new kind

also

facilities the

of seeming "black magic"

and eventually

all

one of a few ships that incorporate Naval Tactical Data System

—which

for

the

some

facilities.

0-2

able to link

all

the ships,

the planes, of an entire naval task force in one tremendous

automatic electronic transmitting and receiving

On

is

level

is

link.

the ship's post office, berthing spaces or

of the crew,

another barbershop, repair

facilities,

bunkrooms and other

The New Navy

74

Wardroom #1 officers

is

combined dining room and

(a

cabins and staterooms for other

room)

for junior

Crew

officers.

spaces and chief petty

for aircraft crews

on

this

The machinery

deck.

for the four powerful

aircraft catapults, which hurl heavily loaded planes off the flight deck,

the gallery deck.

offi-

on the gallery deck. There are three squadron ready

cers' quarters are aft

rooms

living

on the 0-3, or gallery, deck; so are the admiral's and the captains'

Ordnance handling rooms, storage

is

on

spaces, another barber-

shop, and a chapel are also on this deck.

The

gallery

deck

deck, and during

noisy, for

is

flight

of planes landing and taking off

when

is

it

underneath the

sounds as

it

if

on the deck from a ten-story building. Forward and amidship the

of the catapults punctuates conversations in

sounds.

whoosh

someone had dropped

clatter of the arresting cables, the noise of jet engines, the

Any

steel flight

almost constant. Aft on the gallery deck,

is

a plane lands directly overhead,

a piano

directly

operations the bang and clatter, roar and

wardrooms and

fighting ship, but particularly the aircraft carrier, Its

"breath" sighs constantly through

tioning system. Bulkheads groan

heave and roar; steam

The 0-4

level

"whoosh-boom" a creature of

is

ventilating

its

cabins.

and air-condi-

and creak in the seaway. Air compressors

sizzles; steel

decks clang.

aboard Enterprise

is

the great

flat

expanse of the

deck, broken only by the island superstructure towering above

it

flight

on the

starboard side amidships. Flight deck control

is

housed

in the island structure level

deck. Here the flight deck officer has a small scale

hangar decks and tiny model planes built to

scale.

with the

model of the

The models

are

flight

flight

and

numbered

to correspond with the actual aircraft,

and are "spotted" around the model

decks just as they actually are on the

flight

flight

deck

officer

can

tell at

There are some eleven island superstructure.

Most

a glance

levels

and

directly is

above

deck,

all

housed

in the

The 0-9 level

is

level

is

the admiral's bridge,

the captain's bridge, where the

conned (controlled and navigated). The Enterprise bridge

equipped with what in the

flight

of these levels provide space for electronics and

on the 0-10

it

planes are.

all his

above the

radar equipment and maintenance.

ship

where

and hangar decks so that the

Navy.

It is

is

probably the only periscope

used to give

visibility aft

when

fitted to a

the ship

is

is

surface ship

docking and by

the navigator for taking bearings on lighthouses or points ashore. Directly above the captain's bridge

is

the 0-11

level, the highest level

AIRCRAFT CARRIERS

75

normally manned in the ship. This Jutting out in a

little

in the old carriers

because

in) over the flight

deck

ing flight operations, little

it

what

is

the headquarters of the "air boss."

called "Pri-Fly," or Primary Flight. Dur-

is

it.)

The

(He wears boss

air

is

a

the

has an assistant air boss in Pri-Fly with him,

—

assistants

whom

and the hangar deck

the flight deck officer

has other assistants.

the 0-11 level, towering

Above there are

and top were almost completely glassed

sides

is

He

aircraft.

and two principal each of

its

charge of handling, launching, maintaining, operating,

carrier's air officer in

officer,

the lookout platform and signal bridge.

cap with "air boss" lettered on

cloth-billed

and recovering

is

"balcony" (which used to be called a "greenhouse"

up

to the

0-15, high above the water,

no manned spaces, simply radar and radar antenna.

No men

are

anywhere near these antenna when they are operating because the radiation could injure them. In

one that can detect enemy within

fifty

Enterprise radar, a particularly powerful

fact, the big

hundreds of miles away, cannot be used

aircraft

miles or so of the beach, or

commercial television

is

new

a

interfere with

type, a so-called fixed array without

can actually be controlled by the

It

down belowdecks.

would blank out or

stations.

The Enterprise radar moving antennas.

it

digital

any

computers

sends out powerful pulsating electronic beams or

It

radio waves that are reflected back again like echoes to radar receivers by

any ships or planes within range, thus giving direction, distance, and

alti-

tude of the targets.

Down

below the cavernous hangar deck the decks are similarly num-

bered from the precedes

deck (hangar deck) down, but without the zero that

first

all levels

above the hangar deck. The second deck contains an

extensive eighty-six-bed hospital

(The Navy

calls

it

—one

a "sick bay".)

of the best equipped in the Navy.

Nearby are dental

offices in

2,800 dental procedures each month are performed. also are the brig, or jail; officers' staterooms

crew; the main, or

#2, wardroom

office space; a crew's galley

On

and berthing spaces for the

for senior officers;

and mess

hall

which some

the second deck

most of the

forward and one

aft;

gency diesel-engine power plants for auxiliary uses (cooking, so

on

—what

the

Navy

ship's

and emerlight,

and

calls "hotel" loads).

There are more squadron ready rooms on the second deck. The Enterprise, like

some

ger elevators.

of the other

Some

new

ships in the

of the other

newer

Navy,

carriers

is

equipped with passen-

have escalators which

The

island superstructure of the Enterprise towers

the structure are radar antenna, so powerful that

above the

enemy

flight

aircraft

deck.

Atop

can be detected

hundreds of miles away. (U.S. Navy)

more room. Two

require pilots

of the elevators,

one forward and one

from the ready rooms on the second deck

they are ordered to

man

their planes.

deck up the island superstructure,

is

The

to the gallery

third elevator,

aft,

take

deck when

from the

for the use of the captain

gallery

and the

admiral.

On

more berthing spaces amidships; machine and officers' galley and mess. (In all, there are seven Enterprise; a bakery, two butchershops, a laundry and

the third deck there are

metal shop, the chief petty galleys

aboard the

dry-cleaning shop, tailor shop, three barbershops, three soda fountains, arid seven ship's stores.)

The

third

deck also contains spaces for the

electric

shop, the ship's print shop; and extending through to the fourth deck, oil

some

storage bunkers and magazine spaces; electrical switchboard and auxil-

iary

machinery (pumps, generators, and so on).

The main machinery spaces start at the fourth deck and extend down to the seventh deck. The Enterprise has eight nuclear reactors which give her tremendous power. Her speed is more than 35!4 knots (40 miles an hour), and she can come to dead in the water from full ahead in minutes. Each

AIRCRAFT CARRIERS

77

reactor has steam generators or heat exchangers clustered near actors are enclosed in heavy steel vessels, is

and around

all

it.

The

re-

the reactor spaces

heavy shielding.

The

details are secret, but

some idea

of the care taken to protect everyone

against radiation or accident can be gathered

from the published

details of

The Savan-

the world's only nuclear-powered merchant ship, the Savannah.

nah, built for the Maritime Administration as a possible prototype for our future merchant marine,

is

only a 22,000-ton ship with a

24 knots. She has one pressurized-water

maximum

speed of

reactor, located amidships.

Atomic Energy Commission, which supervises and contracts

The

for the con-

struction of all nuclear reactors, has described the Savannah's reactor as

follows:

enclosed in a high strength carbon steel primary shield covered

"It is

with a layer of lead two to four inches thick. This shield will permit a wall of water 33 inches thick to surround the reactor and,

the

first

line of resistance to radiation

this shield is

when

from within the

filled,

reactor.

constitutes

Surrounding

a heavy steel containment shell, the top half of which

is

cov-

ered by a 6-inch layer of lead plus a 6-inch layer of polyethylene and the

bottom half of which

is

surrounded by a 4-foot thick wall of reinforced

concrete. This also protects the crew

"The reactor

and constructed

that, in the event of a

reactor space, the

ramming

of stiffened ship structure,

and 2

and passengers from

radiation.

located amidship in a compartment which

is

feet of collision

ship

two heavy

so designed

broadside collision opposite the

would have

mat made up

is

to penetrate a total of 17 feet

steel collision

bulkheads (partitions),

of alternate layers of inch-thick steel

and 3-inch redwood, before reaching the heavy reactor containment In short, the Savannah's design and construction collide with

merchant

such that should she

any of the ships making up over 98 percent of the world's

fleet,

her nuclear reactor would suffer no damage."

The Enterprise

—

is

shell.

reactor spaces

are provided with shielding

—

eight instead of one, as in the

and protective bulkheads

Savannah

that cannot be

described but that give even greater protection.

—

Thus between the fourth and seventh decks is the heart of the ship the main engineering spaces; the reactors and steam generators and the steam Here are the main engineering control and central control stations from which all the reactors and turbines can be controlled and from which

turbines.

the ship's

damage

control parties, used in battle or accident, can be directed.

The New Navy

78

turbines drive, through the long, gleaming propeller shafts, the ship's

The

four propellers. Outboard and beneath the machinery spaces are wingtanks

and inner bottoms, subdivided

honeycomb, many of them

like a

with

filled

aviation fuel or water.

This brief and simplified description of a moving city with more than

3,200 rooms

in

is

no way a complete guide

would take weeks and

own

its

all.

it

Enterprise has

own

its

and a broadcasting studio from which music,

television, sions,

to explore

to a ship so big that

shows can be disseminated

television

loudspeaker system;

it

literally

closed-circuit

lectures, discus-

over the ship.

all

has

It

movie "theaters"; and basketball courts or

five

other athletic fields on the hangar deck. So,

you want

if

your way around, remember the designating

to find

system:

Compartment 01-153-3-L The deck, or level, comes first. The 01 deck

— hangar #153 —The #01

is

one deck above the

deck.

next set of numerals, set off by a hyphen,

There are 260 frames, four

ber.

Frame

in Enterprise.

#3

is

means

3

on the center

line;

1

somewhat

aft of

the second space to starboard is

the frame

numbered from bow

153, therefore, would be

—The numeral

line;

feet apart,

is

to starboard; 2

is

to port; 3

num-

to stern,

amidships.

from the center is

to starboard,

and so on.

L

—And

instance

Got

the letter

means a

it

Navy

living space.

didn't

bulkheads to refer get lost for

have some such system as

to,

is

"left"

the

left

bow; starboard

stern or rear.

this,

and key blueprints on

green sailors ("boots," they used to be called) might

weeks aboard a giant ship

The terms der." Port

is

designates the function of the compartment; in this

it?

If the

the

L

like Enterprise.

and "right" are used only

in steering, as "left full rud-

when you

are facing forward or toward

side of the ship is

the right side.

There are no

ceilings

aboard a

the deck; the walls are bulkheads.

ments or spaces; outboard

is

Forward

is

toward the bow;

the

aft,

ship, only overheads; the floor

There are no rooms, only compart-

toward the side of the ship; the beam

is

its

width.

The

sea has a lingo

words and phrases

all its

own, and the fighting Navy adds a

to this salty vocabulary.

lot of

new

AIRCRAFT CARRIERS

79

Listen in to the orders and conversations up in Pri-Fly, where

and takeoffs are controlled by the This

landings

air boss.

a busy place during air operations, with telephone talkers in com-

is

munication with the with the

all

LSO,

deck and hangar deck, with the catapult

flight

officer,

or landing signal officer, at the stern, and by radio with the

aircraft.

The

boss jockeys his planes around by number:

air

"Nine Zero Four Cat One" (Plane Number 904

The plane cat,

is

groove

One).

taxied up the deck, jockeyed into position at the end of the

and the launch

slotted

to Catapult

bridle

is

attached.

As wisps

of steam arise

from the

The jets aluminum

in the deck, the pilot gives his engines the gun.

the hot stream of gases are deflected off the water-cooled deflectors that rise out of the

deck behind the

cat.

roar; blast

Then, as the catapult

drops his arm, the huge steam-driven catapult (the four cats of the

officer

Enterprise are the most powerful in the world) hurls the twenty- to thirty-

ton plane into the feet.

For the

pilot

tame

coaster a

air. It

from zero

You

pull the straps

off,

in

E" can launch planes

up the deck and take

all

roller

on your shoulder harness and

at the rate of

rest.

There's a

about four per minute. Some

do not use the

cats but trundle

wind with the aid of the ship's speed.

off into the

Enterprise, like

250

you don't quite know how. The four catapults

aircraft, generally the propeller-driven ones,

In

160 miles an hour

and put your head back against the head

"whoosh" and you're

The

to

and passengers, a cat shot makes a Coney Island

thrill.

seat belt tight,

of the "Big

accelerates

modern

carriers, has a "canted," or angled, deck.

old carriers the planes landed fore and aft; aircraft were landing on

all

the stern while others were parked

on the bow.

If

a

hook slipped or

a

bad

landing was made, the plane either crashed into the planes parked forward or was stopped by the barrier

—wire

cables interlaced with nylon mesh.

But the angled deck, a British invention, to the fore

and

aft or

is

center line of the carrier.

of the ship. If a plane gets a "wave-off" if

the

gives

a landing area placed at an angle It juts

out over the port side

from the landing

signal officer or

hook does not catch in one of the arresting cables, the pilot simply her the gun and he goes around again for another try, with no fear

tail

of crashing into

planes

if

parked

necessary.

and has made

aircraft.

barrier can

The angled deck has

all aircraft-carrier

Another type of

The

still

be used for disabled

greatly reduced the accident rate

operations safer and easier.

carrier design

is

the parallel deck.

The

island super-

&&

The angled deck

— landing area placed — seen a

line of the carrier

take off by

structure

means of

either side.

Navy has

catapults

in the center,

is

No

at

an angle to the fore and

aft

clearly in this view of the Enterprise.

is

or center

The planes

on the bow and on the angled deck. (U.S. Navy)

with two parallel takeoff or landing strips on

parallel-deck carriers have been built, though the British

projected such a ship.

Nevertheless landing on a carrier, especially in a rough sea or in low visibility, is

a "hairy" business. There are

many

landing aids

—one

of the

best the mirror landing system (also a British invention), or an improve-

ment of

it

—

the Fresnel lens optical landing system.

a great lens projects to the pilot

The light,

making

his

A

approach a

light

source behind

series of lights.

The "meatball" is a big amber more away, which indicates the

pilot flies the "meatball" in landing.

easily perceptible half a mile or

approaching plane's position relative to the proper glide path. is

If

the plane

too high, the "meatball" shows above a line of orange datum lights on

either side of

it; if it is

too low the "meatball"

is

below the

lights.

AIRCRAFT CARRIERS At

same time

the

81

the pilot can be coached in by "Paddles," the landing

signal officer in the stern,

who

Pong paddles. There are

also various radio landing aids, similar to those

at night uses illuminated paddles, like Ping-

used ashore, but specially adapted to the short runway of the aircraft carrier.

Another unique aboard

installed

all

combat

aboard the Enterprise

carriers

—

is

PLAT

Three television cameras, permanently

vision).

each

installation

aircraft landing.

There

is

(Pilot

—but

now

Landing

being Tele-

,4 id

installed in the ship, record

one wide-angled camera on the landing

mirror, or Fresnel lens. Another camera, a surveillance one that can pick

up

virtually the entire flight deck,

gyrostabilized,

is

is

installed

on top of

buried in the center line of the

periscope scribe sticking up through a light fixture.

flight

A

Pri-Fly.

third,

deck, with a tiny

The camera

synchro-

is

nized with a doppler radar, a device that measures the speed of the incoming plane.

The

TV

cameras record each landing and project

receivers in each ready room, in the captain's

platform, the Air Operations

plane

is

see

he

if

in the cross hairs of the periscope, is

is

is

on

flag bridges, the

TV LSO

the incoming

If

right on, but

easy to

it is

since

alibis,

It also makes "every "Monday-morning quarterbacks."

filmed and recorded on magnetic tape.

a pilot," with a lot of coaching from

The

he

and

elsewhere.

too high or too low. This device prevents any pilot

each landing

man

Room, CIC, and

it

returning planes, while in the landing pattern, are controlled from

Pri-Fly.

Four Crusaders

circle the ship,

—break

"Four Crusaders

An

high up in the cloudy sky.

'em," the air boss says.

order goes out over the radio; immediately the leader peels

off,

and

the four break formation to go into the landing pattern, always circling

counterclockwise, off the ship's port side.

The

first

plane goes into the glide path about a mile astern; the

air

boss

calls out:

"A5A

in the

attack plane ing,

—

his

in the

a touch-and-go."

(A North American

Vigilante

approach; he will practice a touch-and-go land-

but will not lower his

"A5A and

groove

making

tail

hook.)

groove for trap." (This plane has lowered

his tail

hook,

will land.)

The

great aircraft sweeps

in,

the pilot ready to give her the

engines roaring at about 95 percent power,

gun

She roars down on to the deck,

if

he gets a wave-off.

tail

hook lowered.

It

picks up one of the

The

82

New Navy

four cables of the arresting gear; the great wire cable sings out through its

sheaves in bounding catenary, and the plane

in a

few hundred

The

their helmets

them against the blasting roar of the up the

flight

comes

in:

"Gear sions

deck; the cable

Set;

slowed smoothly to a stop

feet.

deck crew, with

flight

is

is

jet

and ear protectors shielding

engines, rush out to guide the plane

pulled back into position and another bird

40,000," a telephone talker reports to the

on the cables of the arresting gear are adjusted

air boss.

The

ten-

for the weight of each

aircraft.

"How

are

"What

you coming on Number One Cat?"

in hell's the

matter

down

there? You're slow as molasses in Janu-

ary," the air boss explodes.

The incoming plane

lands perfectly, but the lowered

over the cables; the pilot gives her the gun, and "It's

is

means the

arresting cables, but he

To watch of the best

pilot

had a hook

aircraft landings

teamwork on

slip,

A

handlers, and so

on

—

is

carrier

lights outline the flight deck,

—

fuel,

life

and

Only the

on

engines

jet

their afterburners

—

faint white

—

particu-

sear crimson holes

intense heat spuds bits of insulating material from

deflector baffles; the ear-splitting

the real

armaments, plane

finest chorus.

but the spitting roar of

larly at takeoff as the pilots turn

is

watch some

well-trained flight deck crew, wearing

night, carrier operations are a thing of beauty.

The

to

is

like a beautiful ballet; they possess the grace

symmetry and teamwork of the

in the darkness.

the four

and kept going.

and takeoffs from a

earth.

among

landed in the right area

different colored jerseys to indicate their functions

This

hook bounces

go around again.

okay," the air boss says over the radio to the pilot; "you were in the

spaghetti." This

At

tail

off to

howl of the

jets swells

of the carrier; the Enterprise

exist to serve their air groups, to

launch them

and

across the world. all

other carriers

safely, to recover

them, to

maintain them.

The composition of the carrier,

each it

air

may

its

group has

shift to

of air groups differs slightly, depending

mission, the types of aircraft available. its

mother ship and

it

bases ashore temporarily

upon the size But nowadays

stays with that ship, even

when

the ship

is

though

in port or in a

navy yard.

The Enterprise

carries

more planes than any

carrier in the world, but

AIRCRAFT CARRIERS

83

with a few numbers subtracted

its

carriers.

The Enterprise

carrier air

group

air

group

is

more or

—Air Group — Six

is

less typical of

composed

squadrons and two detachments (in other carriers there are

most

of seven

five to

six

squadrons aboard).

Normally, there are one or two fighter squadrons (twelve to to a

to

squadron) aboard an attack

one hundred

carrier,

aircraft are light or

and the

fifteen planes

rest of the seventy-five

heavy attack planes, and a few recon-

naissance and airborne-early-warning planes.

The attack

number depends in part upon the assigned number of heavy planes. The big Douglas A3D, now being replaced by the North total

In the foreground

Navy

planes are parked on the Enterprise flight deck.

will hurl

them

into the air.

blast deflectors. (U.S.

Navy)

Behind the planes

Two

Huge steam-driven catapults are the water-cooled aluminum

planes are in takeoff position in the background.

The

84

and big wingspread and hence

Vigilante, has a long fuselage

American

requires a lot

more space for takeoff and stowage than the

AD Sky raider or the jet Sky hawk.

The

New Navy Douglas

light

smaller carriers of the

Midway

class

carry nine heavy attack planes; the Forrestal class has twelve. If a carrier

assigned a

squadron of twelve heavy attack

full

ing approximately thirty tons, lighter aircraft.

much

aircraft,

each plane gross-

normally carries a reduced number of

But the task force concept dominates; a

complement can be Types of

it

tailored to

its

is

carrier's aircraft

specific task.

aircraft vary as technology changes.

But the Navy

standardization as possible, since this simplifies

strives for as

maintenance and

plane handling. Today, the standard carrier types include the following:

FIGHTERS McDonnell Phantom II (now designated by the new system of aircraft designations the F4B; formerly called the F4H). This plane has been called by the Air Force, which has adopted world."

It

has chalked up a

of 1,606 miles per hour, or

heavily

number

Mach

of world records, including a top speed

2.6. It

armed and longest-range Navy

forty-five degrees;

thrust of

it

"the best tactical fighter in the

it,

is

the fastest, highest-flying, most

fighter. Its

wings are swept back

has twin-jet General Electric engines with a total

more than 32,000 pounds. The two-man crew includes pilot and It can carry four to six Sparrow III intercepting missiles,

radar operator.

with radar guidance, and four to six Sidewinders, which

exhaust (heat, or infrared) from an enemy's intercept in all weathers, It

and

it

pipe.

tail

can also double

home on

the

The Phantom

II

jet

can

in brass as a fighter-bomber.

has a long-range delivery capability for either conventional or nuclear

weapons.

It is

one of the world's greatest planes.

The Sidewinder,

a reliable

and inexpensive

and weighs 155 pounds. The Sparrow

III

missile,

is

is

about 9

feet long

12 feet long, weighs 350

pounds, has a speed of about 1,500 miles per hour within a few seconds after launching,

clouds.

A

and

beam from

is

an all-weather missile that can be

the launching aircraft's radar guides

Chance Vought Crusader (F8D and E). This

is

it

fired

through

to the target.

another hot-rod

fighter,

with a capability of about 1.8 Mach, or 1.8 times the speed of sound. a single-place plane, with a special two-position wing that enables fast

and high, and

still

slow

down enough

to land

on a

it

carrier deck.

It is

to fly It

car-

AIRCRAFT CARRIERS ries

four

85

20-mm. cannon and Sidewinder

and improved radar, and

an automatic

missiles, has

pilot

a top-notch all-weather interceptor.

is

ATTACK Douglas Sky raider (A1H). This propeller-driven single-seat plane has been the workhorse of the

since 1946. It

fleet

planes ever built; year after year

only to continue

its

chug along for many hours level delivery of nuclear

enemy

radar.

it

It is

a single-engine plane,

weight in armament and which can

200

to

240

It

skips along just

at

knots.

specializes in the low-

It

above the

sea,

and

has been more successful than any other type in evading also extremely accurate in the delivery of a

The Bullpup

ground target by the

its

own

fleet. It is

weapons.

from "iron bombs"

variety of conventional arms,

face missile.

its

one of the most remarkable

is

has been consigned to the scrap heap,

unrivaled service to the

which has carried more than

time after time

it

pilot of the attacking aircraft. It

simple and especially useful

—with

an

air-to-sur-

It is

guided to

to Bullpup,

an 11 -foot, 540-pound missile.

is

conventional warhead

tremendous

is

accurate and

—

against small

targets like tanks or pillboxes.

Douglas Sky hawk (A4E). This

a single-seat, simple small lightweight

is

attack plane, superior in performance to is

many

operational

jet fighters. It

combat plane ever built, and armed with two 20-mm. cannon in

the smallest and lightest United States jet

grosses only about 15,500 pounds. It the

wing

roots,

and

is

is

capable of hundreds of variations of military loads

carried externally, including nuclear or high-explosive

gun pods, or

A new

advantage

air-to-air or air-to-ground rockets. Its

size, simplicity,

and

bombs, torpedoes, is

its

small

reliability.

gun system,

said to be "the

most

versatile

and advanced gun

sys-

tem ever developed for the Navy," has been successfully tested with the

Skyhawk and

will, in time,

be

fitted to this,

(High Performance External Gun) with twin barrels,

mounted

and other,

aircraft.

HIPEG

20-mm. cannon, each attachable pods. The combination of

consists of three

in easily

three pods can fire 12,600 rounds a minute.

Under

order, to supplement

light attack aircraft to

and ultimately

to replace

Skyhawk,

is

a

new

be known as the A7A. Ling-Temco-Vought are

designing it around a much improved and altered version of the Chance Vought F8E. It will have a new engine and will carry a much larger weapons load.

The New Navy

86 Douglas Skywarrior (A3B).

A

70,000-pound-gross-weight plane, with

two Pratt and Whitney engines, and a crew of three, capable of about 600 miles per hour, deep penetration, and heavy loads, this was the first of the Navy's heavy attack planes.

North American Vigilante (A5). This two-man heavy attack plane and reconnaissance aircraft has an intricate inertial navigation and

tactical

bombsighting system. the Skywarrior, but

gines give ber,

a speed of

it

sharply swept wings and two General Electric en-

Mach

1960, one of the

91,450.8

first

2 and a range of about 2,000 miles. In Decemof this type set a world's altitude record of

(about 17 miles) for

feet

than 2,200 pounds.

bombs

bay, with

grosses about thirty-two tons, slightly less than

It

its

It

more

planes carrying a payload of

jet

has a formidable load carried internally in a

ejected rearward. Pilots call

it

bomb

a sweet-flying airplane with

plenty of power. Designed for either high- or low-level attack.

Grumman

Intruder

000 plane capable

and of high-speed dash

racks, at

(A6A). This

low

level.

on small

is

a two-man, 43,000-pound, $5,000,-

of carrying about nine tons of

The plane

is

external

capabilities (about .9 the speed of

bombs

designed to deliver

targets completely

armament on

sound)

or rockets accurately

obscured by darkness or weather.

It is

equipped

with an "integrated display system" that presents visually on two viewing screens the targets and geographical features surrounding them. It also has

DIANE

(Digital /ntegrated Attack Navigation System), an automatic navi-

And

gation system.

some

direct

Two

it

has a

tilting

of the aircraft's thrust

engine

pipe,

tail

downward

which

for additional

of the Navy's latest aircraft missiles are Walleye

lift.

and Shrike. Both

can be carried by attack planes or fighter-bombers. Walleye glide

weapon

—

really a

1,000-pound glider

a gyrostabilized television camera. target

and

its

corrects the

bomb

The camera

surroundings to a screen in the

bomb's course by making

stability

—guided

Walleye

will

become

projects the

system that causes

weapons

named

a

its

target

f reef all

by

image of the

and the

pilot

and

The bomb

The Navy

be-

effective air-to-surface

new

explosive

maximum damage. Snakeye and Rockeye

are other

in this series that are

Shrike,

is

and course corrections, which

the "most accurate

conventional weapon ever developed."

to

pilot's cockpit,

are fed automatically to the bomb's guidance mechanism. lieves

can

at takeoffs

uses a

under development.

for the small bird that attacks the eyes of

its

enemies,

is

a

AIRCRAFT CARRIERS

87

simple missile that homes on the electronic emissions of radar. to destroy

The

enemy radar

designed

It is

stations.

Zuni, an unguided 5 -inch rocket, can be fired singly or in clusters

against pillboxes or other land targets from both attack and fighter aircraft. Its

"wallop," in barrage

that

fire, is like

from a destroyer broadside.

Condor, a new 40-mile-range, television-guided air-to-surface still

missile, is

under development.

RECONNAISSANCE Chance Vought Crusader (RF8A). This plane fighter type, with a slightly less

is

a variation of the

powerful engine but greater range.

It

is

equipped with high-speed aerial cameras for photo reconnaissance. This plane has taken

many

pictures of Soviet ships,

and

low-level photographs of Soviet missiles bases in

it

provided

many

Cuba during

the

of the

1962

crisis.

EARLY WARNING

Grumman

Tracer (E1B). This aircraft

and looks, with

its

flying saucer that

is

called in the fleet the "Fud,"

huge oval-shaped radome above the fuselage,

grabbed a Cod."

refer to a fish, but to "Carrier

"COD"

does not, in

this

"like a

play on words,

On-board Delivery," a slow-speed, long-

range utility-type plane for mail, passenger, and cargo delivery from fields

ashore to carriers at sea.

"TF"

Trader. They are

now

COD

called

aircraft

air-

were formerly designated the

C-1A and C-2A, and

are manufactured

by Grumman.

Grumman Hawkey e (E2A). craft,

just

coming

This

is

into fleet service.

a radically It

is

new early-warning

one of the

first

air-

operational

turboprop airplanes (two propellers driven by Allison gas turbine engines) in

Navy

carrier service. It

aircraft with catapult

tow

and the

Grumman

Intruder are the

fittings that are integral parts of the

first

Navy

nose wheels

(in other aircraft catapult bridles attach to the fuselage). This permits easy

centering on the catapult.

The Hawkeye,

like its predecessor, has

radar warning to the But, unlike tion

its

fleet

and

predecessor,

it

one mission

—

to provide early

to vector fighters to intercept is

enemy

aircraft.

capable of completely automatic intercep-

and data transmission, without the use of voice.

It is

the airborne part

New Navy

The

88

of the Navy's Tactical Data System, and in addition to the information

can pick up by radars and

its

own

radar

can receive and transmit data from other

it

other sources on the surface and in the

all

can control

air. It

dozens of fighters simultaneously. The electronic installation in costs twice as

much

it

as the plane

plane

this

The 24-foot rotodome, with radar

itself.

antennas enclosed, gives the plane the characteristic "flying saucer" look.

The plane has It

pilot

and

co-pilot,

and three radar operators and

controllers.

and has seven hours' endurance.

grosses almost fifteen tons,

ANTISUBMARINE Grumman Tracker (S2D).

This

is

the standard carrier-based antisub-

marine plane, with a four-man crew and with a capability of both finding

and destroying enemy submarines.

It

carries a variety of detection gear,

including radar, sound and magnetic devices, and depth charges or anti-

submarine torpedoes.

It

a twin-engine prop-driven plane,

is

with long

endurance.

HELICOPTERS

ANTISUBMARINE Sikorsky Sea King

(SH3A). This

with a crew of four men, first

is

twin-turbined, boat-hulled helicopter,

one of the

fastest helicopters in the

(in a slightly different version) to

world

—

exceed 200 miles per hour.

the

It is

designed for all-weather and night flying, including hovering close to the sea. It

is

equipped with sound gear lowered by cable into the ocean.

The Sikorsky HSS-l-N, with an automatic hover

device,

is

designed for

night and instrument flying.

Transport Sikorsky

UH-34D and

E. Single-engine all-purpose helicopter, carries

twelve to eighteen passengers (one fully armed squad of Marines). This transport and utility helicopter

was the workhorse of the armed

services,

and was used by the President. Sikorsky

CH-37C. This two-engined cargo

ble in size to the Douglas assault squads or

Sikorsky

two

CH-53A.

DC3

jeeps.

A

helicopter, roughly

compara-

twin-engine fixed-wing transport, carries two

Clamshell doors permit quick loading.

new heavy

assault transport helicopter,

largest

AIRCRAFT CARRIERS helicopter of

its

89

type in the Western world,

Marine Corps future combat weight

it

has been ordered as the

lifter. It will

carry payloads up to nine

more than 200 miles an hour.

tons and will have speeds of

UTILITY

Kaman

(UH-2A and 2B). An

Seasprite

all-weather helicopter equipped

with advanced navigational and electronic devices,

ASW

carrying

equipment.

it

is

also capable of

has a small, maneuverable single-engined gas

It

wear no parachutes; they are generally

turbine. Helicopter crews usually

man

too close to the sea for chutes. But each pilot and air crew

Mae West back

lifejacket

during

rest

and a packaged one-man

life raft,

which serves

and the marine-transport helicopters

aircraft

are specialized types, peculiar to the Navy, but the other

An

as a

flight.

The antisubmarine-warfare fighters

wears a

and attack planes

aircraft carrier

is

—have

their counterparts in land-based aircraft.

same hazards, and requires the same

subject to the

A

defenses, as a land-based airfield.

be cratered with bombs.

On

ship can be sunk; a land airstrip can

the other

hand

planes to the vicinity of action; a land base

An atom bomb

combat types

a ship is

is

mobile;

it

can take

its

fixed.

placed close enough can sink any ship;

it

can put any

land base out of action. But in a nuclear war both carrier and land base

would have served

their

purpose

before they were destroyed. imagine.

A

if

they were able to launch their aircraft

carrier

is

not as easy to find as one would

Decoy and radar spoofing devices can make

it

look in a searching

radar screen like a couple of destroyers or a great merchant ship. is

not so simple to destroy as

its

critics

have

And

it

said.

Surface ships might surprise a carrier at night or in foul weather and sink it

with guns or missiles. Yet a carrier normally would pick up any surface

raider

range.

its own powerful radar long before the enemy could get within Enemy submarines present a potential menace. Each carrier nor-

by

mally works as part of a task force, with at least two plane guard destroyers

and other screening it

difficult to

ships.

Submarines, unless lucky, would probably find

penetrate the screen.

Moreover, most carriers normally operate

at

such high speeds that

except the fastest nuclear-powered submarines would find themselves

all

left

astern or far out of position for a torpedo shot, unless the law of chance

New Navy

The

90

gave them that one opportunity every submarine commander dreams of

—

a close-in shot

on the bow or beam.

The greatest modern menace to a carrier is undoubtedly the air-launched homing missile or the sea-skimming attack plane flying beneath the beams of surface radar. An enemy attack plane or bomber, standing off out of antiaircraft range, might launch a missile that would home on infrared, the heat emitted by the carrier, which usually sea around

it.

Against

this

considerably hotter than the

is

menace the Navy maintains an

orbiting group

of early-warning radar planes, flying at a considerable distance

away from

"CAP," or Combat Air Patrol, which can be vectored intercept enemy attacking planes beyond the missile launch point.

a carrier, and a

quickly to

Against the low-flying bomber, airborne radar radar

is

often handicapped against low

fliers

is

Radar beams do not penetrate water. When the

return."

some

are directed almost horizontally

attacking plane

may

some

less

waves

light.

The

Airborne

of this.

important, threat to the carrier

to-surface long-range missile. Missiles, such as those

Komar

blobs of

little

lose itself in this radar fireworks display.

radar, however, compensates for

Another, though

electronic

are reflected back from the sea's

and spot up the radar screen with many

surface,

built

also useful, since ship

by a phenomenon called "sea

is

that of the surface-

mounted by

the Soviet-

torpedo boats, or winged missiles, launched from Soviet

submarines, have far greater ranges than guns. Defense against them requires a far-flung

and extensive

air patrol.

Thus, the carrier can be sunk like any other ship. vulnerable today (like fields)

are:

all

than ever before. Yet

Can

it

perform

its

probably more

It is

other surface ships and, for that matter, land it

cannot be written

mission before

it is

off.

The

destroyed? Does

real questions

it

provide com-

bat power that cannot otherwise be provided?

The Navy thinks the answers are affirmative to both questions. Even in the "narrow" Mediterranean, tests have shown that aircraft riers

can "lose" themselves to searching

aircraft

and can launch

cartheir

nuclear-armed attack planes before the enemy can find them. In limited war the carrier

and air

is

indispensable to establish local air superiority

to provide close air support in those vast areas of the

world where land

bases are lacking or inadequate.

Vice Admiral Frank O'Beirne,

USN

(Ret.), until recently

Commander,

AIRCRAFT CARRIERS Naval Air Force, Atlantic

91 Fleet,

summed up

the case for the carrier in these

words: ".

.

The

.

aircraft carrier will continue to provide a significant portion

of this nation's major attack potential for the foreseeable future in any type of

armed

nuclear or conventional.

conflict, limited or extensive,

system has

No

other

this versatility.

"This type warship has proven to be, and will continue to be, an optimum instrument for the projection of United States force and prestige in any role: diplomatic, police action, or full warfare.

The Navy maintains two carrier

is

carrier.

A

modified

flattop, the helicopter-

used by the Marines for landing troops through the air

behind enemy-held beaches. Each type ferent classes, designs,

The

.

principal types of aircraft carriers: the attack

and the antisubmarine

transport type,

." .

and

is

composed

of ships of several dif-

capabilities.

attack-carrier classification includes the Enterprise as the largest

and most powerful; various versions of the Forrestal but driven by conventional boilers burning fuel

ships.

class consisting of three

There are also some of the modernized Essex

be replaced by new planes plus for a frolic

carriers.

These

all

almost as big

and by steam turbines;

oil

and the smaller and older but modernized Midway

class,

class,

which may soon

carry hot-rod fighters and attack

some reconnaissance and early-warning aircraft; they or a fray with enemy aircraft anywhere in the world.

are ready

The antisubmarine carriers, conversions and modernizations of the old World War II Essex class, have a special mixed complement of long-range prop-driven antisubmarine planes,

ASW

instruments

and gear, and with helicopters.

A4D

jets for air

crammed with special Each now carries four

defense.

The

Marine use are conversions or new transport a reinforced Marine battalion and

transport helicopter ships for

ships designed specifically to

the transport helicopters needed to ferry the

Marines on an assault mission

from ship to shore.

There planes,

is

is

one other

aircraft-carrier type that, with the increased range of

of decreasing importance: the old,

unarmed

flattop

used by the

Military Sea Transportation Service to ferry short-range aircraft across the

oceans from port to port. Such transports are used for Air Force as well as

The

92 for

Navy

planes; the planes are stowed chock to chock

during passage; the ship

is

has

many

and are not

flyable

simply a unique kind of freighter.

Thus, the aircraft carrier, the mobile landing in the sea,

New Navy

strip,

the

movable island

roles that are vital to control of the sea. But, like

most

elements of naval power, these roles can be simplified into one: the three-

dimensional control of the world's great waters. This means control of the surface of the seas, control of the depths of the ocean, and control of the skies

above the

seas.

L

IV THE DESTROYER

The

jack-of-all-trades, the "tin can," the

you

will,

the destroyer with

functions

is

types, varied

fleet, call it

what

armament, and many

the indispensable ship.

There are more destroyers they vary

many

its

workhorse of the

more

in

commission

in displacement, size,

in the

United States Navy, and

armament, and equipment, than any

other type of ship.

In no other ship has the technological revolution at sea forced changes

more rapidly than

in the destroyer.

As new arms and equipment were

developed they were installed aboard old destroyers. Modernization Pro-

grams

—

ization

the so-called

programs)

—

FRAMS

I

and

II

(Fleet Rehabilitation

resulted in the virtual rebuilding

up of many destroyer

^nd Modern-

from the main deck

—

more new weapons guided missiles, new and more powerful sonar, and so on, became available the new destroyers of the 1950's and early 1960's became ever larger and more types.

As

still

—

powerful. Today, the destroyer navy includes ships as large as old-time light cruisers

from

and

as small as a big yacht. Their

weapons include everything

and Tartar guided missiles, to antisubmarine homing torpedoes, and drone helicopters. Silhouettes

rapid-firing guns, Terrier

rockets, depth charges,

markedly, and virtually no two ships are

differ

But

all

destroyers have two things in

alike.

common

—speed and

usefulness.

Almost two centuries ago, John Paul Jones, the great sea captain of the nation's early years, said:

"Give

me

a fast ship

The modern Its

.

.

.

for

I

intend to go in harm's way."

destroyer would meet John Paul Jones's needs.

usefulness as the "workhorse" of the fleet

was once capsuled

in the

93

The

94

New Navy

phrase "the Dungaree Navy." Destroyer sailors kept the seas for long hours. Traditionally, the destroyer

was the

first

out of port, the last

The

in.

small

ships could cruise in shallow waters, enter ports denied to larger vessels,

and provide close-up

support for amphibious landings as they have

fire

beachheads. The "spit-and-polish" of the larger ships had

done

off scores of

little

counterpart in the destroyer navy. For in the destroyer

too

much

to do;

was men against the

it

fleet,

rime and

sea, with sea

there salt

was

spray

coating stacks and rigging and tasting sweetly bitter on the lips of the crew.

As some

destroyers have

grown

and complexity, they have assumed

in size

The

of the characteristics and customs of the large ships.

"Dungaree Navy"

New

appellation

no longer applies except to the small ships.

weapons, new techniques, new destroyer categories have increased

the destroyer's versatility and ship, a close-support ship for

In various classes,

utility.

it

an antiaircraft

is

amphibious landings, a radar picket

vessel,

a plane guard, an escort vessel for convoys, a support ship in a carrier task force and, above Fleet

an antisubmarine warfare "platform."

Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, who commanded the

during World

"Of

all,

all

War

II,

Pacific Fleet

has said, with good reason:

Navy

the tools the

will

employ

to control the seas in

any future

war, the most useful of the small types of combatant ships, the destroyer, will

be sure to be there.

called by another

—has such an

Its

appearance

name, but no type

—

may be

altered

and

it

may even be

not even the carrier or the submarine

assured place in future navies."

There are about 225 destroyer types

in active

commission

in the

modern

Navy.

There are seven major

The

largest

is

classifications,

and each has a number of subtypes.

the destroyer leader, or frigate

of the fast cruiser sailing ships of

—

a modernized application

John Paul Jones's time.

DLG-GUIDED-MISSILE FRIGATES, OR DESTROYER LEADERS All except five frigates are equipped with guided missiles and are desig-

nated

DLG

(destroyer leaders or frigates

bridge, designated

DLGN

—guided

missile).

guided-missile,

(frigate,

The USS Bain-

nuclear-powered),

is

the largest destroyer in the world, displacing about 8,400 tons, full load.

Other

frigates include the

are "double-enders"

Dewey-Farragut

—

class,

Leakey and Yarnall

missiles fore

and

with missiles

aft;

class,

which

like

Bainbridge

and the "single-enders," the

(twin-launcher Terrier)

aft,

and a

THE DESTROYERS

95

The USS Bainbridge, nuclear-powered and equipped with guided largest destroyer-type in the world. (U.S. Navy)

five-inch 54-caliber

gun forward. Dewey

also has

ASROC;

missiles,

aluminum, weighs 375 tons as

the

two twin three-

The superstructure of this class, compared to about 1,000 tons for

inch 50's and two triple torpedo tubes. of

is

built steel

superstructures.

DL-FRIGATES, OR DESTROYER LEADERS There are some

five frigates

armed with guns. These include

the Norfolk,

a 7,300-ton vessel, originally built as a special type of antisubmarine light

and four Mitscher-class

cruiser, but later redesignated a frigate;

placing about 4,730 tons full load. ernized since construction. that

A

have no missiles began on July

DASH

all

been modified and mod-

second program to update the few frigates

equipped with a Tartar launcher

The

They have

frigates, dis-

1963.

1,

aft,

an

The Mitscher

ASROC

class

is

to

be

launcher forward, the

helicopter system, and an improved underwater fire-control system.

destroyers will retain one five-inch 54-caliber

guns, the caliber

is

gun forward. (In naval

an expression of the gun's length. Five inches

diameter of the bore; the length of the five-inch 54

which equals 270 inches, or

is

five inches

is

the

times 54,

22!{> feet.)

DD'S-DESTROYERS DD's are general-purpose

destroyers, variously

armed with three-inch

The

96

New Navy

and five-inch guns and antisubmarine warfare weapons of various types, including "hedgehogs," depth charges, and ASW torpedoes. The largest displace

up

to

4,000 tons

full load.

varying somewhat in detail.

The

There are many

FRAM

I

and

complicated

this

each

FRAM II conversions, which

War

have modernized many of our old World

different classes,

II destroyers,

have further

new ships topside. Many DDE's (antisubmarine most recent and modern sub-

category by creating virtually

of these general-purpose destroyers, formerly called destroyers), have been equipped with the

marine detection devices and weapons.

DDG'S-GUIDED-MISSILE DESTROYERS These are ships displacing about 4,500

tons,

armed with

Tartars, five-

inch guns, and torpedo tubes.

DE'S-DESTROYER ESCORTS Many DE's are modernized World War

II types,

with diesel engines. But

most of these ships are too slow to compete with the modern high-speed submarine. The new Dealey

class,

with steam turbines, and the Claud Jones

with diesel propulsion, have speeds of

ASW is

more than 25

knots,

and modern

equipment. The Bronstein, single screw, steam turbines, 3,500 tons,

the latest. These ships represent the newest classes in this category, and

are capable of serving as convoy escorts, in an

ASW

Hunter-Killer force,

or for other purposes.

DEG'S-GUIDED-MISSILE DESTROYER ESCORTS A new type with a single-rail Tartar launcher forward. The Brooke 414-foot, 3,400-ton ship,

armed with

ASROC

and

DASH,

is

a

as well as long-

range sonar.

DER'S-RADAR PICKET ESCORT SHIPS These ships comprise a specialized category of modernized escort destroyers, and are equipped to provide offshore radar warning of enemy aircraft to the North American Air Defense Command. They maintain ocean patrols in mid-Atlantic

and

Pacific to give early

unidentified aircraft toward the United States.

warning of the approach of

DER's, with enlarged combat

information centers and powerful radars, were virtually rebuilt. Their superstructures are of aluminum, but sixty tons of pig iron were added to

THE DESTROYERS

97

the ballast to compensate for the added topside weight of radar antennas

and communication equipment. They

deeply and heavily.

roll

DER's are supplemented by an inshore radar picket line. Ships designated by the Navy as AGR's converted Libmaintain the inner patrol. AGR's have slow speed, erty-hull merchantmen The mid-ocean

picket lines of the

—

—

powerful radar, virtually no combat capability, and they steam monotonously, while

on

same rectangle

station, over the

of the ocean a

hundred or

The

so miles offshore, watching with their radar for unidentified aircraft.

AGR's

are not destroyers, but they supplement the mid-ocean picket line

maintained by the DER's.

These varied types Should

it

illustrate the

be a jack-of-all-trades

growth problem of the modern destroyer.

—

a general-purpose ship? Should

it

be a

gunfire support ship, an antisubmarine vessel, an anti-air-weapons plat-

form? Should

it

have the speed and endurance to maintain station with a

carrier task force?

There are two schools of thought. One believes that an all-purpose

which could perform most of the

essential missions, should

be

designed and constructed in numbers in order to reduce costs and to

in-

destroyer,

crease standardization.

The

other holds that

it

is

impossible, except within

a very large and expensive hull of 7,000 to 10,000 tons, to

functions a destroyer

must be

now

combine

The Sea Hawk,

still

largely a blueprint dream, represents an attempt to

destroyer's missions. Its primary mission it

it is

modernized destroyers of World

of the

capability. Built in

hoped, replace, at acceptable cost, the old

War

II.

Sea

Hawk would

be

keel up, as a highly automated ship, with a fully integrated

would have a

many

would be antisubmarine warfare,

would have limited antisurface and anti-air-warfare

quantity, this design could,

It

the

built.

design a standard escort destroyer capable of performing

but

all

performs, and that numerous specialized types

relatively small crew,

and

its

built,

from the

weapons system.

electrical-electronics system

and propulsion plant would be simplified and standardized. The objective is

clear

—much

for

little

But the accomplishment

—

a

will

good be

fighting ship at

difficult,

reduced cost and

perhaps impossible. Sea

size.

Hawk

is

a challenge to the naval architects of tomorrow.

The Harry E.

Yarnell,

named

for a wise

and farseeing admiral-statesman,

The

98 is

what used

termed a "light cruiser"

to be

the new, powerful

7,850 tons

—

full

burning boilers power,

— 1,200

in excess of

Yarnell

is

533

one of

feet long. Yarnell

has conventional power

pounds of pressure, 970 degrees, 85,000 horse-

30 knots.

a double-ender

is

is

pressure, high-temperature steam installation with oil-

modern high

a

dimensions. Yarnell

(guided-missile frigates). She displaces about

DLG's

load and

in

New Navy

—twin

Terrier missile launchers fore and

aft.

She also carries two twin-mount three-inch 50-caliber antiaircraft guns, an ASROC launcher with eight cells, and two triple-mount torpedo tubes. The tubes launch the short-range, high-speed, electric-powered

Mark 44

tor-

pedo, the batteries of which are actuated by seawater. This torpedo, the

same type used with

ASROC, homes on

helicopter pad, or launching area,

its

target by sound. Yarnell has a

aft.

Like other new ships, Yarnell combines masts and stacks into macks,

and she has an aluminum superstructure. She has a high, dry forecastle with a flared

bow normally

almost thirty feet above the waterline, which

means she can maintain high speeds Yarnell

is

one of the

with so-called

FAST

transfer of missiles

are

moved

first

in

rough

seas.

of the Navy's destroyer types to be equipped

(Fast Automatic Shuttle Transfer) gear for rapid

from an ammunition ship

rapidly by automatic steel

to the Yarnell.

arms from ship

The

missiles

to ship in a cradle

arrangement, called a grasshopper.

What in

the

Navy

calls habitability

Yarnell and other

new

—

living

comfort

—has been emphasized

ships.

Various color schemes provide far greater restfulness and psychic "ease" than the old

flat

whites or greens. Crew's living spaces

may have

various

combinations of colors, for instance:

White overhead; green-gray bulkheads; green with white deck

tiles;

gray

plastic tabletops; green upholstery.

Or: white overhead; beach-sand bulkheads; red with white deck

tiles;

gray plastic tabletops; sandalwood upholstery.

Or: white overhead; pearl-gray bulkheads; charcoal with red and white

deck

tiles;

Other

gray plastic tabletops; blue upholstery.

living

spaces also have at least three possible different color

schemes, each tastefully blended. Prints or photographs or copies of

famous paintings are on many bulk-

heads. In the crew's mess hall are likenesses of the Navy's early great

—John

The Harry E. (U.S. Navy)

Yarnell, a new, powerful guided-missile frigate,

CPO

Paul Jones and Stephen Decatur; in the

is

highly automated.

mess, the sailing frigate

Constitution cruises again.

There are also a library of new books,

reels of

motion pictures,

tioning, a ship's store, a galley with every kind of automatic

air condi-

equipment

potato peeler, meat grinder, tenderizer, automatic hamburg-patty maker,

food mixer, a toaster with a capacity of 500 stainless-steel salad bar,

is

latest destroyer types, like

their size, their comfort,

automated; Yarnell has

fifteen

radar and sonar) aboard.

and

their complexity.

Bainbridge and

They

The bridge

an old battleship bridge used to be

all

modern

modern

of a

—

and

frigate

is

attacks.

Filtering

tems, and waterproof and airtight hatches

about as big

far less cluttered. Yarnell, like

can be "buttoned up," or closed up, against

cal-Biological-Radiological)

are highly

computers and twenty-seven scopes (for

as

ships,

an hour, a refrigerated

and so on.

What's impressive about the Yarnell,

slices

CBR

(Chemi-

and air-conditioning

and ports make

sys-

this possible.

But the modern equipment with which new ships are crammed presents its

problems.

The

electronic gear

is

sensitive;

it

must be protected, and sud-

The

100 den changes

men

New Navy

energy and power must be avoided. There are fewer

in electric

required but they must be

for the ships are bigger

more "savvy," and they have

and there are fewer hands

to

to

work

harder,

keep the decks clean

and the brightwork polished.

The USS Bainbridge stroyer

—

is

the world's

a guided-missile frigate or leader

world. (But a second ship of this type tion.)

She displaces about 8,400 tons

Bainbridge (DLG-N-25)

is

and only nuclear-powered de-

first

—

—

the largest destroyer in the

the Truxton

—

is

under construc-

full load.

some 600

than YarnelL Her cost of $150,000,000

tons heavier and 31 feet longer

approximately $30,000,000 to

is

$35,000,000 more than that of YarnelL The armament of the two ships identical.

The

additional expense represents principally the cost of the

nuclear-power plant

—twin

But the nuclear power clean; there

is

is

no

oil

reactors

is

—

installed in Bainbridge.

well worth

its

cost.

A

nuclear-powered ship

soot from stacks. Bainbridge has

no stacks except

is

a

"Charley Noble" (Navy slang for the old-fashioned galley stovepipe) for a small donkey boiler used for auxiliary purposes

down

in port.

when

the reactor

shut

(She also carries two diesel generators for emergency use.)

Bainbridge has unlimited endurance; she can steam and fueling, for

is

months or

years.

fight,

without

re-

At twenty knots she can go around the world

at least

twenty times. Indeed, the only limits on her seakeeping capability

are the

men who man

her.

foodstuffs for her crew of

34

They must officers

eat,

and the stowage of

and 463 men could present a problem.

But the Navy has been developing "ration-dense" foods essed,

de-boned types of prepared foods of

kind ordinarily bought in supermarkets.

Bainbridge believe the ship could, to

make It

if

less

—dehydrated,

proc-

bulk and weight than the

The skipper and supply

necessary, store

officer of

enough food aboard

her self-sufficient for six months to a year.

Bainbridge radar.

sufficient

is

equipped with a seaborne three-dimensional air-defense

provides range, bearing (direction), and height (altitude) infor-

mation on many targets simultaneously with a single transmitter antenna

and

receiver. Unlike older radar antenna, the Bainbridge

nod, or move.

The movement,

or scanning,

is

antenna does not

done by changing the

trans-

mitter frequency.

Bainbridge has operated with the nuclear-powered carrier Enterprise,

and has proved her

ability to patrol indefinitely at high

speed and to keep

THE DESTROYERS up with Enterprise than any other

October insignia

in

new

heavy

seas.

She has more

ship. In her short life

— has proudly "Mobility — Endurance — 1962

6,

:

Most

—

101

she

power

electrical generating

Bainbridge was commissioned

fulfilled the

promise of the words

in her

Versatility."

of our larger destroyers have at least a dual-purpose capability

anti-air

and antisubmarine functions; some add a third mission

—

gunfire

support for amphibious landings.

But

if

there

any one natural enemy for

is

D'Artagnan of the

name from in the

days

its

sea,

it is

the submarine.

original mission.

when

It

The

destroyer, indeed, took

its

was once called "torpedo-boat destroyer"

small fast surface torpedo boats used to be viewed as a

threat to the battleships

and heavy ships of the world's

marine quickly displaced the small torpedo boats endurance by

swashbuckling, speedy

this

their size

—

as a

menace

—

The

navies.

sub-

limited in speed and

to surface shipping.

The

destroyer

then combined two roles, submarine hunter and torpedo-carrying vessel,

which could be used It

was

in this

in fleet

engagements against the enemy's battle

second role that destroyers made dramatic history

line.

at the Battle

World War I, and in the Battle for Leyte Gulf and in other World War II. In both wars they were the principal antisubmarine

of Jutland in

actions in

surface ship. Today, the torpedo-carrying role of the destroyer

(except for antisubmarine torpedoes), for there in the old sense.

is

no longer a

is

minimal

battle line

V ASW-ANTISUBMARINE WARFARE

As

the nemesis of the submarine, the destroyer

surface ship of the

modern

fleet.

But

it

is

is

the major antisubmarine

only one of a vast complex of

ships and weapons, instruments and men that must be organized and

grated with the finest teamwork against the threat of the

As

modern submarine.

a missile platform, the nuclear-powered submarine

threat to any nation

on

earth. It

is

also,

with

its

inte-

a strategic

is

short-range missiles and

torpedoes, a threat to naval surface ships and to merchant convoys. Because a few submarines

armed with nuclear weapons can do tremendous damage,

and because Soviet Russia has the world's

largest

submarine

United States Navy considers antisubmarine warfare one of

many

fleet,

major

its

the

tasks;

think the major task.

ASW,

in

its

broadest sense, requires the help of the entire

every combatant ship has an antisubmarine capability of

fleet.

some

Nearly

kind. Naval

planes and helicopters, based ashore and afloat, are equipped with special

submarine detection gear and equipped to hunt and

kill

ASW

weapons. United States submarines are

enemy submarines.

The Navy envisages its carrier strike forces as the first line of defense against enemy submarines. Attack planes from carriers, and perhaps Polaris missiles, launched from submarines, would include high on their lists of priority targets the principal

submarine bases of the enemy. "Scotch the

vipers in their nest," or destroy the enemy's submarines before they put to sea.

The second

line

and coasts and 102

would be our own submarines, lurking

off

enemy

utilizing radar, sonar, radio direction-finding

bases

equipment,

ANTISUBMARINE WARFARE

ASW

and other detection devices

to track

103

and report and destroy,

if

possible,

any

The

bar-

outward-bound enemy submarines.

The riers

third line of defense

is

the so-called antisubmarine barriers.

vary in composition and type, depending upon the geographic area,

the depth of water, and so on. In general, they are designed to block certain

narrow bottlenecks of

sea,

which enemy submarines must use

to reach the

high seas, or to provide listening patrols that will give warning of any unidentified

The

submarine passing through the area.

exits

from the Baltic Sea, which can be

easily

mined because they

are shallow and narrow, could be rather simply blocked in time of

a few minelaying aircraft and surface vessels. called Iceland-Faeroes

gap

—

ASW

aircraft carrier of a

the other hand, the so-

the stretch of tempestuous ocean between

Iceland and the Faeroes Islands, and the

The

On

HUK

Denmark

Strait,

Navy)

between Iceland

group. Antisubmarine planes and heli-

copters flown from carrier decks team with destroyers against (U.S.

war by

enemy submarines.

The New Navy

104

and Greenland, are deep, wide passageways, impossible to block by any fixed or permanent means. Yet these relatively narrow ocean gateways are the most important exits from the Arctic Ocean and the Norwegian Sea to the broad Atlantic.

An

antisubmarine barrier of land-based, long-range patrol planes and

own submarines

our

—sometimes

supplemented by surface ships

—

plugs

these gaps in times of emergency. Electronic devices, such as sonobuoys

(buoys with hydrophones) or special "sentinel" cables laid on the ocean floor

beneath the "gaps," might supplement the ships and planes.

A fourth defense equipment based

would be long-range patrol planes equipped with various outlying bases.

at

They would cover

ASW

periodically

every segment of the ocean. So-called

HUK

ASW helicopters

aircraft carrier, with ers,

groups, each

(//£/nter-/Ciller)

composed

and planes and several

of one

ASW

ASW destroy-

enemy submarine.

provide the blue-water offensive-defensive against the

The Navy has nine of these groups in operation. They range far and wide off our coasts, off enemy coasts, in mid-ocean, near carrier strike groups, and elsewhere to seek out and destroy enemy submarines that have managed to reach the high

seas.

Destroyer escorts and special convoy protection vessels provide the defense for merchant convoys.

Off our that

own

coasts, long-range patrol planes, shorter-range strike aircraft

can carry antisubmarine weapons, destroyers, coastal patrol

craft,

and

other types provide a close-in defense.

Antisubmarine warfare poses three major problems, each with many subordinate problems.

and

and

identified,

The

it

The submarine must be

detected;

it

must be

classified

must be destroyed.

detection problem has two aspects: (a) the general location of the

submarine within a given area of ocean

at

maximum

possible range; (b)

the exact location of the submarine with sufficient precision to enable forces engaged to concentrate

The problem least in theory,

lance system.

upon

it

and

identify

and destroy

all

it.

of the general location of a submarine can be solved, at

by piecing together many

The submarine may be

clues, gathered

sighted as

it

by a global

leaves port by an

surveilintelli-

gence agent, or later by a merchant ship or plane. Sighting reports are carefully plotted as

one of the

clues.

ANTISUBMARINE WARFARE

ASW

If the

enemy submarine

an approximate

fix

105

is

incautious enough to surface and use his radio,

may be

obtained by means of radio direction finders.

These are the familiar "loop" antennas

that,

when

rotated, indicate the

direction (and very approximate distance) of the source of the radio signal received. Sensitive

and

hydrophones

off the coasts of

in fixed positions in

deep water

off

our

own

coasts

advanced bases may, under certain conditions, pick up

the noise of a submarine's propellers at distances of hundreds, even thou-

sands, of miles.

Hydrophones are placed

off the continental shelf in

deep water beneath

sound waves and distort them. The (SOund Fixing ^4nd hanging) is the basis of the Missile /mpact Locating Systems (MILS) used in the United States Atlantic and Pacific Ocean missile ranges. Hydrophones are placed in fixed locations the thermal layers that refract or reflect

SOFAR

system

around a missile impact area

deep water.

in

pacts, in the area, a small explosive

—

well below the thermal layers.

travels in straight lines for

proper conditions, 1

it

a missile lands, or im-

charge in the warhead

detonated by hydrostatic (water) pressure tain depth

When

when the charge The sound of the

is

timed to be

reaches a cer-

explosion thus

hundreds and even thousands of miles. Given

has been said that the sound of a pistol fired

,000 feet beneath sea level off

New York

more than

could be picked up by a deep-

water hydrophone off the coast of France. In the

SOFAR

system, the various hydrophones widely spaced around

the impact area pick direction

and

up the sound of the explosion

at a different

compass directions

time

—and instruments provide

to the sound. Lines are

fixed locations of the hydrophones.

The

Much

this

a different

"bearings" or

drawn on a chart from the known

intersection of these lines provides

the approximate fix showing the area in the ocean

same system can be used

locations of submarines.

—each from

to give

where the

missile landed.

approximate long-range

But because no enemy submarine

will

be so oblig-

ing as to detonate a small charge beneath the surface, antisubmarine deep-

water detecting hydrophones must pick up the noise of the submarine's propellers or other distinctive ship noises.

— —adds

move at high speeds are and a phenomenon known as

they

behind the propeller blades

Each type

Most

ships

—

particularly

when

noisy. Propellers thresh about in the water,

cavitation to the

—

the creation of a

vacuum

just

commotion.

of ship, in fact nearly every individual ship, has a distinctive

The New Navy

106

sound signature. Theoretically, a good hydrophone operator can sort these all out and distinguish one from another. But there are thousands of sounds puter, with

—may

its

electronic

memory

a propeller miles away.

the conditions of the

com-

unit stored with comparative "signatures"

Much depends

moment

—

time, the location of the thermal layers, signature.

For

all

area locations.

in this

long-range location

the noise level in the ocean at the

and the

distinctiveness of the ship's

these reasons, such long-range detection techniques vary

greatly in accuracy. Generally they can be

One can

depended upon

say with assurance that there

a certain large area of the ocean, but the

means

the sophisticated

not be able to distinguish the snapping of shrimps from the noise

made by upon

—and even

ocean, and the unpracticed ear

in the

of detection have to be

fix is

is

to provide only

a submarine within

so approximate that other

employed before the submarine can be

pin-

pointed.

When

a submarine

is

located in an approximate area of the ocean, land-

based patrol planes and perhaps a Hunter-Killer group are sent to the area. Planes, helicopters,

and surface ships use a variety of devices

to detect

and locate the submarine.

Sonobuoys may be placed around the area by plane or helicopter define

it.

These buoys are of two types

Both are small

(Julie).

floating

—

passive

(Jezebel)

reflected

the distance

active

buoys with sonar or hydrophone devices;

the active type uses small explosive charges to send out

may be

and

to

back from a submarine's

hull,

and

sound waves, which

will therefore indicate

and direction of the submarine from the buoy. The passive

type simply listens for ship's noises or sound from other sources reflected

from a submarine

hull.

Both have radio transmitters that send the data

received to a master control point, generally aboard a destroyer, or in the

cockpit of a circling aircraft.

Sonobuoys around an area may locate the submarine within much narrower

limits

than the global surveillance system. But since sound traveling

through seawater moves relatively slowly (about ten seconds for the pulse of an active sonar to reach a target

ern high-speed submarine has reflected is

sound

is

23,000

moved

feet

away and

to a different place

received aboard the hunting ships.

launched, the submarine

position. Thus, hunting

may

actually be a mile

submarines

duck-shooting. But the difference

is

is

return), the

When

mod-

by the time the

the

away from

a lot like leading ducks

ASW weapon its last

located

when you

are

that the submarine skipper with his

ASW

ANTISUBMARINE WARFARE

keen human intelligence knows to try to

throw

107

he's being

hunted and

will

dodge and turn

off the hunter's calculations.

Other means of more precisely locating and detecting a submarine provide a closer

fix.

The antisubmarine

from the decks of the

ASW

helicopters,

carrier that

is

which

fly

may

regular patrols

the flagship of each

HUK

group,

carry dunking sonars. These are listening devices, unreeled by a cable from the helicopter's hull, that can be lowered deep into the ocean,

and when

conditions are favorable, can be suspended beneath the thermal layers, thus

picking up undistorted sound. Since the helicopter can hover close above the ocean's surface, once he has picked

hound: he never

up a sound scent he

is

like a blood-

lets go.

Various other types of sonar devices that can be either active or passive are

mounted

in the hulls of, or

suspended from, surface

powerful sonar, housed in a bulbous the extreme

dome

ships.

built into the ship's

A

new

frame

at

bottom of the bow, has unprecedented power and discrimina-

ASW

An

antisubmarine helicopter, used for regular patrols from the decks of an group. The helicopters carry dunking sonars, each listening devices that can be unreeled and lowered deep into the ocean to detect enemy submarines. ( U.S. Navy)

carrier, the flagship of

HUK

The

108 tion. It

is

called the SQS-23.

something

tion that looks

A

New Navy

variable-depth sonar, housed in a contrap-

like a dolphin,

can be lowered from a

ship's

stern to different depths to get beneath the blanketing thermal layers that

hide a submarine. Powerful

new sonars

—"bottom-bounce"

sonars

—

that

emit tremendous pulses of sound have potential ranges measured in scores of miles instead of a few thousand yards. These sonars literally

sound waves bouncing

off the sea

ball,

bottom. The waves splatter and bounce, like a

up and down

bottom

off the

to reach

tremendous distances,

anywhere (depending upon conditions) from twenty

When

bounce

to a

hundred

miles.

they hit the submarine hull, they are reflected back to the sonar

receiver.

Other devices that are indicators of a submarine's presence and that may assist in localization

(rather than in original detection) are

include infrared sensors

up

at short

which

will pick

range the hot exhaust gases from the diesel engines of a convensurface.

These sensors

have the capability of detecting the warmer water or turbulent water

that a

submerged submarine generally leaves

promise that

in aircraft or helicopters,

powered submarine running on, or near, the

tionally

also

mounted

many. These

is

in

submarine detection, but so far

none too

in

it is

its

wake. Infrared has great

an indicator only, and one

certain.

Ionized exhaust gases, or contamination in the

air,

from conventional

submarines can also be picked up by electronic devices called "sniffer gear." Radar, particularly doppler radar, which senses motion, has a special use against submarines running at relatively shallow depths.

do not penetrate water

bounce

to

Radar waves

any great depth, but when these electronic waves

off the surface of the sea,

it

has been found that a shallowly sub-

merged submarine reduces the strength of the returning electronic echo.

The

MAD

(Magnetic Anomaly Detector) gear, carried

in patrol or

carrier-based aircraft, uses the earth's magnetic field as the background for its

detective work.

or irregularities)

instrument

if

—

Sudden changes in the

—

or "anomalies" (literally, deviations,

normal magnetic pattern

a plane using

it

will

be indicated by

this

passes close above the steel hull of a sub-

merged submarine. At very close ranges this device is quite accurate; but it is most useful in magnetically well-charted areas and in narrow waters, like the Strait of Gibraltar, or to identify

made by

and "clinch" a contact already

other means.

All these instruments, of course, are supplemented by search radar,

ANTISUBMARINE WARFARE

ASW

mounted

in surface ships

and planes. The new radars are accurate enough

and discriminating enough head at some distance. But submarine

many

in the

109

up a submarine's periscope or snorkel

to pick

requires a skilled operator to distinguish the

it

blips of light

caused by the phenomenon known as

The human eye

sea return that obscures the radarscope.

Mark

jokingly "the it

supplements

eyeball")

I

But visual detection

others.

all

running on the surface or

one of the most

also

is

at

(the

Navy

calls

it

reliable detectors;

limited to submarines

is

periscope depth, except in very clear waters,

where the shape of a submarine's hull can sometimes be seen when the sub to

is fifty

one hundred

feet underwater.

All these detecting and locating devices are carried in surface ships or planes.

ASW

used are primarily of three types. The newest long-

aircraft

range land-based patrol plane, the four-engined

P3A

11,000-mile Lockheed

Orion, a turboprop aircraft, combines a capability for detection and

destruction.

crew gives patrol for

carries nearly all the

It it

the capability of tracking a submarine

many

One

types of aircraft.

ASW airplane.

MAD

ten-man

and of remaining on

is

the

Grumman S2D

of a

HUK

group

—

are two

Tracker, the latest carrier-based

Tracker carries Jezebel and Julie sonobuoys, radio direction

gear, sniffer gear, search radar, an 85-million

searchlight (which

photographs

its

hours.

ASW carriers — each the flagship

Flown from

finder;

major detection devices, and

at

may soon be

night with very

candlepower

replaced by a camera capable of taking little

light),

and antisubmarine homing

torpedoes or depth charges or rockets. There are two squadrons of ten craft

ASW

each aboard an

The

carrier.

other carrier-based aircraft

helicopter, usually the Sikorsky all-weather Sea

mally, an

Each

ASW

ASW

helicopter

carrier has a is

is

air-

the

King SH-3A. Nor-

squadron of fourteen twin-turbine helicopters.

equipped with stabilizing gear, gyropilot, dunking sonar,

and depth charges or torpedoes.

The

destroyers assigned to a

HUK group—there

—

destroyer squadron) to each group

are six to eight (or one

also carry a variety of location

detection devices, plus various kinds of destruction systems. There

mix of

—some

and is

a

DD's with long-range detection gear, other older vessels with different gear and weapons. When the submarine is located with sufficient precision to commence tracking it, it must deliberate

ships

of the newest

be distinguished and identified before destruction weapons are launched against

it.

The New Navy

110

One

HUK

of the six to eight destroyers assigned to each

systems. (U.S.

for safety's sake

a

it

it

is

not.

Nuclear submarines move so

fast that

has already been necessary to arrange "lanes" in the

reduce the danger of underwater collision. United States sub-

to

marines southbound

from

flying

They carry

Navy)

This seems simple, but

ocean

group.

and detection devices, plus various kinds of destruction

variety of location

off

city to city

our Atlantic coast travel

above the United

at

one

level like aircraft

northbound submarines

States;

travel at another level.

The to

its

MAD gear may pick up

wreck on the ocean's bottom, which

insensitive indicator will register

earth's lines of

back

a steel

off

much

the

same disturbance

magnetic force as would a submarine

an eddy

hull.

in the

Sonar may bounce

in subterranean currents or off a school of fish. Often,

indeed, surface ships have painfully and laboriously tracked fish and queer

quirks in ocean currents instead of submarines.

Even

if

all

the indicators

show beyond reasonable doubt

down below, hidden from human submarine, the search forces must

sight in the invisible

make

sure

it is

that

what

ocean depths,

an enemy submarine

is

is

—

a

not

one of our own. This can be done, usually, by a process of elimination. The hunting forces

and they

will

will

be kept informed of the locations of our

own

be familiar with the signatures of United States

submarines, craft. If

no

ANTISUBMARINE WARFARE

ASW

United States submarine

is

anywhere near the search

ture obtained by sonar does not

team

is

sure that

111

match known

has a real live "enemy" on

it

area,

and

if

the signa-

signatures, then the search

its

hands, and the grim

game

of tracking for the kill starts.

Tracking

lem

is

now done

is

shown

almost automatically by computers, and the prob-

on scopes. Like the duck hunter the submarine

electronically

hunter must lead

his prey;

so that the submarine

computer does

he must figure where he

weapon

this for

ity.

That

is,

must have what

it

may turn is known

to get to the right spot.

The

or descend to deeper depths, the

language as area capabil-

in naval

must have tremendous explosive force or must

capable of certain limited search. to

have time

be ahead of time,

him, once the submarine has been identified and

tracked. Since the submarine

ASW weapon

will

will

It

be, itself,

must also have ever-increasing range

match, as far as possible, the ever-increasing range of detection devices

and of submarine weapons. Hunter-killer submarines usually operate independently off an enemy's

submarine port, along submarine

They use

barrier.

either

sortie routes,

homing torpedoes

or in an antisubmarine

that spiral in narrowing circles,

seeking their prey by focusing on the sound of the enemy's propellers; or

wire-guided torpedoes, which are actually guided to the target from the

launching ship by thin wires unreeled from the torpedoes as they streak

through the sea; or by Surface ships in

SUBROC

(St/flmarine

ASW work use

a great

ROCket).

many

different

weapons. Usually

every ship has both short-range and long-range weapons, as well as guns.

"Hedgehogs," so called because of

their quill-like look

when

in their launch-

ing racks, are a battery of small mortar-type projectiles with lethal explosive

charges.

mortar

They

shells,

are fired in groups of twenty-four in arching patterns, like

and they provide a pattern coverage

like

an

artillery barrage.

Their disadvantage, in addition to their short range that makes them obsolescent,

is

that the explosive charge

must actually

strike the

submarine to

ensure destruction.

Weapon Alpha (formerly Weapon Able) is a larger, long-range, and more powerful weapon. It is actually a depth charge propelled far from a launcher that looks like a gun turret, by a 12.75-inch rocket. But the installation is very heavy, and Alpha is rapidly phasing out of use. Later weapons are various homing and spiraling torpedoes the Mark

—

37 long-range; the high-speed short-range

Mark

44, 45, or 46;

ASROC

and

Actual

firing of a

Launched from

Navy

SUBROC

antisubmarine missile

a submarine's torpedo tube (1), water by the igniting rocket motor (2); it builds

is

shown

SUBROC

is

in this

sequence.

thrust out of the

up to supersonic speed (3); motor separates from the nuclear depth bomb in a blaze of burning gases (4 and 5), as the guidance system takes over (6) to direct the missile to its target. (Goodyear)

the rocket

ANTISUBMARINE WARFARE

ASW the

DASH

program. The

a 2,000-pound, 20-foot,

113

Mark 45 ASTOR (Antisubmarine TOflpedo) is wire-guided weapon. The Mark 46, the newest,

represents, in the Navy's words, "a great step forward in performance."

ASROC,

the Navy's major surface-ship

rocket with a long range. But

—

still

is

less

reach, in

its

ASW

its first

weapon,

version

—

is

a powerful

five

or six miles

than the range of detection. Later models will have longer

ASROC

(Antisubmarine ROCket) carries

as a

payload either a

nuclear depth charge (Lulu) or a spiraling torpedo.

It is

about

ranges.

fifteen feet

long and with payload or warhead weighs about 1,000 pounds.

Mounted aboard ship, an ASROC launcher looks mounted on a turntable. It has eight metal cells a design

—each containing

—

a rocket

like a gigantic

box

pepperbox

so-called

and torpedo or rocket and depth-charge

combination. The entire device can be turned in any direction, and any pair of cells (upper

and lower) can be elevated

pendent upon the range of the

a

to

any desired degree, de-

target.

The real secret of ASROC is its fire-control system. In the Navy's words: "ASROC's fire control system includes the first shipboard installation of digital computer for fire-control use. The fire-control computer receives

electrical signals of target course

and speed (from the sonar detection

sys-

tem), wind direction and speed, and attack ship course, speed, pitch, and roll.

These signals are used

'lead'

how

to

compute future position of the

target (the

a duck-hunter gives his bird), where the launcher should point, and far the missile will

missile range,

and

fires

tors the attack solution

fly.

The

the missile

control unit aims the launcher, sets the

upon command. The

and gives the command

ASW

officer

moni-

to fire."

After launching, the rocket boosts the torpedo or depth charge high into the air in a parabolic curve. After burnout, the rocket falls away,

weapon continues on to the target area. Just prior to water weapon shucks off its protective airframe "skin," or covering. If is

the payload, a small parachute lowers

it

into the water.

sinks to preset explosive depth, or the torpedo spirals

homing on

DASH

the

sound of the sub's propellers or

its

(Destroyer Antisubmarine Helicopter)

helicopter of simple light design.

Two

and each can mount a homing

ASW

remote radio control by toggle

sticks

and the

entry, the

a torpedo

The depth charge

and hunts

its

prey,

sonar gear. is

a drone, or pilotless,

can be carried aboard destroyers,

torpedo.

The drone

is

controlled by

from the destroyer CIC.

destroyer to hurl death at a submarine as far

away

It

as the horizon.

enables a

4

1

New Navy

The

1

Sea Mauler, for use

still

ASW

another new

aboard small

weapon,

another type of rocket,

ships.

Aircraft use a variety of weapons; they can

employ rockets or conven-

homing torpedoes. The most

tional or nuclear depth charges or high-speed

powerful

is

"Betty," an atomic depth charge, which

is

any sub-

lethal to

is

marine several miles from the point of detonation.

A HUK

group

The

the scent.

in operation

is

team of well-trained hounds hot on

like a

flagship of the group, a

CVS

Tracker aircraft ranging wide over the

sea.

carrier, sends

and come down

their search,

tact.

When

to

Grumman

These wide-ranging

which can cover thousands of square miles of ocean

on

its

aircraft,

one sweep,

in

about 300 feet when they

make

low

fly

a con-

they pick up indications of a submarine by eye, radar, or other

means, another fixed-wing plane and two helicopters

fly to

Two

the area.

destroyers, at flank (top) speed, rush to join the search.

Sonobuoys are dropped planes

fly

a barrier, or box, formation

is

passed from the aircraft

commander

— around and around, When

area where the contact has been made.

Grumman

and the

in a pattern,

two-engined circling the

the destroyers arrive, control

approximate

The new

down

autopilot

matically

in

bad weather or

at

about 150 feet above the

to

and takes flies

his

down

hands and

sea,

and then connects the

feet off the controls.

to about forty feet

mined by a precise altimeter

— and

The

above the sea

the sonar ball

cable reaches the water, the autopilot is, it

move in to lower their sonar balls. make this process a safe and autonight. The pilot simply flies the heli-

the helicopters

and gyrostabilizer

autopilot

mated one, even copter

made

fix is

The when an

to the senior destroyer skipper.

destroyer sonars start pinging (sending out sound waves), and

flies

—

is

helicopter auto-

its

altitude deter-

lowered.

the helicopter

on the

When

the

cable; that

keeps the helicopter in such a position that forty feet of the cable are

above water.

The

listening sonars get cross bearings

proximate track

is

determined the

the suspected track of the identification

—

is

to get a

this identification is

hounds are ready

Trackers lay smokepots along

submerged submarine. The "clincher"

good

made and

for the

on the contact, and when an ap-

Grumman

kill.

clear reading with the

all

sonars are "hot,"

it's

MAD

—

the final

gear.

When

time for action; the

ASW

ANTISUBMARINE WARFARE

115

In addition to these standard and proved types of ships and aircraft and

weapons systems,

all sorts

of

new

craft

and devices are under experimental

development. Several different types of hydrofoils are under struction.

They have

may

—

Effect Machine,

or

may

not

or con-

the advantage of extremely high speed, but their

seakeeping qualities in rough weather have not yet been proved.

Ground

test

which

—have ASW

rides

on a cushion of

utility. It is

air

A so-called

above the surface,

too far away, as yet, from any

practical operating purpose, to be sure. Lasers

(Light Amplification by

Stimulated Emission of Radiation), the concentrated light beams that ap-

pear to have so

many

potential uses,

may be

harnessed to

ASW work.

They

might provide IFF (/dentification, Friend or Foe), or some means of underwater communication, to supplement the underwater sound phone, with its

limited range. Laser might also be useful in underwater photography.

first military hydrofoil ship. The hydrofoil is one of and devices under experimental development by the Navy antisubmarine warfare. (U.S. Navy)

The design for the many new for

the Navy's

craft

6

1

The

1

a submarine can be accurately tracked, these

If

ensure a

kill.

But not with certainty;

ASW

not,

is

New Navy

new weapons

usually

and can never be, an

The submarine can use decoys (noisemakers) to lure the homing torpedo from its path. It can slow its engines, or stop them

exact science. acoustic

and

lie

on the bottom, dive

in

and out of thermal layers

get directly beneath a speeding surface ship

sonar.

The

old, old

game

where

and defense, of

of attack

it

tit

to distort sonar, or

may be immune for tat, of thrust

to

and

parry continues, on, under, and above the surface of the sea. Only the technological tomorrows can determine the ultimate victor.

The

detection, classification

marines It is

and

identification,

modern Navy's many

thus one of the most complex of the

is

a task that will

and destruction of sub-

become more and more

difficult,

and important,

more and more nuclear-powered submarines are constructed. powered submarine

is

much

faster than older submersibles,

remain submerged indefinitely as long as far

more

its

tasks.

crew can take

it.

A

as

nuclear-

and

it

can

therefore

It is

and locate than the conventionally powered

difficult to detect

submarine that must surface periodically and that has a limited underwater speed. Perhaps the most dramatic, and one of the most important, of the

technological competitions of future years will be the race between the silent, fast,

deep-diving nuclear-powered submarine and the complex forces

that seek

in the

ASW

it

is

unknown depths

a program that

is

of the sea.

dependent upon a far greater knowledge of

the oceans, particularly of the ocean depths, than

man

has ever had before.

Development of the science of oceanography, the behavior of sound underwater, the charting of ocean currents and thermal layers are essential to

progress in antisubmarine warfare.

A

vast

amount

of data

to provide the detailed cessful

ASW. When

must be collected, studied, and charted

in order

knowledge of undersea conditions necessary

at sea,

every ship in the

Navy now

to suc-

regularly records

what are called bathythermograph readings every six hours (6:00 a.m., noon, 6:00 p.m., and midnight) plus other special readings when required.

The bathythermograph

(a device that registers temperatures in the deep

sea) automatically traces ocean temperatures with a stylus, or sharp-pointed

instrument, on a gold-leafed plate.

The bathythermograph

is

reeled out

a wire cable over the ship's stern to various graduated depths the ship, generally the greater the depths.

As

—

on

the larger

the instrument descends, the

ASW

ANTISUBMARINE WARFARE

A SUBROC

117

antisubmarine

missile gets a final checkout

before being delivered to the

Navy. (Goodyear)

stylus traces the

temperature curve against the depths. The results are

ported to the Navy's Oceanographic Office in Washington, D.C.

compiles

all

amount

the readings and a vast

of other data,

The

re-

center

and publishes

annually a kind of long-range thermal-layer forecast for the world's oceans

by charting

all

past bathythermograph readings and by predicting currents

and temperatures These tabular

at different times of the year.

results are part of the so-called

ASWEPS

(Antisubmarine

Warfare Environmental Prediction System) program to predict oceanographic conditions that is still

in

its

infancy,

may be

of use to

and lack of data

ASW

is still

commanders. This program

a handicap. But twenty-four-

hour, five-day and thirty-day forecasts for important operating areas have

been shown

feasible.

These forecasts are broadcast

much

like

assume

this

to the fleet,

weather forecasts. In time the Naval Weather Service

will

responsibility.

and unmanned monitoring buoys, instrumented to record the desired oceanographic readings, have been suggested as one means of Satellites

8

1

The

1

rapidly accumulating the voluminous data that

The

oceanic subsurface forecasts. a fixed schedule,

would

essential

is

New Navy to

accurate

sweeping around the earth on

satellite,

act as an electronic

memory

unit to store

up

all

the messages transmitted by hundreds of buoys.

These global tables and charts kind of sound conditions they at

ASW

assist

may encounter

what

forces in determining

in

any given area of the ocean

any time of year. In addition to these readings the

Navy

undertaking extensive charting

is

knowledge of exact depths (which can be

of the ocean bottoms. Detailed

matched, on a chart, against a ship's "altimeter" or sound depth finder) are of great aid to navigation, particularly to submarine navigation. Charting the canyons,

mountain peaks,

and the kind of bottom

—rock

additional navigational data,

waves may be

reflected

valleys,

and high plateaus on the sea

sediment, mud, sand, and so on

and aid

understanding just

in

at

how sound

from the depths. Underwater currents and eddies

and with

are also being charted in far greater detail

than

—

floor

provide

far greater exactitude

any time since Magellan circumnavigated the globe.

named

the

feet deep,

and

Recently a hitherto undiscovered subsurface current (now

Cromwell Current), about 200 miles wide, several hundred 3,500 miles long, was charted

in the Pacific

moving,

speeds of as

at

much

as three knots, in a direction exactly opposite to the surface current.

The

marine

activities of

life

are also important to

peculiar to certain seas and seasons,

may

reveal a

Vast masses of plankton, the tiny drifting organic schools of

fish,

may

salinity of the ocean,

act as sonar reflectors

which

varies,

and

its

ASW.

Luminescence,

submerged submarine. life

of the sea, or huge

and create

The

false echoes.

chemical and biological content

are important factors in charting defenses against the

menace from

the

depths.

To

study the mysteries of the deep, the Navy, in cooperation with the

nation's leading oceanographic institutions fleet of

A

strange

manned

form) or

new

vessels for exploration

scientific

SPAR

"buoy," called

and

scientists,

is

developing a

and research.

FLIP (FLoating /nstrument

Plat-

(Seagoing Platform for Acoustics Research) has been

developed to provide a stable though drifting ocean laboratory for sound research.

The

position. In

craft

is

a 355-foot-long tube that can be towed in a horizontal

deep water the stern

is

flooded,

tion in about fifteen minutes, sinking

and

it

flips into

a vertical posi-

deep into the ocean. The top

fifty-five

ANTISUBMARINE WARFARE

ASW feet are

above water and provide

electronics tion

and sound laboratory.

downward

moves but

to

150

119

Two

tubes extend from the surface por-

feet within the strong hull.

slightly with the sea's

deep ship), with

its

two men down Pacific off

Guam

—one

of about half a

originally

Navy

in

a

it

by the

also being used

is

It

Marianas Trench

more than

took

in the

The bathyscaphe its

very

a knot for a maxi-

of

little

it

a research vessel that will be of

improved. The bathyscaphe was built

by Professor Auguste Picard, a Swiss, and was purchased by the

1958 and named the

Trieste. It is

with a single porthole,

is

is

a kind of underwater balloon,

lighter than water, for

pressure sphere capable of holding two

make

is

submarine Thresher. But

lost

— speed mile — makes

restricted use until

tilted,

meaning

derivation,

holds the world's record for depth.

hunt for the

using aviation gasoline, which

to

platform, thus

of the deepest spots of the ocean.

also participated in the

somewhat

It

to the 35,800-foot depths of the

limited underwater mobility

mum

Greek

of

heavy pressurized sphere,

deepwater research.

for

The

motion, and will provide sonar platforms

down to 300 feet beneath the surface. The now famous bathyscaphe (a word Navy

the four-man crew and their

facilities for

men

suspended beneath

in it.

buoyancy.

cramped Water

quarters,

ballast

is

A heavyand

fitted

taken aboard

the craft sink; steel pellets are released from ballast tubs to

make

Trieste, used for the first manned Navy investigation of the deep sea to depths as great as 35,800 feet. (U.S. Navy)

The bathyscaphe,

The New Navy

120 it

rise.

Someday

the Trieste will be looked

upon

as the

Model-T Ford

of

the ocean depths.

ASW, of the

mobilizing

the forces of nautical science to

all

meet the menace

modern nuclear-powered submarine, has stimulated

all

over the

"Seven Seas" an unprecedented study of oceanography.

The "Seven

Seas," by the way,

is

more

of a poetic expression than a

geographic one. "Seas," as distinct from oceans, are more or bodies.

They

might be called arms of oceans.

As

you "pays your money and you takes your choice." clude:

North Sea, Norwegian,

Japan. But there are also the Arabian Sea, East

many

Baltic,

little

Seven Seas,

listing

might

in-

other great bodies of water called seas:

and South China

whole slew of

Any

landlocked

Mediterranean, Red, Caribbean,

seas, Celebes, Sulu,

hotsk, Coral, Adriatic, Aegean, Tyrrhenian, Irish, Arctic, a

less

to the fabled

seas:

Malay, Ok-

and so on, and

in the

the Bering, Chukchee, East Siberian,

Kara, Barents, and the so-called Scotia Sea in the Antarctic. In addition, there are bodies of water called seas that are

Caspian, the

Dead

Sea,

and so on.

more properly

lakes

—

the

VI CRUISERS

The

cruiser, sleek fast hornet of the sea

frigate of sailing-ship days

The

—

is

—

a direct descendant of the old

today a ship in transition.

modern cruisers would be unrecognizable to veterans of World War II. Gone are many of the guns; missile launchers have replaced them. Masts and funnels have been mated in some ships in silhouettes, or outlines, of

massive superstructures called "macks," a contraction for masts and stacks. Strange-looking radar and radio antenna bristle from forecastle to masthead.

The

slim hull lines, which speak of speed,

still

flow in the

symphony

of the shipwrights' art.

But from the main decks up, many cruisers are offset the

enormous topside weight of radar and

armor that the

aluminum,

used to sing about in the colorful verses of

fleet

Armored Cruiser Squadron" *

built of

electronic equipment.

*

is

now

incidental to a cruiser's tasks.

to

The "The For

"Away away, with sword and drum Here we come, full of rum, Looking for someone In the

"We

to put on the bum, Armored Cruiser Squadron.

are the boys

Or anything

who shoot six-inch, when we're in a

else

pinch;

Gee, but the battleships are a cinch For the Armored Cruiser Squadron."

Armored

—an

arbitrary and temporary classification

—

ended their short period (1898). Battle cruisers, of battleship size, but lightly armored, were in their heyday in World War I. The cruisers of World War II were, in the United States Navy, of two major types both displacing 12,000 to 20,000 tons classified chiefly by their guns. Cruisers with six-inch guns as their main batteries were described as light cruisers; those with eight-inch guns, as heavy cruisers. Both were lightly armored. cruisers

of usefulness with the era of the Spanish-American

—

War

—

121

The

122

New Navy

nuclear weapons have ended the age-old conflict between armor and arma-

ment; armor It is

now

true that

the cruiser

is

scarcely worth

is

is

not peculiar in this respect. But as a type

it is

difficult to define

past.

a cruiser not a cruiser?

Size alone does not classify

displace as

weight.

other types of naval vessels are in the midst of change;

all

by any of the yardsticks of the

When

its

much

Armor no

as

many

Many

it.

of the light cruisers of yesterday.

Armament

longer really matters.

guided missiles can be

destroyer types and submarines

from any

fired

denominator for most combat naval

provides

Speed

ship's hull.

is

some

guide, but

now

a

common

vessels.

The United States cruiser today might best be called a shepherd of the fleet. As flagship or command ship it harries and worries the "small boys" into position and disposes the fleet for action. As missile ship, its primary role

is

to provide

heavy antiaircraft protection, particularly for a carrier

task force, or for convoys or amphibious operations.

submarine weapons to defend It

It

carries

modern

and others against submarine

itself

anti-

attack.

has high-speed, long- and short-range radio communications systems for

communication with a ship nearby or a port half a world away. tended seakeeping

ability,

and enough freeboard and for self-defense

with enough fuel to keep size to

it

for an admiral's staff. All these qualities

—

for the role of lone wolf of the sea

positions. It

combined

also

has ex-

going a long time,

provide stability in a seaway.

and bombardment of shore

It

fit

is

It

has guns

large

enough

the cruiser well

for independent, or semidependent

missions, or as flagships of small task forces.

Very few keel

of the ships

up since World War

now II.

classified as cruisers

In the United States

powered cruiser Long Beach, cruisers

now

in service

is

and

est).

Some

Age began. Some

five-inch or eight-inch guns,

all

of the

partially or

carry a combination

and one or more of the

(the smallest), Terrier,

and Talos (the

larg-

weapon ASROC, with torpedoes Newport News, which has served as

also carry the antisubmarine

or nuclear depth charges. One, the flagship of the its

from the

one, the nuclear-

have been modernized or converted or

— —Tartar

missiles

"Three T" missiles

Navy only

built

completely new. But nearly

completely rebuilt since the Missile of guns

have been

Second

Fleet,

and

is

the pride of the gun Navy,

still

carries

original battery of nine eight-inch 55-caliber rapid-firing guns, perhaps

the finest

gun of

its

size in

any Navy.

The Long Beach, the only cruiser with nuclear power in

any

craft

fleet.

(Hughes Air-

Company)

The New Navy

124 Cruisers of the

Newport News

class are today the biggest in the

world

(21,500 tons full load displacement). The Newport News' eight-inch gun shell and powder turrets are automatic-loading and use cased ammunition

—

fixed in a single case, or load, instead of separate

of

powder bags. Their

rate

Newport News

also

four times that of previous eight-inch turrets.

fire is

mounts twelve

five-inch 38-caliber

The USS Albany

is

typical of the

and

sixteen three-inch 50's.

growing pains and the vast changes in

cruiser design that the technological revolution has wrought. inally

commissioned

—heavy

cruiser

in

1946, immediately after World

#123. She mounted nine

War

II,

as

CA-123

eight-inch guns in three turrets,

twelve five-inch guns in six double mounts and numerous

She displaced more than 18,000 tons

aircraft guns.

She was orig-

full load.

more than $40,000,000. Albany's light 40-mm. guns were replaced within

40-mm. antiNew, she cost

a few years

by twenty

of the quick-firing three-inch guns, developed (too late for wartime use) after the

many

Japanese suicide (kamikaze) planes had sunk and damaged so

ships at

In 1958

Okinawa.

Albany went

a guided-missile cruiser.

into the

Some

Boston Naval Shipyard for conversion to

four and a half years later, and at a cost of

more than $175,000,000, more than four times her original cost, she was commissioned as CG-10, guided-missile cruiser #10, completely rebuilt topside and with not a gun aboard. But she was not

Commander guns

in

to

remain without guns for long. President Kennedy, as

Chief of the Navy, directed that two five-inch 38-caliber

—one on each beam—be mounted aboard Albany

menace

of attack by small surface craft.

boats, with small missiles,

to

meet the possible

The Russian Komar-type torpedo to Cuba in 1962, undoubtedly

which were sent

influenced this decision.

The limitations of radar and of missiles explain the utility of guns even in this modern age. We have seen that the phenomenon called sea return clouds up a radarscope with stipples of light, thus obscuring the actual target, when the seas are high or the surface target is small. Missiles like Talos have some dual-purpose capabilities; that is, they can be used in some instances against surface targets as well as against air targets. But missiles

are expensive, and against small vessels guns bility

and accuracy.

would ensure greater

relia-

CRUISERS

125

Thus, the modern Albany, once an all-gunned cruiser, Talos missile launchers forward and

ASROC

aft,

now

has two twin

twin Tartar launchers on either

launcher amidships, two triple torpedo tubes on each

side,

an

beam

for launching

Mark 43

Mark 44

homing torpedoes, two carry homing torpedoes, and two five-inch guns.

helicopters that can also

or

acoustic

Like several of our new or modernized cruisers and aircraft has an elevator to

lift

carriers, she

a selected few (with elevator permits issued by the

executive officer) up the eight levels of her towering fore "mack." stick" at the top of her

waterline

—much

mast towers some 192

feet

The

"pig

10 inches above the

too high to pass beneath the Brooklyn Bridge

(it

can be

lowered).

Belowdecks Albany

is

the

same

when

as

she was built. Her economic but

powerful steam turbines give her a speed of more than 32 knots. But above

main deck

the

she's a

(to stop splinters)

new aluminum

ship, with

heavy aluminum "armor"

around the bridge structure and missile-handling com-

partments. Radar and radio antennas blossom at every conceivable point.

Forward the

is

what the crew

calls the

Pizza tower, a structure that supports

huge Talos tracking and guidance radars. The surface of

mastlike structure tion to at the

is

rough, like a pizza pie, covered with external insula-

keep the radar cables and electrical connections within the structure same temperatures. Albany has been equipped with more guided-

missile firepower (antiaircraft) than

any ship before her.

Seen from the towering bridge, about ninety

feet

above the water, Albany

man

looks like a futuristic ship instrumented for science, rather than a

war. She's a

"stiff" ship, too; that is,

hamper weight

When

squat

this

of

her reconstruction, despite the top-

of radar, has given her a quick sharp "righting

moment."

she rolls fifteen degrees to a side in a seaway, her bridge moves from

side to side at about twelve miles per hour.

The conversion

of

Albany from an all-gunned

to a missile cruiser actually

reduced the crew required (because of a greater degree of automation)

from an approximate 1,232 time

to about 1,000 enlisted

men. But

increased the need for skilled technicians, particularly

it

at the

men

same

highly

trained in radar and electronics and in missile maintenance.

This

is

because missiles are far more complicated and, so

than guns and

major

job,

There

is

and

shells.

The maintenance and upkeep

missile

a tremendous

men must be demand

far, less reliable

of most missiles

carefully trained in

for electronic items

Navy

is

a

schools.

and spare parts of

all

The Albany,

an all-gunned cruiser but recently converted to a guidedof President Kennedy two five-inch 38-caliber guns were mounted aboard Albany to meet the possible menace of attack by small surface originally

missile cruiser.

craft.

By order

(US. Navy)

CRUISERS

127

Albany, for instance, requisitioned some 1,200 different items in

sorts; the

ten weeks.

Albany's missiles include two of the Navy's three "T's"

The

and Talos.

—

Tartar, Terrier,

three, in varying configurations

and forms, are aboard many

—

and

ships of the fleet

destroyers, frigates, cruisers,

carriers. All the missiles

are essentially antiaircraft weapons, with varying ranges and of different

Each missile has a potential capability They might be used, for instance, against certain other ships, which could be distinguished on the

weights, and guidance systems.

sizes,

against surface targets.

land targets or against

radarscope from the clutter of sea return. But their principal use aircraft

is

as anti-

weapons.

now

Talos, the largest shipboard antiaircraft missile stage, 3 3 -foot missile that, with

four tons.

its

booster, or

first

in service,

stage,

is

a two-

weighs almost

has a range well in excess of 65 miles and can "reach" planes

It

flying at very high altitudes.

Talos first

a so-called "air-breathing" missile.

is

Its

solid-fueled booster, or

atmosphere where the 40,000

stage, hurls the missile into the thin

horsepower ramjet engine of the second stage operates most economically.

A ramjet engine, ing

phenomena

that uses the speed of

ciency. Because

function, the

the thin air

An

must operate

it

first

at

effect

own

its

is

one of those engineer-

flight to

increase

supersonic speeds before

it

stage, a solid-propellant booster rocket, hurls

and then separates and

falls

scoop rams into the thin

air

ramming

often called a "flying stovepipe,"

compresses the

sene mixes with the

"rammed"

its

effi-

begins to it

up

into

mission accomplished.

upper atmosphere, and the

air of the

air in a air,

away,

its

combustion chamber. Burning kero-

and the mixture expands and spurts out

of the exhaust nozzle at greatly increased velocity.

Named

for a

Crete, Talos

is

Greek mythological demigod who guarded the

island of

controlled by "command-guidance," a system that deter-

mines where the target

is

and that

done with two powerful radars

—

directs the missile to the target. This

a target-tracking

is

and acquisition radar

and a missile-tracking radar. The exact interception point

is

figured out by

computers from the data furnished by the radars. The electronic "com-

mands" flashed it

to the missile in flight alter

approaches close enough to the target for

to function.

its

its

trajectory, as needed, until

homing guidance mechanism

Talos can carry either a warhead of conventional explosive or

The New Navy

128 a nuclear warhead. the chances of a

Albany and

its

far wider destructive radius, increases

kill.

in other ships that carry

Many Navy

automation.

with

latter,

system, heavy and bulky though

The Talos in

The

it

it

is,

has been synchronized

into a finely

contractors have produced machinery that

the entire process of handling

and launching the four-ton birds seem

as tossing a tennis ball over a net.

The Talos tally in the

missiles

magazines

missile handling

mated

—

the in

two stages mated together

—

makes as easy

are stowed horizon-

metal trays, with one missile to each tray.

and loading system

is

parking garage for automobiles.

the mating and check-out space

twin

meshed symphony of

—

something

completely auto-

like a

The magazines

The

are directly beneath

large deckhouses forward

and

aft.

The

launchers from which the missiles are launched are directly for-

rail

ward and

aft of the

Almost the

deckhouses on the open deck.

entire operation

of the rails on the launcher

is

is

automatic, once a button

serviced by

its

is

own magazine,

pushed. Each with

its

own

trays of missiles.

When

the loading cycle starts after an electric button

pushed, the great

is

magazine hatches open, and two trays move up simultaneously on port and starboard sides, each cradling a four-ton bird.

up

to monorails, or "floating" tracks.

rails;

the trays

A Talos

missile

move down again and

is

fired

from the Albany

The

The

missile

trays is

move

the missiles

locked to the mono-

the magazine hatches close.

in a test. (U.S.

Navy)

Then

a

CRUISERS

129

warning klaxon sounds, and the missiles move forward over the monorail to the

and

wing and

last

assembly area. Here the missile

fin

human

time by

twelve for each missile

and main

stages.

—quickly

As they

in front of the

When

lights.

amber

the

lock on the wings and fins to the boosters

man

each

finish,

The

fin

steps

back from the bird and

many

switches are connected in series, like

amber

safety light

assembly captain goes on.

goes on, the captain presses another switch.

light

in the

first

assemblymen

fin

All have to be squeezed before an

wing and

heavy blast doors

touched for the

hands. Twenty-four wing and

squeezes a safety switch. Christmas-tree

is

deckhouse open.

A

The

connecting length of monorail

spans the open gap to the launcher on deck, and with a great rumble and a blur of glistening siles

steel,

Talos moves out to the launcher.

are locked on the launcher

rails,

When

the mis-

The

rail that

both loaders retract.

spans the gap from deckhouse to launcher folds back into the deckhouse; the blast doors close, and two Talos birds are ready for launching. All this takes place

much

faster than

it

takes to describe

it;

missiles

can be loaded

onto the launchers in seconds. Talos and other missile installations differ slightly in various ships. The Talos missile hoist aboard Long Beach, for instance, piece of ordnance equipment in the Navy.

but

siles,

It

is

the largest single

weighs 350 tons, without mis-

can handle the 7,650-pound, 33-foot-long missiles (twice as

it

long as an automobile) with ease.

— than Talos — even more

Albany's Tartar system

much

smaller

called "the peanut battery" because

is

it

is

so

automatic; no human hands touch

the missile.

Tartar It is

is

the smallest of the Navy's "Three

T"

antiaircraft missile family.

a solid-propellant rocket about 13 feet long and weighing about 1,300

pounds.

It is

stored vertically in circular "coke-bottle" magazines, which

feed successive missiles up to the deck launcher with phenomenal speed.

Tartar has only one radar

While Tartar

is

on

its

—

for both acquisition

launcher,

it

is

trical

target.

connected by a kind of electronic

"umbilical cord" to the fire-control system. missile receives continuous "orders"

and tracking of the

As

the target

tracked, the

is

from the computer through

its

elec-

cable. The cable disconnects after takeoff, but within three seconds

after leaving

its

launcher, Tartar "looks" in the direction

by the computer and locks onto Tartar

is

its

it

was

told to seek

target.

guided by a so-called semiactive homing system.

It

homes on

— The

130 the reflected electronic "echo" ing radar.

Terrier

is

on

a Tartar twin-launcher

and

cruisers, destroyers, frigates,

with the Terrier

The

from the target of the acquisition and track-

has a range of more than 10 nautical miles.

It

The Albany has Other

New Navy

—

the

either side forward.

aircraft carriers are

equipped

of the Navy's operational antiaircraft missiles.

first

a sort of senior version of Tartar, an intermediate-range

can reach out

antiaircraft missile that

20

to

miles. Its

first

model, though

bigger than Tartar, had about the same range. But miniaturization

—

the

process of reducing the size and weight of power plants and guidance

"black boxes"

model of

—

led to the

development of Tartar, and then to an advanced

Terrier, with capabilities far greater than those of the

Terrier, with a solid-fuel rocket motor,

more than

prior to launching. "rides," or

is

It is, in

it

has

fins that

must be attached

one version, a so-called "beam

guided, by the radar

beam

model.

about 15 feet long and weighs

is

a ton and a half. Like Talos,

first

rider," that

of the acquisition

is, it

and tracking

enemy plane thousands of feet in the sky. three beams in this system. One is a wide-angled, low-powered

target radar to an

There are electronic

beam, which simply provides the

is is

right path or direction for the

The second beam a high-powered narrow beam that guides the missile precisely. The third the target-tracker beam. The matching of the second and third beams

missile after launch, the

rough guidelines for the

flight.

guides the missile to the target. Other versions of Terrier reflected radar

The

echo of the

three missiles

—

home on

the

target.

long-range, intermediate-range, and short-range

are primarily for antiaircraft use.

Eventually, probably by the 1970's, present plans anticipate the develop-

ment

of

a

sophisticated

antiaircraft

and antisurface shipboard

missile

system. This system will be tailored to use "compatible" components, or

components electronic

that

fit

well together with

and radar system.

Two

no complications, and a common

or three missiles of varying weights and

ranges are under development, each far

and with much greater

altitude

more

flexible, easier to

maintain,

and range than the present "Three

T's."

All these complex weapons systems must be controlled by so-called

black boxes units,

devices.

To

—

radars and electronic equipment; computers with

and almost instantaneous communications

The problem

collect

and

of the

modern

ship in the fleet

collate all information

from

memory

links or data transmission

all

is:

sources

—

friendly ships,

CRUISERS

131

planes, submarines,

and other sources about enemy or potential enemy

and submarines.

planes, ships,

To present this information visually and graphically. To compare it with similar information about the locations, speeds, and courses of our own forces. To select and direct and control the best weapons system available (either a piloted fighter plane, to intercept

To do

an antiaircraft

missile, or a

and destroy the enemy before he can

and

this

to

keep

all

inflict

gun or topedo)

harm upon you.

other friendly forces instantly informed of the

information you have and what you are doing, intricate computers, visual display devices, and a data link system are necessary.

ments

is

developing the Naval Tactical Data System

The nuclear-powered frigate Bainbridge

ships of the

Navy

aircraft will carry

The Naval

cruiser

and the

Long Beach has

carrier Enterprise

are being fitted with

Out

of these require-

—NTDS,

this

system; so do the

and two destroyers. Other key

as rapidly as possible,

it

for short.

and

in time

it.

Tactical Data System

is

an electronic computing, display, and

communications system that

collects, processes,

needed by a naval

command.

tactical

It

and evaluates information

has communications links and

data-processing centers or combat-information centers aboard ships and (eventually) in planes. Essentially,

it

a computerized, automatic

is

way

—

same job the CIC did in World War II and Korea plotting and tracking enemy forces and vectoring or directing our own to destroy

of doing the

them. But

its

communication data

stantaneously to

The

NTDS

ual plotting

all

ships

links provide information virtually in-

and planes

in a task force.

evolved from the increased speed of modern weapons.

on chart boards, or illuminated

plexiglass screens,

Man-

was too

modern high-speed jet, or the missile it launched, would destroy you. Therefore a means of instantaneous collection and collation of information and some kind of a memory unit that would store all the bits and pieces of a combat puzzle and produce them on demand was essential. The heart of the NTDS is the computer, the so-called digital-type Univac slow. Before an intercept could be figured out, a

or other models.

Modern computers

are built almost entirely of transistors and diodes;

there are very few tubes. tronic cards,

The

transistors

which can be pulled out

and diodes are arranged if

there

is

in elec-

a failure, and quickly

The

132

Modern computers have chalked up an almost

replaced.

thousands of hours without

ability record,

New Navy

incredible reli-

failures.

computer can perform some 64 basic operations or commands, such as add, subtract, stop, read, or store. It can store about 1,000,000 bits of information, without forgetting any of them, and it can

The

digital

execute more than 50,000 instructions per second.

But it,

robot brain

this electronic

and especially no

A program

mers.

is

a

no better than the men who run

really

new breed

of the

of instructions, fed to a

list

and the programmer

the trained officer

is

complex computer language to the

is

better than a

work on

to

Navy

—

the program-

computer on a punch card,

who knows enough about

the

program

the

logically, or to talk

computer.

All computers have a a series of eight digits

common

—

language

—

the so-called "octal" language,

zeroes and ones arranged in different sequences.

These sequences convey information and have meaning

First

to the electronic

human programmer who

brain of the computer, and to the

and most important, a programmer, or systems

directs

it.

analyst,

must

arrange a flow chart of logical sequences that the computer can follow.

For instance:

"How do you smoke "You take "Where is

it

a cigar?"

out of your pocket."

the pocket?"

"In the upper-left-hand part of

my

coat."

"What do you do with the cigar?" "You clip off the end." "What next?" "You put it in your mouth."

And

so on.

In other words, the logic and sequence of what's fed into the computer is

all-important, for the answers

dependent upon the data fed

The programmer,

in,

therefore,

is

you

will get out of the

computer are

and the program. an important new type of naval

He's generally the type of person

who

likes

specialist.

crossword puzzles and

is

a

stickler for detail.

He and consoles,

all

the other experts

who

and the communications

serve the computers, the radars, the

links in the

require extensive and intensive schooling.

Naval Tactical Data System

The data-system

technicians have

CRUISERS

133

from twelve

to twenty-four

months of schooling

and factory

in naval

train-

ing schools.

Computers are the brains of the Naval Tactical Data System; radars are The nerves, or the means by which the data is

the eyes, sonars the ears.

known

transmitted, are powerful, very high-speed automatic radio data links

Navy as single sideband radio. Aboard the Enterprise, the huge fixed-array

in the

radar, with the slab anten-

nas in their distinctive quadrants around the island superstructure,

by a

trolled

world.

The

ing for the

computer, the

digital

first

is

con-

computer-controlled radar in the

electronic pulses, or beams, hunt high or low, far or near, look-

enemy

In CIC, the

as the brain

NTDS

computer

directs.

centers around a whole series of radar consoles that

display electronically a schematic diagram or picture showing the various

and types and movements of enemy or unknown

ships in the task force,

on the

targets in the sky,

targets

surface, or beneath the sea.

Data about these

constantly fed into the system by visual reports from lookouts,

is

radar, sonar,

and other means. At the same time additional data

being

is

fed into the computers from other friendly ships or planes in the task force,

and

matched by the computers with the

this is

The

local data.

entire system

has the capacity for tracking scores of targets simultaneously, and the visual picture

it

presents

up

is

was two seconds ago

Once

this

—

to date.

The

not where

information

is

it

consoles

show where

was hours

how

stored

to counter the

enemy. The memory

up information about

and where each one this electronic

is

memory,

enemy

target

past.

presented, the computers aid the air controllers,

the ship skippers, the pilots of fighters in the sky,

ing

the

all

the

and the admirals

cells in the

weapons available

in decid-

computers have

to the task force,

enemy threat. By drawing upon computer makes a number of alternative recom-

in relation to the

the

mendations about which fighter interceptor or missile to use against an

incoming bomber, what destroyer

is

best placed to attack an

enemy

sub-

marine, and so on.

But the choice

ment

—

is

when he

still

—

the exercise of

human. The

does, the

command and

air controller or

and judg-

skipper makes the decision;

Naval Tactical Data System again takes over and

mits the orders to the ship's fire-control system, to

whole task

of experience

some other

trans-

ship, to the

force, or to planes in the sky.

Fighter interceptor aircraft eventually will be integrated into this system.

New Navy

The

134

The automatic controls, programmers, and electronic black boxes in many modern fighters have transformed these planes into manned antiaircraft missiles. The pilot, in some cases, almost "goes along for the ride" (though he does,

in the last analysis,

judgment

—

provide that indispensable element

no computer can furnish). NTDS, applied

that

—human

to planes, will

extend this automation by high-speed radio data links, radars, and computers.

This fantastic system, which

Navy,

is

instance,

far

more complex than

some twenty-six

just

is

coming

into extensive use in the

this simplified description.

There

different consoles in the Enterprise,

are, for

each pre-

senting part of the complex picture of a naval task force in action. Yet,

complex or

not,

it

works so

fast that

it

can cope with the

missiles. If all twenty-six console operators,

fastest planes or

bending, in the dim

light,

above

were to push a button simultaneously to ask the

their illuminated screens,

four computers a question, each one would have the answer before he could

remove

his finger

from the button.

NTDS

works

in

microseconds;

it is

the

nervous system of modern naval war.

When fully installed, it will expand the effective command decisions to oceanwide dimensions. The Long Beach, commissioned

in

1961,

is

scope of instantaneous

the only cruiser, so far,

equipped with the Naval Tactical Data System and the only cruiser in the

War II. But Long CGN-9 heavy cruiser,

United States Navy built from the keel up since World

Beach

is

distinctive for other reasons as well.

nuclear-powered

#9

—

She

is

the only cruiser with nuclear

She's a double-ender, with

two

twin-rail Talos launcher aft.

power

She also carries one

sonar

dome

any

fleet.

forward and one

twin-rail Terrier launchers

ASROC

magazine for spare loads; a new long-range sonar, housed

in

launcher with a in a great plastic

her forefoot underwater, six torpedo tubes, two five-inch

at

38-caliber guns, and a bristling array of antenna. She has a large helicopter

landing area

aft,

with deck lights for night use. She even has space allocated

bombardment missiles, though none have been mounted. And she cost more than $320,000,000. Despite these superlatives, Long Beach is neither the largest nor the fast-

for

est in the fleet.

She displaces about 16,287 tons

feet long, with a 73-foot at top speeds of

full load,

and

is

about 721

beam. Her two nuclear reactors turn twin screws

more than 30

knots.

i

The The

twin-rail Talos missile launcher can be seen in this view of the

ship also carries

two

twin-rail Terrier launchers

and an

Long Beach.

ASROC

launcher.

(Hughes Aircraft Company)

She's not a

her guns,

handsome

is still

Newport News, with The modern cruiser, with

ship, except in her hull lines;

the best-looking ship in the

no

stacks,

its

missiles, looks topheavy,

fleet.

and the massive radar antenna and towering masts needed for

awkward. The

hull of

Long Beach has

flowing lines of power, and she has good seakeeping

two

feet of

abilities,

free-

with twenty-

freeboard (her deck twenty-two feet above the sea) amidships,

and the bow

rising in a sharp sheer to thirty-two feet

turns with her twin rudders like a startled duck,

above the water. She

and heels sharply

in

rough

weather.

The foremast the

most

structure,

which

distinctive feature of

rises ten levels

Long Beach. She

moving) search and tracking radars, similar

above the main deck,

is

has huge fixed-array (non-

in principle to those

aboard

Enterprise, arranged in rectangular pattern around her foremast, separating the flag bridge

and the navigation or captain's bridge. This powerful search

radar has the capability of picking up a tiny object hundreds of miles away,

The

136 but

appearance gives Long Beach a

rectangular boxlike

ungainly,

its

New Navy

gawky, almost a hayseed, look. Aft of the foremast structure

is

reactors, but used for ventilation

needed for the nuclear

a stub stack, not

and

away

to lead

from a donkey, or small auxiliary oil-burning

boiler,

the

smoke and fumes

which can be used

to

provide the ship with hotel, or housekeeping, power (for light cooking,

and so on) and

to provide

steam for heating when the ship

dock and the reactors are shut down. In extreme bow and stern are two weird-looking,

is

alongside the

lattice-type structures,

with odd-looking gadgets at the top. These are collimating towers that are

used to collimate the missile-control radars or to align the radar beams with optical beams. This

is

done

to

make

certain the radars are properly aligned

with the ship.

The combat information center type, organized

in

Long Beach

is

of the so-called

by functions and arranged on two decks. There are some-

thing like twenty-two radar consoles and eleven computers in

men

at

modular

push buttons can

literally control

from here the

CIC, and

fate of nations.

The

computers and consoles are transistorized or miniaturized; there are few

vacuum

tubes.

Beach compress ashore by

Force

in

The combat information into

SAGE

some 14

2,000 square

feet

center and the

war

acres.

fore

and

aft)

all

its

appearance, weap-

been profoundly changed by the technological

at sea.

There are today three siles

Long

(Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) for the Air

and functions have

revolution in

in

about the same operation performed

Thus, the cruiser, too, has had a face-lifting, and ons,

NTDS

cruisers, so-called

"double-end" conversions (mis-

with tremendous missile firepower like the Albany. The

Columbus and Chicago

armament and capabilities. cruisers, including the nuclear-powered Long Beach, are equipped with either Talos or Terrier or both. All nine, except Long Beach, are "single-end" conversions; that is, they retain their gun turrets forward are generally similar in

Nine other

and have

Two vessels

missiles aft.

other cruisers,

—

the

all

with long service,

Newport News and

still

the Saint Paul.

are conventionally gunned

A

third, the

Los Angeles,

has just been placed in "mothballs," out of commission in the reserve

Tomorrow's cruisers?

fleet.

CRUISERS

No

137

naval architect

now

of the hornet of the sea

living can, with accuracy, forecast the shape

two or three decades hence.

But today the primary mission of most of our cruisers (with the exception of those

equipped only with guns)

is

what the Navy

calls anti-air-war-

fare.

Most

of

them can,

like

Long Beach,

"detect and destroy submarines and

surface ships at close and extended ranges, track and intercept aircraft .

.

and coordinate and control defensive operations of a force

.

in

com-

pany." Cruisers traditionally have "roamed over larger areas than forces fleet

and are

also available for independent operations."

main task

They

are ideal

or task-force flagships.

They contribute

materially, as

control of the seas.

Commander "In the

And

as

modern

of our nation

other ships of the

USN

modern

fleet, to

(Ret.), former

it:

era of fission, fusion, sputniks, IRBM's, ICBM's, one fact all

others, the inseparability of the defense

and the defense of the surrounding

fight the

or closer."

all

in Chief, Atlantic, has put

stands head and shoulders above

and we

do

Admiral Jerauld Wright,

war

seas.

alone, with the Iron Curtain at our

Lose the Atlantic

Ten-Fathom Curve

VII THE "AMPHIBS"

Amphibious operations are

thirty-five

centuries old

—but

are ever new.

Navy and Marine forces equipped and trained for sea-to-shore, ship-to-land combat. They represent the ultimate in sea power: the capability of transporting man, with a rifle in his hand, to enemy

The "amphibs"

are the

and holding and supplying

coasts; the capability of seizing a beachhead, It

sounds simple, but

it

actually, in the age of nuclear

is

planes and missiles, the most difficult operation

Amphibious operations are majestic of the world

An

it.

jet

to military science.

The map the Navy

in scope, infinite in detail.

and techniques of

their battleground; all the ships

is

and Marines are

known

weapons,

their sword.

amphibious operation

is

at least local control of the air

from the hot-rod

jet pilot,

really "/r/-phibious," land, sea, is

essential to success.

units,

air,

for

Every kind of expert

Marine helicopter

the "airdale," or

frogmen of the underwater demolition

and

pilot,

the

and the

the boat teams,

"grunts" or "gravel crunchers," wearing the proud globe and anchor of the United States Marines, must Logistics

operations.

—

the science of supply

To

the

Duke

—

into a perfect

gets

its

it

means a

bombardment, States

meant beans and

biscuits

World War

II led to

enemy submarine and

air

to a precise unit at a precise spot at a precise time.

Navy-United

States

experts in amphibious operations. Trial by

138

amphibious

and delivered half a world away across seas and stormy

The United in

test in

of power.

half a million items, packaged, labeled,

beaches, through fair weather and foul, despite attack and

symphony

supreme

of Wellington "logistics"

and ammunition. Today, transported,

mesh

Marine team are the world's fire

in

many bloody

landings

the present basic technique for amphibious landings.

THE "amphibs"

139

The technique has been modified and modernized, particularly in tactics, but it still depends, in large measure, upon many World War II amphibious ships

and many wartime concepts.

The

chief effect of the technological revolution

tions has

ous

been upon

their

upon amphibious opera-

tempo. They have been speeded up.

ships of eighteen to twenty knots,

New

amphibi-

instead of the plodding ten- to

fourteen-knot convoys of wartime, have been built. Landing craft are faster. Jet

And

planes have largely replaced propeller-driven aircraft.

the

Marines now land through the skies upon enemy beaches, as well as by water.

The development is

of the amphibious technique of "vertical envelopment"

the greatest single advance since

World War

and newly developed types of modified

special

Helicopters flown from

II.

flattops transport

and behind enemy beach defenses or

assault forces over

flanks, while landing craft transport the

main body

Marine

to landings

on the

of the assault forces to

the beaches.

The

new dimension

helicopter assault landing has thus provided a

amphibious landing.

It

to the

complicates the task of timing and coordination,

makes the enemy's defensive problem

more difficult. For swiftflying helicopters may suddenly place a heavily armed Marine company on the enemy's main supply route to his beachhead defenses. The whirlybird assault disperses the attack a sound concept in the Atomic Age when one and it also nuclear weapon might knock out an entire amphibious unit disperses the enemy's defenses. The enemy cannot be strong everywhere. His attempt to defend against the combined mobility and flexibility of asbut

it

far

—

sault

by landing

craft

—

and helicopter may lead

weaknesses.

The development

commander

far greater flexibility.

alternatives, the times

down,

as in

He can

and places of

Omaha Beach

in

to overextension

and

local

of helicopter landings gives the amphibious

choose, from a wide range of

his assault.

Normandy

in

No

longer

World War

II,

is

he pinned

to a frontal

assault across a heavily defended beach.

Two

stalwarts of naval warfare have been so greatly modified, in the

development of helicopter assault techniques, that they types of ships.

One

is

—Amphibious Assault Ship— designed launch new LPD — Amphibious Transport Dock—

the

LPH

port without catapults or arresting gear, only.

The

other

is

the

are, in effect,

new

a flattop-trans-

to

helicopters

(a devel-

—

Aboard

Okinawa, Marines hurry

the

bring Marine forces over and behind flanks, to disperse the

opment

of the

(APA),

LSD)

to their helicopters.

enemy beach defenses

enemy's attack and defenses.

( U.S.

Whirlybird assaults or to landings on the

Navy)

designed to combine the functions of attack transport

attack cargo ship

(AKA), and

landing ship, dock (LSD), and to

carry troops, helicopters, and landing craft.

The USS I wo Jima and USS Okinawa, LPH-2 and LPH-3, are the first helicopter assault ships built from the keel up for use in the vertical-assault technique. Prior LPH's were converted from old escort or cruiser-hulled aircraft carriers.

When

a carrier not a carrier?

is

Okinawa and a

flat flight

six other

LPH's are

aircraft carriers in appearance, with

deck and an island superstructure to starboard. But there the

similarity ends.

The only kind

of fixed-winged aircraft that can take off

from Okinawa's decks are the small,

light observation

and

liaison planes

many varied purposes by the nation's ground forces. Okinawa carries helicopters only twenty-six of the big Siko rsky^traps-

used for

port type

(UH^D-HUS)-^ soon

larger type.

Some

loading doors

LPH's.

New

—

to

be supplemented, or replaced, by a

of the big cargo-carrying helicopters with clamshell

the Si korsky

CH-37 C

—

are

sometimes

and more powerful helicopters that

will

lift

bow-

assigned to the

30

to

38 troops,

or payloads of nine tons, are on order.

Belowdecks the Okinawa She can carry

some 1,800

is

to

built as a

combination transport-cargo

2,000 combat

ship.

Marines, plus a crew of fifty

The rier.

deck of the Okinawa gives her the appearance of an aircraft carBelowdecks she is built as a combination transport-cargo ship. (U.S. Navy)

flat flight

New Navy

The

142 naval officers and 500 enlisted men, and

equipment, and rations.

Okinawa

is

a big, high-speed ship

— 592

cost, with (unlike the

$45,000,000

the necessary ammunition,

all

18,000 tons; 22 knots;

feet long,

normal carrier), a rounded, closed-in

bow. She has two side-deck elevators from

flight to

hangar deck and a high

hangar deck to accommodate the copter rotor blades. Everything about her contributes to her special mission

Marines and She time

is

their

equipment ashore through the

—

putting the

air.

air-conditioned; the Marines can remain aboard her for a long

in the tropics.

Her passageways and ladders

are almost double the

usual ship's width, so that Marines, with full packs and equipment, can pass each other abreast.

Seven-ton cargo elevators extend for seventy feet straight to the

deck from deep plies are

stowed aboard, already pallet-loaded, that

on wooden grated platforms or the holds, are picked

pallets.

and loaded

Okinawa can

directly

pallets, stored in

fork-lift trucks,

"choppers."

the

in

By

sup-

boxed and crated loaded on the

hangar decks, picked up by more

elevators, lifted to the flight or

trucks,

is,

These preloaded

up by battery-powered

flight

Ammunition and

in the "well" or holds of the ship.

this

fork-lift

mechanization

off-load scores of tons each hour.

She has space, too, for more than eighty vehicles. Some of the bigger loads, like the Marines'

106-mm.

recoilless rifle,

a so-called "mechanical mule" (a low, vehicle), can be transported ashore

carry

them suspended beneath

vehicles

fly

through the

air

light,

mounted on a jeep or on

simple four-wheeled flatbed

by external loading. The helicopters

their fuselages

from a special

sling.

The

with ease, swinging like a gentle pendulum.

The "ammo" (ammunition)

storage area in the

Okinawa

is

designed as

a casualty overflow space. Okinawa, after discharging her Marines, can be

used as a hospital or casualty evacuation ship. She has a large and well-

equipped sick bay and operating area, and 240 extra bunks can be to take care of

any wounded

in excess of the

set

up

normal sick-bay accommo-

dations.

Okinawa normally operates with eight helicopters spotted on her flight deck, but she can accommodate ten at a time and can get them all off, when ready, in less than a minute.

Her

flight

deck crew follows some of the same practices and techniques

used aboard aircraft

carriers.

There

is

an

LSE (Landing

Signal, Enlisted)

THE "amphibs"

143

for each helicopter spot; he

and

deck directors wear yellow

flight

jerseys.

The men who handle the helicopter refueling hoses wear red jerseys; plane pushers and chockmen wear blue; maintenance men wear green shirts; telephone

talkers

and elevator operators wear white

jerseys; plane captains,

brown; and the so-called "debarkation guides," a special job aboard the LPH's, wear a gorgeous purple.

and land-

Pri-Fly, with the ship's air officer in charge, runs the takeoffs ings.

He

who

has a special assistant, a Marine,

and a permanent part

of the ship's

Marines permanently assigned

Marine troops transported

combat cargo

company

beachhead). One

is

(as distinct

a sergeant,

track of the supplies and assists with the loading; the other controller officer,

who

He

has

all

system)

who

keeps

the helicopter

center, an

annex

to the ship's

combat informa-

the usual communication equipment and instru-

ments, including radar, and to help him.

is

from the

controls the flight of the helicopters to the beach

from a helicopter direction tion center.

officer

company. There are only two other

to the ship's

to the

the

is

TACAN

(Sometimes

(Tactical Air Control

this

And

Navigation

is

performed by a naval

in hours,

with the copters com-

function

officer.)

Okinawa can

get her

Marines ashore

muting back and forth to the beach anywhere from

twenty miles

five to

away.

She loads quickly. The big copters are spotted, each in flight

party

deck, with rotors turning over is

given.

when

circle

its

on the

the order to debark the landing

Each group of eight or more Marines (depending on the is fully weaponed and equipped and led by a purple-

helicopter's size)

shirted debarkation guide

the proper helicopter.

from elevators or ladders over the

Each man jumps

in

flight

deck to

through the big open cargo door,

boosted by the guide and the squad leader. Each ducks his head to avoid catching his steel helmet on the upper edge of the door. straps his seat belt,

The LSE

and

in front of

Each

takes a seat,

waits.

each copter waves

his right

hand

furiously to

tell

the pilot to rev up.

Over the loudspeaker system, the air officer in the greenhouse at bridge level on the island superstructure says: "I'm going to give you a green light with thirty seconds to go.

Do NOT

launch until you hear the beep."

The green light on the superstructure flashes on. The LSE's wave green flags; the chockmen cast off the helicopter tie-downs. In quick succession,

The New Navy

144

from the bow, one

after the other, the

LSE's give the "launch" signal

(thumb up and forward) and the big birds, with United States Marines lift in graceful outward soaring arcs from Okinawa's deck. The first off circle until a complete platoon, or combat unit, is airborne; then aboard,

the

first

fire,

wave, flying low and by preplanned evasive routes to avoid enemy

heads for the beach. They land

in

an area that already has been marked

with landing flares or signals by a Marine pathfinder team, take off as soon as they

have discharged their men or cargo, and return to the ship for

another

lift.

The

LPD

—Amphibious

Transport

World War

LSD

successor to

II's

Dock

—

—Landing

is

the logical technological

Ship Dock, but with other

functions added.

USS

Vancouver.,

building. She

LPD #2,

and her

have been developed

is

the second of nine ships of this type

sisters are

in the

among

now

the strangest types of ships that

modern evolution

She can operate helicopters, refuel smaller

of naval warfare. ships, transport

Marines and

cargo, and by flooding ballast tanks and opening stern gates can create a floating harbor within her capacious well deck.

task forces; they can

Vancouver 84

feet,

is

The new LPD's

are one-ship

combine many functions.

a big ship

— 521

and displaces 14,000

feet long.

She

is

a

broad-beamed lady of

tons. Later ships of the class will

be "jumbo-

ized" by splicing in an additional forty-eight feet of length in the center to

provide more room.

dock landing ship (LSD). In a process down, the well deck of the LSD is flooded, enabling her to onload the boats, fully-loaded. (U.S. Navy)

Utility landing craft prepare to enter a

called ballasting

y

THE "amphibs

145

Vancouver makes more than twenty knots. She

430

officers

carries a

and men, berthed forward, and has accommodations

930 Marines, who

tons of cargo and

way round

gers to find their

She's a functional ship.

and by sea

air

2,000

Marine passen-

easily.

Her main purpose

as quickly

for

are berthed aft in air-conditioned

quarters, identified by special colored paints to permit the

by

crew of some

and

to get the

is

Marines ashore

efficiently as possible.

In action she's a three-ringed circus. She anchors off the beachhead, and takes in hundreds of tons of water into her ballast tanks to submerge her

deep into the

stern

down,

like

sea.

heavy

steel gates in the stern

open up and

gaping jaws, and the ship's huge well deck, with

craft inside the steel

ship floods

Two

down

maw,

like guppies,

to "Condition 83,"

is

its

landing

slowly flooded. Normally, the

which means that the 225-foot well

some 1,741 tons of seawater sloshing back and forth eight feet of water above the ramp or lower gate at the stern, three feet forward where the water dock ends in a gently upward-sloping steel deck, 50 feet broad, has

—

ramp. Port and starboard wing walls, three decks high, surround the well deck

—

the artificial harbor

ment can smother

As steel

—and

fog

foam nozzles and other

fire-fighting equip-

the entire area in foam.

the stern of the well deck sinks into the sea, the landing craft in

womb

are gradually floated by the rising water.

its

Vancouver can carry

a combination of different types and sizes of landing craft. She can berth in her well P-iqe of f our

of the larger

^M-& typpg (landing LCM-8 's (which can carry t

hp

T

craft,

medium, mark

six), or

the Marines' heaviest load

the 62 4-ton heavy tank), or oji£_iXJLL (landing craft, utility) and thxee 1

/

LCM's. All

these craft have the familiar

when beached to disgorge cargo. The boat-control officer has his

ramp-bows

station in the

wing wall of the well deck,

and here he checks cargoes and dispatches boats be loaded quickly by of the well deck

The

six bridge-type cranes that

on a monorail and

lift

to the beach. Boats

can

run around the overhead

palleted loads into the boats.

ship has two pallet elevators, or conveyors, controlled, as a safety

and a big 16,000-pound

feature,

by an

can

cargo through six decks to well deck or

lift

that can be lowered

electric eye,

flight

While the boats are being loaded and are casting

freight elevator that

deck. off,

the flight deck,

directly above the well deck, roars with the sound of rotor blades.

Two

or

The

146

three helicopters can be handled simultaneously by Pri-Fly

on the port side

—

and by the Marines

in

Twenty-seven-degree removable

Pri-Fly.

—

"Debark Control," steel

New Navy little

tower

directly

under

a

ramps, which are pretty

"hairy" for the inexperienced driver, lead directly from flight and well decks

down

at a steep slope to

upper and lower vehicle storage areas. Fork

scurry around the flight deck, which

is

lighted at night

by shaded red

lifts

lights,

called "dustpans," buried in the deck.

The level,

ship's bridge

and the combat information center are on the same

with a special annex, the troop operating center, nearby. Here Marines

control

all

requests for supplies or

men from

the beach, keep track of the

various schedules and "on-call" serials, or "waves" of

men and

equipment,

and keep the movements of boats and helicopters going on split-second timetables.

The flooded

well deck

a scary place

is

when

and

there's a sea running,

the landing-craft coxswain has to be good. Turbulence builds

up

in the

confined space; wild waters slosh back and forth, and the opening in the stern looks mighty small to the boats' crews. Usually the into the well

deck

at

boards (heavy wooden fender boards, lining the

caroms forward

coxswain rides her

speed on the back of a wave. She skitters off the batter

in the surging waters.

grounded, on the forward

wing walls) and

bow

Eventually she will end up,

ramp, or

steel

steel

in a

kind of "pen" formed by

athwartships and longitudinal steel baffle plates, where she can be reloaded.

Both the LPD's and the LPH's could operate

as "platforms" for

ASW

helicopters.

The LPD's,

like the

LPH's, carry four twin-mount three-inch 50-caliber

guns. But the fighting Marine

pack

—

is

their

main

—

the "gravel cruncher" with his

rifle

and

his

battery.

Normally, an amphibious squadron would X(attack cargo ship), possibly

include an

LPH, one

AKA

one or two APA's (attack transport), two

LST's (landing

ship, tank),

one

APD

verted destroyer type), and one

about 2,500 Marines with

Vancouver,

may

An

or one

LPD. Such

a force can

equipment.* Eventually, the new LPD's,

lift

like

replace the older cargo ships and transports. These older

ships are really modified *

full

LSD

(high-speed transport, usually a con-

merchantmen, which must lower

their landing

amphibious squadron in the Pacific Fleet has a larger organization, and might APA's and be able to lift 4,500 to 7,500 Marines.

clude four or five

in-

>***ap A

tank landing ship (LST) transports and lands trucks, tanks, communications vans and other marine equipment used in an amphibious assault. Because of its shallow draft forward, the LST is capable of moving in very close to a beach.

(US. Navy)

water by boat davits and from which the Marines must climb

craft into the

down cargo nets over the sides to embark. The amphibious squadron is commanded by mander, usually called "commodore" (once a

Navy squadron comNavy rank, now a term a

applied to destroyer squadron and amphibious squadron commanders).

The embarked Marines

who

has his

own

are usually

commanded by

cabin and large headquarters or

the flagship. Three amphibious squadrons

a senior

staff

Marine

colonel,

compartment aboard

form a "group" commanded by

a rear admiral, generally with a Marine brigadier general embarked.

There are some

six

amphibious squadrons

in the Atlantic that

bark about 15,000 Marines; four much larger ones can

lift

which

about 30,000 simultaneously.

The Navy's amphibious

forces, to

which more than 20,000 men and 60

ships are assigned in the Atlantic alone, include ships

can em-

in the Pacific,

many

specialized types of

and boats.

Here are thumbnail descriptions of some of them:

AGC

.

.

.

Amphibious

Command

Ship

headquarters for the amphibious task force

commander. This ship

is

amphibious operations.

the nucleus It is

.

.

.

serves as flagship

commander and landing

from which

all

designed primarily to

and force

orders originate during fulfill

requirements for the control of surface, subsurface and

communications

air units

engaged

The New Navy

148

A

supporting amphibious assaults.

in

stern of the ship gives

450

tons; dimensions

full

...

5-inch

1

AKA

displacement .

.

Attack Cargo Ship

.

.

.

5,450

460 x 63 x 28

.

.

.

tons

.

.

.

armament

.

.

.

.

.

.

light

feet;

40-mm.; speed ... 16 knots; crew 30

8

on the

versatility.

men. Troop capacity: 100

enlisted .

added

(approximate):

Specifications

15,295

it

helicopter platform located

.

400

officers,

.

enlisted

officers

men.

transports equipment, personnel,

.

ammunition, and supplies for amphibious operations, and lands them

means of embarked landing

assault areas by

14,160

...

5-inch

1

tons; dimensions

full

officers

.

.

40-mm.

8

250

.

enlisted

.

.

.

.

craft.

displacement

(approximate):

Specifications

.

.

.

.

.

6,456

460 x 63 x 26

...

speed

;

in

16

tons

.

.

.

armament

.

.

.

light

feet;

men. Troop capacity: 10

... 23

crew

knots;

100 enlisted

officers,

men.

APA

.

.

.

Attack

Transport

.

.

.

transports

troops,

equipment for amphibious operations, and lands them

means of embarked landing by other

.

full

cers

.

.

.

(approximate):

tons; dimensions

2 5-inch

.

.

craft

in assault areas

by

brought to the area

ships.

Specifications

16,100

and landing

craft

and

supplies

345

displacement .

.

... 4 40-mm.; enlisted

.

.

.

8,100

490 x 70 x 27

.

...

speed

feet

light .

.

officers,

.

.

.

armament

... 25

18 knots; crew

men. Troop capacity: 100

.

tons

offi-

1,400 enlisted

men.

APD

.

.

.

High-Speed Transport

and reconnaissance personnel

tion

used as a control vessel and, in

waves of landing

to

.

transports underwater demoli-

.

.

an amphibious assault area. is

positioned offshore to direct

These

ships are modified destroyer

this capacity,

craft into the beaches.

It is also

escorts.

Specifications

2,130

.

.

.

tons; dimensions

full

...

5-inch

1

(approximate): .

displacement .

.

.

.

.

Amphibious Repair Ship

amphibious force landing ships and

.

1,400 light tons feet;

23 knots; crew

150 enlisted men. Troop capacity: 10

ARL

.

306 x 37 x 13

...

6 40-mm.; speed

.

.

craft.

.

officers, .

armament

...

12

.

.

.

.

.

.

officers

100 enlisted men.

provides repair

facilities for

This ship's tasks include perform-

ing repairs and alterations; providing limited logistic support to landing ships

and

against

craft;

enemy

air

and maintaining the capability of limited self-defense and small-craft

attacks.

AMPHIBS

THE

The high speed

149

transport

(APD)

transports underwater demolition and recon-

naissance personnel to an amphibious area.

.

.

1,625 light tons

.

x 50 x 11

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

4,100

.

armament ...

feet;

16 officers

LSD

can also be used as primary con-

Ex-LST (tank

Specifications (approximate):

ment

It

during an amphibious assault. (U.S. Navy)

trol vessel

full tons;

.

No

Dock Landing Ship

.

them and launches them during the

dimensions

.

loads

.

assault.

landing

stern,

.

.

328

This ship also provides drycraft.

In addition, is

it

can

equipped

flooded to permit amphibious craft to enter;

a procedure called "ballasting down."

on the

.

transports

craft,

serve as hospital evacuation ship and fast troop transport. It

may be

displace-

.

troops.

docking and repair services to landing ships and with a well deck, which

.

40-mm.; speed ... 12 knots; crew

8

180 enlisted men.

.

landing ship)

The

ship also has a landing platform

from which helicopters may operate. There are several

classes

of LSD's. Specifications (approximate): Cabildo class (built during

displacement

.

.

.

4,790

tons

light

.

.

.

9,375

full

World War

tons;

II):

dimensions

armament ... 12 40-mm.; speed ... 15 knots; crew ... 15 officers 250 enlisted men. Troop capacity: 20 officers, 200 enlisted men. Thomaston class (built after World War II): .

.

.

458 x 72 x 18

feet;

.

displacement

.

.

.

6,880

light

.

.

tons

.

.

.

12,150

full

tons;

dimensions

The

150

New Navy

speed ... 24 16 3-inch 510x 84 x 19 feet; armament 285 enlisted men. Troop capacity: 25 knots; crew ... 20 officers .

.

.

.

.

.

300

officers,

LST

.

.

enlisted

.

.

.

;

.

men.

Tank Landing Ship

.

.

.

.

.

.

and lands heavy equip-

transports

ment, tanks, communications vans, and other Marine equipment used in

amphibious operations. Because of capable of moving

in close to

through

bow

its

move

shallow draft forward, this ship

move

beachhead, over which cargo can shore. It can also

its

to bridge the

in to deposit its

gap from

ship-to-

cargo directly onto the beach

doors.

Specifications (approximate):

LST 511-1152

War

1,653 light tons

displacement

II):

is

"marry" a pontoon causeway, secured to the

.

.

.

Series (built during .

.

.

4,080

full

World

tons; di-

20-mm.; speed ... 12 knots;

armament ... 7 40-mm. ... 2 crew ... 8 officers ... 90 enlisted

men. Troop capacity: 15

100 enlisted men. Suffolk Country

mensions

(built

8,000

.

.

after

328 x 50 x 14

.

3-inch

.

.

enlisted

.

officers,

World War

;

speed

...

displacement

II):

dimensions

full tons;

feet;

.

17

knots;

men. Troop capacity: 30

4,164

.

442 x 62 x 18

.

.

.

.

feet;

crew

...

60

enlisted

officers,

The landing craft or boats carried by these vessels and sizes. They include, roughly in order of size:

LCU— Landing

LCM — Landing

10

class

tons

light

.

armament ... officers

.

.

3

... 160

men.

are also of

many

types

Craft, Utility (the largest). Craft,

Medium

(there are several different marks, or

models).

—Vehicle-Personnel Landing —Personnel Landing keep "waves" guided approach beach). LVTP— Personnel Landing dubbed by Tracked. This Marines, "Mobile Foxhole," one famous "amtrac" fam— armored, can personnel which, LCVP LCPL

ing craft

Craft.

Craft (utilized to

or aligned, as they

the

Vehicle,

the ily

the

the

is

tracked

of land-

the

vehicle,

of the

like a crocodile,

carriers,

swim ashore and crawl up on the beach and inland, with its Marines aboard. The latest version has relatively high speed. It sits very low in the water, and has overhead quick release V2 -inch armored hatches that give protection against splinters and first

machine guns. The tracked vehicles are used

in the

assault waves; the smaller boats or landing craft bring in the next

waves, and the heavier boats and landing craft

come

later,

with the LST's

THE "AMPHIBS"

—

151

the big ships built to ground themselves deliberately, beaching last of

The LVTP-5

carries

34

fully

machine gun. Speed of the

all.

equipped Marines plus crew and a .30 caliber

latest

model

—Mark — 5

is

knots in water, 30

six

miles an hour on land.

LVTE—Engineer

Landing Vehicle, Tracked. Carries specialized equip-

ment, a rocket launcher that shoots a demolition charge across a minefield

and a toothed bulldozer blade. Mine clearance

LVH An

and

LVW—High-speed

amphibious landing

happening

at

eyes,

function.

support amphibians under development.

a kind of ordered chaos. So

is

once over such great distances, and there

and smoke and flame

human

is its

and

no

that

single pair of

human

many things are so much noise

is

eyes can see

especially the electronic eyes of radar

it all.

Many

and radio, must

contribute individual touches and localized "sit-reps" (situation reports) to the vast composite that

upon the

An

built

is

up on

maps, and situation boards

charts,

flagship.

amphibious operation requires the mobilization of virtually every

type of naval vessel and every kind of naval might.

A

carrier striking force, supported

by land-based

aircraft at

any land

bases within reach of the beachhead to be attacked, conducts intensive

preliminary strikes against sites

enemy radar

airfield

and

missile

within fighter range. Control of the air over the beachhead area and

over the amphibious force lying offshore after battle in

onstrated.

World War

These

exact objective craft

enemy

stations,

coastal areas,

The

and the

essential to victory, as battle

fiasco at

Cuba's Bay of Pigs have dem-

strikes against extensive areas to avoid pinpointing the

may

commence

II

is

continue for days or weeks before the attacking

to concentrate

and

air attacks

upon the supply

lines

supporting the enemy

his coastal defenses.

upon

the beach defenses are

augmented

before the landing by gunfire and missile support ships. specific task

—

air-

the destruction of a specific

enemy

for hours or days

Each undertakes a

battery or fortification or

supply installation. These ships and the carrier task forces are protected

by antisubmarine cruisers

forces, usually

and destroyers with

protected,

move

possible. Theirs

supplemented by a

is

and sweep

a dangerous and thankless job;

them, enemy gunfire may.

group, and by

Minesweepers, similarly

antiaircraft missiles.

into the objective area

HUK

if

as close to the coast as

enemy mines

don't sink

— The New Navy

152

the minesweepers start their work, a submarine

Even before

close to the beach as possible at night. tion unit for a

beach reconnaissance.

wearing aqualungs, can actually

It

moves

transports an underwater demoli-

The Navy's frogmen, some

sortie

as

them

of

through an escape hatch from the

submarine lying on the bottom, and swim into shallow water to check once again on the beach gradient, or slope (important to the landing craft),

and normal surf conditions. They take soundings with

obstructions, mines,

a weighted measuring line and record the depths on plastic slates. Alternatively,

barely awash

the

submarine may cautiously surface

— launch rubber — lucky— to

just

enough

boats (some of them equipped with silent

motors), which will carry the frogmen close to the beach. Their work done, they will return

to the

if

submarine, and compile their reports for

commander, while the sub withdraws. While the Navy units comb the water and beach, Marine reconnaissance

the task-force

elements

slip

D-Day

ashore quietly some days before

to gather information

about enemy beach defenses, strengths, and so on. They chute at night on land, or as the

As

Navy

in the sea,

or they

may drop by

para-

may be landed by submarine,

units are.

these preliminary operations take place, the amphibious convoys

under radio and radar silence be a major one

—

—

a large

number

of

them

are steaming, heavily guarded, from

if

the attack

home

is

to

ports or ad-

vanced bases toward the objective area. Our own nuclear submarines may range far ahead of them to "sanitize" an area the thermal layers

and

listen for

—

that

is,

enemy submarines.

Frogmen ter

for

to get

down below

Destroyers, cruisers,

are cast into the wa-

reconnaissance

during

an amphibious assault exercise. (U.S.

Navy)

THE "AMPHIBS and

153

with

carriers,

HUK

groups on the flanks, shepherd and escort the

amphibious ships and transports.

As H-Hour

D-Day

of

nears and the amphibious ships approach their

anchorages, a final beach and water reconnaissance ally this

is

done from a small high-speed

converted destroyer.

The boat

—

craft

a

may be made. Gener-

motor torpedo boat or a

or ship approaches the beaches at flank (top)

speed, dodging and weaving erratically to throw off the

rubber boat

is

The frogmen,

—

lie

prone

moored in

firmly alongside,

rubber

in the

rubber

the sea, while the boat

The frogmen

suits

enemy gunners.

at

—sometimes with aqualungs roll off) into

high speed.

inspect the beach

and

They

its

fix

approaches for any last-minute

explosive demolitions to the ob-

wire them with waterproof firing assemblies, and the

the fuses.

Then they swim seaward

last

men

"pull"

again; station themselves in a long line,

They

generally parallel to the beach and about twenty-five yards apart.

crook an elbow above the surface. As the recovery boat passes

man" arm of

speed, a "snare

in the

the upraised

the

rubber

raft alongside

swimmer. He

"snares" the next man.

If all

detonated just after the

last

is

is

also use a

high

drops a padded loop over

jerked into the boat and then

pulled from the water;

the water, the underwater concussion might

The frogmen

at

goes well the demolitions they have

man

A

sledding up over the water.

and one by one are "cast" (or

obstacles to the landing craft. stacles,

bow

and face masks

raft,

moves

its

kill,

if

set are

he was

still

in

or seriously injure, him.

paradrop technique. They leap from a low-flying

plane into the sea, donning their swim

fins

and face masks

as they float

down. While

all

these last-minute jobs are being done, naval guns

and

missiles

and naval planes are blasting the beach defense and laying down a curtain of

fire

inland.

Then,

as the

enough offshore

amphibious ships come to

their anchorages,

to provide reasonable safety against

enemy

usually far gunfire, the

Commander, Amphibious Task Force, orders, "Land the Landing Force." The boatswain's pipes trill: "Away, all landing craft." The boats are lowered; Marines climb down the cargo nettings, and as the boats are filled they circle in graceful patterns of power, until

all

are

ready.

Meanwhile a Marine pathfinder team parachutes (often this is done at night, just before a dawn landing) from planes into the beachhead area.

— The

154 Their job

mark by

to

is

lights,

zone for the helicopters. They

radio beacons, and other

New Navy

means a landing

conduct a last-minute reconnais-

will also

sance of enemy strengths and defenses.

Soon

after they land, the first helicopter

perhaps out of sight beyond the sea horizon, wings to the objective

enemy's flank or

in his rear.

They

LPH,

wave, launched from an

are protected by

Marine

—on

jets flying

the

from

carriers.

Soon

after the first copters discharge their assault elements, the

amphibious tractors in a long,

As

—low

well-spaced

This

now

it

—approach

the beach

"wave" of the amphibious

first

becomes "neutralization"

and force him

to

"keep

many

fire

assault.

—

a heavy barrage laid

sand

and the "Marines have landed and the All this tremendous panoply of

all

enemy

wave approaches. neutralization fire lifts. The

—waddle situation

power

is

well in hand."

mustered for one purpose

is

fighting heart,

trac-

inland behind the dunes,

put ashore the oldest and the most modern weapons system

man. The Marine, with the

down

as the first

the surf; the

their cleated treads spitting

its

firing "destructive" mis-

yards inland to stun and shock the

head down"

his

The amtracs surge through

—

the

like alligators

H-Hour the ships have been

along the beach and for

tors

is

water

approaches, the naval gunfire and missile support redoubles

it

cacophony. Prior to sions;

line.

in the

armored

known

to

—

to

war

the ultimate in extending the

is

conquest of the sea to the land. Nuclear weapons can destroy; planes and missiles

a

and guns can ravage, but only armed and fighting man,

rifle in his

man

with

hand, can remain, hold, dominate, and confirm the conquest

of a given area of earth.

The Marine tain

an

rifle

squad of fourteen

effective rate of fire of

men headed by

a sergeant can main-

400 rounds per minute.

It is

the final cutting

edge of the sharp sword of amphibious operations. Ultimately, despite the

power and support behind the Marines,

or die;

it is

the squad that

must

bull

and

is

it

blast

its

the squad

that

all

must win

way through undestroyed

defenses.

\ The Marine

rifle

squad consists of three

three riflemen and an automatic rifleman.

fire

A

teams of four

thirteenth

man

is

men each a grenadier,

armed with a new and powerful 40-mm. grenade launcher, which can destroy bunkers or vehicles or can be used against trenches; the fourteenth is

the squad leader.

Multiply

this

fourteen-man squad some 36 times; add 24 machine guns,

AMPHIBS

THE

The first wave (US. Navy)

155

of Marines storm ashore during an amphibious assault exercise.

24 3.5-inch rocket teams, four flamethrowers, 8 81 -mm. mortars; transportation,

rifles,

units; tanks, antitank

battalion landing

which

is

When

weapons and

team

—

106-mm.

recoilless

communications, medical and

artillery,

and the

result

is

a

staff

BLT, or men

a powerful fighting force of 900 to 1,800

the basic building block of

Marine amphibious operations.

troops have a foothold ashore, the support and follow-up phase

may mean

ultimate defeat or victory. Naval gunfire and missile support

generally shifts to an "on-call" basis; that targets as called for

The

eight

is,

the gunfire ships

fire at specific

by the troops on the beach, who spot the

science of logistics utilizes

all sorts

and kinds of devices

fall

of shot.

to speed the

flow of supplies and replacements. Boats, landing craft, tractors, and helicopters continue to shuttle from ship to shore. Pontoon causeways, bolted

together and anchored to the beach, provide a kind of floating pier to which the landing ships can "marry."

An

airstrip

is

bulldozed; steel matting

may be evacuated by air. Marines, with a Navy "beach

is

emplaced, and casualties

A

"shore party" of

trols the boats, funnels requests for supplies

party" attached, con-

out to the ships, organizes the

The

156

New Navy

beach and the movement of supplies and equipment and personnel inland

and the movement of casualties and prisoners-of-war seaward. supply

dumps and beach unloading

bulldozer

is its

ramps and roads. The

major "weapon."

The organized complexity and

points, builds

It selects

of an amphibious assault

—

the most inclusive

intricate of naval missions in conventional or limited

war

—might

be-

come unmanageable chaos if nuclear arms were used. Yet this is by no means certain. For nuclear weapons used against an enemy beachhead area would "liquidate" most of his defenses. And the Navy and Marines have devised tactics and techniques that combine the necessary concentration of small units, with widespread dispersion of large ones.

The anchorage and

approach patterns of amphibious forces have been modified so that no

more than a single ship could be sunk by any one tactical nuclear weapon. Speed and surprise above all surprise, a surprise made possible, in

—

large part*

by the development of the helicopter assault technique

—

are

technology's answer to the tremendously increased firepower of the Nuclear

Age.

VIII KEYS TO VICTORY

Control of the sea, in the era of wide-ranging land, as well as

aircraft,

Naval bases and

facilities

ashore

—

as diverse in their functions

maritime power. The patrol planes that

from them

auxiliaries that sortie

New

exercised from the

from blue water.

poses as the ships and weapons systems they serve

the

is

from them; the minecraft and

fly

combat

to serve the

Navy, selected and trained

—

and pur-

are an integral part of

ships;

and the men of

at scores of technical schools, are

keys

to victory.

The new long-range naval

patrol aircraft reflect the technological revo-

lution in warfare.

All but gone

"Dumbos," or

War

II.

formed

—

a few squadrons are

flying boats, that

("Dumbo" was at sea

by

PBY

still

maintained

flying boats during the war, but

numbers

bomber squadrons

—

in the

eleven-man crew.

It is

—

came

to be applied

broader Pacific. fleet

—now

new Lockheed P3A Orion

merly the P3V-1). This four-engined turboprop

P2V-7

it

phased out of the Atlantic

long-range eyes of the

are being fully equipped with the powerful

nearly twice as fast as the

awkward in World

actually a slang term for rescue missions per-

Fleet but will be retained in limited patrol

are the

performed such yeoman service

to the planes themselves.) Flying boats are being

The Navy's

—

the plane

it is

aircraft,

replacing

(for-

which can

—has

fly

a ten- or

equipped for shipping surveillance and antisubmarine

work.

The P3A can fly at 35,000 feet, or loiter at 150 knots at masthead height. The Orion looks, in flight, something like a huge wasp. Its distinctive tail is only one of "stinger" the MAD (Magnetic Anomaly Detection gear)

—

—

157

The New Navy

158 its

many

instrument systems. Others include radar, cameras, radio direction

finders, infrared or "sniffer" gear,

—bombs,

sonobuoys and, of course, the weapons

rockets, or torpedoes to destroy submarines or surface ships.

The Navy's patrol planes represent a land-based ocean surveillance sysmore than 127,000 pounds gross weight that tem. The planes are so big they cannot be based aboard aircraft carriers. They have such long range

—

—

— about

are capable, with their relief pilots, bunks,

range

patrol-plane squadrons are an essential part of the Navy's

They

system. But they double in brass.

also

conduct shipping patrol

and shipping surveillance missions. During the Cuban 1962, these patrol aircraft ships

literally

the oceans of the world.

all

The land-based

ASW

— and

and big crews, of so many hours on patrol that they

galleys,

above

11,000 miles

bound

for

first

crisis in the fall of

spotted and photographed most of the Soviet

Cuba.

—

new Orion; the older Lockheed SP-2 Neptune, and two squadrons of Martin P-5B Marlin flying boats are organized in a Maritime Air Task Force. The term "Maritime Air" is a relatively new one for the United States Navy. It describes the task the In the Atlantic Fleet these patrol planes

the

planes perform, and was adapted from British usage.

The Navy's land-based squadrons

home

—

eyes are organized in fleet air wings and patrol

They operate from permanent

twelve planes to a squadron.

bases at Brunswick, Maine; Norfolk, Virginia; Jacksonville, Florida;

Bermuda; Pearl Harbor; San Diego and Alameda, California; Whidbey Island,

Washington. But some squadrons rotate to advanced bases in Ice-

land, at Rota, Spain; in the Aleutians, Japan,

Okinawa, the Philippines,

Taiwan, or elsewhere. Patrol plane pilots get plenty of flying "If

you can see

to taxi, you're

Ten- or twelve-hour seas of the

WINGS The

flights

—

on your way."

over the frozen Arctic or above the sparkling

Caribbean are normal operating procedures. For the FAIR-

(Fleet

AIR

barrier patrol

patrols are flown

Wings), the world

is

is

their oyster.

another task for the Navy's land-based

from Keflavik, Iceland,

north of Scotland, and, in mid-Pacific, from

They supplement nels for the

in all weathers.

the sea-based

to the

pilots.

Danish Faeroes Islands,

Midway

Island to the Aleutians.

and land-based early-warning radar

North American continent.

These

senti-

KEYS TO VICTORY

159

The humpbacked Lockheed Super

WV-2)

ing Stars (formerly cal

— —

Constellations

that fly these missions

are another technologi-

development of the Atomic Age. They are

literally

(combat information centers), or mobile airborne radar to

EC- 12 IK Warn-

the

guard against surreptitious "end runs" by enemy

flying

CIC's

stations, intended

aircraft

around the

These "Connies" supplement the

flanks of the land-based radar chains.

radar picket destroyers and inshore patrol barriers maintained by surface ships.

They

skim the

are especially useful in detecting low-flying planes that might

beneath the beams of surface-based

sea's surface in order to get

radar.

The "Connies" cular area about

carry a tremendous radar antenna that searches a

500 miles

in diameter as the plane

antenna that scans vertically to

The cabin

of the "Connies"

equipment, control consoles,

equipment (devices that tune

enemy planes) Contacts .

stations ashore,

the North

also

flies,

and another

flies,

the altitude of air targets.

with radarscopes, communications

filled

and electronic countermeasures detection in

on radio or radar jamming equipment on and

are plotted,

all

are reported by radio to control

the contacts are unidentified they are passed

Command

from land bases,

which supplement the

Service, a transport

Navy

if

is

American Air Defense

The Navy rons,

and

fix

cir-

at

to

Colorado Springs.

fleet-logistics

MATS

aircraft of

on

and support squad-

(Military y4ir Transport

and cargo service managed by the Air Force, but with

The Lockheed C-130 but the Navy also flies

contingents participating).

transport aircraft available,

is

the most

modern

the Douglas

R5D

(C-54) and the improved Douglas R-60.

Mining and countermining,

as the

modern naval technology. The modern trend in mine warfare

Korean War showed,

is

an important

part of

minelayer types of I.

craft,

which had

is

in

combat

areas,

bomber type, or by submarines, specially

Surface minelayers, with their larger capacity, ever, in

the specialized surface

their greatest usefulness in

Today, most minelaying, particularly

of patrol or

away from

noncombat areas

enemy submarines or

still

is

World War

done by

fitted for

aircraft,

minelaying.

have usefulness, how-

in laying extensive defensive minefields against

surface ships.

Countermining, or minesweeping, operations have major technical complexities.

The New Navy

160 In

World War

II

many new

these have since been refined

The

types of sea mines were developed, and

and further developed.

old-style contact mine,

which was detonated only by contact with

now used chiefly for harbor defense or mine barriers. Anchored mines may have a supplementary electrical detonation system, a vessel's hull,

is

which permits the mine's explosion from a shore control point.

The

acoustic

anchored

mine

laid in relatively

is

submarine passing near sive charge

is

large

it

is

set to

the mine, for instance,

far

more

fitted

may

escape unscathed, but

difficult to

fifth

explo-

ship.

ships,

first

when

ship passing near

the counter has

will detonate.

it

This device

sweep and remove mines, for many "passes" in

order to ensure destruction of

Perhaps the most troublesome of

all

mines

is

all

mines.

the pressure mine, which

actuated by the change in hydrostatic (water) pressure it.

The

with a "counter" mecha-

any desired combination. The

by minesweepers are necessary

passes near

is

actuated by the steel hull of a passing ship. Both

clicked off the third, fourth, or it

any nearby

to crush the hull of

and the magnetic mine can be

nism that can be

makes

shallow water, and rests on, or

of the propellers of a surface ship or

actuates the detonating mechanism.

enough

The magnetic mine the acoustic

The sound

the bottom.

to,

when

is

a ship's hull

This mine, too, has a counter, or mechanism that can be

set

when a large ship passes. Mine casings, manufactured of nonmagnetic glass-reinforced plastics, are now being issued to the fleet. Because they are much more difficult to

so that detonation will occur only

countermining operations.

detect, they will increase greatly the difficulty of

All these types, in intricate combination, present a problem in detection,

sweeping, or removal that has taxed the technical ingenuity of the Navy's experts.

The Navy's minesweeping enough

to

forces include both oceangoing ships, large

keep the seas with the combat ships of the

fleet,

and shallow-

water coastal ships, designed for inshore work in amphibious landings or operations close to the beach.

Most

of these sweepers are

or of nonmagnetic materials

engines)

—

now nonmagnetic (even including

—

carefully built of

tools,

wood

anchor chains, and

or with their hulls equipped with so-called "degaussing" (de-

magnetizing) apparatus. All naval vessels

now have

degaussing apparatus, most of

it

built into

the hull of the ship. This apparatus passes electrical current through the

KEYS TO VICTORY

161

hull to eliminate or reduce the "magnetism."

magnetic anomaly detector used earth's lines of

ASW

—

The sweepers

mine hunter

are aided by

and sound devices

The

like the

passing near

it.

—though

the danger of detonating a magnetic mine.

to hunt for

equipped with cameras or supplement these

steel hull

anomaly or change, and hence reduces

this

does not entirely eliminate

tronic

magnetic mine,

work, reacts to changes in the

magnetic force represented by a

Degaussing reduces it

in

A

craft

—

small vessels that use elec-

mines in the water. Helicopters, some

and underwater demolition

television,

divers,

units.

principal types of ships used in the minesweeping

ocean minesweeper

—MSO (Mine Sweeper—Ocean) — 172

Navy

are the

feet long with

a crew of 5 officers and 65 enlisted men; and the coastal minesweeper, the

MSC,

144-foot

with a crew of 4 officers and 35 enlisted men.

In addition there are some smaller inshore sweepers and 57-foot and 36-foot minesweeping boats and launches.

The

latter

can be launched from

a converted landing ship dock, which acts as mother ship for the small sweepers.

Once

located, mines can be destroyed

by numerous means. Heavy ex-

plosive charges can be detonated near the mines to cause "sympathetic"

Scuba divers can actually attach demolition charges

explosions.

to

the

mines, and blow them up from a place of safety, or alternatively they can

remove the detonators. Rendering the mines inoperative

Navy had

to develop a

netic mine.

is

obviously a ticklish business, and the

nonmagnetic tool that would not detonate a mag-

For a long time the researchers were stymied, for most of the

materials available were not strong enough,

would bend or break, or would

The Naval Ordnance Laboratory at White Oak, Maryland, finally found the answer in a new alloy of titanium and nickel both tough nonmagnetic metals. The alloy is called nitinol (N/ckel 7/tanium and NOL Naval Ordnance Laboratory.)

quickly corrode in

—

—

salt

water.

—

But the sweepers usually bear the brunt of countermining it is

rare that an

enemy

activities, since

minefield can be completely detected and charted

by any means now known.

The

job of the sweepers

is

a plodding and dangerous one.

Some

of

them

stream paravanes, which are dolphin- or torpedo-shaped objects designed to ride under the surface. cables,

one on

They

either side,

and

are attached to the sweeper's as the

sweeper moves,

this

bow by

makes

wire

a giant

— New Navy

The

162 V-pattern through the water.

The

cables engage the cables of anchored con-

which are cut by wire-cutter jaws on the paravane. The mine

tact mines,

bobs to the surface, and can be detonated by gunfire.

But contact mines today are few. Against acoustic or magnetic mines other countermining methods must be employed. Noisemaking devices

one of them a kind of giant water hammer called a hammer box

—

are used

by some sweepers to actuate the acoustic mines. Magnetically charged cables streaming between two sweepers, or dragged by one, detonate the

magnetic mines.

The Navy has

still

to solve the

problem of the pressure mine. One of the

expedients envisaged was the conversion of a large, Liberty-type merchant ship for minesweeping duties.

control so that

it

The

ship

was

to

be equipped for remote

could be operated from an armored shock-mounted, heav-

protected bridge, by a skipper and a few men. Holds were to be

ily

filled

with light buoyant styrofoam, a kind of foam rubber material, and the ship

was

to plod

was sunk

back and forth over the same waters

by, a pressure mine.

To

until she detonated, or

avoid damage to the propeller, tentative

plans provided for the ship to be driven by four airplane engines, with air propellers,

mounted

ment has proposed test

fore

and

aft,

on the upper decks. The Navy Depart-

that a guinea-pig ship, something like this,

be

built to

the concept.

An

all-purpose,

"mine neutralization vehicle," called the Sea

under development. As now envisaged,

tralize

can be dropped or

it

surface ship in the vicinity of a minefield.

It

Nettle,

fired

is

from a

carries electronic gear to neu-

magnetic and acoustic mines, and explosives to detonate contact

and pressure mines. Helicopters can also suspend noisemaking devices or electromagnetic devices from cables to cause detonation of acoustic and magnetic mines,

but the power they are able to supply to these instruments

Mine countermeasure support ships,

ships have

been developed

capable of transporting, maintaining, operating,

is

limited.

to act as

mother

and supporting

twenty 36-foot minesweeping launches and two helicopter minesweepers.

The Navy's

large fleet of small

combat

craft

and

auxiliaries has

been

The patrol torpedo boat, or motor torpedo boat, was extensively used in World War II. One brought General Douglas Mac Arthur out of Corregidor; another was commanded increased recently by the return of the PT's.

KEYS TO VICTORY

163

by a young lieutenant,

John

become President

later to

of the United States

Kennedy.

F.

For some years

in the 1950's all the PT's

now back

time Navy, but they are

equipment.

Two

of the

were

in service, for

retired

from our peace-

new purposes and with new

four are aluminum-hulled craft with gasoline

first

engines built in the United States; two are of the Norwegian "Nasty" class,

with double-plank mahogany, teak, and plywood hulls, and high-speed

(More of the Norwegian class are being purchased.) Both types are armed with 20- and 40-mm. guns, and have radar; they can carry small ASW torpedoes, or 81 -mm. mortars. Most of the Navy's fast patrol craft, however, are now envisaged as motor gunboats, rather than motor torpedo boats. A new class is being built, conBritish-built diesels.

siderably bigger than the

first

four craft, which displace from 80 to 100

The new motor gunboat is armed with one three-inch 50-caliber rapid-fire gun, one 40-mm. and two .50-caliber machine-guns, and will displace about 240 tons. It will have a combination 90

tons and are from 80 to

feet long.

gas turbine-diesel propulsion plant.

These small,

fast craft

have shallow draft and can operate in narrow

coastal waters, river estuaries, or rivers. units,

and

SEAL (SEa

Air Land) teams trained for guerrilla and counter-

guerrilla work, surreptitious raids

may

warfare

The Navy's underwater demolition

on enemy

coasts,

operate with them. Their employment

is

and unconventional to

some

extent devel-

opmental and experimental.

Another type of new tactical

A

development,

number

building.

marine

is

craft,

which

One

is

under both engineering and

the hydrofoil.

is

designed as a PC, or patrol craft (hydrofoil) for antisubis

a 115-foot, 110-ton craft, with 31 -foot beam, with

designed speed of 40 or 50 knots

an

fully loaded,

still

of different types of the so-called "grasshoppers" are built or

duties. This

Another

is

LCVP

(H)

—

—

the

PC

(H)-l (Patrol Craft-Hydrofoil).

a landing craft, vehicle, personnel. This craft,

weighs 28,000 pounds, including a payload of 6,000 pounds,

and can make 35 knots, almost three times the speed of the average landing craft.

Other experimental amphibians with hydrofoils for water use and wheels for land are the

The

LVHX-1 and

biggest hydrofoil craft

2,

designed for a five-ton payload at 30 knots.

now planned

for the

Navy

is

a 300-ton hydro-

The

164 foil

research ship, designated

AGEH,

which

will

New Navy

provide an exhaustive

test

of the deep-sea capabilities of these stilt-legged vessels.

There are numerous types of hydrofoils. European countries have

and used most of them, but these are small

built

used on rivers or inland

vessels,

and they have had no military

lakes or in relatively protected waters,

application.

A

hydrofoil (literally water-foil)

water. Like the plane's wing, foil in

the water gives

a plane, the

The

The

provides support to the lifted craft.

depending upon

its

shape and angle of incidence,

As

it,

to

which

in

considerable part upon the speed of the craft.

hull of the craft

of the size

lift

a kind of wing that "flies" through

depends

above

to the boat hull

lift,

it

is

must be actually

wave action from slowing

and tempo, the

it is

it

connected by strutlike

lifted

"stilts."

in

out of water to prevent the drag

down. But since wave action

attitude, or angle of incidence, of the foils

differs in

must vary

with the state of the sea. Providing sensors that will automatically

shift the

and building a structure capable of transmitting power

at right-

hydrofoils,

angle drives from the boat's hull to the water, and at the same time rugged

enough

to withstand the unusual stresses involved, are the basic engineering

problems involved

Four

different types of small hydrofoil craft

are the so-called foil

—

open ocean.

in utilizing hydrofoils in the

all,

Grunberg configuration,

except the

The ladder

foil,

last,

as

its

V-foil, ladder-foil,

surface-piercing

name

have been successful. They

and submerged

foils.

implies, consists of a series of wings or fins,

arranged in a venetian-blind pattern. As speed increases, the top out of the water and the lower ones provide top

foils, lift is

The V-type

lift.

fins lift

As waves submerge

the

again provided, thus keeping the hull clear of the water. or U-shaped

foil

—

the one most generally in use

The

Navy's

new

—has

the

hydrokeel

landing craft skims over the Potomac River during a test

demonstration. The craft has

power

and

three

times the speed of the

World

twice

the

War

II

(U.S.

Navy)

conventional

LCVP.

KEYS TO VICTORY same

lift

effect

165

by presenting to the water a continuous shaped

The Grunberg design has

—forward

—something

that alter their angle of attack to ride

automatically

or lowers the craft's

lifts

dence of the fixed

wave

at a constant level

action by

amount

means

of

lift

same

flaps to provide for the

The submerged

foil is

lift,

now most

the type

it

keeping

than any other design. Even

ability

its

of delicate sensors. like

action.

angle of

The

foils

an automatic

by means of movable

regardless of the

wave

favored by the Navy.

action. Its

de-

provide a hull of greater stability and with more sea-

signers believe

will

wave

to the

below the surface. The sensors,

pilot in a plane, constantly adjust the angle of the foils

underwater

water skis

the angle of inci-

usually arranged in tandem, alters

foil,

attack in relation to

like

on top of the waves. This

bow and changes

thus varying the

foil aft,

The submerged remain

a pair of "slippers"

foil design.

so, there

seems to be no present

prospect that hydrofoil vessels will be able to operate in waves of more than

twenty

feet.

The High Point PC(H)-1, the

sizable naval vessel to test the

first

High Point has a pilothouse, aircraft

like that of

bucket seats on sliding

steering column, foils,

the 110-ton patrol craft just completed,

she

is

and an

—

an

aircraft,

foil-sensor techniques.

with an automatic

rails, aircraft throttle controls,

aircraft-type instrument panel.

an all-aluminum

pilot,

a yoke-type

Except for her

steel

craft.

The High Point has two propulsion foils

submerged

is

systems.

When

she

is

"flying"

(a single strut forward; two, one on either side, in the stern)

on her

—two

3,100-horsepower gas turbine engines turn four propellers, two counterrotating ones drives

nacelles

on each

The USS High sizable

on

either side.

naval

afterstrut.

Point, the

first

vessel

test

to

submerged foil-sensor techniques. (U.S. Navy) the

The

propellers are driven through right-angle

from the turbines through gears and the Speed,

when

"flying,"

foil is

struts

to

propeller

between 40 and 50

The New Navy

166

The

knots. it

are retractable,

foils

and when the boat

is

operating on

its

hull,

propelled at 12 knots by a single retractable propeller in the stern,

is

driven by a 600-horsepower diesel engine.

The foil,

so-called

hydroskimmer design may,

in time,

particularly as a landing craft. But there are

may

lems that

supplement the hydro-

major engineering prob-

never be solved. Hydroskimmers ride on a cushion of air

blown under them by powerful fans and trapped between the

Some

surface.

the water

—

ride completely clear of the water; others

their passage "lubricated"

tested an experimental

—

the largest of

skimmer (SKMR-1

feet

air

in the

downward, which

above the water.

driven by aviation-type gas engines,

Two may

it

may

air cushion.

22 tons

)

kind ever constructed

its

ducted fans blowing

hover some two

by the

is

ride partly in

The Navy has 62

feet long

States. It

has four

in weight,

United

and the

hull

believed will enable

it

to

large air propellers at the stern,

enable a forward speed of up to

70 knots. Another experimental Asia's rice paddies or in rides on,

and

that drive

foam toons

it

is

in

vehicle,

which might be of some use

swamps,

is

called the

marsh screw amphibian.

It

driven by, two rotary metal pontoons fitted with spiral blades

any direction. The pontoons are

filled

to give the weird-looking craft flotation in case

—

in Southeast

with buoyant styroits

"tires"

—

or pon-

are punctured.

These and other systems of propulsion and hull design represent attempts to provide the surface ship with the

threats of the

Atomic Age, and

to

speed necessary to meet the increased

match the underwater speeds of nuclear

submarines.

The modern Navy

includes a vast

flotilla

of ships wonderful in their va-

An experimental hydroskimmer, called the "hydrostreak" by its manufacturer, skims over the surface of the water on a cushion Navy)

of

air.

(U.S.

KEYS TO VICTORY riety,

167

each designed for a

specific

purpose of command, control, combat,

or support. Here are a few of the specialized types:

COMMAND These

SHIPS

ships, of

many

different types,

were intended to meet the communications and

nally, they

of an amphibious task-force

have been

Triton, have been

command

needs

World War II. Since then, they and now a number of them, including

commander

utilized as fleet flagships,

USS Northampton,

the

were modified or converted. Origi-

in

the converted carrier Wright, and the submarine

modernized

Commander

to permit the

in Chief of the

Atlantic and Pacific Fleets, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or the President of the

United States to use them as mobile

Another

type, the

to provide

USS

command

mobile communications for the

All of the

command

posts in case of nuclear war.

Annapolis, a converted escort carrier,

ships have a

is

equipped

fleet.

tremendous amount of communications

equipment of various wavelengths and frequencies, powerful radar systems,

and

offices

and staterooms for large

of about 17,200 tons,

conditioned. all

Her CIC

The Northampton

staffs.

was converted from a is

light cruiser hull,

well equipped to process

combat

a big ship

and

is

air-

intelligence of

types rapidly and she has a large photographic laboratory and print shop,

plus a helicopter landing deck and hangar. She has so

of communications

—

many

of antennas sprouting from her former flight

equipment than any ship mast, and mounts only

in the world.

40-mm.

COMBAT SUPPORT

AOE— Auxiliary— Oiler, This

sents

is

a

new

provisions,

weapon

and

hull.

it is

believed

—

She has a fiberglass communications

antiaircraft guns.

Ammunition

type of auxiliary for underway

one

that

all.

SHIPS

an attempt to simplify

capabilities in

—

medium

The Wright has a forest deck more communications

no electronic interference could interrupt them

FAST

different types

including high-speed teletype; high, low, and

frequency receivers and transmitters, and voice circuits

(

—

replenishment.

It

repre-

by combining several supply

fleet logistics

These ships carry

fleet freight

fleet

oil,

of various types.

aviation fuel, ammunition,

They

are equipped with rapid

transfer systems, in addition to three cargo helicopters that can

transfer quickly to

combat

The USS Sacramento

ships small but urgently needed supply items.

—AOE-1 —

is

the

first

of this type.

Her speed

is

New Navy

The

168 sufficient to

enable her to cruise with a carrier task force rather than with

an underway replenishment group. She

will

be able to replenish the combat

ships with fuel, ammunition, including nuclear

dry and refrigerated provisions. She

200

a distance of

is

equipped

from the combat ship

feet

weapons and

in

missiles,

and

to transfer these items at

heavy weather and

at

high

(The normal distance between combat ship and replenishment ship

speeds.

has been 60 to 120 feet).

Sacramento elevators,

a big ship

is

package and

— 50,000

tons

full load,

pallet conveyors, the

FAST

800

feet long.

She has

(Fast Automatic Shuttle

Transfer) system, and automatic tensioning of the lines and fuel-oil pipes

combat

to the

ship, to

compensate

for ship roll

and course deviations.

OILERS

Some

of the Navy's older oilers are being modernized in a so-called

—

—

JUMBO

program

more

cargo capacity, more speed, and a higher fuel-oil pumping capac-

ity

fuel

and transfer

the addition of a section to the ship

them

to give

rate.

AMMUNITION

SHIPS (AE-FAST)

These are modern

ships, with fleet speed,

equipped with the

FAST

auto-

matic transfer gear to permit high-speed replenishment of missiles to combat ships at sea.

The Navy's

list

includes

all

kinds of vessels from yard tugs and floating

drydocks to passenger transports.

The

MSTS

—

the Military Sea Transportation Service

—

is

ponent of the Navy that provides ocean transportation for services. This

a worldwide organization that operates

is

dreds of ships of

all

types, including a

number

a major comall

the

armed

and charters hun-

of "custom-designed" supply

vessels.

One

of these

is

Comet,

the

built

from the keel up

roll-off" (or drive-on, drive-off) vehicle

as a so-called "roll-on,

cargo ship or oceangoing ferry to

permit the rapid loading and unloading of military vehicles. She can carry a total of about

700

trucks, jeeps, tanks, or

of the organic equipment of an

armored

gun mounts

division.

been specially ice-strengthened to provide sea far northern outposts.

Other

lift

— about MSTS

one-sixth

ships have

to supply the nation's

KEYS TO VICTORY

MSTS

169

vessels are in

transports

—

two categories. Those

USS (United

are classified as

and are manned by Navy

sion pennant

so-called "in-service" vessels,

bear the designation

many

USNS

manned by

in

commission

—some

large

They fly a commisand men. All others are

States Ship). officers

and

civilian (civil service) crews,

(United States Naval Ship). In addition,

MSTS

owned vessels. The Navy's shore establishment that creates, builds, supplies, supports, harbors, maintains, trains, commands, and controls this vast and varied fleet is global in scope, awesome in size, diverse as technology and life. charters

Its

extent and many-sided nature can only be indicated, yet

remember

to

privately

that the ship that

must return

tired

is

it is

essential

to the land, that land

bases and land facilities are a key part of sea power. Fleets today are

commanded from

weapons have increased from the reaches.

are

all

The

—

and European commands of the Navy

Norfolk, Hawaii, and in London. Each

at

modern

telescopic range of Nelson's era to global

great Atlantic, Pacific,

ashore

ashore, for the ranges of

is

equipped with

No

a comprehensive nexus of communications and a large staff of experts.

longer can the

modern admiral command

deck; the naval battlefield today

The

nation's great shipbuilding

power. So, too, are such at

measured

in

oceans and continents.

modern sea Navy's David Taylor Model Basin

ways are an

facilities as the

from the quarter-

essential part of

Carderock, Maryland, which conducts fundamental, applied, and devel-

opmental research It

is

his entire fleet

in ship, aircraft,

and

missile design

and construction.

has seven wind tunnels, computers to solve abstruse mathematical prob-

lems, and a tremendous

model

basin, three-fifths of a mile long, with a

pneumatic wave-making device, which can generate waves up in height

and

forty feet long. Here,

for speed, seakeeping ability,

The ships

models

built to scale

two

feet

can be tested

and so on.

weapons systems and communications devices that will equip the

and planes thus designed are developed

test stations

and

at scores of laboratories

across the nation, from the outskirts of Washington to the

deserts of California. Missiles are proved or test-fired in

the

to

famous range

at

Cape Kennedy. In

Test and Evaluation Center

—

the

many

areas beside

Bahamas, an Atlantic Undersea

a deepwater test center instrumented for

kinds of sonar measurements and underwater

tests

and

investigations

all

—

is

being established.

The Navy's SPAcq S£/#veillance System (SPASUR)

is

the most power-

one

ful

New Navy

The

170

An

in existence.

electronic "fence" that sends

unseen rays hun-

its

dreds of miles into the stratosphere above the continent makes hundreds of

complex mation

The

observations daily.

satellite

computer

naval ordnance station at Dahlgren, Virginia, and the infor-

in the

forwarded

is

orbits are calculated in a large

to ships at sea

and

North American Air Defense

to the

Command. At the Naval Submarine Base, near Groton, Connecticut (across from

New London),

a

complete shore-based replica of the control

facilities of

and crews.

Polaris missile submarines has been established to train officers

The Escape Training Tank scape,

is

feet tall

—

Groton land-

a feature of the

familiar to every submarine sailor, for in order to qualify for sub-

man must make

marine duty, each fifty feet

— 110

a simulated escape from a depth of

of water in the tank.

The Navy's

human

"fish"

—

the training experts in the tank

—have helped

develop over the years the methods and devices that permit escapes from

to

disabled submarines in relatively shallow depths

The

latest of these devices

— and probably

the safest

hood, named for a young Navy lieutenant tested

it

by making an escape

in the

(down

and best

During hood.

hood

his ascent the

He comes up

is,

as

is

it

400

feet).

the Steinke

and proof-

the blood)

its

name

implies,

head and under the armpits.

wearer breathes normally from the

in

—

who developed

that straps over the

as fast as possible, with

gen bubbles trapped

to

open sea from a submarine hatch more

than 300 feet beneath the surface. The Steinke hood a rubberized fabric

300

to

air

trapped in the

no danger of the bends

(nitro-

thanks to the hood's compensating

valves that automatically adjust the air pressure to water depths as the

wearer

rises.

The New Navy

is,

above

all,

people.

The men

in bell-bottomed trousers

today are a far different breed from the profane, husky coal passers of yesterday.

Even the The reason that the

trousers are

no longer

for the extreme bell

New

Sailor has to scrub

as flared at the

bottom

bottom has gone.

down decks

It is

now

up

his trousers

above

knees as he had to do in the past.

The indispensable man it

relatively rare,

with salt-water hose and scrub-

bers and holystone. Therefore, he does not need to roll his

as they used to be.

was

in the

New Navy

in the old, but the technician.

is

not the boatswain's mate, as

Without the electronics

specialist, the

KEYS TO VICTORY

The

chief torpedo-

man

stands watch

171

in the forward tor-

pedo room aboard the USS George Washington. (U.S.

Navy)

radarman, the missile expert, the modern Navy could not function. There are

more and more

petty officers in the

percent of the enlisted

men

in

modern Navy; already about 90

our missile submarines are rated as petty

officers.

Education nical

essential to the technician;

and the applied, he can get

capped

And

is

in

sailor; there

—not

the enlisted

of

particularly the tech-

it,

Navy. But today's

sailor

is

handi-

advancement unless he has the basic educational background.

he does.

brawn

in the

some

It

was rare

in the

Navy

of sailing ships to find a really literate

were few that could read or write; the brains.

man

is

Today, the average educational

eleven years of schooling;

it is

sailor then supplied

level in the

Navy

for

fifteen years for the officer.

High school graduates are sought, and there are many enlisted men with one or more years of college. Their education does not stop with enlistment. It

to

progresses. Correspondence courses

and

full-time college courses leading

an undergraduate or postgraduate degree are available. There are hun-

dreds of technical schools of

many

different types

—from

cooks' and bakers'

schools to schools for missile technicians. Individual ships conduct their

The

172

own

schooling programs.

A

young man with a basic education, and

bright

a sense of values, can advance rapidly in the Navy.

He can

literally

name

that he can

win a commis-

need not graduate from Annapolis or from a college

ROTC to wear

his ticket.

sion; he

There are a number of

New Navy

different

ways

the stripes of rank.

The Navy-trained and -educated costs, as well as in content, a

any

in

aviator,

civilian

life.

$13,000

It

and man

gets, in

terms of dollar

curriculum as expensive and as thorough as

costs the

to train

officer

government $108,000

one type of

ROTC

ensign.

to train a naval

The Navy men

of

today are educated men, or they remain seamen or lower-grade petty officers.

The men the

men

New Navy differ, too, in character and personality from past. An old sea chantey, "What shall we do with a drunken

of the

of the

sailor?" expressed in a nutshell the

Tar of the

past.

image the public often had of the Jack

The words "drunken" and

"sailor"

were too often consid-

ered as one, like "damnyankee."

A

barbecue on the

fantail of the

USS Albany.

(U.S.

Navy)

KEYS TO VICTORY This

is

no longer

173

true; the public

image of a modern Navy

man

is

one of

a steady, quiet, young married man, with a high IQ, a thorough knowledge of his job

and a respect

The Navy's emphasis upon

ashore.

since the

Korean War, has

Mental

tors. ality,

leadership,

particularly

stressed inspirational, technical,

alertness, education, technical talent are not

but above

all,

and

for himself, his ship, his country,

civilians

pronounced

and moral

fac-

enough; person-

strong character are the earmarks of the

modern Navy

man.

Make no fault or evil.

But a

if

man

Navy is not The New Navy man is

mistake; the

he takes to the Navy, of steady tastes

old adage of the era of

and

if

a monastic society of saints without a normal, healthy

young American.

he "re-ups" (re-enlists) he tends to become

definite standards, a

man who

lives

today by the

sail:

"One hand for the Ship and one for himself." The United States Fighting Man's Code has

well defined the most im-

portant weapons system of our age:

"War has been weapon. But the trol the

hand.

defined as a 'contest of

wills.'

A

trained

hand holds the

will, the character, the spirit of the individual

More

—

these con-

than ever, in the war for the minds of men, moral char-

acter, will, spirit are important."

IX TOMORROW

THE FLEET OF

What

of

tomorrow?

Navy have continued the Navy of yesterday,

In the age of change, will the

The Navy

Any

of tomorrow,

like

organization, any organism that does not

off the old

and don the new

The Navy

of

tomorrow

—

is

1970's

never be

will

grow and change

doomed. The only constant

will not

be the Navy of today.

foresee the shape of things to come. forecast

usefulness?

One

is

static.

—slough

change.

No man

can clearly

can, with considerable accuracy,

from current research projects and blueprints the Navy of the

— an

atomic-powered, missile-equipped Navy, with hydrofoils, sea

skimmers, Polaris submarines, and ships of diverse types, weird and wonderful.

But the Navy of 2000, or even the Navy of the 1980's impossible to describe. Science miracles are by no

is

moving too

is

technological

its

means ended.

Cybernetics, as Rear Admiral H. E. Eccles, is

rapidly;

to the 1990's,

USN

(Ret.),

had explained,

certain to alter profoundly today's Navy.

Cybernetics

new

is

word "coined by Norbert Wiener ...

to describe a

science which includes not only the study of language but the study

of messages as a

ment

a

of

means

of controlling machinery

and

society, the develop-

computing machines and other such automata.

"The application

of this

new

science,"

.

.

.

Admiral Eccles continues, "already

has had a profound and disturbing effect on the national economy. the basis for the operation of the

element 174

in the

Naval Tactical Data System.

development of the immense National

It is

Command

It

is

the key

Control

THE FLEET OF TOMORROW System which the United States portant,

it

is

175 is

and perhaps most im-

building. Finally,

beginning to influence the development of our political

."

system.

.

.

Perhaps truly in the twenty-first century the need for the

now know

New

VTOL

we

sailor, as

him, will have been reduced in our automated ships.

may

aircraft

alter

profoundly naval design and

STOL

(Vertical Jake-Off and Landing), or

Landing) planes may eliminate the need for arresting gear. Planes that can focus the

nozzles or other

means may be able

lift

tactics. So-called

(Short Jake-Off and

and

carrier decks, catapults,

of their engines by directional

on the small deck

to land or take off

space of nearly any sizable ship, as a helicopter can

now

do.

VTOL

Yet the

plane would be able to transition from a hovering attitude to supersonic flight.

The variable-sweep wing (one

high combat speeds

The will

—by

— F-lll — —slow landing

of such design

under construction) may achieve much the same end altering the angle of

its

the

wings in

have a tremendous impact

if

their present

we now know them, would

now

flight.

VTOL

influence of such aircraft, particularly that of the true

Every ship would become a potential

is

speeds,

promise

is

plane,

ultimately fulfilled.

aircraft carrier; the great flattops, as

join the ship of the line

and the battleship

in

the limbo of history. It

seems safe to predict that the warships of today

different

forms in the twenty-first century. Merchant

and simple

missiles,

may become

the privateers of a

will

assume

new age

of sea power.

There are many other developments that could have equally effects.

An

utterly

ships, with helicopters

startling

undersea submarine mother ship that could harbor and launch

high-speed midget submarines

—perhaps

remotely controlled

—might

be-

come the principal antisubmarine weapon. The design of submarines may be completely altered in the years to come. Various types of new submarine instrumentation are under development and test today. Most of them— "picture display" types represent

—

attempts to replace the present dials and pointers with instruments that will

provide a sense of speed and dimension and will show where the sub-

marine

is

and what

ultimately

become

Potentially,

design

it is

doing in the wilderness of waters. These devices

a part of

SUBIC

(S£/£marine /ntegrated Control).

of far greater significance

now under

is

an experimental submarine

study by the Office of Naval Research.

would eliminate rudders, diving

may

planes,

The new concept

and conventional propellers and

of the Polaris submarines, a vital part of the New Navy. holds a destructive power that exceeds the total power of all

The Patrick Henry, one

One submarine bombs dropped

in

World War

II.

(U.S.

Navy)

THE FLEET OF TOMORROW shafts.

Two

177

concentric rings, one forward and one

and

Submarine cargo

each

fitted

with

would provide the power and would determine the

variable-pitch blades, direction, speed,

aft,

attitude of the submarine.

craft,

merchant

ships,

and tankers are under study

—

so

on paper. Some of the more ambitious designs envisage ships as 100,000 tons in submerged displacement, with underwater speeds

far only

big as of

20

40

to

knots.

There are many other wonders of tomorrow.

A

"bug battery" may revolutionize

power

electrical

under study has produced some useful power.

It utilizes

sources.

One now

certain biological

organisms as supercatalysts to produce electrochemical reactions hitherto

unknown. The powered

costs of such a battery, or of solar-powered or of nuclear-

batteries,

may,

in time,

be

known

than any presently

far, far less

low-power source.

long-lived,

may

Other projects that

revolutionize

power sources are under study:

gamma

the use of waste products from reactor cores, for instance, to convert

or radioactive energy into electricity; and the direct conversion of nuclear

energy into electricity

The

—both power with no moving —communications, computers, projects

science of electronics

control systems

—may

well be revolutionized

parts.

display

and

and miniaturized by a recent

development of a "fundamental building block" that combines the best properties of transistors and

America

vacuum

tubes.

The Radio Corporation

of

believes that this device will reduce one cubic foot of computer

space to the size of a package of chewing gum.

The development

of this

micro-circuitry forecasts the future construction of portable, battery-operated, high-speed

computers and other

light

and small high-performance

systems, usable in planes or missiles. Similarly, the uses of Laser (Light Amplification

of Radiation) are

means of

still

in their infancy.

controlling and focusing light.

trated that

it

10,000 yards;

will

by Stimulated Emission

Laser has given the

A

laser

produce a spotlight of about two yards

in the laboratory

it

scientist the

beam can be in

so concen-

diameter

at

can be focused to some 50 millionths of

an inch. Laser beams, produced by powerful

light sources passing

through

many potential uses. Some authorities think developments may be of even more importance to the world,

a ruby rod or crystals, have future laser

in a military as well as in a scientific sense, than the ballistic missile or the transistor.

Laser

may have

development of the

future naval use as a range

New Navy

The

178

communications, for guidance systems, and as an important

for

finder,

element

in satellite

reconnaissance and surveillance systems.

The weapons of the future, too, will be far different from the weapons of today. A new missile system with a single all-purpose radar and missiles of various ranges will be developed into what may become an all-purpose weapon, for use against surface, to

air,

and undersea

targets

hundreds of yards

hundreds of miles away.

The new "nerve" and psychic gases, which in laboratories have made cats may become one of the most humane developments of war. Chemicals that can put men out of combat by unconsciousness, lassitude, without any permanent ill effects could permit almost or other means afraid of mice,

—

—

bloodless conquests. Their application to sea warfare

modern

ships

—submarines

particularly

gas and biological agents far

Tomorrow's Navy seas

—

more

And

uncertain, for filter

against

effectively than armies or cities.

will include satellites in the orbital spaces

for navigation, surveillance, reconnaissance,

seen purposes.

is still

—can "button up" and

the great reaches of the sea

and other

itself will

above the

as yet unfore-

provide a limitless

launching "pad" for the projection of heavy payloads into space. All that

is

certain

Yet the Navy

is

change.

—

some form maritime power, the ability to cruise the seas and to use them for our purposes while denying such use to an enemy promises to have its ancient validity. There is no present prospect that in

—

sea power, defender of our sovereignty today, will diminish in

its

historical

or strategic importance tomorrow.

Today,

to

quote Vice Admiral John

jobs to do than ever before in

"No

spot

"There

is

on earth

is

its

S.

Navy "has more

McCain,

Jr.,

of attack

from the

the

history.

beyond the range

no form of military power

sea.

that cannot be projected

from the

sea."

Admiral Claude Ricketts, Vice Chief of Naval Operations, has pointed out that the "high seas cover approximately 140,000,000 square miles" of the earth's total 197,000,000 square miles.

We

must "use the oceans

to

expand our base of operations."

For, as Admiral Ricketts implied, the seas are free. Free for the use of those that have the power. Free from the restraints of the land, unrestricted

by the

political

and psychological limitations

bases. Free to those

who understand

that

hamper

the use of land

the immeasurable assets of mobility.

A

Talos missile on

its

launcher aboard the Albany. The Talos

a group of missiles that are supplementing and for pletely replacing

guns

in the

New

Navy. (U.S. Navy)

many

is

one of

functions

com-

The

180

New Navy

Today, the United States has formal alliances with forty-two nations,

and we provide military assistance and aid of various kinds

to fifty other

Some 40 percent of the strength of the United States Army is staoverseas. Our entire foreign policy is built upon collective security,

nations.

tioned

upon

agreements that

is

vides the nerves

and blood

is

our

to

allies,

vessels

single greatest strategic

empire,

so on)

and

bilateral

worldwide.

literally

Maritime power knits us

Our

(NATO, SEATO, and

a system of alliances

supplies our troops abroad, pro-

and sinews of our

advantage today,

collective strength.

vis-a-vis

our control of the sea, and our overseas

the

Communist

allies, friends,

and bases

around the Eurasian heartland. Sea power

is

vital

not only to our alliances and our foreign policy of

collective security but also to our salvation.

Admiral

J. S.

materials

—

to

Thach has

stated, requires

nickel, copper, rubber,

The United

States, as

some seventy-seven

and so on

—which

strategic

come from

only eleven of these; the rest must

borders. Stockpiling of

some

of the most important

is,

raw

are vital not only

our military power but to our economic well-being. The nation

sufficient in

Vice

is

self-

outside our

of course, possible,

but any long interruption of our maritime lines of supply to overseas sources of

raw materials would doom us United States prosperity

upon international

trade.

—

We

militarily

in fact, the prosperity of the

must

need the world and the world needs

For

An

all

these tasks the ship

experimental hydrofoil

and economically.

is

craft.

sell to

the world and

world

—depends

buy from

it.

We

us.

essential.

The

technological revolution has brought the

development of new propulsion systems that New Navy. (U.S. Navy)

will

mean

*

greater speed for the

THE FLEET OF TOMORROW

On them

any one day there are some 9,000 merchant ships

North Atlantic alone. These

in the

percent of

There

—

the goods that

all

is

no

move

at sea

are fast, but the freight they

patient, plodding ships carry

—

back

lift is

limited to priority or high-priced items.

and then must take on another ton of

jet fuel will

As

Professor

1959:

".

.

ships; to

advance of each

in

move 15,000

to

move

by

it

to carry the gasoline.

powered

is

.

and so on

in the

it,

3,000

air flights, plus eight ships

—

will

security,

its

Today we

way

new forms

complicate

is

in

change

it;

nuclear-

but ships of

all

to protect them, will

faced with an unprecedented challenge to

its

life.

establishment today has

gations of the

air routes.

—VTOL,

our history.

on

become

a

ago, the United States naval

the world's most powerful, with total uni-

—Navy and Marines— size,

From

Navy of 80,000 Marine Corps of some 15,000 earth.

men and 8,000 or 9,000 officers, and from a to 16,000 men and 1,100 officers thirty years

But not only the

it,

and passengers, and ships

are the most powerful nation

formed personnel

absolutely essen-

decades to come.

States

of

line, is

would be no world

there

Probably more so than ever before

For the United

Naval War College

.

types, ships to carry cargo

be needed

to

."

here to stay. Air power in

aircraft,

and one-half

tons of cargo to Japan by sea requirels]

air require[s]

transportation; without

Sea power

to

flight.

at the

Thus, the surface tanker, the maritime supply tial to air

one ton of

Europe

fuel in

flying to Korea, three

A. Huston noted in a lecture

J. .

is

it

have to be shipped by surface tanker to Korea

and/or to stops along the way

still

now

carry the bulk cargoes of the world. Planes

to the States. If the plane

four tons of

in

99

transoceanic air routes merely add to the usefulness of the ships. For

fuel to fly across,

two

of

our overseas commerce.

in

a plane carrying a one-ton cargo to Europe must carry with

fly

—2,000

substitute for these vessels. Air transportation cannot

or in the foreseeable future

And

181

of 854,000.

the responsibilities, the commitments, and the obli-

Navy have

increased

many

times in three decades; so, too,

has the challenge.

The challenge is great and growing. It is, in a political sense, lenge of Communism, the challenge of Premier Khrushchev's "We you"; the challenge of aggressive, expansionist, dynamic, and

—Russia and Red China—coupled with

the chalwill

virile

a political philosophy

bury

nations

wed

to the

The New Navy

182 ruthless concept

The equation

end

the

that

of

—world

power used

to

domination

be expressed

—

any means.

justifies

in strategic terms, in

Win-

ston Churchill's famous phrase, as the sea beast versus the land beast; the

elephant versus the whale; the "heartland" versus the "rimlands" (coastal

power

areas); the great land

of Eurasia (Russia

and China) versus the

Europe and Asia and the United

coastal sea powers of

States.

power, interconti-

partially true, but only partially so, for with air

is still

nental missiles, and sea and maritime power,

outward

far

beyond

This concept

Communism

today

moving

is

landlocked borders to the wide world of wind and

its

water.

The

challenge, in a naval sense,

the world's second largest. coastal patrol boats,

II

impressive.

has a larger

fleet

The

Soviet fleet

—

of small craft

—than any — about 400 450 submarines.

and so on

biggest submarine fleet

World War

It

is

other nation.

to

It

is

now

minecraft,

has the world's

Germany

started

with 57 submarines, never operated more than 325 at any

one time during the war, and yet almost won the war with her U-boats alone.

A

number

of the Russian submarines, perhaps 10 to 20, are

powered; 30

to

40 are

now

nuclear-

missile-firing craft. Russia has started a large nuclear-

submarine construction program, and operates a modern missile-equipped cruiser

and destroyer force (more than 20

types).

Her long-range

cruisers,

160

to

180 destroyer

patrol aircraft, trained to cooperate with her sub-

marines, have recently flown over several of our aircraft carriers

many

hundreds of miles away from the Soviet coasts.

To the

this

formidable

Communist

allies.

force, poorly trained

strength

fleet

—some 30

one must add the small Soviet-equipped

Red

China's Navy, though

it

and poorly equipped, has two

is

fleets of

primarily a coastal

significant elements of

Soviet-type submarines, and perhaps

200 motor torpedo

boats and motor gunboats, capable of operations in the narrow waters off the Nationalist-held islands of

And

the Soviet arms-aid

power. Cuba, a few miles

off

Quemoy and Matsu.

program has been focused

passages into the Caribbean, has been strength. in time,

largely

upon sea

our coasts and controlling some of the major

made

a bastion of

Communist

Submarines have been supplied to Egypt and to Albania, and may, be transferred to Fidel Castro

in

Cuba.

Perhaps even more indicative of Soviet intentions

row has been the amazing growth

in the

world of tomor-

of the Russian merchant marine

and of

Soviet foreign trade. Both are being used, with deliberate price-cutting of

A

on the fantail of the USS Albany. The New Navy depends on communication between ships at sea, to be an important part of antisubmarine operations, and in ship-to-shore landing operations. (U.S. Navy) helicopter lands

helicopters for

products such as

oil,

as

an economic implement

Communist

to further

political aims.

Since

World War

II,

the Soviet merchant marine has increased in size

by 140 percent. In 1963 fleet,

and was growing

Russia's

at

announced goal

it

was about

half as big as our active maritime

an annual rate of hundreds of thousands of is

a merchant

fleet

of

20

to

27 million tons by

1980, the largest in the world. Communist shipyards everywhere the shipyards of the free world ble

merchant

—

are building ships to

tons.

augment

—and even formida-

this

fleet.

Even more impressive than

the growth of the Russian merchant marine

has been the geometric increase in size of the Soviet fishing

fleets.

Trawlers,

The New Navy

184

mother ships and factory

tenders,

now

the catch,

cruise

ships,

which process the

fish

the major fishing grounds in the world.

all

soon after

There are

some 3,000 to 4,000 oceangoing Soviet trawlers and fishing vessels, most of them modern and fitted with the newest types of nets and equipment. Like the Japanese fishing fleets prior to and during World War II, these Russian trawlers serve a military, as well as an economic, purpose. The great majority of

them are legitimate fishermen. But

particularly in the strategic

Norwegian Sea, they

in the Atlantic,

and

also act as seagoing senti-

nels that report all the

maritime comings-and-goings. Some of them are

equipped with the

radar and radio gear and tape-recording machines,

and they act

latest

as electronic spies near

missile ranges, recording

all

our men-of-war, or

off

our coasts or

the electronic emissions they can pick up, the

pulse and frequency of the transmissions, and the approximate locations of the stations.

—

At

least

one such eavesdropper cruises

three to one hundred miles at sea

—

off

our Atlantic coast

continuously.

Communists have been moving more and continental "heartland" toward blue water. They have ig-

Slowly, surely, the Russian

more out

of the

nored the historic three-mile

sea areas twelve miles off their coasts.

square-mile

And

arm

of the Pacific

The Sea

—has been

Suez Canal, the Singapore

Okhotsk

—

a half-million-

closed for years by Soviet edict.

vital

gateways of sea commerce

Strait, the Strait of Gibraltar, the

the entrances into the Caribbean,

and so on. Around

necks, vital to sea power, the machinations of

—

of

all

throughout the world, the strategic objectives of Communist power

have been focused on the narrow but

cion,

and have claimed

limit of territorial waters

economic pressure,

politically

all

Panama

—

the

Canal,

these ocean bottle-

Communism

—

threat, coer-

and psychologically inspired unrest

are being used in attempts to achieve control over the sea gateways of

the world.

The

challenge, thus,

is

real,

nor

is it

likely to

be eliminated, or reduced,

The worst mistake the United States could make would be to depend upon Moscow's good intentions rather than upon our own strength. The record of Communism is clear; its intentions are as firmly charted as were Hitler's in Mein Kampf. He who fails to take the Communist program seriously digs his own grave;

by temporary and expedient changes

he

will not

need Khrushchev

to

do

it

in Soviet policy.

for him.

Indeed, the best hope of a world at peace strength

—

particularly our maritime strength,

lies

in

maintenance of our

which today means control

The

—

hope of a world at peace lies in maintenance of our strength particuour maritime strength, which today means control of the sea, the depths of the sea, and the air and space above it. ( U.S. Navy) best

larly

of the sea, the depths of the sea,

and the

air

and space above

States should yield control of the sea to Russia or

— world power. hope tomorrow —whether

the beginning of the end

it.

If the

Red China,

the start of the decline

and

fall

it

United

would be

of the United

States as a

The

of

United Nations or

in

it

lies

some other brotherhood

in

some development

of countries

—must

of the

rest

upon

The New Navy

186 the sea her. It

—

is

that "great sweet

arates nations;

of men.

by

all

—70

the sea

it is

nations,

its

built.

as the poet

—

sea,

control in

upon war

its

free,

for our

Swinburne called

that connects

the maritime world that dominates so

Only upon the

tomorrow be

mother" of men,

percent of the earth's surface

many

untrammeled use

own

and sep-

of the affairs in

peacetime

purposes, can the world of

INDEX

AGEH

(hydrofoil research ship), 164

Aircraft,

Amphibious Transport Dock (LPD), 139-

26

USS

antisubmarine, 88 attack, 85-87 early-warning, 87-88 fighters, 84-85

Antisubmarine ROCket (ASROC), 27, 111, 122, 125

TORpedo (Mark ASTOR), 113

Antisubmarine

helicopters, 88-89 jet,

102, 103

destruction detection

air groups and, 82-84 antisubmarine, 91 attack, 91 defense of, 89-90 function of, 68-70, 90-92 future of, 175 helicopter transport, 91 landing on, 80-81

111-116 Warfare Environmental (ASWEPS), Prediction System 117

Arctic navigation, 65-66 "Armored Cruiser Squadron, The," 121

Aluminaut, 44

Ammunition ships (AE-Fast), 168-174 Amphibian hydrofoil (LVHX-1), 163 Amphibious Assault Ship (LPH), 139, 140, 146

Ship

(AGC),

147-148

Amphibious operations, 138 carriers in,

and, 138 in, 144-151, 152-156 Amphibious Repair Ship (ARL),

Atomic Energy Commission, 77 Attack Cargo Ship (AKA), 140, 146, 148 Attack Transport (APA), 140, 146, 148

USS USS

Bainbridge, 36, 37, 95, 131 Barbel, 45 British Navy, 11-12, 14, 15, 19 USS Bronstein, 96

USS

Brooke, 96

Cagle, M. W., 13 Carrier On-board Delivery Carthage, ancient, 13

(COD), 87

Castro, Fidel, 182

USS Chicago, 136 China, Communist, 181, 182 Churchill, Winston S., 11, 182 CIC, 131, 133, 136

140-144

landings, 139, 140, 151-156 logistics

squadrons 149

103, 104, 111-116

103, 104-111, 116

identification in, 104,

USS Enterprise) plane types on, 84-89 USS Albacore, 23, 39, 40, 43-44 USS Albany, 124-127, 128, 129-130, 136, 172, 179, 183

Command

in,

in,

Antisubmarine

nuclear, 68 {see also

Amphibious

45

Antisubmarine Warfare (ASW), 28, 45,

24-25

reconnaissance, 87 specialization and, 26 Aircraft carriers, 68

USS

140, 144, 146 Annapolis, 167

148-

USS Claud Jones, 96 USS Columbus, 136 187

INDEX

188 (

ombat Air

Combat

Patrol

Drone Antisubmarine

(CAP), 90

Intelligence Center

//elicopter (see

De-

stroyer Antisubmarine //elicopter

(CIC), 72,

[DASH])

73

Comet (MSTS ship), Command Ships, 167

Douglas

168

R5D

"Dumbos"

(transport), 159

(flying boats),

181-182, 184 Computers, 61, 111, 131-133, 174 "Condition 83," 145 Condor (missile), 87 USS Constitution, 16

"Dungaree Navy," 94

Corsair (F4U), 24 Countermining, 159-160, 161-162 Cromwell Current, 118

USS

Cruisers, 122

70 deck divisions of, 72-79 landing on, 81-82 vital statistics, 70-71 Escape Training Tank, 170

Communism,

157

H. E., 174 Engineer Landing Vehicle, Tracked Eccles,

(LVTE),

air

151

Enterprise, 36, 37, 68, 69, 91, 131, 133, 134, 135 groups and, 82-83

cost of,

anti-submarine rockets and, 122, 125, 134, 135 computers and, 131-133 missiles and, 122-130 nuclear power and, 122 Crusader (F8D), 84-85 Crusader (F8E), 84-85 Crusader (RF8A), 87 Cuba, 182 "quarantine" of, 15 Cybernetics, 174

USS

Essex, 91

USS Earragut, 94 Fast Automatic Shuttle Transfer (FAST), 98 Fast Combat Support ships, 167-168 Fast Reaction /ntegrated Submarine

COntrol (FRISCO), 43

David Taylor Model Basin (Maryland),

USS

169 Dealey, 96

Fleet

Deep Submergence Systems Review Group, 45 Destroyer Antisubmarine //elicopter

(DASH),

of,

AIR Wings (FAIRWINGS), 158 Rehabilitation And Modernization programs (FRAM), 93, 96

FLoating /nstrument Platform (FLIP), 118

USS

Eorrestal, 84, 91

Frogmen,

amphibious 152-153 Fulton, Robert, 39

27, 112, 113

Destroyers, 93-94, 101 classifications

Fleet

94-97

(DE), 96 frigates (DL), 95 general purpose (DD), 95-96

operations

and,

escorts

growth problems

of,

USS George Washington, 30, German Navy, 12, 14, 182

97

guided-missile (DDG), 96 guided-missile escorts (DEG), 96 guided-missile frigates (DLG), 94-95,

97-100 nuclear power (DLGN), 94, 100-101 radar picket escort (DER), 96-97

USS Dewey,

94-95

Diesel engines, 21 Digital /ntegrated Attack Navigation Sys-

tem (DIANE), 86 Dock Landing Ship (LSD), 144, 149

USS

Dolphin, 44

139-140,

58, 171

Great Britain, 11-12 Ground Effect Machine, 115

USS Halibut, 45 USS Harry E. Yarnell,

94, 97-100

Hawkeye (E2A), 87-88 Helicopters,

183

amphibious operations and, 27 antisubmarine, 88-89 utility, 89 High Performance External Gun (HIPEG), 85 USS High Point (patrol vessel), 165 High-Speed Transport (APD), 148, 149

INDEX

189

Hitler, Adolf,

184

(HUK),

//t/nter-ATiller groups

104, 107, 109, 114 Huston, J. A., 181 Hydrofoil craft, 21, 22, 23, 165, 166, 180 Hydrophones, 29 "Hydroskimmers," 21-22

45,

103,

115,

163-

Maritime Administration, 77 Maritime Air Task Force, 158 Marlin (P-5B), 158 Mein Kampf (Hitler), 184 Merchant marine, 175, 178, 181

USS Midway, 84, 91 Military Air Transport Service

(MATS),

/dentification, Friend or

159 Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS), 168-169

Intruder

Mine Sweeper-Ocean (MSO),

Foe (IFF), 115 (A6A), 86, 87 USS I wo lima (LPH-2), 140

Japanese Navy, 12 Jezebel (buoy), 106, 109 JP-3 (kerosene-type fuel), 37 Julie (buoy), 106, 109 JUMBO program, 168

Kaman Kaman

Seasprite Seasprite

National Command Control System, 174175 USS Nautilus, 35, 39, 45, 49, 55 Naval Ordnance Laboratory, 161 Naval Submarine Base (Connecticut), 170

(UH-2A), 89 (UH-2B), 89

Kennedy, John F., 124, 126, 163 Khrushchev, Nikita, 181 Komar (Russian torpedo boat), 90 Korean War (1950-1953), 36 United States Navy and, 12-13

Naval Tactical Data System

Neptune (SP-2), 158 USS Newport News, 122-123,

USS

Lafayette, 51-54 Landing Craft, Medium (LCM), 150 Landing Craft, Utility (LCU), 150 Landing craft, vehicle, personnel

163

Signal, Enlisted (LSE), 142-144 Leahey, 94 Lebanon, 15 Light Amplification by Stimulated Fmis-

Landing

(LASER),

115,

Ling-Temco-Vought (A7A), 85 Lockheed C-130 (transport), 159 USS Long Beach, 14, 37-38, 122,

123,

177

129,

USS Los

131,

134-136, 137

Angeles, 136

MacArthur, Douglas, 162 McCain, John S., Jr., 178 McDonnell Phantom II (F4B), 26, 84 MACH numbers, 17 Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD), 28, 108-109, 114, 157

Mahan, Alfred Thayer, quoted, 17-18 Manson, F. A., 13

135,

136

Norfolk, 95

North American Vigilante (A5), 86 USS Northampton, 167 Nuclear power, 17 aircraft carriers {see

USS

Enterprise)

Arctic navigation and, 65-66 construction developments and, 40-45,

USS

sion of .Radiation

(NTDS),

73, 88, 131, 132-134, 174

USS

(LCVP(H)),

161

Mining, 159-160, 161-162 Missile /mpact Locating Systems (MILS), 105 USS Mitscher, 95

47-48 cruisers and, 122

destroyers, 94, 100-101 disadvantages of, 38-39 principle of, 33 reactors, 33-37, 49 submarines, 18, 19, 20, 33-45, 47-48, 65-67, 102 war and, 66-67 warheads, 27-28

O'Beirne, Frank, 90-91 Office of Naval Research, 175 Oilers,

168

USS Okinawa (LPH-3),

140-144 Orion (P3A), 109, 157-158 Oscilloscope, 42

USS

Patrick Henry, 176

INDEX

190 (PC(H)-l), 163

Patrol Craft-Hydrofoil

Patrol torpedo boat (PT), 162-163

Personnel Landing Craft (LCPL), 150 Personnel Landing Vehicle (LVTP), 150151 Picard, Auguste, 119

Landing Aid Television (PLAT),

Pilot

USS

81 Plunger, 20

Polaris

(missile),

25,

24,

27,

30,

102,

170 A-l, 58 A-2, 58 A-3, 58, 59, 65 See also Submarines, Polaris Pri-Fly, 143, 146 Propulsion, new forms of, 20, 21, 23 Punic Wars (264-146 B.C.), Roman sea

power and, 13

RAdio

Direction And Range 23-24, 28, 108-109

(RADAR),

Regulus (missile), 45 Ricketts, Claude, 178

Rome,

ancient,

13

Sidewinder (missile), 84 Sikorsky (CH-37C), 88, 140 Sikorsky (CH-53A), 88-89 Sikorsky (HSS-l-N), 88 Sikorsky (UH-34D), 88 Sikorsky (UH-34D-HUS), 140 Sikorsky (UH-34E), 88 Single /ntegrated Operational Plan (SIOP), 62 USS Skate, 66 Skimmer (SKMR-1), 166 USS Skipjack, 40, 47-51, 52 Skyhawk (A4E), 85

USS

Skylark, 31

Sky raider (A1H), 85 Sky warrior (A3B), 86 Snorkel, 38

Sonar systems, 103, 107-108 Sonobuoys, 106, 109, 114 Sound, 17 speed of, 17 waves, 28-29 SOund Fixing And Ranging (SOFAR), 105 SOund Navigation And Ranging

(SONAR), 26

Russian Navy, 12

growth

of,

SPAce

16

nuclear submarines

in,

19,

Sacramento, 167-168 Safety Control Rod Activation Mechanism (SCRAM), 51 USS Saint Paul, 136 Savannah (merchant ship), 77 SEsl Air Land (SEAL), 163 USS Sea Hawk, 97 Sea King (SH3A), 88, 109 "Sea Legs" (hydrofoil craft), 22 Sea Mauler (rocket), 114 Sea War in Korea, The (Cagle & Mason),

III (missile),

(sonar),

84 107-108

Steinke hood, 170 Strategic Air

Command, 62

USS

Sturgeon, 49 SC/fimarine /ntegrated Control (SUBIC), 175

S(/Rmarine ROCket (SUBROC), 49, 50, 111, 115 Submarines, 31-32 attack (SSN), 46-51 ballistic-missile

(SSBN), 51-55

experimental, 23

Acoustics search (SPAR), 118 Seawolf, 35, 45, 54, 65 for

Ground (SAGE), 136

Semi-Automatic

Re-

Environment

future of,

175-176

navigation of, 55-58, 65-66 nuclear power and, 18, 19, 20, 33-45, 47-48, 65-67, 102 Polaris, 36, 51-55, 58-65, 170, 176

53, 61, 62

submerged, 56-58 in World War I (1914-1918), 15

Lake-Off and Landing (STOL), 175

See also Antisubmarine Warfare

Ships /nertia Navigation System (SINS),

Short

Sparrow

SQS-23

diving, 55-56

13

USS

(SPASUR),

169-170

182

USS

USS Seadragon, 66 Seagoing Platform

S£/Rveillance System

Shrike (missile), 86-87

in

World War

(ASW)

II,

15

INDEX

191

Tactical Air Control

(TACAN),

And

Navigation

143

Talos (missile), 24, 122, 124-125, 127129, 130, 135, 179 Tank Landing Ship (LST), 146, 147, 150-151 Tartar (missile), 24, 27, 122, 125, 127,

129-130 Technological revolution, 157, 161-162, 170-172 beginning of, 16 dimensions of, 17-23, 24-30 electronics,

159-160,

165,

28

hydrofoils, 21, 23

and, 24-25 nuclear warheads and, 27-28 propulsion and, 20, 21, 23 rocket-torpedo devices and, 27 Terrier (missile), 24, 122, 127, 130, 135 jet aircraft

Thach, J. S., 180 USS Theodore Roosevelt, 60

II and, 11-12 See also Aircraft Carriers; Amphibious operations; Antisubmarine Warfare (ASW); Cruisers; Destroyers; Submarines; Techno-

logical revolution

USNS

(United States Naval Ship),

USS

(United States Ship), definition 169

Vertical Take-Off

Sea (Verne),

19,

of,

USS Vancouver, 144-146 Vehicle-Personnel Landing Craft (LCVP), 150 Verne, Jules, 19, 39

19-21

Thousand Leagues

defi-

nition of, 169

Torpedoes, 111-112 Tracer (E1B), 87 Tracker (S2D), 88, 109, 114 Trader "TF" (C-1A), 87 Trader "TF" (C-2A), 87 Trieste (bathyscaphe), 119 USS Tullibee, 45

Twenty

180

World War

Triton, 36, 40, 45, 167

Turbines,

166,

Oceanographic Office of, 117 oilers, 168 patrol bomber squadrons of, 157-158 personnel training costs, 172-173 SEAL teams and, 163 Seventh Fleet of, 15 underwater demolition units of, 163

Thresher, 31-32, 39, 41, 42, 44, 45,

119

USS

base facilities and, 157-159, 169 coal-burning ships, 16-17 combat support ships, 167-168 command ships, 167 Cuban "quarantine" and, 15 future of, 175-180 hydrofoil craft, 21, 22, 23, 115, 163-

Korean War (1950-1953) and, 12-13

engines and, 21, 22 helicopters and, 26 hull forms and, 23

USS

United States Navy, 11 ammunition ships, 168-174 barrier patrols, 158-159

Under

the

and Landing (VTOL),

175

39

Walleye (missile), 86

U-235

Warning Star (EC-121K), 159

(fissionable fuel), 33

Union of Soviet (USSR), Union of Soviet

Republics 181, 182-184 Socialist Republics Socialist

(USSR) submarine fleet of, 102 United States Air Force, 84, 91 United States Army, 180 United States Marine Corps, 89, 91, 155, 181

amphibious operations and, 27, 139-143, 146, 153-156

Lebanon landing and, 15

138,

Weapon

Alpha, 111 Weiner, Norbert, 174 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (Massachusetts), 29, 44 World War I (1914-1918), 14, 15 World War II, 36, 38 United States Navy and, 11-13, 14, 15 Wright, Jerauld, 137 USS Wright, 167

Zuni (rocket), 87