SPRING QUARTER 2013
In This Issue...............Page Guest Contributor. A Bit of Undersea History................1, 4-6 2013 Contributors. ................... 2 President’s Message................. 3 Guest Contributor. Remembering the USS Thresher...................7-8 Museum Store. A New Look for the Museum Store..................... 9 Guest Contributor. Steering Torpedoes by Wireless Telegraphy...........................10-13 Invitation to Participate........... 13 Curator’s Choice Temporary Exhibit....................................... 14 Personnel Directory................ 14 Schedule of Events................. 15 New Displays in the Museum Store......................................... 16
navalunderseamuseum.org
A Bit of Undersea History
The Great War Ends:
Armistice Day 1918 and the North Sea mine Barrage Reprinted from the Winter 1994 Foundation Newsletter. by Ralph L. Enos Sunday, November 11, 2012 was Veteran’s Day. It is set aside to honor all American servicemen and women who served their country. In Canada and the U.K. the same day is called Remembrance Day and honors those who gave their lives for their country. This is somewhat closer to the original purpose of the American holiday. Until 1954, November 11th was known as Armistice Day and solemnly remembered the end of the first World War. Last year, Veteran’s Day marked the 94th anniversary of the end of that war, known in Great Britain and elsewhere as The Great War. It was called The Great War because the supposedly civilized western world could not recall a war that was fought with such relentless, blood-letting fury nor one that consumed such enormous quantities of men, munitions, and treasure. The European world, that had been basking in the self-congratulatory days of the late-Victorian and Edwardian era that the French call la belle époque, was in shock over this war, so quickly had its gay, hopeful, continued ON page 4
MK 6 MINE - 1918
2 SPRING QUARTER 2013 UNDERSEA Quarterly
SPRING 2013 Volume 17, Number 1 Undersea Quarterly is the newsletter of the Naval Undersea Museum Foundation. It is published quarterly by the Naval Undersea Museum Foundation in Keyport, Washington. The Naval Undersea Museum Foundation is a private, nonprofit, charitable corporation dedicated to supporting the Naval Undersea Museum. The foundation is not a part of nor sponsored by the Department of Defense or the U.S. Navy, which operates the museum. Navy Region Northwest Naval Undersea Museum 1103 Hunley Road Silverdale, Washington 98315-1103 360/396-4148 Fax: 360/396-7944 Director: Mrs. Lindy Dosher; Education: Ms. Carolyn Lane; Curator: Mrs. Mary Ryan; Exhibits: Mr. Ron Roehmholdt; Collection Management: Mrs. Jennifer Heinzelman and Mrs. Lorraine Scott.; Operations Manager: Mrs. Olivia Wilson; Facilities/Data Entry: US Navy personnel Naval Undersea Museum Foundation P.O. Box 408 Keyport, Washington 98345 360/697-1129 President: RADM Bruce A. Harlow, JAGC, USN (Ret); Executive Vice-President, East; Vacant; Executive Vice-President, West: Vacant; Secretary/Treasurer: Ms. Bettye J. Shifrin; General Counsel: John A. Bishop; Trustees: Mr. Robert Anderson; Mr. John A. Bogen; CAPT Larry Carter, USN (Ret); Mr. Donald Chalupka; RADM George W. Davis, VI, USN (Ret); RDML Craig Dorman, USN (Ret); Mr. Alfred V. Gangnes; RADM Bruce Harlow, JAGC, USN (Ret); CAPT Ronald Krell, USN (Ret); CAPT Michael Mathews, USN (Ret); CAPT Charles Meeker, USN (Ret); CAPT Marvin Rice, USN (Ret); Mr. Bruce Riggins; Executive Assistant: Ms. Bettye Shifrin Museum Store Manager: Mrs. Daina Birnbaums Undersea Quarterly Editor: Ms. Bettye Shifrin Mailing/Membership: Mr. John Bogen Printing: Kitsap Printing Printed on recycled paper Š 2013 NUMF
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2013 CONTRIBUTORS
The Foundation gratefully acknowledges contributions made in 2013 to the museum by individuals, businesses or other organizations. Foundation Associate RADM Herbert M. Bridge, USNR (Ret) and Ms. Edie Hilliard Mr. James R. Sisley Benefactor Mr. and Mrs. John H. Dalton Builder Mr. and Mrs. Burton O. Boyd CAPT Jack G. Fletcher, USN (Ret) Ms. Susan Kuehne Mr. Robert J. Kuehne Mrs. Amanda Loveless Ms. Ann Sisley Mr. G.E. Thornton Mr. James Vorosmarti CAPT Christos Zirps, USN (Ret) Provider Mr. and Mrs. Marwin E. Holm Mr. Ernest LeVon Ms. Helen Langer Smith Newsletter Mailing Crew John Bogen Frank Hutson Joe Ekstedt Dick Levon Art Schrom As Editor, I spend my time creating this newsletter for your enjoyment. However, without the essential work of the above gentlemen, no one would have the opportunity to enjoy this publication. Thank you for coming in four to five times a year to spend your mornings labelling, sealing, packing and delivering all of these newsletters! Your time is most appreciated! Levels of Giving Foundation Associates: $1000+ Seat-in-the-Future: $500 each Patrons: $500-$999 Benefactors: $250-$499 Builders: $100-$249 Providers: $25-$99
3 SPRING QUARTER 2013 From the President...
QUARTERLY Bruce Harlow
CONGRATULATING THE MUSEUM STORE The Foundation is beginning the new year with the opening of a newly decorated and improved Museum Store. Daina Birnbaums, our manager, and her cadre of volunteers have worked many extra hours and many long days these past two months during the re-carpeting of the first floor of the museum. The first challenge was scheduling the yearly inventory so that it would coincide with the requirement to pack up the store entirely and move all of the merchandise, furniture, display cases, back stock, office furnishings – everything out into the Lobby. All of the store volunteers participated in this effort. A yearly inventory in and of itself is a tedious and time-consuming task; additionally, this year, every item was counted and then packed into cartons or onto carts, carefully wrapped, and then transported out of the store area. This was all accomplished with great attention to detail, with expediency and most of all, with great humor. After the store was completely emptied, the contractors were able to remove the old carpeting, make any necessary repairs and lay the new carpeting. While the contractors worked, Daina, Bettye Shifrin. their husbands, Daina’s children, and some volunteers patched and repainted walls. Then Daina and Bettye, armed with catalogs, shopped for new displays to replace cases that had been in the store for over twenty years. They tell me that this was the fun part! Finally everyone participated in reversing the process and returned the merchandise and displays to the store area. The museum store now has a fresh new look with more lighting, a redesigned layout and a wider selection of merchandise (see the color photo on page 16). I applaud the energy, time and attention given by our employees and our volunteers. I urge all museum visitors to take the opportunity to visit the store located off the lobby. BRUCE HARLOW
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The Great War Ends... optimistic world turned to savagery and death on an enormous scale. Europe had seen nothing like it since the black death five and one-half centuries before. The Great War was not really a world war in the sense that the 1939-1945 Second World War was. The 1914-1918 war was primarily a European War that dragged overseas nations (Japan, the U.S., Canada, and other British Empire dominions) into it. Its battles were fought in Europe and the waters around it. The war began as a European quarrel between Austria-Hungary and Serbia over alleged Serbian complicity in the assassination of the Austrian heir in Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Soon almost all Europe had chosen sides: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria on one side; France, Russia, Great Britain, Belgium, and Serbia on the other, later joined by Italy, Romania, and Greece. The U.S. was dragged into the war because Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in February 1917 and began sinking U.S. merchantmen bound for Great Britain. The U.S. declared war on Imperial Germany on April 6, 1917 and Americans soon were enthusiastically arming to thrash the Kaiser and his “hunnish” hordes. German resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare was having an immediate and enormous effect on Great Britain. By April 1917, tonnage losses were 800,000 per month and reaching the peril point for that island nation. The Royal Navy was preoccupied by its perceived need to keep the German battle fleet bottled up, and stinted on providing the light forces needed to escort merchantmen and patrol for submarines. Arrival of an American destroyer squadron in May provided welcome new forces to the British ASW order-ofbattle. American naval units were the first—for a long time, the only—U.S. military forces to see action. Adoption of convoys in May 1917 alleviated the U-boat problem and saved Britain for the moment, but the ASW problem was not solved. Simply put, a World War I submarine operating submerged could not be seen or heard. Sonar/ASDIC had not been invented and primitive underwater listening devices of the day could not hear a quiet submarine. ASW
success depended on keeping the U-boat below the surface where its limited mobility inhibited its effectiveness, or in bottling up the U-boats in their ports or in waters where they could do little damage. In World War I, the latter meant bottling up U-boats in the North Sea. If the U-boats could be confined to the North Sea, all vital British imports could be routed to ports on its west coast where they would be safe from U-boats. The North Sea has two egresses: the Dover Straits between France and England (24 miles across at its narrowest) and the 250 mile wide gap between Norway and Scotland. The Dover Straits were heavily patrolled and barricaded with mines and anti-submarine nets. U-boats still got through, but in early 1918, a new British commander reinvigorated the Dover patrol, planted new and more effective mines, initiated new patrol tactics, and added new patrol assets. Soon passing the Dover Straits became a dangerous business for German U-boats. Could something similar be done between Scotland and Norway? The Americans thought so and proposed laying a series of minefields across this gap as their main naval contribution to the Allied cause. The British were skeptical. The idea had been considered before and rejected because it would have been too great an effort—naval and industrial—for their limited resources. There were doubts about such a minefield’s effectiveness, particularly in vertical coverage. A conventional moored contact mine normally provided only about 50 feet of vertical coverage. To screen submerged submarine transits (World War I U-boats dove as deep as 300 feet) would require up to six times as many mines as a conventional surface field. The vertical coverage problem was solved by the K-device (figure 1 - next page). The K-device grew out of a proposal submitted by Ralph C. Browne of Salem, Massachusetts, one of many such received from individuals after the U.S. went to war. A float watching above the mine case streamed a copper wire connected to insulated copper plates immersed in sea water in the mine case. When a steel submarine hull made contact with the copper wire, a small galvanic cell was created between continued on next page
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The Great War Ends...
figure 1
the two plates (steel and copper) with sea water being the electrolyte. A current then flowed through the copper wire actuating a switch that closed the firing circuit. The resulting detonation would be lethal or do extensive damage to the submarine even though it did not come into direct contact with the mine case. One mine with copper antenna wires above and below it could provide coverage over the full vertical range of a submerged U-boat. The British assented to the American proposal in October 1917 and BuOrd immediately ordered 100,000 Mk 6 mines. The Mk 6 was basically a British Type H mine with the K-device. It was a moored contact mine with four horns that, when bent, chemically completed an electric firing circuit. It had a plummet device that enabled planting at a fixed depth below the surface of any depth of water (limited only by the amount of mooring cable in the anchor case - figure 2) and carried a charge of 300 pounds of TNT. (A Mk 6 mine in excellent condition is on display in the exhibit hall of the Naval Undersea Museum - photo on page 1.) The logistics of manufacturing, explosive-loading, Julien’s Creek, Virginia, began operation in shipping, assembling, and planting 100,000 mines in a 250 March 1918; by the end of May, facilities at mile long minefield 3,500 miles from the U.S. in as short Inverness and Invergoden, Scotland, were a time as possible were daunting. When the U.S. entered assembling mines. The first mines were the war, its mine inventory and support infrastructure laid on June 6, 1918. were virtually non-existent. Manufacturing facilities, Planting continued through the assembly, and explosive-loading plants capable of turning summer and fall of 1918, the last planting out 1,000 mines per day had to be established from scratch. occurring on October 26th. However, Minelaying vessels and mine-transporting vessels had to the field was not completed when the be built or converted, staging areas built, sailors trained. armistice was signed November 11th. Somehow it all got done. The case-loading plant at St. Altogether American forces planted 56,611 mines of U.S. manufacture and British units planted 16,300 British-manufactured mines. Americans planted mines in area A, Britain in B and C (figure 3 - next page). There has been much debate on the effectiveness of the North Sea mine barrage in controlling the U-boat. It is generally agreed that six U-boats were sunk by mines in the area, several more turned back to base heavily damaged. German sources claim the barrage had little effect on their operations, figure 2
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The Great War Ends...
figure 3
noting that their U-boats were able to evade on the surface admittedly inadequate Allied patrols, or skirt the unmined Norwegian coast. Even so, the barrage must have had an effect of reducing a U-boat’s effective time on station. The effectiveness of the barrage has relevance today because barrier operations historically have been a favored ASW strategy. Barriers are enormously expensive in terms of resources required to mount and maintain them. Are they worth the cost? The real achievement of the U.S. Navy in the North Sea Mine Barrage was logistical. Planning and producing an operation of such magnitude in less than nine months (from go ahead to first plant) from a zerobase start was an accomplishment in which the USN took justifiable pride and which remains impressive to the historian almost a century later. It foreshadowed numerous more ambitious naval undertakings in the second world war and, indeed, knowledge and experience of the earlier accomplishment must have emboldened naval leaders in the later war to attempt what might otherwise have been considered impossible. Much of the credit for this logistical accomplishment is given to then Commander Simon Peter Fullinwider, USN, head of the mine desk in BuOrd. Fullinwider was a unique naval officer; a graduate of the USNA class of 1894, he was retired in 1914 and recalled to duty in 1917. In 1940, nearly 70, he was recalled again to his old W.W.I. job, and served BuOrd throughout the second war. The First World War, the Great War, has receded in our collective human memory now. It was something that happened to our grandfathers or great-grandfathers. More recent—and more terrible— wars have happened since. In its time, though, the Great War was shocking in its carnage and waste. Over 10 million soldiers and sailors died in the war; 126,000 of these were Americans who were lost in a scant five months of combat on the Western front. The results of the war troubled the victors as much as the vanquished because not much, really, was settled. The peace initiated a period of twenty years of European anxiety, revolution, and unrest that brought Hitler to Germany, Mussolini to Italy, Stalin to Russia, and, in 1939, a second great war to the world. America stood tall on November 11, 1918. She left her traditional aloofness from European entanglements and embarked, victoriously, on her 20th century voyage as a world power. America fancied herself as having ridden to the rescue of tired old Britain and France, as having been the agent of the victory that the Allies couldn’t manage by themselves. It wasn’t completely true in 1918, and America was much disillusioned afterwards. But if it wasn’t completely true in 1918, it was certainly true in 1945, and this time around America remained on the world scene. RALPH ENOS
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REMEMBERING THE uss THRESHER Reprinted with permission from a volunteer for The Cold War Museum, Warrenton, VA, Etienne Huygens. 2008.
April 10th 2008 marked the 45th anniversary of the sinking of USS Thresher and the tragic deaths of all 129 men onboard — 112 military and 17 civilians. The USS Thresher, which gave its name to a new class of submarines, was launched at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, N.H., on July 9, 1960, and commissioned on August 3, 1961. A new class of nuclear submarines designed for optimum performance, the Thresher was capable of diving deeper and running quieter than nonnuclear powered submarines, since nuclear engines do not require air to generate large amounts of electricity thus allowing the submarines to remain submerged over longer periods of time and to move considerably faster. The absence of combustion engines eliminated the noise of pistons and made the submarines quieter. Being the first submarine in its class, USS Thresher underwent two years of trials at sea, including in the Atlantic and Caribbean areas in 1961 and 1962, and demonstrated her ability to travel at a depth of 1300 feet at a speed of 20 knots. She took part in the Nuclear Submarine Exercise (NUSUBEX) 3-61 off the northeastern coast of the U.S. and in the NUSUBEX 2-62 exercise. While mooring at Port Canaveral, on her way to SUBROC tests, the USS Thresher was struck by a tug and one of her ballast tanks was damaged. Following repairs and an overhaul, in Connecticut, she headed south for further tests and trials off the coast of Florida and returned north where, through early spring 1963, she remained at the dock. According to public documents, on April 9, 1963 the USS Thresher, under the escort of the submarine rescue ship the USS Skylark, left the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and headed out to the continental shelf off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, for deep diving tests. At 6:35 a.m., on the morning of April 10, the USS Thresher reportedly spotted the USS Skylark through her periscope and prepared to dive to her maximum depth. At 7:45 a.m. the crew reported that the submarine was at half her test diving depth. At 9:03 a.m. came the message informing of a “minor problem.” Shortly after this came another message — “Attempting to blow.” This would indicate that attempts were being made to lighten the submarine by blowing water out of the ballast tanks to allow the presumably weakened propellers to get it to the surface. At 9:18 a.m. the Skylark picked up sounds of compressed air blowing and the creaking of straining metal. Two days after the disaster, President John F. Kennedy issued Executive Order 11104 ordering all U.S. flags to fly at half-staff from April 12 to April 15. continued ON NEXT PAGE
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REMEMBERING THE uss THRESHER
The investigation conducted by the Navy pointed to several issues. The first was a problem with the silver-brazed joints that, because of poor brazing, allowed seawater to leak into the electronic controls of the nuclear reactor, which shut down. Also, due to a failure to meet design specifications, the ballast tanks were unable to empty themselves fast enough because of icing on the line strainers, which prevented the submarine from resurfacing. Finally, the diving exercise was conducted at depths that were beyond the USS Skylark’s ability to come to the submarine’s rescue. The tragic loss of the USS Thresher and all men onboard prompted the Navy to undertake a massive program called SubSafe aimed at correcting design and construction problems with existing nuclear submarines, and those under construction or in the planning phase. Four issues were of particular concern to the Navy, namely design and construction; brazing; quality assurance; and procurement. Additionally, the need for deeper submersibles to collect data from the deep ocean
floor and to conduct rescue operations resulted in new designs for deep submergence vehicles. On the 25th anniversary of the accident, Vice Admiral Bruce Demars, then the Navy’s Chief submarine officer, said at a ceremony in Norfolk, Virginia, marking, “The loss of Thresher initiated fundamental changes in the way we do business ... We have not forgotten the lessons learned.” Forty years after the accident, in early April 2003, Senators John E. Sununu and Judd Gregg, both from New Hampshire, introduced legislation, which unanimously passed in the Senate, commemorating this tragic event and calling for the creation of a memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. The USS Thresher’s remains lie in six major sections at a depth of 8400 feet below the sea. Deep sea radiological monitoring operations were conducted in 1983 and 1986 and no fission products above typical concentrations were said to be detected. Researched and written by Cold War Museum volunteer Etienne Huygens.
The Cold War Museum® is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization dedicated to education, preservation, and research on the global, ideological, and political confrontations between East and West from the end of World War II to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The Museum is located at Vint Hill, in one of the former Vint Hill Farms Station buildings used during the Cold War for signals intelligence by the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the US Army to safeguard the United States against a surprise nuclear attack. Vint Hill is part of The Journey through Hallowed Ground national heritage area and in close proximity to the Manassas National Battlefield Park, the National Museum of the Marine Corps, and the historic towns of Leesburg, Manassas and Warrenton, Virginia. The Museum shares a campus with The Inn at Vint Hill and the Vint Hill Craft Winery. The Museum's physical address is 7172 Lineweaver Road, Warrenton, VA 20187.
BE a Museum Volunteer!! The Museum and the Museum Foundation offer many opportunities to volunteer your time, your talents, your knowledge. Are you a people person? Become a Docent or work in the Museum Store! Do you love organizing? The Library could use your enthusiasm! Are children your specialty? Family Science Saturday and Discover “E” Day are just the ticket! For more information, contact Daina Birnbaums MuseumStore@wavecable.com, 360/697-1129, or Carolyn Lane, carolyn.lane@navy.mil, 360/396-5547.
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From the Museum Store...
a new look for our store! The Naval Undersea Museum Store would like to thank our volunteers for all their hard work during our recent renovations! A few of them are pictured here - their smiles will make your day so come on in and thank them for all they do for our foundation. Our volunteers are a fantastic group and we couldn’t do it without them. Come see our new and improved store - we have more space, a more customer friendly layout and more merchandise just in time for your visit. We hope to see you soon! DAINA BIRNBAUMS navalunderseamuseum.org
QUARTERLY 10 SPRING QUARTER 2013 introduction to the scientific american article “steering torpedos by WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY” We probably think of a remote control device as something which will cause a predictable reaction from a deliberate, purposefully selected action. Consider our modern security systems and entertainment center controllers. So, how early was “remote control” demonstrated? Energization of a bell, positioned inside a box, by pushing a remotely located button, with no wire or mechanical linkage between, could be considered the first successfully demonstrated remote control experiment: Italian Guglielmo Marconi on December 12, 1896. Soon thereafter, in 1898, an Englishman, Cecil Varicas, tested a “control system” on a miniature sea craft in an indoor pool. Two years later in 1900 Varicas demonstrated the improved control system in salt water on the Weymouth coast, in an underwater craft modeled after a type of Whitehead torpedo. Only the craft’s rudder was moved by transmitting energy through the air to a floating antenna device. This “antenna” fed energy through wire to the onboard receiving apparatus. Using wireless “on-off” switching telegraphy, rudder control was successful in proscribing figure eights and circles to a distance of 200 yards. A technical description of the electro-mechanical elements can be gleaned from the Scientific American Journal of the day. Therein electromagnetic energy pulses become ether waves. The periodic interrupter with induction coil effects a spark-gap transmitter. The task of the mentioned coherer was to detect the presence of incoming radio frequency energy from the spark-gap transmitter. Coherers were typically sharply cut metal filings (iron, copper, silver-plated) loosely available between two properly-honed electrodes in a glass tube. Loosely
From Scientific American, February 16, 1901
arranged filings do not conduct current well. Application of electromagnetic energy, originating in the transmitting sparkgap, forces the filings to group tightly thus becoming a localized conductor for available battery electromotive force. Of course, to receive a second pulse after having introduced the signal to the steering valve to turn the rudder, the filings must first become loosely affiliated again. This was accomplished by lightly tapping the coherer with movement of a relay armature, scattering the group of metal particles, thus decohering them. (We usually attribute invention of the coherer to the French physicist, Edouard Branly.) Steering can only be accomplished because spring force could move the rudder in opposite direction following cessation of a received energy pulse. A more advanced remote control system was later assembled as a prototype by the Spaniard, Leonardo Quevedo, in 1903. His Telekine used a multi-position rotating switch to apply incoming pulses in sequence to two different servomotors; one servo controlled the rudder for an underwater vehicle, the second controlled the propeller. Remote steering control has a less dominant role in modern torpedoes than was foreseen 100 years ago; when used today, it is temporary via trailing wire, not wireless as was attempted during the period of Varicas and Quevedo. Today sonar processing and preprogrammed algorithms guide the autonomous vehicle. Thus, rather than using on-off, today we have continuous, infinite position control of the rudder (fins). And much greater vehicle velocities today provide much greater fin authority. WILLIAM GLUTH
STEERING TORPEDOES BY WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY
A few months ago attention was drawn in the Scientific American to the invention of a young English electrician, Mr. Cecil Varicas, by which it was rendered possible to steer torpedoes and other light craft by means of Marconi’s wireless telegraphic system. In that article a description was given of a severe trial that had been carried out with a model launch by Admiral Colwell. Since that time the inventor has been furthering his experiments with a view to steering submarine torpedoes in the same way, and a short while ago an exacting test was made in the open sea of the English Channel, in which the inventor was able to manipulate by means of ether waves and with conspicuous success the movements of a torpedo in any desired
direction while it was travelling below the surface. The Varicas torpedo resembles in outward appearance the familiar Whitehead projectile. The dimensions are precisely the same, and the propeller is of equal caliber. The interior of the torpedo, however, is vastly different. The explosive and the driving engines are localized in the same positions, but the gyroscope is supplanted by the electrical apparatus and receiver necessary for the actuating of the rudder. The torpedo installation consists of a Marconi coherer in the circuit of a decoherer and electromagnet, which attracts an armature. The latter is made to actuate the valve of a steering engine which is connected to the craft’s continued ON NEXT PAGE
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rudder. The stationary apparatus upon the shore, battleship, or other point from which the torpedo is fired, comprises a periodic interrupter placed in circuit with an induction coil, which in time works a wireless telegraphic transmitter. When this periodic interrupter makes circuit the coil works the transmitter so that ether waves are produced, and the coherer on the craft conducts, working the relay which closes the circuit of both the decoherer and electromagnet. This causes the valve of the steering engine to move, so that the rudder is also turned in a certain direction. When the interrupter breaks circuit the ether
waves cease, and the coherer is decohered by the decoherer and ceases to conduct—the same as is now done in the Marconi system of wireless telegraphy—causing the relay to break the circuit of the electromagnet on the steering engine so that it releases its armature. The rudder is then reversed to the opposite direction by a strong spring. By this it will be seen that so long as the interrupter on shore makes circuit the rudder is pointed in a certain direction, but directly the circuit is broken the rudder assumes the diametrically opposite position. From this it will be recognized that if the alternate making and breaking of circuits is continued with regularity, answered by corresponding regular deviations of the rudder, the craft must travel in a direct straight line. On the other hand, if either the making of the circuit is longer than the period of breaking, or vice versa, the rudder is maintained in one position for a longer period, so that the direction traveled by the craft is in a curve. One of the illustrations represents the shore section with various connections with battery coil, etc. The variable periodic interrupter consists in a drum, O E, over the periphery of which are secured two tubes of conducting and insulating material cut so as to fit into one another in triangular zigzags, z r. The whole drum is rotated by clockwork, G, at a uniform velocity. The sliding contacts, B C, press on the drum as it is in rotation. C is fixed and serves to maintain a continuous electrical connection with the conducting half, O z. The other contact, b, is movable in a direction parallel to the axis of the drum by means of the screw, t, which can be turned by the handwheel, W. As the drum rotates this contact is brought into the position shown by the dotted line, p, so that it traverses the insulating and conducting portions for equal periods. by moving the contact toward K, however, the successive periods in which it will pass over the conducting portion will be greater than the successive intervals of the insulating portion, the difference increasing as the contact is removed from the equi-periodic line, p. But, on the other hand, if the contact be brought on the continued ON NEXT PAGE
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STEERING TORPEDOES BY WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY other side of the equi-periodic line, p, toward L, the reverse happens. That is to say, the successive intervals of break become longer, and those of make shorter, the difference increasing the farther the contact is removed from the line, p, so that by turning the wheel, W, in either direction intervals of make and break can be equal on the successive intervals of either, or make made greater than the successive periods of break or vice versa. The recovery apparatus employed on the craft is shown. C is the Marconi coherer in circuit with the relay, Y, and battery, B. The relay is made to close the circuits of the decoherer and the electromagnet, M, which electromagnet attracts its armature, a, fixed to the valve arm, l, of the steering engine, S S. This armature is acted upon by a spring, s, which tends to pull it from the electromagnet, M. When this electromagnet attracts its armature it turns the valve in a certain direction, and the steering engine by aid of the levers (shown in dotted lines) also turns the rudder in a certain direction, but turns it in the opposite direction upon the release of the armature, a, acted upon by the spring, s. When the variable periodic interrupter, O E t, on shore makes circuit the coil works the transmitter, T, which produces ether waves, making the coherer on the craft conduct, causing the relay to close the circuit of the decoherer and electromagnet, which last turns the valve of the steering engine, causing it to turn the rudder, R, in a certain direction. When the variable periodic interrupter on shore breaks circuit, the coil and transmitter cease to produce ether waves. The coherer on the craft is decohered by the decoherer, which causes the coherer to cease to conduct. The relay then breaks the circuit of the electromagnet, which,
consequently, release its armature, a, and the spring, s, then actuates the valve of the aforesaid steering engine in the opposite direction, so that when the interrupter on shore makes circuit the rudder on the vessel to be steered turns in a certain direction, but when the circuit is broken it turns in the opposite direction. By equalizing the periods of make and break, therefore, the movements of the rudder neutralize one another, so that the craft must necessarily travel in a straight line. But by the handwheel, W, of the interrupter on shore in either direction, the successive intervals of make may be made greater than those of break, or vice versa. With regard to the torpedo, the inventor has designed an ingenious contrivance for arresting the ether waves from the transmitter in their progress through the air and conducting them to the instruments within the torpedo, which is submerged to a depth of about ten feet. On the upper surface of the projectile, near the stem, is small recess containing a bobbin of fine wire with one end attached to a metal float which fits into the recess, forming part of the outer casing of the torpedo. When the projectile enters the water, from the tube, this float is detached by the concussion and rises to the surface, at the same time unwinding the bobbin. This float serves the same purpose as Marconi’s high mast. The waves are received and conducted through the wire to the bottom and thence to the apparatus stored in the chamber within the projectile. One of the diagrams illustrated the results of a trial to which the instrument was subjected, which was of a very exacting character. The shore apparatus was stationed at A. The propelling engines of the craft were set in motion, and it traveled in the direction indicated by the figure continued ON NEXT PAGE
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STEERING TORPEDOES BY WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY
1. Thence it was carried to a point immediately opposite the transmitting apparatus and brought back to the starting point as shown by the figure 2. It was then dispatched on the complicated journeys 3 and 4, and brought back once more to the shore instruments. Then to test the absolute and immediate subserviency of the craft to the manipulations of the transmitter, it was submitted to the series of circular sweeps marked 5. This was a very trying ordeal to the craft, but it performed the evolutions readily and perfectly. It was then dispatched seaward, traveling in a directly straight line to the point, B, where it described a circle, indicating that it had reached the limit to which the ether waves traveled, which in this instance was 200 yards. Of course, this distance can be indefinitely increased by improving the sensitiveness of the instruments and strengthening the potentiality of the current transmitted. The value and possibilities of this invention are incalculable. It can be manipulated so easily, readily, and variously that it would be impossible
for an enemy to locate its direction of travel. Then again it is impossible for it to miss its aim, whereas with the gyroscope the movement of the target nullifies completely the discharge of the torpedo, which is consequently lost. It is also much cheaper than the ordinary torpedo. The Whitehead torpedo costs $10,000, while the completed cost of a torpedo equipped with the Varicas instrument costs only $3,000. Of course, there is the cost of the shore apparatus, but this is only an initial expenditure. The instruments placed in the torpedo are approximate in weight to that of a gyroscope, which is an important consideration, since increase in weight would signify a proportionate increase of the power of the propelling machinery. This invention has been inspected by several military and naval experts from all countries, who have expressed the opinion that it is by means of wireless telegraphy that torpedoes will be controlled in the future. The Swedish government has already commenced the introduction of a similar means of steering torpedoes into the defenses of its country.
SUPPORT YOUR FOUNDATION, YOUR MUSEUM Many of you, our foundation members, choose to support the museum because your careers were spent in our military and in defense contracting. Our volunteer staff comes to us as retirees from Keyport, as military spouses, as service retirees. Your life experiences while in the service are unique to each of you; your children and grandchildren may not know anything about what obstacles you encountered, what goals you achieved, where you were sent, even what you did on a daily basis before you became their parent or grandparent. These stories should not be lost. You are currently enjoying the contributions and suggestions from our volunteers and members. We would welcome the opportunity to publish articles, memoirs, photos—items that would be of interest to the naval history community. While we cannot promise to publish everything that is submitted, we would be pleased to hear from you at any time. The email address for the editor is shifrinbj@wavecable. com and the mailing address is Naval Undersea Museum Foundation, PO Box 408, Keyport WA 98345. Think about where you’ve been. Think about the people you’ve met. Remember your comrades and the camaraderie you experienced. Then, write it down and send it to us.
Have you ever wondered what to give your parents, your grandparents, your grandchildren, your friends for their birthday, for the holidays, to acknowledge their retirement, to celebrate their anniversary? A membership in the Foundation is an excellent gift in so many ways. The articles and information in the newsletter alone are well worth the membership cost. A Seat-In-The-Future is another wonderful way to memorialize loved ones, fallen comrades, friends and significant figures in undersea history. A one-time gift of $500 entitles the donor to dedicate a plaque on the arm of a seat in the Jack Murdock Auditorium to someone of their choice. Naval Undersea Museum Fdtn P.O. Box 408 Keyport, WA 98345
14 SPRING QUARTER 2013
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CURATOR’S CHOICE - New Temporary Exhibit Mark III Diving Air Pump
Surface-supplied diving requires air or other breathing mixtures be pumped underwater to a diver through an umbilical hose. Before the invention of modern, mechanically-powered diving pumps, Navy divers received air through pumps operated manually. Manual pumps demanded constant attentiveness, as sea pressure rendered them less efficient with increasing depth. Pump operators compensated for this by turning the pump’s wheels faster as a diver descended deeper. This Mark III air pump served the Navy diving community from the early 19002 through the 1940s. It could support two divers simultaneously, even if they were working on different depths.
Diver Ornament
Donna Tobias was the Navy’s first female deep sea diver. She welded this diver ornament from metal scraps after she left the military. It represents her dual Navy identities as a diver and a hull maintenance technician (HT), a rating that involved extensive welding.
Miller-Dunn Divinhood Helmet
Navy divers used open-bottom Miller-Dunn Divinhood Style 3 helmets during World War II to complete ship and equipment repairs in water less than 60 feet deep. Compared to cumbersome closed systems like the Mark V, open helmets were light and simple to use. A surface pump forced air into the helmet while weights attached to the helmet’s base kept it from lifting off the diver’s head. The introduction of SCUBA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) gear following the war curbed the popularity of open helmets. SCUBA simplified shallow-water diving by removing the need for helmets, air hoses, and surface air pumps that openhelmet systems required. While it looks strange, “Divinhood” – minus the “g” – is the name Miller-Dunn chose for this helmet.
Personnel Directory Websites Naval Undersea Museum.......................... navalunderseamuseum.org Naval Undersea Museum Store....... store.navalunderseamuseum.org Navy Band Northwest............ https://www.navybandnw.cnrnw.navy.mil Foundation Personnel email addresses Undersea Quarterly Editor, Foundation...... ShifrinBJ@wavecable.com Daina Birnbaums, Museum Store....... MuseumStore@wavecable.com
NUM Personnel email addresses Lindy Dosher, Museum Director.......................Lindy.Dosher@navy.mil Jennifer Heinzelman, Collections Mgt..Jennifer.Heinzelman@navy.mil Carolyn Lane, Education................................. Carolyn.Lane@navy.mil Jennifer Leitz, Facilities................................... Jennifer.Leitz@navy.mil Ron Roehmholdt, Exhibits.....................Ronald.Roehmholdt@navy.mil Mary Ryan, Curator..........................................Mary.C.Ryan@navy.mil Lorraine Scott, Collections Management........ Lorraine.Scott@navy.mil Olivia Wilson, Facilities....................................Olivia.Wilson@navy.mil
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MAKING THE DREAM COME TRUE
I believe in the Naval Undersea Museum’s vision of the future and I want to help make it come true! I want to see the Museum complete with state-of-the-art exhibits, quality supporting facilities,and exciting educational programs. Please sign me up for the following: ___ Seat(s) in the Future $500 each Dedicated to_____________________________ Sustaining membership ___ Foundation Associate *$1000+ ___ Patron *$500-$999 ___ Benefactor $250-$499 ___ Builder $100-$249 ___ Provider $25-$99
Make checks payable to the Naval Undersea Museum Foundation (NUMF) VISA, MasterCard, American Express, Discover accepted. Card #___________________________ Exp ________ Signature_____________________________________ Send to: Naval Undersea Museum Foundation P.O. Box 408 Keyport, Washington 98345
*Donors of $500 or more may participate in the Seat-inthe-Future program by dedicating a seat in the Jack Murdock Auditorium for each $500 given. Other ___ As a one-time gift
Sustaining members receive regular quarterly newsletters, invitations to special events. The NUMF is a registered nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. Gifts and memberships are tax-deductible for federal income tax purposes.
Name(s)_____________________________________________________________________________________ Address_____________________________________________________________________________________ City_________________________________________________ State___________________Zip_____________ Email______________________________________________ Phone________________________________
Schedule of Events
Detailed information on some events may be available in other newsletter articles. All programs are FREE. Call 360/396-4148 with questions.
FAMILY SCIENCE SATURDAY – THE FIRST SATURDAY OF EACH MONTH Families with children pre-school to age 12 are invited to Family Science Saturday on the first Saturday of each month. Each Family Day will include an experiment or make-and-take project, a story and song time and a tour of the galleries. The fun begins at 10:00 am and ends with the tour about 12:00 pm. Parents or a responsible adult must accompany their children. Apr 21st May
NAVY BAND NORTHWEST Navy Band Northwest 2:00 PM. Auditorium. FREE. Tolling of the Boats TBD. Plaza. FREE.
Music Performance Recess Monkey June 15th - 10:30 PM. Seattle’s celebrated band of teacher-rockers – Recess Monkey –bring their special brand of “undeniably hip, yet also kid-accessible” music and humor to a festive show. Recess Monkey continues to earn a name for themselves for their highly interactive, kid-centered live shows that brilliantly are as fun for parents to watch as their kids. In their high-energy, dance-driven sets, kids and their parental units zoom around the room with Drew, Daron, and Jack, join the Monkey Bar conga line, take a soapy ride at the Bubble Factory, and give that loose tooth an extra jiggle with Dr. Wiggle. From flapjacks to jetpacks and everything in-between, families should be ready for more disco dancing, knock-knock jokes and catchy sing-alongs than you can shake a stick at!
16 SPRING QUARTER 2013 P.O. BOX 408 KEYPORT, WASHINGTON 98345
New Display in the
Museum Store
QUARTERLY NONPROFIT U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #2 KEYPORT, WA 98345