Weapons of Choice: A History of the Point Loma Navy Laboratory Volume I
Abstract
Introduction: The so-called silent deep is not silent at all. The ocean crackles, pops, moans, and roars like a full-on forest fire. If you are aboard a ship, listening for the soft thrumming of a submarine screw as the deadly boat approaches, you have a problem. If you are on that submarine, straining to interpret sonar signals through the cacophony, maneuvering all but blind through enemy waters that might be heavily mined, you have a different problem .At the outset of World War II, the U.S. Navy had both problems at the same time. It would call on American scientists and engineers to solve them. This is the story of a Navy laboratory in San Diego, California, that employed a fair number of those scientists and engineers. Its complex but impressive organizational history began shortly before the Second World War, and to a substantial degree involved those submarines. Todays Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific traces its origins to those pre- and early World War II days, when the Navy was evaluating its responsibility to defend the nation and finding the results of that evaluation troubling. Beginning with a handful each of military and civilian personnel ,the Navys first West Coast laboratory, the forerunner of the information warfare center, was charged with developing electronic technology and matching it to the services increasingly complex communication needs. Shortly, however, as the country was formally embroiled in far-ranging conflict, the submarine threat forced the fledgling organization to focus much of its attention in that direction. Fortunately, the nations universities, understanding the approaching storm, had stepped forward in large numbers, seeking to be of service. Our story, at the outset, involves several of those universities, whose professors provided technical expertise desperately needed by the military to overcome deficiencies in the capabilities required to face the growing threat from across the Atlantic.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 12, 2022
- Accession Number
- AD1179850
Entities
People
- George F. Wagner
- Tom Lapuzza
Organizations
- Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific