Science Past from the issue of June 17, 1961

LONG-RANGE SYSTEM FOR SPOTTING SUBMARINES — A sonar system for detecting and tracking enemy sub­marines long before they reach United States shores is being developed by the U.S. Navy.… The sound transmitter, or transducer, which is five stories high and weighs hundreds of tons, will be carried on a former Navy tanker, the USNS Mission Capistrano. The ship is equipped to raise and lower the transmitter into the water and also provide power for its operation. The U.S. Navy has already built a relay tower, called Argus Island, on top of an extinct underwater volcano off the Bermuda coast. The man-made island, sticking nearly 100 feet above the ocean surface, will relay sound waves picked up by hydrophones scattered along the ocean floor.

From the Nature Index

Paid Content