Evening star., 1922-11-12
BY COMMANDER STANFORD c.
HOOPER,
United States Navy.


United States Navy.
= Radio waves. since their inception.
have constituted the principal agency Of
man for assisting navigation and aiding
ships at sea.
Now they must begin to compete with
the science Of sound waves for supremacy
In the maritime domain.
Radio has long since become indis-
pensable to the mariner and will con-
tinue so to be and in ever-increasing
measure. -
The science Of sound waves. however.
will become equally indispensable. If
not even more 80 than radio-especially
as regards their use for strictly navi-
gational purposes on the high seas.
Radio waves. in addition to aiding
navigation. also enable q ship to reach
out far beyond the horizon and estab-
lish contact with other ships far dis
tant at sea or with the land.
Sound waves. on the other hand,
enable a ship to penetrate visually. so
| to speak, the Opaque waters beneath
great valleys and plains but also the
towering mountain ranges with their
foothills which exist beneath the ocean
| waves.
These land marks" beneath the seas
| will all be accurately charted by the
! charted. they will obviously make travel
by sea more safe in the future. More
| over. they will greatly aid the mar
| iner in navigating his vessel especially
| during storms and fogs. even though
those time-honored reliances for navi-
cation. the heavenly bodies. remain OBJ
scured for days at stretch.
The land marks can readily be To-
Gated by means Of the new sound equip
| ment. recently developed by the Navy. as
a vessel approaches or passes over them
in any particular area.
Great Mountain Ranges.
That great mountain ranges. val
leys and plains-similar to those of
the land-exist below the level of the
sea. is probably not in accordance
| with the popular conception of the
oceans floor.
Yet the contour of the ocean bed
across the Atlantic between Newport
and Gibraltar. over the route recently
Travelled by squadron OF American
destroyers. as charted by the Nays
new sound system and shown on the
graphic representation accompanying
this article. clearly indicates that this
is so.
IhtS Is the nrSt CnAft OutllnlnR the
contour Of the ocean bed clear across
the Atlantic. in anything like conti-
nuity. ever obtained in the history of
the world.
The cruise Of this squadron. with
the L. S. S. Stewart as flagship, was
undertaken as a routine event in the
administration of the Navy-that the
vessels might join the Asiatic fleet on
the Asiatic station.
One of the incidents Of this voyage
however. was the practical applica-
ton OF the Nays new sound wave
equipment for determining the depths
OF water while the destroyers pro-
ceeded at full speed on their journey
More than 900 "soundings" were
taken over a distance of 1927 nau-
tical miles in only eight days. from
which the contour of the ocean bed
over the route traversed was charted
The depth of water varied from about
500 feet to more than three miles.
As a result of the complete success
of this experiment. considering the
enormous potentialities involved. this
cruise will be recorded as an epoch
time history of the world.
Living in An era of scientific
achievements as we are. epoch max
ing discoveries now excite only pass
ing interest. The very great impor-
tance Of this achievement. however,
will become more and more manifest
as time goes on.