Evening star., 1947-03-16
AAF to Assist Navy
In War on Submarines
Tnterservice AgreementPu Puts Navy
In Charge of Joint Operations

| III vi O1I SuDIIi0iII1CS
Tnterservice AgreementPut Navy
In Charge of Joint Operations
By Rer Collier.
There is every indication at the War
and Navy Departments that agreement
has been reached on one of the last
remaining and most heatedly co2tested
issues of the merger controverSy-the
| question of antisubmarine warfare
| jurisdiction.
Under the tentative agreement. which
has been fortified by an understand
ing outlined by Gen. carl Spaatz.
commanding general of the Army Air
Forces, in letter to Fleet Admiral
Nimitz, chief of naval operations the
| Navy will remain in charge of all aerial
antisubmarine activities, with the AAF
assisting as feasible.
The agreement settles a controversy
which had ragged ever since disclosure
that the AAF, as part of the proposed
unification of the armed services, sought
to assume control of land-based plane
| operations against enemy submarines
function exercised by the Navy during
| World War II. 1t has been an open
secret that AAF officials originally
hoped to take over all land-based avia-
ton under the merger plan, leaving to
the Navy only its carrier planes and
seaplanes. Later, under a storm of
naval opposition, this was modified to
include naval retention of land based
| marine aviation. Until recently, how
ever, the AAF had insisted that it should
command land-based air operations
against enemy surface and underwater
vessels
The Navy has been obdurate, how
ever, in contending that antisubmarine
warfare, known as ASW in naval par
lance, is highly specialized job requir-
ing the closest possible coordination of
air and sea facilities, and that this
specialization and coordination could
not be achieved with maximum effec-
tiveness under divided control. 1t was
pointed out that close teamwork between
planes and surface craft won't the battle
of the Atlantic in the late war. This
type of teamwork could not be hoped
for if the AAF was to command air
ASW operations and the Navy was TO
direct surface ASW operations.
Moreover, the Navy said, developments
IN the last weeks of the Atlantic war
made it evident that ordinary bombing
planes could not cope with the radically
improved U-boats which were beginning
to appear. Hitler's new submarines
were equipped with the "schnorkel," an
extensible breathing tube, which enabled
the U-boats to travel submerged for
weeks at time. There was no need to
surface for the recharging of batteries.
1t was impossible for our wartime radar
to detect a. schnorkel-equipped sub
marine, as only a small part of the pipe
projected above the surface.
Since the close of the war the Navy
has been devoting much attention to the
schncrkel, not only with view to in
stalling it on our latest submarines
as is now being done-but to devising
means of detecting. it on an enemy pig
Lcat. 1t is reported that neW-type
Iadar capable OF solving the schnorkel-
detection problem has been developed
ana that the Nays new ASW planes
will carry this equipment. 1t is said
to be too large to install on conVen-
tionai Army bombers.
The understanding now worked out
between the AAF and the Navy recog-
nizes the Importance of such special
research and development by the Navy.
The agreement accords the Navy "pri-
mary responsibility" for aerial ASW
operations, including air protection for
shipping and air reconnaissance Tor
naval purposes. The AAF will have the
secondary role of assisting but not de-
termining operations.
Furthermore, the AAF repeatedly has
agreed to make available to the Navy
any equipment that might help the
Navy in carrying out its primary" mis-
sion. Joint use of shore bases Is
part of the understanding. Through
such coordination it is expected that
duplication and overlapping of effort
will be eliminated or reduced to mini
mum.
For its part. the Navy has agreed not
to modify AAF equipment for specialized
ASW work in such way as to make
planes unserviceable to perform the
AAF's own primary missions. This is
taken to mean that the Navy will not
undertake Ito use ridiculous example)
to convert a B-29 into a seaplane.
The settlement of the ASW contro-
versy should help to grease the ways
for launching of the final merger legis-
lation 1t is settlement based on war
time experience with Navy controlled
joint Army-Navy operations against
U-boats-an experience that proved the
plan was workable under the most ad-
verse conditions. Having been tried
and proved in one war, there is good
reason to expect that the system will
work just as effectively in any future
emergency.