The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1950-04-19

NAVY DEVELOPMENT
Continued From Page Onel

Continued From Page Onel
Cuba. But, Porter discovered
them there, and soon put them
to flight again They took refuge
at an island off the coast of
Puerto Rico, then under the
Spanish flag. And Porter again
ferreted them out, this time sink
ing most of their fleet and cap
turing meny prisoners.
This action had its repercuS-
sions in official Washington, for
it seems that pirates had been
paying cumshawa to Spain, and
that Spain complained bitterly to
the United States, officially.
So Commodore Porter was re-
lieved of his command and of his
commission. He first entered the
Mexican Navy after being reliev-
of his commission and later the
Turkish Navy However, he was
later made U. S. Ambassador to
Turkey and died while serving in
this capacity in l843
Today the Naval Base in Key
West is the center of Anti Sub
farine Warfare program of the
Navy. TIE clear. blue waters of
the Atlantic off Key West is the
ideal place for the Navy to look
for the answers to a challenge to
American sea power.
Commanded by Captain c. C.
,Adell, uSN- all, ,components of
the Naval Base are directing
their efforts to the Improvement
of weapons to combat the sub
marine Every morning the
channel IS busy thoroughfare
with submarines, destroyers and
other vessels putting out to sea
for the day-long maneuvers.
Overhead is the hum of blimps
and planes equipped with inn
proved means for detecting and
attacking submarines.
More than ever anti-submarine
warfare depends on sonar, and
new ways of using this detector
are being developed all the time.
Sonar is to anti-submarine war
fare what radar is to air warfare.
Radar will not penetrate water
for any distance, sonar will.
Sonar sends sound waves
through the water and when they
strike an object an echo is re-
Elected back to the sonar screen.
From these echoes the bearing,
speed, depth. and course of a sub
can be aScertained
AS with anything else Sonar
has its limitations. One of these
is the short range. Another is
that when disturbance is eaus-
ed in the water such as a burst
ing depth charge that will also
cause an scho from the sound
waves sent out. Sonar operators
must be able to distinguish be
tween fish, water disturbances,
and submarines on the sound
screen. 434sA
Top adn'irals of the Navy have
emphasized the Importance of
developing Anti Submarine War
fare. In his first speech as new
Chief of Naval Operations, Ada
miral Forrest P. Sherman, recent
ly emphasized that the Navy was
concentrating on developing new
anti-submarine startegy.
Admiral w. H. P. Blandy said
recently during change of COM
mand ceremonies aboard the car
rier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt,
THE Atlantic Fleet has been
working on anti-submarine war
fare for some years, and particu-
larly in the past year we have
made great progress"
During the war great progress
was made in the combating of
submarines But now since new
submarine have been developed
that do not have to surface to
charge their batteries, new prob
lens have developed.
The minute an old type sub
came to the surface to charge
her batteries she became. a wide
open target for aircraft. The new
snorkel-type subs which can re-
main under the water indefinitely
present the problem of being
found. They breathe" through
a small tube put up for air. The
tube is SO small it is hard to pick
up by radar even on a calm day.
When the seas are choppy it is
almost impossible, because the
ocean waves blur the snorkel on
the radar screens.
The answer to this problem is