Science in Action: Submarines (ca 1956)

e one of man's greatest inventions has been the submarine using the entire ocean as a hiding place he hits hard and then she runs fast now should she be spotted at the surface then she has the capability of submerging very very quickly usually in less than about 60 seconds and to the Submariner that's known as a crash dive take her down before we're spotted that baby might Mount enough guns to blast us the kingdom come take her [Applause] down that's good sir now aboard the submarine there's no time for error the crew of AD acts as one man a complex operation of a 310t ship such as this is Possible only through training discipline and constant attention to duty now to tell us about the submarine we have invited as our first guest one of the Navy's top ranking officers years before he became a fleet Admiral he was also a touch top-notch Submariner and so it's with considerable pleasure that we welcome once again to science and action Fleet Admiral Chester nit all right sir Earl I'm delighted to be aboard participate in this program I heard you say that the submarine was one of man's greatest inventions it might be that and the most evil one too but submarines have earned a place in the Navies of the world their effectiveness in World War I and World War II earned them a place in the Navies of the world for the predictable future they have many capabilities and one of the people who is most competent to tell you about those capabilities is here in your studio o tonight Admiral Charles Lockwood well you know Admiral I was very interested in reading the forward to his book syam all submarine warfare in the Pacific and I'd just like to read that once again now we had many submarine captains but only one Lockwood that's correct I still stick to that story well we're quite fortunate as I say in having him here with us at um on science and action so I'd like to have you meet vice admiral Charles Lin how are you sir thank you Dr Harold how do Char very happy to see you again sir well gentlemen we are here for a specific purpose to learn something about submarines so I suggest we let Admiral lwood take us on a tour starting right now fine doctor this uh simplified diagram of the USS Nautilus the world's first atomic power submarine will serve to give us the general overall picture of our standard Fleet type submarines they're divided into eight compartments Each of which may be sealed off from the others this forward compartment is a forward torped room it contains the six bar tubes and also the reload Torpedoes the next compartment is called the Ford battery room below the deck it has enormous storage batteries which are used to propel the ship when submerged above it are the officer's quarters and the chief Ed officer quarters these quarters are very small but they're very comfortable and very handy well then this next section would be the control room and on a standard type submarine you'd have the conning Tower up here but since this is the Nautilus uh then the conning Tower would be right in this section that's correct and in the standard submarine these next two compartments would contain the mess room The Galley and the cruise bunk room I might add that in the galley we prepare this Navy's best food prepared by the best cooks in the Navy well that's certainly something very close to me because I sure like food well now uh this matter of propulsion being a land lber I'm very much interested in just how the submarine gets through the water it's propelling power now how about that well the submarine has two systems propul on the surface she uses her diesel engines which can generate about 6,500 horsepower and Propel her at a speed of about 20 knots for surface submer surface repulsion she has enormous storage batteries all along the Keel here which produce power for driving or submerged well in other words then if you didn't have one of these snorkel and you wanted to go below the water then you'd have to use the batteries for that sort of work that's correct well of course all of us are familiar with car batteries but this king-size battery that we have over here is something a little bit different perhaps uh uh you can tell us how many batteries of this type you have in a normal standard submarine well as you can see this battery stands almost as high as a man it weighs a little less than the a ton and it costs about $1,000 a piece there are 120 of these in a submarine and at full power they're able to propel the submarine uh for about 10 miles at minimum power they're able to propel the submarine for about 100 miles about 100 miles and then of course you have to come back to the service and recharge the batteries that's correct except that when you have a snorkel you can charge while submerged this snorkel is quite interesting just how does that work now uh well this snorkel is simply a an extensible breathing tube which brings air down to the engines and to the crew the exhaust comes up this after pipe um using those engines you can recharge your your batteries while submerged and you can also Propel yourself to submerge while showing nothing more than this small snorkel float oh that's certainly very effective well that gives us a good idea as to the propelling power but now this matter of submerging the ballast I wonder if you can demonstrate on this chart up here just what happens when a submarine does go under well first chart we see the submarine on Surface with no water in her main ballus tanks which surround the hall the main vents are then open and the water starts to flood into the bance tank she's now in a wash condition in the third picture she's completely submerged with her main Ballance tanks full and her main vents closed well then when you want to come back to service you'd have to put compressed air and blow this water out of these compartments right that's correct and then that would be tied in with these diving fins or planes on on the yes two ends of the surf the most important thing about diving or surfacing is the control of the boat in diving these valve planes are set down to give the ship an angle down and then you bring her to an even Keel with the stern planes and bring it to the proper depth and on an even trim for an half yes well Admiral I believe this would be the proper place to mention one of the most intricate training devices that I've ever seen it's at the mar Island submarine training fac facility and actually what it is is an operating section first of all of a control room and then above that on the next floor a conning Tower and then way up here what would be the surface of the ocean they have a floor on which small models of ships move about so that uh the Periscope here can do the tracking of those boats up there let's see how that works by going first of all to this training facility right here at the control room and see what happens now these large Wheels what would they be uh head these large Wheels which we see on the port side of the control room serve to control the angle of the planes in diving the instrument panel which you see there tells the underwater attitude of the ship at all times the depth gauge which is one of the most important instruments of board records The Depths as we go down unless the submarine is dodging or attempting to escape death charges she doesn't go too deep this Paramount of course to submerge far enough for the cting tower and superstructure to be below the surface but it's also important not to descend to dangerous depths well Admiral I have here a small barometer and I know a barometer is very very important in the operation of a submarine but how does it fit into that pattern well the barometer is important because it shows you the pressure of the air in the control room at all time in the ship it tells you instantly whether there is any opening which is failed to be closed on diving you recall that the squalus was lost in such just such a diving accident well now let's assume for the purpose of our demonstration that we have submerged what would then be the next U step we should then go to the Post of the commanding officer in the cing tower at the Periscope well I have a little Periscope here a youngster next door uses it to look over The Back Fence and I look in here and I can almost look right into the right into the camera you have a cutaway model there perhaps you can demonstrate how this Periscope operates uh well this cutaway model model will show sufficiently well the principles of the Periscope in the submarine the Periscope is a 40ft steel tube the commanding officer looks into this prism here and the line of sight goes up and Strikes this prism here and so on out to the floor to the surface of the ocean this prison may also be tilted so that he can search the sky for PLS well suppose we go now back to the training facility in m Island and see how the Periscope would actually work and here we see Lieutenant Comm Commander DT Morris going through a periscope drill and the command of course is Up Periscope the Skipper's first Duty on as soon as the Periscope comes above water is to make a full 360° sweep of the Horizon to scan the Earth off of the surface of the sea in all directions he then focuses on his Target the next command we will hear is range Mark and following the that bearing Mark at this uh these commands the assistant approach officer in this case Lieutenant wear takes note of the range to the Target and her bearing on the asthma Circle and of course to complete training U the skipper has to have something to focus on so here we are top side on the third floor of this training facility looking at the boundless sea or how it is simulated and you'll notice that the deck is marked off in nautical miles and across it move these little electric powered dollies or crab as they are called and on top of each crab is a model of an enemy ship either a battleship or Carrier or a destroyer now these crabs can move at preset Direction and speeds which are scaled to the actual speed of ships at Sea we'll now see Chief lingren setting up the surface problem on the control board the zigzag course of each ship is set on the dials and the crabs controlled from this unit carry out the plan let us watch it operate certainly a console that he has there it's a it's a very complicated device must have taken years to Tak an expert to run it now we're on the top side and here comes the Periscope up to focus on the target let's go below now and watch this operation through the periscope I see the Periscope coming around of course the crew is down there working as we saw a little bit earlier there they are and on the Up Periscope of course the skipper again makes a complete circle to scan the Horizon and then he focuses on the Target and very soon the target comes into view this case it happens to be a Heavy Cruiser which has been moving across the deck mounted on the top of that crab most ingenious Arrangement and right here of course is one of these crabs the type we were looking at you see on the top here is the out or the model on which the skipper was focused and the mechanism is down in here which moves Us in any direction whichever is desired according to what is set up in the console now we've talked a little bit about the eyes the Periscope the eyes of the submarine how about the listening devices say the sonar of a submarine well the sonar system of the submarine is almost equally important with the Periscope it is represented on this model by this bubble on on the Keel with this device The Operators can pick up underwater sound much as a radio picks up sound waves in the air and then by the character of these sounds you can tell what sort of an object is out there in the water either ahead of you or any other place in the area that's right ARL a good sonar operator can tell the difference between the propeller sounds of a carrier and those of a destroyer mhm of course we should mention that the sonar system also is able to send out supersonic waves and those go out and hit an object and bounce back to the submarine and by the interval of time elapsed from the time they leave the ship until they come back we can calculate the range just how far away that object might be well supposed we listen to some of the things we might hear from a submarine if for example we were listening to a commercial ship such as a freighter the sort of a beat that we would hear from the propellers Then followed by the beat of a faster ship such as a destroyer right good normally this time would be devoted to your second commercial however I would like to use it now to tell you just a bit about the California Academy of Sciences the institution which produces science and action the academy is one of the oldest and most distinguished scientific organizations in the United States and we're quite proud of that fact the academy is dedicated to scientific research and public education in science now public education takes several forms here Dr Robert C Miller Academy director and noted marine biologist conducts a group of young people on an outing to study plant and animal life at the Ocean's Edge later through science and action they shared their experiences with thousands of others mysterious ways of a small crab or the magic of the distant planets may be equally fascinating when it was found impossible to procure a planetarium projector from the zece company our Academy staff proceeded to design the only major planetarium that has ever been completely constructed within the United States here we are on the roof of the planetarium building but the instruments we see have nothing to do with the Stars as a service to the United States weather bureau Academy staff members keep regular records of various phases of the weather the natural history and science museums in the steinhart aquarium continue the public education program in still another way for example more than a million and a half visitors come to steinhardt aquarium every year to view the reptiles fish and marine animals which have been gathered from every part of the world here is a very rare cannibalistic South American horned frog of course washing down the back of green and Hawks Bill Turtles and scrubbing the back as well is quite important in preparing them for display the long-established reputation of the academy has earned us the cooperation of organizations in all fields of science here a great Hospital permitted us to film the administration of mren an unprecedented effort to keep alive a baby be unable to breathe later this became a part of one of the medical shows which form an important portion of any science and action series industry has been quite generous in sending us top scientists to tell the story of how science is applied to the products and services that we use every day now this ban extends from the comparatively new and dramatic synthetics industry to the old and still vitally important railroad business each series of Science and action is balanced to include subjects appealing to every taste the film that you are viewing covers only one Topic in one field the broad overall scope of the entire program appeals to all interest in science and to all ages incidentally there is one thing I'd like to mention and that is the fact that the animal of the weak feature provides an excellent bridge for the middle commercial that gives us a very good idea of the sort of thing that you might hear if you were sitting on one of the listening devices in the submarine now to U go into this next point which is the selection of personnel for submarine work which I know is a very very important thing we have asked to come to the laboratory for the crew of the submarine training facility at M Island so perhaps Admiral you'd give us an idea as what's involved now in oh selection of people or physical condition lungs ears um chest Vision teeth and all that sort of things well I'm very happy to see that we have these Lads here from Mar Island it gives our audience the chance to see see just what submarine Sailors look like now all of these Lads have gone through a very extensive training at the submarine base at at Mar Island at New London the last two Lads over there have just come out and they're all full of them and vigor and ready to go to sea oh F the two chiefs have been in submarines for a lot of years as you know they're they're selected as being perfect physical specimens they have to have good heart good lungs they have to have good eyes good night adaptation and they also have to have good teeth in order to grasp the mouthpiece of a of a momson lung okay we have a we have a cutway section here of a Monson lung first of all here's the mouth piece that is put into the mouth and then here is the inside container right here is where the oxygen is put into the unit and the oxygen comes down here of course and this is a soda lime cylinder which helps in the uh in the overall circulation of the breath or the the breathing into this and taking the oxygen out of it I see one of the boys has one on there now perhaps we can uh just look over there and see what it would be like if he were using this piece of equipment these lungs are used in training so that they may be ready to escape from a sunken submarine if necessary they first given a series of dives from 18 ft coming up with the lung and then they come up from 50 ft and finally they come up from 100 ft that that diving Tower in which they do this work is certainly something that's uh that's most amazing other words a man that couldn't make this Ascent from 100 ft up to the surface he wouldn't be suitable for submarine work would he that's correct in addition to all these qualifications a submarine sailor has to be able to get along with his Shipmates they have to have a very even disposition even temperament they have to be uh thoroughly Dependable they have to be men that you can't Stampede under any circumstances well since the life of each man on board is in the hands of his fellow sailor of course that becomes vitally important um uh of course there are a lot of other things that fit into this thing that we don't have time to go into right at the moment but since we've seen some of the components now of of a submarine both equipment and Personnel suppose we go now and see just what a submarine would be like under action well I'd like to say that those uh those physical qualifications and those temperaments we've described very thoroughly fit the sub of the submarine service and they certainly fitted the 46,000 and 4,000 officers that served in submarines in the Pacific World War II I was highly honored to command that Force oh fine well let's watch a submarine now and see what uh what would happen under full [Music] activity Up [Applause] Periscope bearing Mark 9 range Mark 61 Down Periscope angle on the bow staro 15 right four Rudder right four R all ahead 2/3 all Ahad 2/3 new course 2 40 new course 2 40 what's the distance to the track 17 control 63 ft control 63 ft forward Torpedo Room make ready all tubes forward Torpedo Room make ready all tubes set depth 12 ft set depth 12 ft break for Silent Running break for Silent Running break for dep charge break for dep charge stady on 250 all ahead 1/3 all ahead 1/3 how much time I got none sir torpedo run11 bring to my 16 o gyro 005 increasing shoot anytime stand by forward stand by forward Periscope check bearing and shoot bearing Mark for Fire Down Periscope set fire fire one one fired sir fire fire two two fired fire fire three three fired set fire fire four it is inevitable that in accomplish her accomplishing her Mission the submarine will expose herself to retaliation now let's take a look and see how the enemy fights back that's [Applause] charging boy that was certainly nerve-wracking did that sub get away Admiral that one did but we lost 52 in World War II and 39 of them we don't know what happened to them but we think most of them were lost to death charge we lost a total of 374 officers and 3131 men well it's certainly sad and very unfortunate that we should have those losses but let's look and see what the submarines did on this chart we see that the the tonnage for example of the submarines in the Pacific Warfare the miscellaneous type of shipping sunk in millions of tons mines uh surface craft and then land-based aircraft you see they sunk quite a bit more than carrier-based aircraft and finally submarines sunk about 5 million tons 73% of the total uh sunk in the Pacific now I know uh that one of your Chief interests is the submarine and I read your article recently call here what can you tell us about Subs well in my opinion Earl the submarine is one of the deadliest weapons ever devised it won its spurs in World War II four navies used it as the British and the Italians with a special Effectiveness is she's so small that she can fit in your backyard and she can enter Waters that no large siiz fullsize submarine could enter and be carried by helicopters and could be carried by helicopters and her crew can leave heard the ship to put mines on the bottom of enemy ships and laying of an atomic mine in an enemy Harbor would be very simple well now suppose we join rejoin Admiral nimis I know one of his favorite subjects is the submarine of the future and perhaps Admiral lius can give us an idea on the Nautilus mural here just what this means well Earl you see here one of the deadliest submarines of all time the atomic powered USS norless she is very much like the conventional submarine in that she has everything that a conventional submarine has she has a diesel engine she has batteries but her main propulsive plant is atomic powered an atomic powered boiler which depends on its heat from an A an atomic pile and that generat steam in the boiler which passes into a steam turbine now this submarine has many capabilities some of which you've heard heard about time does not permit us to tell about all of them but the submarine with this Atomic powered plant will give us an indication of how atomic energy can be used for purposes of Peace well that's certainly putting it very pointedly Admiral liit I want to thank you for coming to science to be with us bring this fine material well it's a pleasure to meet you and to join you in the program and to meet my old shipmate Charlie Lockwood who commanded our submarines so efficiently and effectively in World War II a great pleasure to me sir to meet my big boss in the Pacific oh as well now I want to say thanks to you too adwood I'll be back in just a moment with the animal of the week our special animal of the week is a tucon a very strange bird that comes from South America and Central America and Mexico this one is named Raymond is the special pet of Mr Block who brought him to the program uh what about that big Bill there um Andy well I tell you that's fooled quite a number of ornithologists I don't think they made up their mind just exactly why it is so large it's mostly fake it's very light and rather Hollow you'll notice it when he eats he has to take it in the tip of his bill and then he tosses it up and swallows it that way well he's certainly the most interesting fellow I'm going to try and throw this one up in the air and see what happens on this here you go here you go Raymond come on come on here you go he almost caught it well now you were telling me earlier they have a unique way of taking water they can't drink as a normal bird would do uh perhaps uh we'll see if rain May can is interested in any water here now he's more less of a dribble P oh he is oh there he is ah there he goes nice it down and it rolls down that tongue must be about uh oh must be about 4 or 6 in Long isn't it something it is it's shaped sort of like a palm leaf uhh this is really a very very nice bird the colors of course there's orange on the bill green up here a brilliant blue eye white black down here on the tail yellow up in here and orange on the tail feathers down in here beautiful bird about 63 of these are known from various parts of America sou Amica this is one of the largest of all the species very very beautiful fellow now what are you going to do with Raymond you going to keep him as a pet well he's quite a clown and we got a a big kick out of him he's one of the most interesting birds I think we've ever had oh he's really a very nice fellow well um I hope that you'll keep us informed on how Raymond does in the future because he's certainly the most spectacular of all the animals of the week that we've had here thanks very much thanks very I have something very special to show you this is something that many zoologists have not seen it is all that is left of the left hind leg of the largest animal that has ever lived on this Earth it's not an extinct animal it's an animal that lives today this is the vestage the back leg of the giant blue whale 110 ft maximum length 200,000 lb maximum weight incidentally in our next program we're going to talk about whales our special guest will be Dr Robert Tor the California Academy of Sciences we hope that you plan to be with us then you have just seen another in the fascinating television series science in action science in action is produced by the California Academy of Sciences under the supervision of Dr Robert C [Music] Miller