THE MISSILE NAVY

General Quarters General Quarters General Quarters stations today in a very real sense a new Navy ranges the oceans of the world a navy whose arsenal includes for the first time a revolutionary new weapon the guided missile supersonic accurate carrying warheads many times as powerful as those of any shell fired in World War 2 the Navy's new family of missiles has been made possible to a large extent by the dynamic development of new high performance rocket propellants and propulsion systems this is the story of the emergence of naval rocket power and of the propulsion systems which drive today's supersonic rocket engines it is the story of the new and modern missile Navy [Music] [Music] [Music] I gotta fight look at Sunday as control over like have you under positive control you're cleared on the course or you are in the combat Information Center of a nuclear-powered attack carrier Enterprise this is the nerve center for a carrier task force who ships aircraft and submarines are spread for miles across the surrounding water these are the officers and men of the new Navy communicating in a language all their own dedicated highly trained skilled in the new science of strength through electronics through radar and the guided missile it is a fact of the phenomenal advances in the technology of weaponry that the men in this room through the task force around them have the capability to deliver many times more firepower than all the bombs and guns of World War 2 put together at the same time development of the rocket-powered missile provides the ability to deliver this firepower farther faster and more accurately than would have seemed possible only 20 or so years ago in terms of technological progress man's accomplishments during the past 20 years have far surpassed both in scope and quantity everything that has gone before in a comparatively few brief years propelled forward by the urgency of the second world war man has taken his most awesome stride into the age of nuclear power and the supersonic guided missile to the United States Navy these years of extraordinary technological advance have led a period of adjustment and rapid modernization unprecedented and it's nearly 200 year tradition of superiority on the sea the result has been a versatile and flexible fleet capable of extending its influence to every corner of the globe [Music] World War two the Navy is engaged on two oceans and its death struggle with the Axis powers [Music] basically many of the weapons at work are refinements of the weapons developed for the First World War ships guns are bigger and more effective than ever with heavier armor and highly improved fire control mechanisms but the basic principle has not changed since 1910 the torpedo after extensive development in the 20s and 30s is a deadly weapon against enemy shipping [Music] the primary weapon used against the stalking submarine is the depth charge first introduced in the United States Navy just prior to World War one but in these war years of the early 40s one major difference over the past has become apparent much of the time the eyes of the sailor aboard ship are turned upward the newest weapons are those designed to meet the threat from the skies [Music] the aircraft carrier with its brood of fighters and bombers emerges as a potent new weapon air power has become a decisive factor in sea power [Music] even before the beginning of World War two the importance of rocket power and the role that wood Sunday play and military application had been apparent to a very few visionaries in the United States dr. robert h goddard shown in these rare historical films is today recognized as the world's foremost pioneer of modern rocketry as early as 1914 he is at work on plans for a liquid fuel rocket to burn gasoline and liquid oxygen dr. Goddard's writings published by the Smithsonian Institution or to become the basis for practically all future rocket research throughout the world under his leadership an American group in 1926 develops the first usable rocket powered by liquid propellants in 1930 they build a rocket which flies to a speed of 500 miles per hour later in the early forties the Navy will call dr. Goddard out of retirement to take advantage of his expert knowledge and experience still the implications of Goddard's work are appreciated by only a few men in the United States whose imaginations are fired by the future possibilities of the rocket engine in the 1930s a handful of dedicated men found the American rocket society pay for their experiments out of their own pockets [Music] but across the Atlantic others give rocketry a higher priority even during the thirties the German government has started an official development program for exploration in the field of rocketry Fritz Von Opel and other German scientists and technicians are working night and day in an effort which in a few short years will give the world its first staggering look into the future of the missile and rocket powered flight the culmination of the intensive German effort takes the unsuspecting world by surprise in the summer of 1944 the German v1 launched from the continent crosses the channel falls upon London the v1 is soon followed by the v2 the v2 is a 28,000 pound monster driven at 3,600 miles per hour by a liquid propellant rocket engine before the war is over more than 3000 vetos rained down on England and Belgium later some say that the Germans all-out effort in rocket research came very close to changing the outcome of the Second World War but now the United States is moving forward the war and the government's awareness of Germany's advanced rocketry have moved the Armed Services to embark on formal rocket research November 1941 in an event recorded only by these still photographs representatives from the Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics witnessed the firing of the first regenerative ly cooled liquid fueled rocket engine it has been designed and built by rocket pioneer James H Wilde with the help of his fellow members in the American rocket society a few weeks after the successful firing Wilde and his associates have formed reaction motors America's first rocket engine company they set to work developing the Navy's first liquid propellant rocket motors the Navy industry team begins to formulate the mold which will produce the Missal Navy during the war years many of the forerunners of today's advanced missiles are first conceived with larger aircraft meeting increased range for heavier loads the Navy finds an immediate need for rocket power jato rocket assisted takeoff reduces takeoff distance for Navy patrol planes by as much as 60% [Music] the first Rockets are introduced in the fleet they are small solid fuel not guided but their effectiveness proves that Rockets have come to stay the Navy's work on missile guidance produces the first fully automatic air-launched guided missile ever used by anybody in combat the bat is a glider that carries a 1,000 pound bomb and uses active radar homing one important thing is lacking propulsion but in the years following the war the pioneering development programs begin to bear fruit the first marriage of rocket power with guidance comes in the gorgon the 350 pound thrust liquid rocket engines for Gorgon become the basis for a larger 620 pound thrust rocket engine developed for lark lark marks a milestone in the United States missile development it is the first missile to be produced in quantity the first United States guided missile to come within lethal range of an aircraft target most firings take place at the newly commissioned naval air missile test center Point Mugu California others are fired at sea from the Navy's missile research ship USS Norton Sound the knowledge gained from the lark program in the areas of guidance stability launching and control will be invaluable in other programs yet to come the Navy industry team is also successful in the development of the famous 20,000 pound thrust liquid rocket which is used in all flights of the Viking research rocket it blasts the Viking to an altitude record of 158 miles in 1954 [Music] meanwhile in experiments like this one shown in slow motion the Navy forges ahead in the development of solid fueled engines the success of Navy industry efforts makes it practical to use solid propellants in a variety of ship-launched missiles including those which require the use of large boosters these solid fueled engines are of special importance to the bumblebee program established by the Navy the bumblebee program concentrates on the development of surface-to-air anti-aircraft missiles and produces the terrier the world's first guided missile to become operational in a fleet today there are more than a dozen missiles either operational in the fleet or on the way each with its own specialized job to do advances in the state of the rocket missile art in recent years have built in performance accuracy and reliability that were never before possible in tactical weapons systems bigger later this is Sundance control over later you're now passing checkpoint x-ray your target there's zero to five fair to proceed on your run into the strike zone over this is bullpup a a deadly accurate air-to-surface weapon first of a new breed of tactical missiles descended from the dive bomb bullpup employs a prepackaged liquid propellant engine completely assembled and loaded at the factory a prime concern to today's Navy is its role in amphibious warfare one of Bullpups primary missions is to provide close accurate air support for troops on the beach from a standoff distance far enough away so that the aircraft is not within range of enemy small-arms fire after it is launched it is guided by the pilot all the way to the target [Music] the possibility of the brush fire type war capable of erupting at any trouble spot throughout the world gives the combat ready marine and the Navy a special job to do with tactical air support from bullpup the job can now be done more effectively than ever before to other Navy air-to-surface tactical rockets also provide effective ground support the 2.75 inch general-purpose rocket used either from air to ground or air to air Zuni a simple and expensive weapon with excellent kill capabilities zuny's can be carried on a wide range of combatant aircraft of the Navy and Marine Corps with a variety of different warheads [Music] 10:35 roger ID 1 check track 1035 4 friendly Roger another important mission of the carrier-based aircraft of course is to provide protective combat air patrol over the task force at sea this is accomplished with the help of the Navy's tactical air-to-air guided missiles this is one of them Sidewinder a homing missile designed to destroy high-performance fighter aircraft and bombers it is a heat seeker it senses the targets hot exhaust and follows it to the source Sidewinder used by the Chinese nationalists at komoi in 1958 is the first guided missile to have destroyed an aircraft in actual combat an advanced version will be faster with longer range and an improved guidance system NATO iff track 1035 negative Dean deep TMT track 1035 negative iff Hostel Roger tidy one change him to a hostel Roger DDT and T's now hostile right now what you're tracking on them but we make an intercept with cash station - this is Sundance control I have a bogey track one zero three five closing vector one six zero for bogey take angel sporty over on the vertical plotting board a complete picture of the air defense situation for the task force is kept up to the minute the enemy aircraft track ten thirty five is now plotted cap station two is assigned to the intercept station two your buggy southeast sixteen takes beat one point two station 2 buggy heading three four zero indicating 1.0 1.0 [Applause] station two one steady buggy dead ahead two over Oh this way another air-to-air missile Sparrow 3 has even more features in its paper it is an all-weather round-the-clock weapon which can attack its target from any angle even head-on Sparrow accelerates to well over 1500 miles per hour and homes on the target despite any evasive attempts to escape defense against air attack is also provided by missile armed service ships in the field of surface-to-air missiles the Navy has equipped many ships carriers cruisers frigates and destroyers with the products of the bumblebee development program these are the tactical anti-aircraft missiles Talos terrier and tartar this is Alpha Delta Rodger buzzers free track 1051 over in the combat Information Center the fire control zones of the surrounding missile armed ships are carefully plotted an enemy aircraft entering one of these missiles zones is assigned as a missile target the largest of the surface-to-air missiles is too large to fit on ships smaller than cruisers it is Talos a missile with a range of more than 65 miles against extreme high-altitude targets after a solid fuel rocket liftoff Talos is propelled by ramjet versatile smaller cousin to Talos is terrier which can be carried on most combatant ships including the Navy's new guided missile frigates terrier is an intermediate-range solid propellant guided missile which is automatically loaded trained and fired in a matter of seconds destroy our type ships such as the Navy's newest DDG destroyers and guided missile escort ships are armed with the third member of the anti-aircraft family tartar tartar is a compact but sophisticated weapons system with an extremely fast reaction time which has made it highly effective against all types of air targets Victor this is alpha della scrub attract 1051 buzzer splash Julian ASW anti-submarine warfare the special province of naval forces recent years have brought great advances in the range and capability of submarine detection and tracking equipment thanks to rocket propulsion to new and his submarine weapons capable of matching this increased capability have joined the fleet for surface ships ass rock is a great advance in the state of the ASW art ass rock is more than just a missile it is a complete weapon system it receives detection data on enemy sub evaluates and calculates its position speed and depth and prepares the system for firing the asteroid payload is either a depth charge or an acoustic homing torpedo the missile is launched by a solid propellant rocket then follows a ballistic path to the target area one of the most dramatic achievements in ASW technology of recent years has been the perfection of the submarine as a hunter-killer of other enemy submarines operating in the same environment as its target the submarine enjoys many advantages over surface ships in the transmission and detection of sound as the primary ASW weapon for these hunter killers the Navy is introducing one of the newest and most sophisticated weapon systems in the fleet sub sub rock solid propellant engine is the first rocket powerplant ever designed to be fired underwater in actual use the sub rock sonar and computer electronics detect a submarine target many miles away compute its course and speed and prime the missile for firing [Music] the missile is launched from a standard torpedo tube it's rocket motor ignites in the water and propels it up through the water and into the air after the missile is up to speed the motor separates and the weapon continues on its ballistic course to the target position where it enters the water and explodes today the nuclear-powered submarine armed with a hypersonic Polaris missile has suddenly assumed the position of unprecedented importance as one of our nation's foremost deterrent retaliatory strategic weapons fast maneuverable fitted with the finest most up-to-date equipment operational on the oceans of the world the nuclear-powered submarine is elusive and virtually invulnerable capable of outstanding endurance it can stay submerged for long periods of time moving swiftly beneath the surface constantly changing position concealed from detection or surprise attack far from our own nation shores and population centres it carries with it the 30,000 pound fleet ballistic missile Polaris largest missile of our missile Navy [Music] unlike the smaller tactical Navy missiles Polaris stands as one of America's leading strategic weapons a powerful deterrent capable of reaching any would beat aggressor in any corner of the world these then are the advances of two important decades in the dynamic advent of naval rocketry of extraordinary change and growth from the dive-bomb - Bulba from the depth charge to a strong from the gun the shell to the rocket the missile the progress that has been made in naval missiles and rocketry since those dark days right after Pearl Harbor when a small group of men set out to build the Navy its first liquid propellant rocket engine has been almost phenomenal today the results can be seen in the armament aboard almost every ship of the fleet from this mighty attack carrier mobile versatile the backbone of naval striking power to the ships of the task force which surrounds it and in the aircraft which fly above them and yet the most remarkable thing may be that this is just the beginning with each advance in the state of the art today's operational weapons are modified improved and at the same time the spirit of exploration and experimentation which is made possible the party of naval rocketry today will continue to provide new concepts new knowledge to produce better more efficient weapons for the missile Navy of tomorrow you [Music]