Ship & Naval

"Enhanced platform and warfighter performance through science and engineering"

This department is focused on

• Providing technologically superior warfighting capabilities for surface, subsurface, and marine ground platforms through high survivability, mission flexibility, and low detectability.
• Providing significant reductions in total lifecycle costs for naval platforms.
• Providing superior undersea weapons technologies that ensure high probability of kill and low probability of counter-kill within an autonomously delivered package
• Providing the technologies required to improve current and facilitate future sea basing concepts of operations.

The department is comprised of three divisions: Ship Systems and Engineering; Undersea Weapons and Naval Materials; and Sea Warfare.

The Sea Warfare Department invests in basic and applied research, and supports advanced technology development leading to improved capabilities for the Department of the Navy. Frequently the application of technological advances developed within this department has a wider influence, such as the other Department of Defense Services and Agencies, as well as U. S. industries. We are committed to actively pursuing programs that provide cutting-edge science and technology in the areas of ship design, construction, and operations.

The scope of the programs supported by the divisions can be characterized as "from nanostructures to aircraft carriers. These programs are focused on materials sciences, chemistry and ship applied physics as they apply to specific ship engineering challenges. Active investigations are being conducted in areas such as structural materials, functional materials, energetic materials, maintenance reduction, environmental quality control, energy generation, energy storage, hydromechanics, signature reduction and control, computational physics, solid mechanics, electromechanics, advanced electrical power systems, damage resistant hull & structures, integrated platform systems, and advanced platform concepts & designs.

Reza & Sintha

‍

Steven J. Dick, Sky and Ocean Joined: The U.S. Naval Observatory, 1830-2000 (Cambridge University Press, 2002), 608 pp. A comprehensive history of the U.S. Naval Observatory, available from Cambridge University Press.

---

Contents

List of Illustrations and Tables

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

---

Prelude - Perspectives and Problems: The Nation, the Navy, the Stars

• 1. History of Astronomy
• 2. History of Science in America
• 3. Navigation and the U.S. Navy

---

Part I: The Founding Era, 1830-1865

Chapter 1 - From Depot to National Observatory, 1830-46

• 1.1 Origins: Goldsborough and the Depot
• 1.2 Struggle: Wilkes and the Capitol Hill Observatory
• 1.3 Success: Gilliss and a Permanent Observatory

Chapter 2 - A Choice of Roles: the Maury Years, 1844-1861

• 2.1 The Setting: Site, Building and Instruments
• 2.2 Settling In: Maury and His Staff in the Formative Years, 1844-49
• 2.3 Astronomy vs. Hydrography: Science, Politics and the Navy in the
  Last Decade of the Maury Years

Chapter 3 - Foundations of the American Nautical Almanac Office

• 3.1 Motives for an American Nautical Almanac
• 3.2 C. H. Davis: Organizing the Almanac and the Almanac Office
• 3.3 Opposition and Success

Chapter 4 - Gilliss and the Civil War Years

• 4.1 Trials and Triumphs
• 4.2 End of an Era

---

Part II: The Golden Era, 1866-1893

Chapter 5 - Scientific Life and Work

• 5.1 Administrative Concerns
• 5.2 Charting the Heavens
• 5.3 Time Balls and Telegraphs: Time for the Nation
• 5.4 Solar Eclipse Expeditions

Chapter 6 - Asaph Hall, the Great Refractor, and the Moons of Mars

• 6.1 The Great Refractor
• 6.2 Asaph Hall and the Moons of Mars
• 6.3 Aftermath: Hall and the 26-inch Refractor after the Discovery

Chapter 7 - William Harkness and the Transits of Venus of 1874 and 1882

• 7.1 Motives and Preparations: The U. S Commission on the Transit of Venus
• 7.2 The 1874 Expeditions and Their Results: Newcomb"s Frustration
• 7.3 The 1882 Expeditions and their Results: The Work of William Harkness

Chapter 8 - Simon Newcomb and his Work

• 8.1 Nautical Almanac Computer and Naval Observatory Astronomer
• 8.2 Superintendent of the Nautical Almanac Office, 1877-97
• 8.3 Newcomb"s Legacy

---

Part III: The Twentieth Century

Chapter 9 - Observatory Circle: A New Site and Administrative Challenges for the Twentieth Century

• 9.1 A New Site: Origins and Development of Observatory Circle
• 9.2 The Battle for Civilian Control
• 9.3 War, Depression and Modernization
• 9.4 Post-War and Space Age Administrative Developments

Chapter 10 - Space: The Astronomy of Position and Its Uses

• 10.1 The Old Astronomy Meets the New, 1893-1927
• 10.2 Attempts at Modernization and Origins of the Flagstaff Station, 1927-57
• 10.3 Positional Astronomy in the Space Age

Chapter 11 - Time: A Service for the World

• 11.1 Universal Time: Harnessing the Earth Clock to 1950
• 11.2 A Variety of Times: Turning Point at Mid-Century
• 11.3 Time Service in the Space Age

Chapter 12 - Navigation: From Stars to Satellites

• 12.1 Chronometers and Nautical Instruments
• 12.2 The Nautical Almanac Office, 1893-1958
• 12.3 From Stars to Satellies: Into the Space Age

Conclusion

Bibliographical Essay

Appendix 1: Sources

Appendix 2: Superintendents and Directors

Appendix 3: Astronomical Instrumentation and Clocks

Appendix 4: Key Personnel

Appendix 5: Key Legislation Reza & Sintha

Founded in 1830 as the Depot of Charts and Instruments, the Naval Observatory is one of the oldest scientific agencies in the country. As a service organization, one of its first tasks was the calibration of ship"s chronometers, which was accomplished by timing the transit of stars across the meridian. In 1855 the astronomical and nautical almanacs were started. From these service-oriented beginnings, USNO continues to be responsive to the fleet, DoD, and national needs through provision of applied astrometry and timing products and services.

Reza & Sintha

The U.S. Naval Observatory performs an essential scientific role for the United States, the Navy, and the Department of Defense. Its mission includes determining the positions and motions of the Earth, Sun, Moon, planets, stars and other celestial s, providing astronomical data; determining precise time; measuring the Earth"s rotation; and maintaining the Master Clock for the United States. Observatory astronomers formulate the theories and conduct the relevant research necessary to improve these mission goals. This astronomical and timing data, essential for accurate navigation and the support of communications on Earth and in Space, is vital to the Navy and Department of Defense. It is also used extensively by other agencies of the government and the public at large.

Reza & Sintha

The U.S. Naval Observatory is one of the oldest scientific agencies in the country. Established in 1830 as the Depot of Charts and Instruments, its primary mission was to care for the U.S. Navy"s chronometers, charts and other navigational equipment. Today, USNO is the preeminent authority in the areas of Precise Time and Astrometry, and distributes Earth Orientation parameters and other Astronomical Data required for accurate navigation and fundamental astronomy. USNO headquarters in Washington, DC is the administrative and scientific hub of Observatory operations and is home to the James Melville Gilliss Library, one of the most complete collections of astronomical literature in the world. USNO operates a remote observing station at Flagstaff, AZ and an Alternate Master Clock Facility at Colorado Springs, CO.

Total Lunar Eclipse over the 12-inch telescope dome with Saturn and
the stars of Leo, imaged by CDR Andrew Lomax, USN, 2008 FEB 21 Reza & Sintha