Naval Torpedo Station
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The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) is the United States Navy's full-spectrum research, development, test and evaluation, engineering and fleet support center for submarines, autonomous underwater systems, and offensive and defensive weapons systems associated with undersea warfare. It is one of the corporate laboratories of the
Naval Sea Systems Command The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) is the largest of the United States Navy's five "systems commands," or materiel (not to be confused with "material") organizations. From a physical perspective, NAVSEA has four shipyards for shipbuilding, c ...
. NUWC is headquartered in
Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...
and has two major subordinate activities: Division Newport and Division Keyport in Keyport, Washington. NUWC also controls the Fox Island facility and Gould Island. It employs more than 4,400 civilian and military personnel, with budgets over $1 billion. The current entity is composed of many elements of Navy undersea research, particularly acoustics and acoustic systems with weapons research and development history dating to the 19th century. Two major laboratories, in Newport and New London composed the largest elements of what is now Division Newport. Those laboratories were themselves made up of consolidated older laboratories and facilities dating from World War I.


Early history


Newport, Rhode Island

In 1869, the U.S. Naval Torpedo Station was founded in Newport, Rhode Island on
Goat Island Goat Island (or Goat Islands) may refer to: Arts * Goat Island (performance group), a Chicago-based company * ''Goat Island'' (play), ''Delitto all'isola delle capre'', by Ugo Betti Places Australia * Goat Island (Port Jackson) in Sydney Harbou ...
, the site of Fort Wolcott which was built in 1702 and served as an Army fort from 1794 to 1835. During the 1890s, Charles Munroe and
John Bernadou John Baptiste Bernadou (November 14, 1858 – October 2, 1908) was an officer in the United States Navy during the Spanish–American War. Born in Philadelphia, Bernadou graduated from the United States Naval Academy, Naval Academy in 1880. He wa ...
worked at Newport, patenting a formulation of
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colloided with
ether In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group—an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups. They have the general formula , where R and R′ represent the alkyl or aryl groups. Ethers can again ...
and
alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...
which was used as
smokeless powder Finnish smokeless powderSmokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to gunpowder ("black powder"). The combustion products are mainly gaseous, compared t ...
for naval artillery through the two World Wars. The Army adopted the Navy formulation in 1908 and began manufacture at Picatinny Arsenal. A factory was built in 1907 to manufacture steam torpedoes for the Navy. The torpedo factory became a major employer in the Newport area, as Rhode Island congressmen protected it from competition. The Torpedo Station designed the Mark VI magnetic influence fuze for torpedoes during the 1920s. The Naval Torpedo Station researched and tested underwater weaponry through World Wars I and II, creating additional facilities on Rose Island, Fox Island, and Gould Island. In 1951, the station on Goat Island was reorganized:
For the next 15 years, it was the Underwater Ordnance Station, and then the Underwater Weapons Research and Engineering Station until 1970. That year, the Underwater Sound Laboratory from New London, Conn. was combined with the Newport facility to form the Naval Underwater Systems Center or NUSC. In 1992, the command was reorganized as the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Division Newport.


New London, Connecticut

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decade ...
had been the site of World War I sound research since the establishment of the Naval Experimental Station there as a result of meetings between Navy and the Submarine Signal Company, manufacturer of submarine signals as navigation aids and active in underwater acoustics since establishment in 1901, the
Western Electric Company The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A wholly owned subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment ...
and the
General Electric Company The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250 ...
. The companies, under naval supervision had established an acoustical research station at East Point, Nahant, Massachusetts. The Navy, under one of its officers involved in the corporate effort, established the Naval Experimental Station at
Fort Trumbull Fort Trumbull is a fort near the mouth of the Thames River on Long Island Sound in New London, Connecticut and named for Governor Jonathan Trumbull. The original fort was built in 1777, but the present fortification was built between 1839 and 18 ...
where physicists and engineers, including scientists from nearby universities, worked under the direction of the Special Board on Antisubmarine Devices. Though that laboratory had closed with the end of that war the same criteria and some of the same people advising made New London the logical place to site the East Coast laboratory in response to the Chief,
Bureau of Ships The United States Navy's Bureau of Ships (BuShips) was established by Congress on 20 June 1940, by a law which consolidated the functions of the Bureau of Construction and Repair (BuC&R) and the Bureau of Engineering (BuEng). The new bureau was to ...
, now
Naval Sea Systems Command The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) is the largest of the United States Navy's five "systems commands," or materiel (not to be confused with "material") organizations. From a physical perspective, NAVSEA has four shipyards for shipbuilding, c ...
(NAVSEA), April 10, 1941 request to the National Defense Research Committee to establish both an East and West coast antisubmarine warfare research laboratory. On July 1, 1941 the New London laboratory's establishment got approval with management by
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
for a wide range of antisubmarine warfare work including, passive sonar, ocean acoustics and recording of underwater sounds for that work. In 1944 the
Naval Research Laboratory The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. It was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, applied research, technologic ...
(NRL) directed reorganization of the Underwater Sound Laboratory at New London for peacetime operation consolidating the
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
Underwater Sound Laboratory, which had focused on physics of underwater sound, surface ship sonar and weapons systems, in
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
with the New London laboratory. After recruiting scientists from both efforts the new Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory was established on March 1, 1945. Significant accomplishments during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
included the development of greatly improved surface ship and submarine sonar systems, acoustic homing torpedoes,
sonobuoy A sonobuoy (a portmanteau of sonar and buoy) is a relatively small buoy – typically diameter and long – expendable sonar system that is dropped/ejected from aircraft or ships conducting anti-submarine warfare or underwater acoustic resea ...
s, and acoustic mines. This work contributed greatly to the success against
U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...
s in the
Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allies of World War II, ...
and the near-total destruction of the
Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...
and merchant fleets in the
Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vas ...
.


Predecessor organizations


Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory (NUSL) 1945—1970

In July 1945 the Harvard facility's equipment and many of its personnel were moved to the new Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory, New London. NRL oversaw NUSL until turning over direction to the Bureau of Ships. Navy laboratories were reorganized in 1966 under Director of Naval Laboratories, Naval Material Command, to consolidate expertise and decrease competition among laboratories. The Bermuda Research Detachment, Tudor Hill Laboratory after formation of Naval Underwater Systems Center in 1970, and its
Argus Island Argus Island was an acoustic research tower and platform located on Plantagenet Bank, a guyot about 30 miles southwest of the island of Bermuda. The tower was originally part of the facilities supporting Project Artemis and Project Trident under ...
offshore tower and support/research vessel ''Erline'' were field detachments of NUSL. The laboratory was unique in that it was the only one in the Atlantic to be located adjacent to and have access to an operational Naval Facility of the
Sound Surveillance System The Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) was a submarine detection system based on passive sonar developed by the United States Navy to track Soviet Navy, Soviet submarines. The system's true nature was classified with the name and acronym SOSUS them ...
(SOSUS). Research intensified during the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...
, which was as much a technology race with the
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
s as it was an arms race. The Sound Lab's efforts were key to the further development of both submarine and
anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are typ ...
.


Naval Underwater Systems Center (NUSC) 1970—1992

On July 1, 1970 the Naval Material Command independent laboratories, Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory at New London and the Naval Underwater Weapons Research and Engineering Station (NUWS) at Newport, were administratively combined to form the Naval Underwater Systems Center (NUSC) with headquarters in Newport. The Bermuda Research Detachment, formed by NUSL in 1961, became the NUSC Tudor Hill Laboratory, a major field detachment on formation of NUSC in 1970. In July the next year the
Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center The United States Navy's Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) is a laboratory that performs integrated three-dimensional hydrospace/aerospace trajectory measurements covering the entire spectrum of undersea simulated warfare  ...
(AUTEC) located in the Tongue of the ocean with the main facility on
Andros Island Andros Island is an archipelago within the Bahamas, the largest of the Bahamian Islands. Politically considered a single island, Andros in total has an area greater than all the other 700 Bahamian islands combined. The land area of Andros consis ...
, Bahamas, with a logistics component located at the
Palm Beach International Airport Palm Beach International Airport is a public airport in Palm Beach County, Florida, located just west of the city of West Palm Beach, Florida, United States, which it serves as the primary airport for. It is also the primary airport for most o ...
became a detachment of NUSC. Among the smaller facilities and detachments were the underwater ranges at
Narragansett Bay Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering , of which is in Rhode Island. The bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. Sma ...
and
Rhode Island Sound Rhode Island Sound is a strait of water off the coast of the U.S. state of Rhode Island at the mouth of Narragansett Bay. It forms the eastern extension of Block Island Sound and opens out the Atlantic Ocean between Block Island and Martha's V ...
, field activities at Seneca Lake Facility, New York, Dodge Pond at
Niantic, Connecticut Niantic is a census-designated place (CDP) and village in the town of East Lyme, Connecticut in the United States. The population was 3,114 at the 2010 census. It is located on Long Island Sound, the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant in nearby Waterfo ...
, the Central Test and Evaluation Activity (CTEA), Fort Lauderdale, Florida. NUSC was the lead laboratory in partnership with eight
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nations to for the instrumented Azores Fixed Acoustic Range (AFAR) in the
Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
based on
Santa Maria Island Santa Maria () is an island in the eastern group of the Azores archipelago (south of the island of São Miguel) and the southernmost island in the Azores. The island is known for its white sand beaches, distinctive chimneys, and dry warm weath ...
. The range features three bottom fixed towers high by across set approximately in an equalateral triangle. Two towers are receive only and one is transmit and receive. The principle studies are in acoustic propagation, reverberations and ambient noise. Much of the work involved sonar suites for both submarines and surface vessels; however, other work ranged from improved periscopes, computing, combat control systems, and communications. Illustrating the wide variety of work are some examples: * NUSC continued work begun by its NUSL predecessor on Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) radio commendations with submarines proving communication with in 1963. That system went operational with first use on an attack submarine with in 1976 and for ballistic missile submarines with two years later. * NUSC became the responsible for design of the MARK 113 fire control systems for Polaris/Poseidon ballistic missile submarines after its design proposal for the MARK 113 MOD 9 Conversion Program was chosen over that of the
Naval Ordnance Laboratory The Naval Ordnance Laboratory (NOL) was a facility in the White Oak area of Montgomery County, Maryland. It is now used as the headquarters of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Origins The U.S. Navy Mine Unit, later the Mine Laboratory at t ...
. System development had begun at Newport in 1968 and continued after the formation of NUSC with successful introduction and selection of NUSC for oversight in 1971. * Beginning in 1970 NUSC began work for the Naval Electronics Systems Command (NAVELEX) on tactical towed arrays for use by faster surface ships. That work led to NAVELEX sponsorship of research and development of towed surveillance arrays to augment the fixed bottom SOSUS arrays. That work, in cooperation with the NAVELEX Naval Undersea Center (consolidated with Naval Electronics Laboratory Center in 1977 to become
Naval Ocean Systems Center The Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWARSYSCOM), based in San Diego, is one of six SYSCOM Echelon II organizations within the United States Navy and is the Navy's technical authority and acquisition command for C4ISR (Command, Contr ...
(NOSC)), San Diego, to develop what became the
Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System The AN/UQQ-2 Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS), colloquially referred to as the ship's "Tail", is a towed array sonar system of the United States Navy. SURTASS Twin-Line consists of either the long passive SURTASS array or the Twi ...
. On 2 January 1992 a major consolidation of Navy laboratories resulted in NUSC becoming a part of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center.


Naval Undersea Warfare Engineering Station (NUWES) Keyport

In 1992 Naval Undersea Warfare Engineering Station (NUWES) at Keyport, Washington, became Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), Division Keyport. The station originated with realization that the only torpedo facility was on the Atlantic coast as the Navy increasingly began operating in the Pacific following the
Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...
. The Pacific Coast Torpedo Station was established on
Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...
in 1914. In 1930 the name was changed to Naval Torpedo Station Keyport and in 1978 to Naval Undersea Warfare Engineering Station. Keyport focused on torpedoes and other undersea weapons and in later decades undersea vehicles. Aside from the ranges at Keyport the station operated ranges in California and Hawthorne, Nevada and Hawaii.


Other elements

In the early 1940s a need for calibration and testing of sonar transducers was met by establishing the Underwater Sound Reference Laboratory (USRL). It was headquartered in New York with two field stations. One was at
Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...
and the other was at
Mountain Lakes, New Jersey Mountain Lakes is a borough in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, and a suburb of New York City. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 4,160,Office of Naval Research The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to plan ...
. In 1966 the organization was renamed the Underwater Sound Reference Detachment (USRD) until its closure in 1997. The functions were transferred to Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport, Underwater Sound Reference Division. The Orlando lab was built on the archeological site of Fort Gatlin on the shore of
Lake Gem Mary A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a Depression (geology), basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the World Ocean, oce ...
because the sinkhole-formed lake is very deep. The Orlando lab closed in 1997 due to the
Base Realignment and Closure Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) is a process by a United States federal government commission to increase United States Department of Defense efficiency by coordinating the realignment and closure of military installations following the end o ...
(BRAC) with all its functions moving to Newport. The
Leesburg, Florida Leesburg is a city in central Florida. The population was 20,117 at the 2010 census. As of 2019, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 23,671. Leesburg is in Lake County, between Lake Harris and Lake Griffin, at the head of the ...
deep-water facility at
Bugg Spring Bugg Spring is a second magnitude spring near Okahumpka in Lake County, Florida. The spring has a 400 feet wide pool with little vegetation which goes down to 170 to 175 feet. Its outflow runs north as Bugg Spring Run into the Helena Run from L ...
, established in 1965, remained open. The Orlando building was turned over to civil administration thereafter.


See also

*
Naval Undersea Museum The United States Naval Undersea Museum is a naval museum located at Keyport, Washington. It is one of the 10 Navy museums that are operated by the Naval History & Heritage Command. It sits next to a branch of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. ...
*
Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center The United States Navy's Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) is a laboratory that performs integrated three-dimensional hydrospace/aerospace trajectory measurements covering the entire spectrum of undersea simulated warfare  ...
– AUTEC * Mission Data Interface


References


External links

* * Historical photos of NUWC activities in Newport, from * * * * {{Coord, 41.533067, -71.308751, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark_region:US-RI Systems command installations of the United States Navy United States Navy submarine bases Newport, Rhode Island Newport County, Rhode Island 1869 establishments in Rhode Island Historic American Engineering Record in Connecticut Military installations established in 1869