lee is Studied By Navy-Kodiak
Planes Based Here Participate
s.f - ... ... - ,
I Editor's Nate; The following article appealed in the Ladd Air
Force Base (Fairbanks newspaper, “Midnight Sun”, last month.
It is reprinted hei^e to' teirof one of the many roles played by the
Navy in its varied Alaskan operations.)
Ladd Air Force Base, Fairbanks
in at Ladd with a mission unlike
airmen know. “Patron 19,” code
•
roti, settled a detachment here
last spring of. “Neptune” patrol
'planes from the squadron now
stationed at Kodiak. Flying over
north Alaska waters during the
summer and early fall, the squad
ron and accompanying U. S. Navy
T
—(delayed)-The Navy has moved
anything tjjg* local soldiers and
name forV$he Navy patrol squad
Hydrographic Office representa
tives gather ice data which is re
layed to military supply ships in
the area/
The Navy’s primary mission in
connection with construction of
the DEW (Distant Early Warn
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"Pick” Woods appearing
Fri.-Sat. nites— Sun. Afternoons
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See Curley for that haircut
Liquor Store
Also We (^ashPay Cheeks
3111 til 31«1
ing) lineharbeen supply and r%
supply of the sites. The joint ml
. lila^-civiltan "pinBd^frt has now as
sumed operatfoitaT status. Before
another winter, the Navy, using
its own aldng with Coast Guard,
merchant marine, and Army ves
sels, must stock the remote loca
tions.
In the supply operation, the
Neptunes, stenciled distinctively
“VP-19”, fly north from Ladd over
the Arctic Ocean from the Bering
Straits to Cape Bathurst. A Navy
aerographer’s mate, trained in
ice reconnaissance, accompanies
the daily flights “over the rocks.”
The aerographer sits in the
bubble nose of the Neptune and
records data from ice observations
as the plane flys low over the
ocean. Degree of ice concentra
tion is expressed in terms of
tenths of total coverage. Charac
ter of the ice—whether slush,
brash, blocks, floes or fields—is
plotted by the aerographer. Deads
in the ice are charted. If a ship is
passed during the flight, the ice
data conditions along the ship’s
course is radioed directly from
the plane to th£ship.
When the plane returns each
evening to L^ild, the Navy Hydro
^faphic Office ice forecaster here
Evaluates ‘ and refines the data
-gathered. Charts are made in the
! Hydrographic- Office unit of the
iee -location and condition.
In addition to charting present
location, characteristics and cov
erage of the ice, predictions on
coming nature of the ice are made.
Factors such as past studies and
charts of ice movement and condi
tion, daily wind velocity and di
rection over the ice, and to some
extent water currents, are com
pared with the day’s ice chart
to prepare prediction charts.
The chart of the day'3 ice con
ditions, the prediction chart, and
a detailed word description are
radioed to Fleet Weather Central
at Kodiak. From sKodiak the infor- •
mat ion is communicated to all Na
vy ships in the area, and primarily
to those engaged in re-supply of
the DEW line. The navigational
value of the ice data in plotting
courses to avoid ship and convoy
delay and avert collision damage
is incalculable. The USS Eldorado,
now in north Alaska waters and
a communications center, is the
flagship for the supply operations.
Hydrographic representatives alse
accompany the; flagship for sur
face, , evaluate \
uiiwuiuig u,c ujpurui.
The data is forwarded from Ko
diak to Washington* p. C„ whore
ait the U. S. Navy Hydrographic
Office five-day and long range 35
day ice reports are sent nut on
ar worldwide basis. In addition tp
current use, the data is logged
for research pr o j ects in i ice
movement, quality and quantity,
being conducted constantly by
Navy Scientists. ?
Mr; Walter W. White, a Hydro
graphic Office oceanographer at
Ladd,: has emphasised that, while
the United States' interest in ice
has" grown only recently and in
particular with the construction
of the DEW line, research and
study by other countries is histo
WRJTEIN
NICK FROST
/ ;• FOR ' f
City Magistrate
GENERAL ELECTION - )
TUESDAY* OCTOBER 1
Paid political advertisment
Tic. Mr. White stated that the
Russians, in searching for meahie ;
ports and attempting to ship along
their vast northern coastline, have 1
long been concerned with Arcttotl
ice. 1
Navy operations at Ladd are ;
divided into two primary areas.
1'
me squadron van.
fisting of four planer operates a
‘taxi” service for the second sc#*
;ion» the hydrographic unit. The
.^drographic unit sends an aero
jrapher and sometimes a photo*
jrapher on each fltghfc* While the
(Continued To Page 5)
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