Abandoned Quarry Project Secret Tests Aimed to Protect the Undersea Eyes of Atom-Powered Missile Submarines
By ARTHUR A. RILEY
Nortronics of Norwood (a division of Northrop Corp.) is on the threshold of perfecting a new submarine radome for survival under the smashing impact of high seas.
Designed for operation in the nation’s new fleet of A-powered, Polaris-missle-equipped subs, the radome provides the housing for the antenna for a radiometric sextant that virtually makes the submersible Argus-eyed-enabling it to pierce bad weather conditions and “shoot the sun.” Unlike the individual navigational observation and computation of the last 150 years, today it is done mechanically.
Basically, this device is a radio telescope for underseas operation. The sextant has the faculty for locking in on X-band radio emission from the moon, the sun and eventually other stars in the heavens. Radio signals are constantly given off by the sun, moon, stars and other celestial bodies.
The role of the radome for such experimental efforts aboard Uncle Sam’s under-sea is far too massive for laboratory research. As a result, it was found necessary to conduct such tests in the wide open spaces. The company is utilizing an abandoned quarry at a remote and undisclosed site in the Massachusetts area. At this location, operated by Allied missile-launching bases is to protect the saucer-like antenna dish mounted atop a stainless steel mast. The mast is directed by an automatic system below decks.
The sensitive receivers which pick up the celestial signals are supplied by the Ewen-Knight Corp. of Natick. “Doc” Ewen who heads this concern, one-time Harvard astronemer and scientist, gained fame in this field through his research efforts and pioneering in radio astronomy as well as in the development of receivers which have picked up distant signals that have been heading for this planet for more than 3000 years.
Another revolutionary navigational device for subs that Nortronics Precision Products is now engaged in putting on the finishing touches is the design and development of an automatic periscope drive that “shoots the stars” while the submarine is running submerged.
But there is a distinct air of mystery surrounding the testing of the radome.
The equipment necessary for such experimental efforts is far too massive for laboratory research. As a result, it was found necessary to conduct such tests in the wide open spaces.
The company is utilizing an abandoned quarry at a remote and undisclosed site in the Massachusetts area. At this location, operated by Allied Research Associates, a huge, 40-foot steel pendulum has been ruggedly hinged to the sheer cliff of the quarry.
Scientists on the concern’s research staff pointed out that the water of the quarry provides laboratory-like stillness plus the great depth necessary for full-scale tests of a device that will encounter the rigors of rough weather above and below the sea. The pendulum serves as a device for plunging the radome into the water (as if it were being struck by heavy seas).
In discussing the radio sextant, company officials asserted that it also will provide corrections for errors due to gyro drift in the craft’s inertial system.
Thus, the combination—the ship’s inertial navigation system and the electronic sextant — will provide A-powered, Polaris-firing subs with an accurate all-weather navigational system.
The data obtained through such devices is fed into a computer which, after digesting the all-over input, automatically comes up with the true positioning of the submersible.
Nortronics Division of Northrop Corporation operates three plants of the Precision Products Department in Norwood. This local group also supplies inertial guidance components for the Navy’s Terrier and Tartar missiles, the USAF’s F-106 supersonic fighter, and the Army’s Nike- Zeus which may become our first anti-missile missile.
The division also maintains an Electronic Systems and Equipment Department in Hawthorne, Calif., and a Systems Support Department in Anaheim, Calif.
In Norwood, the Precision Products Department comprises the former Military Products Division of the American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Corporation—recently acquired by Nortronics’ parent organization— Northrop Corporation.
(All articles originally published in the Norwood Messenger)
