Innovation and experimentation in the US Navy: The UPTIDE antisubmarine warfare experiments, 1969-72

Journal of Strategic Studies

Volumn 28, Issue 1, 2005, Pages 77-105

  Angevine, Robert G ^a  

^a Hicks and Associates Inc   (United States)

Author keywords

Anti submarine warfare; Military experimentation; Military innovation

Indexed keywords

WAR;

EID: 17344369712     PISSN: 01402390     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/01402390500032070     Document Type: Review

References (119)

1. I would like to thank Jim Blackwell, Owen Cote, John Fishburn, Christine Grafton, Wayne Hughes, Frank Mahncke, Tom Mahnken, Andrew May, Jeff McKitrick, Lawrence Sondhaus and Dave Titley for their comments on earlier drafts of this article, and John Hodges at the Naval Historical Center for his help locating the necessary documents. Any errors of fact or interpretation are my own.
2. RADM James C. Longino, Jr., Deputy Director for Plans, Defense Intelligence Agency, to John H. Chafee, SecNav, Declassified, 22 Sept. 1971, COMASWFORPAC Personal File, 1971, Box 5, E.P. Aurand Papers, Operational Archives, Naval Historical Center, Washington, DC [hereafter abbreviated NHC]; Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, CNO, to VADM E.P. Aurand, COMASWFORPAC, Declassified, 9 Jan. 1971, COMASWFORPAC Personal File, 1971, Box 5, Aurand Papers, NHC. Captain Robert H. Smith, USN (ret.), has described UPTIDE as 'a showcase for imaginative ASW'. Capt. R.H. Smith, USN (ret.), 'Remembering Admiral Pete Aurand,' U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings (Dec. 1989) p.108.
3. Among the most notable of these works are Barry Posen, The Sources of Military Doctrine: France, Britain, and Germany between the World Wars (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press 1984);
4. Stephen Peter Rosen, Winning the Next War: Innovation and the Modern Military (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press 1991);
5. Bradd C. Hayes and Douglas V. Smith (eds), The Politics of Naval Innovation, Research Report 4-94 (Newport, RI: Strategic Research Department, US Naval War College 1994);
6. Williamson Murray and Allan R. Millet (eds), Military Innovation in the Interwar Period (Cambridge: Cambridge UP 1996);
7. Thomas C. Hone, Norman Friedman and Mark D. Mandeles, American and British Aircraft Carrier Development, 1919-1941 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press 1999);
8. and Owen Cote, The Third Battle: Innovation in the U.S. Navy's Silent Cold War Struggle with Soviet Submarines, Newport Paper No. 16 (Newport, RI: Naval War College Press 2003).
9. Earlier works on military innovation with a naval focus include Vincent Davis, The Politics of Innovation: Patterns in Navy Cases (Denver, CO: University of Denver 1967)
10. and Harvey Sapolsky, The Polaris System Development: Bureaucratic and Programmatic Success in Government (Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP 1972).
11. The definitions of military innovation and experimentation are based on those in John F. Kreis, D. Robert Worley and Dennis J. Gleeson, Jr., A Methodology for Independent Assessment of Advanced Warfighting Experiments (Alexandria, VA: Institute for Defense Analyses 1999) pp.II-3, II-6.
12. D. Robert Worley, Defining Military Experiments (Alexandria, VA: Institute for Defense Analyses 1999) pp.4-7;
13. Dean Bowley, Michael Brennan and Stephen Cook, 'Military Experimentation: A Systems Engineering Approach to Force Development', Proceedings of the 11th Annual International Symposium of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), Melbourne, Australia, 1-5 July 2001, Paper No. 2.3.4, p.4.
14. On the benefits of military experimentation, see Andrew Krepinevich, 'Military Experimentation: Time to Get Serious' (Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments 2000);
15. Anita K. Jones, 'Science, Technology, and Military Experimentation', The Bridge 31 (Summer 2001);
16. and D. Robert Worley, Defining Military Experiments (note 5).
17. In addition to the sources cited earlier, see also Brian McCue, Wotan's Workshop: Military Experiments Before the Second World War (Alexandria, VA.: Center for Naval Analyses 2002).
18. Murray and Millet, Military Innovation in the Interwar Period (note 3) p.2.
19. Williamson Murray has recently suggested that the era from 1872 to 1914 might be more analogous to the current period than the interwar era. Williamson Murray, Looking at Two Distinct Periods of Military Innovation: 1872-1914 and 1920-1939 (Alexandria, VA: Institute for Defense Analyses 2002).
20. Norman Friedman, US Naval Weapons: Every Gun, Missile, Mine and Torpedo Used by the US Navy from 1883 to the Present Day (London: Conway Maritime Press 1983) pp.215-6, 226-9.
21. Norman Friedman, Seapower and Space: From the Dawn of the Missile Age to Net-Centric Warfare (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press 2000) pp.133-47.
22. Ibid. pp.142,173;
23. N. Bradford Dismukes, Jr., The Soviet Naval General Purpose Force, 1967-1972 (U), Secret [Section cited is unclassified], CRC-198 (Alexandria, VA: Center for Naval Analyses, Jan. 1973) pp.1, 4, A-14;
24. Lawrence J. Korb, 'The Erosion of American Naval Preeminence, 1962-1978', in Kenneth J. Hagan (ed.), In Peace and War: Interpretations of American Naval History, 177S-1978 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press 1978) pp.327-46.
25. Cote, The Third Battle (note 3) pp.33-8, 52-6, 62-3.
26. On experimentation in the submarine community, see Frank Andrews, 'The Evolution of SubDevGroup Two', Submarine Review 1 (April 1983) pp.4-17, and Submarine Warfare and Tactical Development: A Look - Past, Present, and Future, Proceedings of the Submarine Development Group Two and Submarine Development Squadron Twelve 50th Anniversary Symposium, US Naval Submarine Base New London, Groton, CT, 20-22 May 1999.
27. Cote, Third Battle (note 3), p.52.
28. Norman Friedman, U.S. Submarines since 1945: An Illustrated Design History (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press 1994) p.109;
29. Cote, Third Battle (note 3) pp.35, 39;
30. Norman Polmar and Jurrien Noot, Submarines of the Russian and Soviet Navies, 1718-1990 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press 1991) p.165.
31. E-mail communication to the author from Bob Styer, CAPT, USN (ret.), former navigator on USS Skipjack and commanding officer of USS Plunger, 23 Dec. 2003;
32. Malcolm Muir, Jr., Black Shoes and Blue Water: Surface Warfare in the United States Navy, 194S-197S, Contributions to Naval History, No. 6 (Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy 1996) p.80.
33. Jan Breemer, Soviet Submarines: Design, Development, and Tactics (Coulsdon, Surrey, UK: Jane's Information Group 1989) pp.91, 103-6, 113, 117, 119;
34. John Jordan, Soviet Submarines, 1945 to the Present (London: Arms & Armour Press 1989) pp.74-84, 103-8;
35. Muir Black Shoes and Blue Water (note 16) pp.74, 115-6, 135-6, 172;
36. Polmar and Noot, Submarines of the Russian and Soviet Navies (note 15) pp.155-6, 166, 177, 186-7, 333-4;
37. Cote, Third Battle (note 3) pp.60-61.
38. Breemer, Soviet Submarines (note 17) pp.117-18;
39. Jordan, Soviet Submarines (note 17) pp.79-83;
40. Polmar and Noot, Submarines of the Russian and Soviet Navies (note 15) p.333;
41. Cote, Third Battle (note 3) pp.60-61.
42. Muir, Black Shoes and Blue Water (note 16) pp.122, 136-7.
43. Capt. Robert H. Smith, 'A United States Navy for the Future,' U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings 97 (March 1971) p.21;
44. Cote, Third Battle (note 3) p.55;
45. Muir, Black Shoes and Blue Water (note 16) p.80.
46. Tom Stefanick, Strategic Antisubmarine Warfare and Naval Strategy (Lexington, MA: Lexington Books 1987) pp.274-81;
47. Cote, Third Battle (note 3) pp. 22-33, 39, 41-3.
48. Cote, Third Battle (note 3) pp.43, 51-3.
49. VADM Turner Caldwell, Director of ASW Programs, to Chief of Naval Operations, 'Comments on COMASWFORPAC's UPTIDE Proposals', Declassified, 11 July 1969, Antisubmarine Warfare Folder, OO Files, NHC; Capt. W.E. Sims to Chief of Naval Operations, 'Brief of Project UPTIDE Presentation to CAB', Declassified, 23 Nov. 1970, Antisubmarine Warfare Folder, OO Files, NHC; R.F. Cross Associates, Sea-Based Airborne Antisubmarine Warfare, 1940-1977, Vol. II, 1960-1977, 2nd edn, Declassified (Alexandria, VA: R.F. Cross Associates 1978) p.102.
50. Wayne P. Hughes, Jr., 'Navy Operations Research', Operations Research 50 (Jan.-Feb. 2002) p. 105;
51. Cote, Third Battle (note 3) pp. 12, 50.
52. VADM E.P. Aurand, 'Speech to Destroyer Conference', Declassified, 22 Sept. 1971, COMASWFORPAC, 1969-1972, Box 8, Aurand Office Files, NHC.
53. Letter to author from John H. Fishburn, CDR, USN (ret.), former UPTIDE project manager, 8 Jan. 2004.
54. A. Smith, 'Remembering Pete Aurand' (note 2) p.108; biographical information from COMASWFORPAC Command History, 1969, Secret [Section cited is unclassified], NHC.
55. Aurand, COMASWGRU ONE, to VADM Thomas F. Connolly, COMFAIRSDIEGO, Declassified, 6 Nov. 1966, COMASWGRU ONE office file, Aurand Office Files, NHC.
56. Aurand to RADM H.L. Harty, Jr., COMASWGRU THREE, 5 Jan. 1967, COMASWGRU ONE office file, Declassified, Aurand Office Files, NHC.
57. Aurand, COMASWGRU ONE, to VADM John L. Chew, COMASWFORPAC, 6 Nov. 1966, Declassified, COMASWGRU ONE office file, Aurand Office Files, NHC.
58. E-mail communication to the author from Bob Styer, CAPT, USN (ret.), former commanding officer of USS Plunger, 23 Dec. 2003;
59. A. Smith, 'Remembering Pete Aurand' (note 2) p.108;
60. VADM E.P. Aurand, 'Anti-Submarine Warfare,' Superintendent's Lecture Series Presentation, Naval Postgraduate School, Declassified, 12 May 1970, COMASWFORPAC, 1969-72, Box 8, Aurand Office Files, NHC;
61. VADM E. P. Aurand, COMASWFORPAC, to VADM Turner F. Caldwell, Director of ASW Programs, Office of the CNO, Declassified, 3 Apr. 1970, COMASWFORPAC Personal File, 1970, Box 5, Aurand Papers, NHC.
62. Aurand, 'Speech to Destroyer Conference' (note 25); RADM E.P. Aurand, COMASWGRU ONE, to RADM Ralph Weymouth, Commander Iceland Defense Force, Declassified, 29 Sept. 1966, COMASWGRU ONE office file, Aurand Office Files, NHC;
63. A. Smith, 'Remembering Pete Aurand' (note 2) p.108.
64. VADM E.P. Aurand, 'ASW in the Pacific,' Declassified, 20-21 May 1970, Tenth NSIA/Navy ASW Conference, Washington, DC, COMASWFORPAC, 1969-72, Box 8, Aurand Office Files, NHC.
65. Aurand, 'Speech to Destroyer Conference' (note 25);
66. Aurand, 'ASW in the Pacific' (note 33).
67. Aurand, 'Anti-Submarine Warfare' (note 31);
68. Cross Associates (note 23) pp.102, 150.
69. RADM E. P. Aurand, 'An Approach to Thinking about ASW Problems', Declassified, [1966] 'An Approach to Thinking about ASW Problems' file, NHC;
70. Wayne P. Hughes, Jr., Fleet Tactics and Coastal Combat (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press 2000) 2nd edn, pp.155, 175, 197, 210-12.
71. Juris Ozols, Passive Defense Aspects of Dispersed Formation Operations under Emcon, Secret [Section cited is unclassified], CRC 184 (Alexandria, VA: Center for Naval Analyses, May 1971), p.1;
72. Hughes, Fleet Tactics (note 36) p.147;
73. Muir, Black Shoes and Blue Water (note 16) pp.8, 39.
74. VADM E.P. Aurand, COMASWFORPAC, to Dr Joel S. Lawson, Jr., Director of Navy Laboratories, 17 April 1972, Declassified, Personal Correspondence, 1970-72, Box 6, Aurand Papers, NHC.
75. Sims to CNO (note 23);
76. Cross Associates (note 23) p.150.
77. I b i d.
78. VADM E.P. Aurand, COMASWFORPAC, to RADM T.D. Davies, Deputy Chief of Naval Material for Development, Declassified, 11 June 1971, COMASWFORPAC Personal File, 1971, Box 5, Aurand Papers, NHC.
79. Aurand to Lawson, 17 April 1972 (note 38).
80. Sims to CNO (note 23);
81. Cross Associates, p.150 (note 23) ;
82. COMASWGRU THREE, Command History, 1969, Declassified, Enclosure 4, p.2.
83. Sims to CNO (note 23);
84. Cross Associates (note 23), pp.150-1.
85. Sims to CNO (note 23);
86. Aurand,'Speech to Destroyer Conference' (note 25).
87. Sims to CNO (note 23);
88. Aurand, 'Speech to Destroyer Conference' (note 25).
89. VADM E. P. Aurand, COMASWFORPAC, to ADM Clarey, CINCPACFLT, Declassified, 16 July 1971, Personal Messages, 1971, Box 6, Aurand Papers, NHC.
90. VADM P. E. Aurand to Dr. Joel S. Lawson (note 38); RADM C. J. Seiberlich, COMASWGRU THREE, to VADM E.P. Aurand, COMASWFORPAC, Declassified, 28 Dec. 1971, COMASWFORPAC Personal File, 1971, Box 5, Aurand Papers, NHC.
91. Seiberlich to Aurand, 28 Dec. 1971 (note 48).
92. Cross Associates (note 23) p.151.
93. Com ThirdFlt, Command History, 1973, pp.16-17, 19, 38;
94. letter to author from John H.Fishburn (note 26);
95. Honolulu Star Bulletin (14 April 1973).
96. Zumwalt to Aurand (note 2); RADM G.P. Steele to VADM E.P. Aurand, COMASWFORPAC, Declassified, 30 Jan. 1972, Personal Correspondence, 1970-72, Box 6, Aurand Papers, NHC; Capt. E.E. Buckwalter, Chief of Staff, COMASWFORPAC, to RADM W.M. Harnish, COMCARDIV SIX, Declassified, 29 Jan. 1970, COMASWFORPAC Personal File, 1970, Box 5, Aurand Papers, NHC.
97. Letter to author from John H. Fishburn (note 26).
98. VADM E. P. Aurand to ADM Clarey, 16 July 1971 (note 47); VADM E. P. Aurand, COMASWFORPAC, to VADM Fritz Harlfinger., CNO's office, Declassified,16 Dec. 1971, and VADM Hal Shear, CNO's office, Declassified, to VADM E. P. Aurand, COMASWFORPAC, 23 Dec. 1971, in Personal Messages, 1971, Box 6, Aurand Papers, NHC.
99. Cote, Third Battle (note 3) pp.38, 54.
100. RADM J.N. Shaffer, COMCRUDESLANT, to VADM B.J. Semmes, Jr., DCNO (Surface), Declassified, 19 May 1971, and T.G. Bell, NUSC, to RADM J.N. Shaffer, COMCRUDESLANT, Declassified, 14 May 1971, in COMASWFORPAC Personal File, 1971, Box 5, Aurand Papers, NHC; J.D. Arnold, Chief of Naval Material, to Commander, Naval Ship Systems Command, Declassified, 15 April 1971, COMASWFORPAC Personal File, 1971, Box 5, Aurand Papers, NHC.
101. Aurand to Davies (note 41).
102. Arnold to Commander, Naval Ship Systems Command (note 56); ADM Clarey, CINCPACFLT, to VADM E.P. Aurand, COMASWFORPAC, Declassified, 20 July 1971, Personal Messages, 1971, Box 6, Aurand Papers, NHC;
103. Smith, 'Remembering Pete Aurand' (note 2) p.108,
104. Cote, Third Battle (note 3) pp.62-3.
105. VADM E.P. Aurand to Dr Joel S. Lawson, Jr., Director of Navy Laboratories, 12 June 1972, Personal Correspondence, 1970-72, Box 6, Aurand Paper s, Operational Archives, NHC;
106. letter to author from John H. Fishburn (note 26).
107. On the artificialities inherent to naval experiments, especially those involving carrier battle groups or submarines, see C. Michael Cornforth, Summary of Battle Force Exercise Defensive Performance - Secret [Section cited is unclassified], CNR 8 (Alexandria, VA: Center for Naval Analyses, June 1980) p.1;
108. and Carlie Martin, Summary of Direct Support Exercise Results, 1970-1979 - Secret [Section cited is unclassified], CNR-1S (Alexandria, VA: Center for Naval Analyses, June 1981) pp.3-4 - 3-6.
109. Telephone interview with John H. Fishburn, CDR, USN (ret.), former UPTIDE Project Manager, 23 Dec. 2003.
110. Dean Bowley, Michael Brennan and Stephen Cook, 'Military Experimentation' (note 5) p.4.
111. VADM E.P. Aurand, 'Presentation to the ASW Symposium,' 11 Nov. 1971, Anti-Submarine Warfare, 1971, SSIC 3360, OO Files, NHC.
112. Worley, Defining Military Experiments (note 5) p.9.
113. VADM I.C. Kidd, Jr., COMFIRSTFLT, to First Fleet General Board, 'ROPEVAL Planning Recs set forth by OEG,' 29 Dec. 1969, SSIC 3500, OO Files, NHC.
114. Telephone interview with John H. Fishburn (note 60).
115. Floyd D. Kennedy, Jr., 'Experimentation: The Key to Transformation,' Undersea Warfare 5 (Fall 2002).
116. Letter to author from John H. Fishbum (note 26).
117. VADM E. P. Aurand, COMASWFORPAC, to ADM Clarey, CINCPACFLT, 11 Dec. 1971, Personal Messages, 1971, Box 6, Aurand Papers, NHC; VADM E. P. Aurand, 'Speech to Destroyer Conference' (note 25); VADM E. P. Aurand, COMASWFORPAC, to RADM P.D. Armstrong, Manager, ASW Systems Project, Declassified, 6 Oct. 1970, COMASWFORPAC Personal File, 1970, Box 5, Aurand Papers, NHC.
118. VADM E.P. Aurand, COMASWFORPAC, to Alton D. Anderson, Litton Systems, Declassified, 24 April 1970, Personal Correspondence, 1970-72, Box 6, Aurand Papers, NHC; Hughes 'Navy Operations Research' (note 24) p.105; VADM E.P. Aurand, 'Presentation to the ASW Symposium' (note 62); Aurand, 'Speech to Destroyer Conference' (note 25); Zumwalt to VADM E.P. Aurand (note 2).
119. VADM E.P. Aurand, 'Memorandum for the Chief of Naval Operations,' Declassified, 6 Nov. 1970, OO Files, Antisubmarine Warfare Folder, 1970, NHC; Zumwalt to VADM E.P. Aurand (note 2); Aurand to Anderson (note 69); VADM E.P. Aurand, COMASWFORPAC, to Alton D. Anderson, Litton Systems, Declassified, 24 April 1970, Personal Correspondence, 1970-72, Box 6, Aurand Papers, NHC. To its credit, the submarine community reportedly used UPTIDE results to improve the hardware, software and training devices for its combat systems. UPTIDE may also have contributed to the first submarine towed passive arrays and the associated signal processing equipment. Telephone interview with John H. Fishburn (note 60); letter to author from Fishburn (note 26).