Hydromechanics Directorate News

After a career leading the modernization of U.S. ship and submarine technology, Dr. William B. Morgan, Head of the Carderock Division's Hydromechanics Directorate, is retiring December 30th with almost fifty years of service. During his career, the Iowa native brought computers into naval engineering, revolutionizing propeller design by shifting from empirical to theoretical, becoming the first in the world to put the theoretical propeller data into a computer. This dramatically reduced propeller noise, enhancing submarine and ship acoustic characteristics. For example, he and his associates developed the highly skewed propeller with its superior vibration and acoustic properties. His largely unheralded work helped the United States win the Cold War. Dr.

Maritime Surveys Ltd., Shoreham, Sussex, U.K., recently took delivery of the first SeaBat 8160 multibeam echosounder system from RESON A/S. The SeaBat 8160 was installed on one of Maritime's survey vessels, the Scotian Shore. Alastair MacDonald, managing director of Maritime Surveys, commented on the success of the sea trials: "The SeaBat 8160 delivered the highest quality multibeam survey data in a swath width of 1,300 meters at 3,000 meters water depth, even when experiencing a near 20 degree roll and 12 degree pitch. The excellent data quality combined with the system's portability makes the 8160 extremely valuable for our operations." During these trials the system was supported by GSE Rentals of Aberdeen who supplied a TSS POS M/V 320 system.

Senior naval officers and government officials will recognize the career of Dr. William B. Morgan in a 10:00 a.m. naming ceremony April 27 at the U.S. Navy's Large Cavitation Channel (LCC). This unique engineering test facility will bear the name of the former head of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division's Hydromechanics Directorate who retired in December after 50 years of service to the nation. The facility will be known as the William B. Morgan Large Cavitation Channel. The ceremony takes place ten years after the April 1991 dedication of the facility. Since that time, the LCC has provided almost 6,000 hours of advanced hydrodynamic and hydroacoustic testing. U.S.

Dr. Stuart D. Jessup has been named Senior Research Scientist in Hydromechanics for the United States Navy. Dr. Jessup, a mechanical engineer, works at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division (NSWCCD) Hydromechanics Directorate in Bethesda. Jessup's contributions to the science and naval engineering of marine propellers has earned Navy and international recognition. Most recently, he received the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award. He has lead the development of new propeller blade design methods that replace the use of standardized blade sections with custom designed section shapes tailored to each specific application. Recently, he developed technology for suppressing tip vortex cavitation inception by unique shaping of the propeller blade tip geometry.

John V. Wehausen, professor emeritus of engineering science at the University of California, Berkeley, and one of the world's leading researchers in hydrodynamics, has died at the age of 92. Wehausen died of congestive heart failure on Oct. 6 at the Kaiser Oakland Medical Center. "Many of us in the marine academic field consider John Wehausen to be a pioneer in marine hydrodynamics," said Ronald Yeung, a UC Berkeley professor of mechanical engineering who chaired the campus's former Department of Naval Architecture and Offshore Engineering and considered Wehausen a mentor. "His background as an applied mathematician allowed him to set the framework for mathematical analysis of important ocean- and ship-related problems.