Research for Attacking

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The Wartime Diversion of U.S. Navy Forces in Response to Public Demands for Augmented Coastal Defense
November 1, 1989
The Soviet Union might choose to operate a small number of nuclear-powered attack submarines in U.S. coastal waters during a war with the United States. The effects of such operations on U.S. public opinion could require the U.S. Navy to redeploy Navy assets away from forward operations to augment coastal defenses. During past conflicts, American military forces have, in fact, been diverted from other missions precisely to counter perceived threats to the Continental United States (CONUS). In some instances, the diversion was driven less by a public outcry for reassuring defensive measures. This paper examines the U.S. experience with threats to CONUS or coastal waters during four wars (the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II). It attempts to place real, present concerns about the public's possible future reaction to Soviet nuclear-powered attack submarine operations off the U.S. coasts within a broader historical context.
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TRAIL: A SHIP-TRAILING MODEL
September 1, 1982
This Research Contribution describes a methodology for assessing enemy ability to trail friendly ships at sea. It consists of four parts. The first part treats the search for a lost quarry by shipborne helicopter or long-range reconnaissance aircraft. The second describes a Markov model yielding the fraction of time the ship is free of trail. The third part estimates enemy aircraft requirements to achieve specific search results. The last part presents and documents an APL program, TRAIL, that performs all required calculations.
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ON FUZING GEOMETRY
August 1, 1974
The general problem of hitting a moving target with fragments ejected from a gun projectile is solved, and algebraic relationships of the solution are presented. The problem is posed and solved in the context of a proximity fuzed gun-launched projectile intercepting an airborne target. Solutions are presented for both the case in which the ejected fragments do not suffer velocity decay and for the case in which decay occurs. Sample problems are solved and graphical representations of the solutions are given.
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ANTISUBMARINE WARFARE IN WORLD WAR II
June 1, 1974
This report on Antisubmarine Warfare (ASW) represents a compromise between two major aims, to produce a unified summary of the events and problems of the antisubmarine war on the one hand, and to illustrate the scientific evaluation of naval operations on the other. The approach is fundamentally historical on both accounts.
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SOME FACTORS AFFECTING THE FEASIBILITY OF VERY LONG RANGE BOMBING FROM NORTH AMERICAN BASES
September 1, 1949
The relative capabilities for the delivery of bombs to USSR target areas circa 1950 are estimated for typical medium and heavy bombers - the B-36, B-50, and B-47. The effects of navigation errors, bombing accuracy, diversionary raids, and hours of darkness are discussed. These measures are combined to compare the relative suitability of aircraft types and flight plans, and to provide rough estimates of force requirements for conventional or atom bombing campaigns. Measures of the economic cost, and the cost in strategically critical aviation fuel, per ton of bombs delivered, are compared for the various aircraft, flight plans, and refueling plans.
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