ARL: CORSAIR - Reference Material

The principal sources are:-

 
 

The first thing to note is that the information contained in these ARL reports was limited to a very few; just those who would receive a copy by right i.e. the lords and masters! With the temperature of the Cold War plummeting this is not at all surprising.

Clearly the Superintendent didn't write the Annual Reports, and the associated (separately published) Supplements, himself. He tasked his Group Leaders who in turn tasked their Section Leaders to produce 'words' for the report on their particular work area. Regrettably the Annual Reports and Supplements are depersonalised to the extent that not even the Superintendent's name is given.

Information Cross-reference - extracts of pages of the source documents are displayed in separate windows
Topic Location
Reason for AES Unst; Background to provision of US array for main ARL trials Annual Report 54-55 Supplement: INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY  - page 2 - view
Discussions with DUSW[1] Admiralty Board approval for shore station; Selection of site Annual Report 54-55 Supplement: 6. NEW STATION AT UNST, SHETLANDS - page 14 - view
Timescale for new building & laying cables with assistance from Air Ministry contractors; Overview of experimental equipment for preliminary investigations at AESU. Annual Report 54-55 Supplement: 6. (cont) - page 15 - view
Position for experimental array; DUWM[2] responsibility for laying array & cables; Initial cable laying work & timnescale. Annual Report 54-55 Supplement: 6. (cont) - page 16 - view
Soundings in Burra Firth for sea cable to land Annual Report 54-55 Supplement: 6. (cont) - page 17 - view
Trial to investigate position for a permanent listening array i.e. Sonar 191; Cost of sea cable; Array design considerations / limitations. Annual Report 54-55 Supplement: 7. PROPAGATION INVESTIGATIONS - page 18 - view
Shetland - Faroe Trough profile Annual Report 54-55 Supplement: Figure 19 - view
Contents of report supplement regarding AES Unst Annual Report 56-57 Supplement Contents - view
Major change of policy; U/W equipment faults; Telescoping of R & D; Concentration of trials; End of useful period of trials; Reduced value of trials; Array design factors. Annual Report 56-57 Supplement INTRODUCTION - page 1 - view
Problem of many vessels in area; Overview of information passed to Head of HMUDE - CUDE Annual Report 56-57 Supplement INTRODUCTION - page 2 - view
US LOFAR trials records; Decca Chain 6 Navigator; Decca Two-Range Navigator; Other equipment research; Use of AES Perranporth; Ships & Submarines used in the ARL trials; Use of Coastal Command aircraft from RAF Kinloss. Annual Report 56-57 Supplement INTRODUCTION - page 3 - view
Use of main laboratory; Progress of installation; relaying of US array; Bell Telephone Labs staff install equipment; DICE 1 installation. Annual Report 56-57 Supplement EQUIPMENT AT AES UNST - page 4 - view
Lab equipment description; position of land cable terminal box. Annual Report 56-57 Supplement LABORATORY EQUIPMENT - lower page 4 - view
Lab equipment description (cont); Position of US Bell Laboratory equipment in main lab. Annual Report 56-57 Supplement LABORATORY EQUIPMENT - upper page 5 - view
Photos of the equipment installed in the main lab on first floor of Admiralty Bldg. Annual Report 56-57 Supplement LABORATORY EQUIPMENT:-

  • Figure 1 - view

  • Figure 1 - zoom on US equipment - view

  • Figure 2 - view

  • Figure 3 - view
Use of the Base Hut for early tests & checks of the array; Use of ACS St Margarets for repair of cable damage & junction box. Annual Report 56-57 Supplement REPAIRS TO THE AESU ARRAY - page 6 - view
Array positions & orientation: Oct-Nov 1955; Jan-Feb 1956; use of HMS TIREE & FETLAR - July, August & Oct 1956; technique of determining array disposition. Annual Report 56-57 Supplement TRIALS AT AESU - page 8 - view
Determination of CORSAIR axis of each array; dates of detections trials: THERMOSTAT I-III. Annual Report 56-57 Supplement TRIALS AT AESU - page 9 - view
Exercise NIGHTSHADE; array use; DICE I use. Annual Report 56-57 Supplement TRIALS AT AESU - page 16 - view
Deep-water propagation trials June 1956, Sept 1956, Feb 1957; RRS DISCOVERY II; sites for Sonar 191 arrays. Annual Report 56-57 Supplement PROPAGATION INVESTIGATIONS - page 19 - view
Final work on CORSAIR; Fate of HMSs FETLAR & TIREE; Re-designation of 191 as 191X; 191 handover to ARL; future use of AESU equipment i.e. routine recordings of background noise. Annual Report 57-58 Supplement INTRODUCTION - page 1 - view
THERMOSTAT IV Trial - 27th Nov to 6th Dec 1957 - HMUDE led; ARL assistance during trial using ARL's DICE I signal processor. Annual Report 57-58 Supplement (b) Trail THERMOSTAT IV - page - 8 view

NOTES: 1. DUSW - Directorate / Director / Department of Undersurface Warfare  represented naval bodies involved in underwater warfare e.g. FOSM at senior Naval Staff level; DUSW directly reporting to the Board of the Admiralty. 2. DUWM - Directorate / Director / Department of Weapons (and) Materials; principally based at Bath.

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