Norton Sound (AVM 1) - Naval Cruise Book

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WSWSESNUBTDNSUUND There are those who will argue that the N and S in NSWSES are for NORTON SOUND. The argu- ment is not without merit. The Station and the ship have been inseparable during the past 23 years as the Navy's most modern surface combat systems moved from drawing board to fleet operation. And for much of the 13 years preceding the establishment of NSWSES in .Iuly 1963 NORTON SOUND was involved in the test- ing and evaluation ofthe Terrier and Tartar missile systems--two-thirds of the Navy's original 3-Ts which launched NSWSES into the world. NORTON SOUND has well-earned the reputa- tion as a 'ffloating proving groundl' for surface combat sytems. Terrier and Tartar were the first: Basic Point Defense, the MK 86 Fire Control Sys- tem, the lightweight 5-inchf54 caliber gun, AEGIS and the Vertical Launching System followed. The first ofthe Navy's surface missiles to be tested from the decks of NORTON SOUND was the Ter- rier. The ship underwent a four-month overhaul in San Francisco Naval Shipyard in the fall of 1950 to prepare for Terrier tests. During the overhaul new launching, stowage handling and control equip- ment, including radars, were installed. Evaluation of the Terrier and later Tartar missiles continued until 1958. Some of the early test and evaluation programs did not survive the decks of NORTON SOUND. Typhon was named for a fierce legendary Greek monster with 100 heads. The system was designed to provide the fleet with a greatly improved anti-air warfare capability, an offensive capability for engaging enemy fleet units and conducting long-range bombardment. ln 1962 NORTON SOUND underwent a major modification for the Typhon Missile System. This entailed a two-year decommissioning period at Bal- timore, MD, during which another deck level, the 05 level, was added and the Typhon's dome-shaped phased-array type radar was placed above the new level. Wrote reporter John B. O'Donnell Jr. in an August 1964 edition ofthe Baltimore Morning Sun, For months the NORTON SOUND has domi- nated the waterfront in Fairfield with its huge cylin- drical 'stack' described by some as something which resembles a 'giant floating incineratorf -

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Other descriptions include a 'homesick light- house' and a fgiant beer can.' f'Actual1y, the huge structure contains a mass of electronic equipment. The main principles of the Typhon weapons sys- tems were conceived by the Johns Hopkins Univer- sity's Applied Physics Laboratory. The prototype Typhon system in NORTON SOUND was designed and built by the Westing- house Electric Corporation. The Typhon testing and evaluation program was terminated in November 1965 and the giant 153-ton radar was removed at Long Beach Naval Shipyard. Typhon was ahead of the available technology. However, its concept lives today in the AEGIS Combat System, and many of the engineers who worked on the concept at the Applied Physics Laboratory and Westinghouse laterjoined NSWSES and harnessed their experience and knowledge to on-going programs. Captain William A. Arthur, who served as NORTON SOUND's commanding officer during the Typhon project was commanding officer of NSWSES from 1969 to 1972. He is one of several naval officers who have been assigned both in NORTON SOUND and at NSWSES. During the closing days of the Typhon program, NORTON SOUND began testing the Seasparrow missile, later to become the weapon of the Basic Point DefensefNATO Seasparrow systems. The first Seasparrow was successfully fired from NOR- TON SOUND in 1965. The beginning of the SeasparrowfBasic Point Defense Surface Missile System tests in 1965 brought the first big influx of NSWSES engineers and tech- nicians on to the decks of NORTON SOUND. Sta- tion personnel have remained on NORTON SOUND through the years in support of the Navy's leading surface missile projects and test and evaluation of related equipment. Experimental programs carried out during 1966 to 1968 included a digital controlled launcher, Pho- enix infra-red radar, infra-red countermeasures and a ring-laser triad gyro system. The Navy's new lightweight 5-inch 54 caliber gun was installed on the foredeck of NORTON SOUND in June 1968 for technical and operational evalua- tion testing supported by NSWSES. This compact rapid-fire weapon known as the Mark 45 was the first new major gun system produced by the United States since World War ll. The system is installed in 60 ships and at eight training commands today. 7 A ,1 I ne 1985 change of command ceremony with Captain William A Arthur, left, being relieved by Captain J.H. Behl. Vice Admiral E T. Reich is at far left. NORTON SOUND underway in 1967 with Basic Point DefenS0 Missile System launcher on stern. S i ll il it F L ll 5 ,. H if ' 'A' ,