The oceans that make up three-quarters
of the Earth's surface are realms of boundless energy, towering grandeur,
and fathomless mystery. These watery worlds have been a source of food,
the birthplace of weather systems that sweep across the continents, pathways
for commerce, and turbulent fields of battle. Understanding the dark, cold
world beneath the sea, the air above it, and the interface of the sea surface
with the atmosphere is the province of Naval Oceanography. Although oceanography
has been recognized as a formal scientific discipline for only 150 years,
the quest for this understanding and its practical application to commerce
and war - often unwitting - goes back much further.
A LOOK AT THE PAST - Early Oceanography
Man's earliest attempts to master the
'great waters' (oceanography) required him to know something more than
just the performance of his ship. History has shown repeatedly that some
understanding of the sea and atmospheric conditions was helpful, if not
vital. Knowledge, for example, of prevailing winds probably aided the success
of the early Polynesians in spreading themselves over a large portion of
the Pacific - but then, these same winds also hindered their return. Early
Arab traders sailed regularly to ports along the Malabar Coast of western
India, to the Moluccas of Indonesia, and even further east, because they
knew enough to time their voyages to match the alternating monsoon winds.
Fifteenth century Portugal became a mighty maritime nation because it lay
closest to the strong, steady pressure of northeast winds - called the
trade winds - which could carry their caravels along the coast of Africa
and on to the riches of India with little effort at the sails. This made
a tiny country great among the world powers. During the 'Age of Fighting
Sail,' when the major European nations contested their fortunes at sea
with great fleets of sailing warships, understanding and exploiting ever-changing
wind conditions were vital to tactical success. 'Seizing the weather gage'
- attacking an enemy fleet from windward - provided an immediate advantage,
and much of the maneuvering that preceded major sea battles was intended
to gain that position. Thus, the history of both exploration and warfare
is filled with examples of "environmental intelligence" and its ultimate
power over the weapons, sensors, and ships of the time. Edward Gibbon,
the great English historian of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
said it best when he noted that, "The wind and the waves are always on
the side of the ablest navigators."
Next
page >America
sets the pace in oceanography
Images and Partial Information Provided
by the United States Navy
©Mary
Bellis |
