Six decades of evolution in Underwater Acoustics at the Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington

Professor Joe Henderson of the University of Washington physics department formed the Applied Physics Laboratory during WWII. The lab’s initial efforts were to redesign the magnetic influence exploders used in US torpedoes. One of the lab’s first Underwater Acoustics (UA) successes was development of transducers used in the Bikini Atoll Able test (1946). Those transducers, used to trigger other instrumentation, proved critical. Combining UA and torpedo expertise brought APL-UW to the forefront of tracking range design, construction and deployment in Dabob Bay, Nanoose, and St. Croix in the 1950s and 1960. Understanding the torpedo behavior seen in tracking ranges required measuring both the ocean environment and the acoustics within that environment. Making those measurements, as well as development and testing of models based on those measurements, also became standard operating procedure at APL, led in the 50’s by Murphy and Potter. This blueprint of applied research motivating basic research, and the pursuit of basic research via ocean experiments and high fidelity modeling, continues to this day. The presentation will follow this evolution. APL-UW ocean experiments carried out during that time, as well as notable APL-UW research papers, technical reports, computer codes and textbooks, will be used as guideposts.