Edward C. Whitman’s extraordinary account tracing the evolution of SOSUS [Sound Surveillance System], spanning many decades, was and is a remarkable example of both U.S. scientific experimentation and user domain application. I am indebted, as are others, to the article’s publication and release.

I have felt for some time that the Navy’s Undersea Surveillance Systems story, as your article portrays it, truly conveys the enduring legacy of a most important chapter that began with the Cold War but certainly does not and will not end there.
I should also mention that in 1951 I worked down the hall from then-Lt. j.g. Joe Kelly, who was mentioned in the article, at the Navy Department’s Sonar Design Branch but did not, understandably, know what he was doing at the time.

Jerry Spigel

 

Mr. Spiegel,

Thank you for taking the time to write.

This piece [“SOSUS: The Secret Weapon” of Undersea Surveillance,” UNDERSEA WARFARE, Winter 2005], was Dr. Whitman’s final article for the UNDERSEA WARFARE Magazine.  He was the last remaining “plank-holder” on the magazine, having been part of the original editorial team that launched the magazine in late 1998.

You may be interested to learn that an expanded version of the article you enjoyed will constitute a chapter in a comprehensive history of anti-submarine warfare (ASW) that Dr. Whitman is working on with U.S. naval affairs expert Norman Polmar, who has contributed several articles to UNDERSEA WARFARE Magazine. The book will cover the whole evolution of the ASW business from about 1900 to the end of the 20th century. It is planned to be published in late 2006. Look for it!