This article needs additional citations for verification .(August 2013) |
Naval Support Facility Dahlgren | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of Naval Support Activity South Potomac | |||||||
Dahlgren, Virginia in the United States | |||||||
![]() An electromagnetic railgun at terminal range located at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren | |||||||
![]() | |||||||
Location in Virginia | |||||||
Coordinates | 38°19′30″N77°02′00″W / 38.32500°N 77.03333°W | ||||||
Type | Naval Support Facility | ||||||
Site information | |||||||
Owner | Department of Defense | ||||||
Operator | US Navy | ||||||
Controlled by | Naval District Washington | ||||||
Condition | Operational | ||||||
Website | https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Warfare-Centers/NSWC-Dahlgren/ https://ndw.cnic.navy.mil/Installations/NSA-South-Potomac/Installations/NSF-Dahlgren/ | ||||||
Site history | |||||||
Built | 1918Indian Head) | (as Lower Station of the Naval Powder Factory at||||||
In use | 1918 – present | ||||||
Garrison information | |||||||
Current commander | Captain Todd Copeland | ||||||
Garrison | Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division | ||||||
Airfield information | |||||||
Identifiers | IATA: NPY, ICAO: KNDY, FAA LID: NPY | ||||||
Elevation | 18 metres (59 ft) AMSL | ||||||
| |||||||
Source: Federal Aviation Administration [1] |
The United States Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD), named for Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren, is located in King George County, Virginia, in close proximity to the largest fleet concentration area in the Navy. NSWCDD is part of the Naval Surface Warfare Centers under the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). NSWCDD was initially established 16 October 1918 as a remote extension of Maryland's Indian Head Proving Ground used for testing naval guns. The Dahlgren site was named the Lower Station, Dahlgren Naval Proving Ground when it first opened. The location on the Potomac River was specifically chosen for the development of a long ballistic test range on the Potomac River, required for the testing of modern, high-powered munitions. [2]
The NSWCDD employs approximately 4,700 scientists, engineers and support personnel at the Dahlgren organization and more than 350 at NSWCDD DNA. Prior to 2007, Panama City Coastal Systems Station located at the Naval Support Activity Panama City was part of Dahlgren Division, but in 2008, it became its own division within the NAVSEA Naval Surface Warfare Center structure.
The physical base where NSWCDD is located became officially known as the Naval Support Activity Dahlgren (NSA Dahlgren) in 2003 when Naval Installations Command assumed all base operating functions, leaving NSWCDD as an installation tenant, [2] however, the name NSWCDD or NSWC is still commonly used to refer to the base. There are a few other major tenant commands on the base such as the Joint Warfare Analysis Center and the Aegis Training and Readiness Center (ATRC) involved in the training and development for the Aegis Combat System, and training and development for other future shipboard combat systems. NSF Dahlgren was also previously home to Naval Space Surveillance System Command (NAVSPASUR) before that function was transferred to the Air Force in 2004. [3] In 2006, the installation's name was changed to its current iteration of Naval Support Facility Dahlgren when Naval District Washington merged it and Naval Support Activity Indian Head under the combined command of Naval Support Activity South Potomac.
The base is recognized by the Census Bureau as a census designated place (CDP), Dahlgren Center. Its population as of the 2010 census was 599. [4] It is entirely distinct from Dahlgren CDP, to the west.
Dahlgren was established in the spring of 1918 as a Naval Proving Ground. Its recorded first work, the firing of a 7-inch (178-millimetre)/45 caliber tractor-mounted gun, occurred on 16 October 1918, which is recognized as the official founding date. The proving ground was named Dahlgren in honor of Rear Admiral John Adolphus Dahlgren, a Civil War Navy commander, who is the acknowledged "father of modern naval ordnance."
Prior to 1918, the Navy operated a proving ground at Indian Head, Maryland, but it became inadequate as advances in gun designs and ordnance made its range obsolete. During World War I, a range of 90,000 yards (82,000 m) was sought by the Navy to prove its new battleship guns. The range was required to be over water but inside the territorial waters of the United States. The area from Machodoc Creek to Point Lookout on the Potomac River was selected because of its relative straight lines and accessibility. The climate and relative calm of the river were also factors as the Navy sought an ice and rapids free testing area. At the time of Dahlgren's establishment, the area was extremely remote and relatively unpopulated. Thus, to recruit and retain the highly specialized work force required, the Navy promised to supply housing, food and medical services, schools, recreation, and other socially needed infrastructure.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Dahlgren was involved in testing bombsights, including the Norden bombsight, for the Navy's fledgling air forces. But, until World War II, much of the principal work at Dahlgren surrounded the proofing and testing of every major gun in the Navy's arsenal. Most of the work was done at the Main Range Gun Line, which faces down the Potomac River.
During the World War II years, Dahlgren became involved with new computational devices (computers) because of its ordnance requirements. Ground-breaking early computers were sent to Dahlgren to help with ballistic work and other directives, including the Aiken Relay Calculator and the Naval Ordnance Research Calculator (NORC). The computer and ordnance work going on attracted a number of brilliant young scientists and engineers to the area during the war, and some were tapped to help with the ongoing Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb. Two such people include Dr. Norris E. Bradbury, who later became the Director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Deak Parsons, the weaponeer on the Enola Gay, the aircraft which dropped the Little Boy atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945.
In the years immediately after the war, Dahlgren's work force was cut back. But the laboratory's strong computer and ordnance expertise kept the base open and Navy work flowing. Subsequently, the onset of the Cold War and Korea again placed demands for new offensive and defensive ship systems. In 1958, with the former Soviet Union's launching of Sputnik I, a space race began. Dahlgren opened its gates that year to its first tenant activity, the Naval Space Surveillance Center, which selected Dahlgren to be at the center of the laboratory's growing computer advances. It was around this time that Dahlgren became heavily involved with the development of Fleet Ballistic Missiles, later called Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Dahlgren was on the leading edge of naval surface weapons work with programs such as the Tomahawk missile, which improved the Navy's capacity to perform attacks on land targets from a distance that decreased the risk to ships. Dahlgren also was critical in work to protect Navy ships from enemy missile and air attacks with programs such as the Standard missile and the Aegis Combat System. That work continues as of 2017, along with the electromagnetic railgun, DDG 1000, Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), and Chemical Biological and Radiological Defense.
Because of the laboratory's broad-based growth in research and development and with its new missions, Dahlgren's name officially changed to the Naval Weapons Laboratory in 1959. It was later changed to the Naval Surface Weapons Center in 1974 with the merger of the former Naval Ordnance Laboratory at White Oak, Maryland. In 1987, the name was changed again to the Naval Surface Warfare Center as new and expanded missions were added. And, in 1992, with the consolidations of naval laboratories into one headquarters center, it became the Dahlgren Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center. [5]
NSWCDD conducts basic research in all systems-related areas and pursues scientific disciplines including biotechnology, chemistry, mathematics, laser and computer technology, chemical, mechanical, electrical and systems engineering, physics and computer science. [6] Distinguished figures who have worked for the NSWCDD include physicists Albert Einstein, Edward Teller, Carl Norden, and computer pioneers Howard Aiken [5] and Grace Hopper.
Engineering projects of historical or military significance developed at NSWCDD include the triggering device on the Hiroshima atomic bomb, the Norden Bombsight used on most American bombers such as the B-17 Flying Fortress, B-24 Liberator and B-29 Superfortress during World War II, the Standard missile used on modern United States Navy warships, and the warhead for the AIM-54 Phoenix. Current projects include the majority of US research into directed-energy weapons, railgun technology and weapons integration for the Littoral combat ship.
NSWCDD scientists and engineers share their technological expertise by participating in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) activities to inspire students to pursue technical careers. NSWCDD mentors support summer academies, such as the Virginia Demonstration Project, where they introduce robotics and basic engineering principles to area middle and high school students through hands-on activities. NSWCDD also has educational partnerships with several universities across the U.S.
The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), which serves as the local school district for the base, [7] has a K-8 school, Dahlgren Elementary Middle School. [8] The school first opened in 1921. [9] The school's principal facility was built during World War II. In 2011 a review of the building found that it was in "poor" shape. [10]
King George County Public Schools operates non-DoDEA public schools in King George County. Most off-post persons associated with NSWCDD send their children to King George County Schools. [11] Potomac Elementary School, operated by King George County Schools, is in proximity to the main entrance to NSWC Dahlgren. [12] King George High School is the local county high school.
Redstone Arsenal is a United States Army base adjacent to Huntsville, Alabama in the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. A census-designated place in Madison County, Alabama, United States, it is part of the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. The Arsenal is a host to over 75 tenant agencies including the Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and NASA's largest field center, the Marshall Space Flight Center.
Dahlgren is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in King George County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,946 at the time of the 2020 census, up from 2,653 at the 2010 census, and up from 997 in 2000.
The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) is the United States Navy's full-spectrum research, development, test and evaluation, engineering and fleet support center for submarines, autonomous underwater systems, and offensive and defensive weapons systems associated with undersea warfare. It is one of the corporate laboratories of the Naval Sea Systems Command. NUWC is headquartered in Newport, Rhode Island and has two major subordinate activities: Division Newport and Division Keyport in Keyport, Washington. NUWC also controls the Fox Island facility and Gould Island. It employs more than 4,400 civilian and military personnel, with budgets over $1 billion.
The Naval Ordnance Laboratory (NOL) was a facility in the White Oak area of Montgomery County, Maryland. The location is now used as the headquarters of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Division is a United States Navy installation in Charles County, Maryland. Part of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), it is one of ten divisions of the Naval Surface Warfare Center (WFC). Its mission is to research, develop, test, evaluate, and produce energetics.
The Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd) was a United States Navy organization, which was responsible for the procurement, storage, and deployment of all naval weapons, between the years 1862 and 1959.
Training Support Center Hampton Roads is, since 2004, the name of the facility in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA, which was long-known as "FTC Dam Neck". It is the home of the Fleet Combat Training Center Atlantic of the United States Navy.
The Naval Education and Training Command (NETC) is an enterprise-level shore command of the United States Navy with more than 19,000 military and staff personnel at more than 1,640 subordinate activities, sites, districts, stations, and detachments throughout the world, and was established in 1971. NETC recruits, trains and delivers those who serve the nation, taking them from "street to fleet" by transforming civilians into highly skilled, operational, and combat ready warfighters. In 2018, accessions management and distribution functions of the Bureau of Naval Personnel (BUPERS) were realigned under NETC and Navy Recruiting Command (NAVCRUITCOM) now serves as a subordinate command to NETC.
Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division is the principal tenant command located at Naval Support Activity Crane in Indiana.
Fire controlman is a United States Navy occupational rating. Often confused with being fireman on board a ship, FCs actually operate advanced weapons systems, whereas Damage Controlman (DC) are actually the shipboard firefighters.
The Electro-Magnetic Laboratory Rail Gun is a 32-megajoule electro-magnetic laboratory rail gun being evaluated by the US Office of Naval Research (ONR) Naval Air Warfare and Weapons Department. The US Navy is pursuing development of the launcher system through two industry teams – General Atomics and BAE Systems – to reduce risk in the program and to foster innovation in next-generation shipboard weapons. The same amount of energy is released by the detonation of 4.8 kg (11 lb) of C4.
Naval Support Activity Panama City, is a military shore installation of the United States Navy located in Bay County, in Panama City, Florida. Among its various tenant commands, it houses the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division, the Center for Explosive Ordnance Disposal & Diving (CENEODDIVE), the Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU), and Coast Guard Station Panama City.
The Operational Test and Evaluation Force (OPTEVFOR) is an independent and objective agency within the United States Navy for the operational testing and evaluation (OT&E) of naval aviation, surface warfare, submarine warfare, C4I, cryptologic, and space systems in support Navy and Department of Defense acquisition programs.
The Naval District Washington is one of eleven current naval regions responsible to Commander, Navy Installations Command for the operation and management of Naval shore installations in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area. The Commandant is currently the only remaining Naval Districts from the 1900s era, making it, by default the oldest of the current naval regions. The Commandant is headquartered at the Washington Navy Yard only a few yards away from the Commander, Navy Installations Command headquarters.
The U.S. Navy's Major Caliber Lightweight Gun (MCLWG) program was the 8"/55 caliber Mark 71 major caliber lightweight, single-barrel naval gun prototype (spoken "eight-inch-fifty-five-caliber") that was mounted aboard the destroyer USS Hull in 1975 to test the capability of destroyer-sized ships to replace decommissioned cruisers for long-range shore bombardment. United States naval gun terminology indicates the gun fired a projectile 8 inches (203 mm) in diameter, and the barrel was 55 calibers long (barrel length is 8" × 55 = 440" or 11.165 meters.)
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the world's most powerful navy and the largest by displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft carrier fleet, with 11 in service, one undergoing trials, two new carriers under construction, and six other carriers planned as of 2024. With 336,978 personnel on active duty and 101,583 in the Ready Reserve, the U.S. Navy is the third largest of the United States military service branches in terms of personnel. It has 299 deployable combat vessels and about 4,012 operational aircraft as of July 18, 2023.
The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) is the largest of the United States Navy's five "systems commands," or materiel organizations. From a physical perspective, NAVSEA has four shipyards for shipbuilding, conversion, and repair, ten "warfare centers", the NAVSEA headquarters, located at the Washington Navy Yard, in Washington D.C., and other locations in 15 states and 3 overseas continents.
The Ballistic Research Laboratory (BRL) was a research facility under the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps and later the U.S. Army Materiel Command that specialized in ballistics as well as vulnerability and lethality analysis. Situated at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, BRL served as a major Army center for research and development in technologies related to weapon phenomena, armor, accelerator physics, and high-speed computing. In 1992, BRL was disestablished, and its mission, personnel, and facilities were incorporated into the newly created U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL).
The 7"/44 caliber gun Mark 1 and 7"/45 caliber gun Mark 2 were used for the secondary batteries of the United States Navy's last generation of pre-dreadnought battleships, the Connecticut-class and Mississippi-class. The 7-inch (178 mm) caliber was considered, at the time, to be the largest caliber weapon suitable as a rapid-fire secondary gun because its shells were the heaviest that one man could handle alone.