Page 54 - Acoustics Today Summer 2011

Books and Publications
Dick Stern
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Acoustics Today welcomes contributions for “Books and Publications.” There is no charge for this service. Submissions of about 250 words that may be edited in MSWord or plain text files should be e-mailed to <acousticstoday@aip.org>. Cover graphics should accompany the text and must be at least 300 dpi. Please send the text and graphics in separate files.
Title: Probing the Ocean for Submarines: A History of the AN/SQS-26 Long-Range Echo-Ranging Sonar
(2nd Edition)
Author: Thaddeus G. Bell
Publisher: Peninsula Publishing ISBN: 978-0-932146-26-7 Pages: 264
Binding: Soft cover
Probing the Ocean for Submarines presents the history of the design and development of the AN/SQS-26 echo-ranging sonar for long-range submarine detection by Antisubmarine Warfare (ASW) surface ships in one of the most challenging engineering programs of the Cold War era. In the 1950s submarines were becoming capable of longer travel distances and more powerful weapons delivery while becoming quieter, making them very difficult to detect by ASW ships and shore based listening arrays. The AN/SQS-26 program under Thad Bell, the author of this book, with a score of engineer- ing giants, combined ocean science, advances in signal detection theory, engineering, and naval architecture to successfully create a breakthrough in long-range detection sonars. In addition to the conventional direct path mode of detection, the AN/SQS-26 team harnessed two theretofore unused ocean sound paths for long-range detection of the newer, quieter submarines: bottom bounce (BB) and convergence zone (CZ). The BB mode made active detection range to 25 miles possible in deep water and 20 miles in shallow water. The CZ mode enabled submarine detection to multiples of 35 to 40 miles using CZ narrow annular detection zones. Beginning about 1975, digital upgrades of the AN/SQS-26 original design were produced for ASW ships and they are still being installed in new guided missile destroyers.
The historical information presented in Probing the Ocean for Submarines should be of interest to ASW specialists, sonar designers, research scientists, ASW operational leaders and crews, and those involved in resource-allocation decisions for research, development and production programs.
Editor’s Note—The items printed in “Books and Publications” are reported for informational purposes only and are not nec- essarily endorsements by the Editor, Acoustics Today, or the Acoustical Society of America.
50 Acoustics Today, July 2011