The Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington was founded in 1943 by Dr. Joseph Edmonds Henderson who worked in conjunction with the United States Navy in order to research and design the tools and technologies necessary to successfully support the U.S. military in World War II. APL-UW was the second of the Navy-sponsored research facilities founded in collaboration with universities across the country; today it is one of the few remaining institutions of its kind. For many years, APL-UW was a leading expert in the Navy’s torpedo technologies, beginning with its development of a reliable torpedo influence exploder in the 1940s. Today, APL-UW research and development has broadened to acoustic and remote sensing, ocean physics and engineering, polar science, medical and industrial ultrasound, environmental and information systems, and electronic and photonic systems.
The films in this collection focus primarily on early torpedo research, including torpedo exploder tests and acoustic tracking range experiments. The torpedo exploder was a device developed to trigger the torpedo explosion as the device senses proximity of the target ship’s hull; while research to improve these exploders began during WWII, APL-UW continued research and development well into the 1950s to provide the Navy with a reliable standard device for the fleet. As part of the APL-UW research on underwater acoustic sensors and equipment, tracking ranges were installed in the Pacific Northwest (Keyport, Washington and Chatham Strait, Alaska) as well as in the Caribbean (St. Croix, Virgin Islands). Other projects documented include underwater research vehicle experiments and early footage of APL-UW research vessels still in use today. The SPURV (self-propelled underwater research vehicle) was an autonomous research vehicle developed at APL-UW as part of the lab’s oceanographic and acoustic research projects. SPURV vessels were used in APL-UW research from its initial development in 1957 through the 1980s, including research trips to the Cobb Seamount in the Pacific Ocean west of Gray’s Harbor, Washington.
Filmed on location throughout the Pacific Northwest, the collection features the Naval Torpedo Station at Keyport (NTS KPT), Dabob Bay, and Puget Sound in Washington, Chatham Strait in Alaska, the Cobb Seamount, as well as the Caribbean and Hawaii. Several films feature founding APL-UW Director Joseph Henderson; Jack Robertson, and Washington Senator Henry Jackson. Other film notes mention Dr. C.E. Miller, Dr. Terry Ewart, and Captain W.N. Moore of the Naval Torpedo Station, Keyport.
The films have been arranged chronologically within the following groups: Torpedo Exploder Tests, 3-D Acoustic Tracking Ranges, APL-UW Research Vessels, APL-UW Institutional Footage, SPURV: Self-propelled Undersea Research Vehicle, Navy Films, Cobb Seamount Experiment, Assorted APL-UW Projects, and Un-labeled Films.
The original films are not accessible due to preservation concerns. Arrangements can be made to view the film by contacting the Visual Materials Curator.
Restrictions may exist on reproduction, quotation, or publication. Contact the Special Collections division of the University of Washington Libraries for details.
Donor: Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington (APL-UW), May 3, 2012
Processed by Erica Leigh Nelson, 2012, Alden Lee, 2012 ; completed by Andrew Weaver, 2014.
These materials form part of the, which are described and indexed in
The Applied Physics Laboratory was established as a direct result of the U.S. Navy's need for an improved exploder for its torpedoes. These new exploders were designed to efficiently detonate when underneath a targeted ship.
Beached Mark 13 torpedo recovery on Naval Torpedo Station, Keyport range. Air drop photography.
Torpedoes launched from P.T. Boat at (DD) type target, runs 18-32.
Mark 9-0 Torpedo Exploder Tests, Miami, Florida, runs 19 through 24. Torpedoes launched from PT boat at DD target.
Torpedo handling at Naval Torpedo Station, Keyport, WA. Erratic torpedo running on beach at NTS. Mark 9-0 exploder being serviced at NTS.
An animated training film describing how Gradient exploder uses the theory of magnetic influence exploders. Describes the function of the gradiometer, detonator, CC unit, and time-delay catridges. Scene of the USS
Aerial photography of Puget Sound. Exploder Tests on Motor Target in Miami, Key West, Florida, and Havana, Cuba.
Applied Physics Lab trailer site in Colorado. Also includes C. Miller exploder tests at Naval Torpedo Station, Keyport.
Acoustic torpedo target tests in Lake Washington. Target container has reel installed which is controlled by remote signal.
Field tests for Universal Target Mark 3-0.
L.S.T. 17 sinking off the Washington Coast by Mark 14 and 16 torpedoes from USN submarine using MK 9-4 exploders.
Mark 17-0 torpedo target winch in operation at sea.
Undetermined exercise, torpedo runs - Torpedo travels under DD type vessel.
Mark 29-0 towed target being launched from vessel.
Mark 29-0 towed target being launched and towed from APL-UW 50' U. Boat. Likely filmed in Puget Sound or Hood Canal.
This tracking range system was used for the testing and evaluation of torpedoes, for the alignment of sensor systems, and for tracking ships during exercises. It was the first tracking range capable of accurate 3-D tracking, which was mandatory for the new Anti-Submarine Warfare Torpedo. Keyport conducted torpedo testing for tracking ranges at Dabob Bay, Hood Canal, and Port Orchard Inlet.
Torpedo air drops over the NTS, KPT shallow water range.
Naval Torpedo Station shallow water range. Magnetic wire across the range on the surface, air drops, and erratic torpedo, run hitting the beach. Torpedo recovery from the beach.
Torpedo air drops over the shallow water tracking range at the Naval Torpedo Station, Keyport.
Torpedo air drops over shallow water range at the Naval Torpedo Station, Keyport. Magnetic wire across range on surface and footage of Dr. C.E. Miller.
Torpedo air drop over the shallow water range at the Naval Torpedo Station, Keyport. Smoke bomb and green torpedo location dye in water.
Surfacing first High Frequency 3-D array, Hood Canal.
High-frequency 3-D array plant in the Hood Canal.
High-frequency 3-D array assembly at the Naval Ammunition Depot, Bangor, Washington.
High-frequency 3-D array plant, Hood Canal.
High-frequency 3-D array test planting, Hood Canal.
First high-frequency 3-D array plant in North Dabob Bay and cable run to Whitney Point.
High-frequency 3-D array plant in North Dabob Bay.
First Low-frequency 3-D array assembly at Coats Electric Company and at Naval Ammunition Depot, Bangor. Also scenes in Alaska 1958-1959.
Assembly of high-frequency 3-D array transducers, helicopter flight, and Naval Torpedo Station duck making landing off Whitney Point.
Surfacing Naval Torpedo Station, Keyport-designed pendulum 3-D array.
Whitney Point computer BLOG and Naval Torpedo Station, Keyport. Retriever terminating cable on shore.
High-frequency 3-D array cable run from 1st array to shore, Whitney Point.
Low-frequency 3-D array plant in Chatham Strait, Alaska including rifle fire in place of array release hook.
Low-frequency 3-D array plant in the Chatham Strait, Alaska.
Naval Torpedo Station, Keyport-designed pendulum. 3-D array on barge deck of RV
Joseph Henderson, Jack Robinson, and Captain Moore NTS KPT escort Senator Henry Jackson and party on tour of Whitney Point.
Air flight from SeaTac to Chatham Strait Alaska. Applied Physics Lab personnel in Alaska at 3-D range site. Captain W. Moore, Co., NTS, KPT also shown in this film.
Low-frequency 3-D range Chatham Strait Alaska operation. Applied Physics Lab barge, RV
Low-frequency 3-D range.
Low-frequency 3-D range.
Complete Applied Physics Lab/Naval Torpedo Station Alaska 3-D range operation computer on board YF885, array planting, current measuring drift bottle preparation, etc. NTS main gate, APL-UW building, and Whitney Point visitors scenes from 1958-1959.
Operation Deeptrack installation off San Clemente, Island. APL-UW/Naval Ordinance Test Station (NOTS). Low-frequency 3-D array plant, Chatham Strait, Alaska.
Original low-frequency 3-D range film of array assembly. Leveling and planting in Dabob Bay and Alaska.
Original low-frequency 3-D range, film of array assembly. Leveling and planting in Dabob Bay and Alaska.
Low-frequency 3-D range, recovery of damaged array.
View of west coast of St. Croix, Virgin Islands. Film taken from aircraft.
View of west coast of St. Croix, Virgin Islands. Film taken from aircraft.
Aerial photography of the first St. Croix, Virgin Islands, survey for 3-D range site.
Marked "Garrison Sandstrom."
St. Croix range array installation operations.
St. Croix range array installation.
Tugboat along the St. Croix coastline. Acoustic range expansion array lifted in and out of water with crane. Details of array parts. Men working on array. A scuba diver swims to a man in a small boat.
Range expansion at tracking range in St. Croix, Virgin Islands.
St. Croix underwater tracking range, hardware repair operations.
Residue film from St. Croix Repair.
Residue from the Underwater Tracking Range Repair program, St. Croix, Virgin Islands.
Initial launching of Applied Physics Lab barge by crane at builders' yard.
APL-UW barge en route from builders yard to APL-UW dock (no deck plates installed). Also close-up views of completed barge in 1959-1960.
APL-UW barge during initial trial runs.
Barge, RV
APL-UW barge enroute from Seattle to Dabob Bay. Hood Canal Bridge. Barge in Dabob Bay and Lake Washington. Canister marked "Acoustic Barge Operations at Dabob Bay - March 1962. Hyperbolic Tracking Operation."
Contents include: 1) Bad weather on trip to Dabob 2) Hood Canal Pontoon Bridge 3) Barge in Dabob Bay 4) Rigging 1.07 Array in Lake Washington.
Research vehicle 102-000.
Hood Canal and Dabob Bay.
Aerial photography by D.S. Potter.
APL-UW bug, conf. stamp, and conf. material handling statement; to be used for animation.
Oceanography at APL-UW.
Loading computer van onto ship, leaving port. Bissett-Berman launch and recovery and computer operations. Bonabuoy launch. SPURV checkout. Launch and recovery. Drift bottle launch and recovery. Entering San Francisco Bay.
Men work with equipment inside a tent. Tents and building of a snow camp or base. A plane lands. Men in tent work with equipment hanging over hole in the ice. A man lights an object on fire in the snow. A wench is in place over a hole in the ice at the camp. A sign of a hotel. Men are seen by a airplane. Men working with equipment in the snow, setting up guy lines of a pole.
SPURV was an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, seeing its first use with the Navy tugboat, Tatnuck, on a trip to Cobb Seamount in 1957.
Research vehicle footage, likely later SPURV.
Sticker on reel says "Orig Tatnuck."
NTS YF vessel in Chatham Strait, Alaska. NTS officers and APL-UW personnel on board.
Original APL-UW research vehicle in-water runs in Dabob Bay.
APL-UW research vehicle being launched from USS
SPURV operations from USS
Vehicle Tatnuck Trip, "Original run SPURV".
APL-UW research vehicle runs off Oahu, Hawaii from USS
Self Propelled Research Vehicle pressure tests from the USS
APL-UW research vehicle run on surface prior to dive and FLIP vessel surfacing in Dabob Bay.
SPURV II vehicle operation films. Puget Sound and Dabob Bay runs.
SPURV II operations.
SPURV cuttings from San Diego.
Vehicle computer spar in rough sea. SPURV, Puget Sound, Golden Gate Bridge.
DSRV only taken at Mazatlan area. SPURV Mazatlan.
DSRV stands for Deep Sea Research Vehicle.
SPURV launch.
Launch and recovery footage.
Roll 1, LeRoy Olson.
Roll 3, LeRoy Olson.
ASA 160.Good launch shot of SPURV II.
Roll 4, LeRoy Olson.
SPURV launch and recovery.
Roll 2, Leroy Olsen.
Vehicle recovery shots and Zodiac recovery.
Roll 5, LeRoy Olson.
Bonabuoy launch and SPURV operations.
Sinking of Japanese submarines I-203, I-14, I-401, and I-400 by four different U.S. submarines off Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in May June 1946.
Produced by the Pasadena Film Branch of the Technical Information Department
US Naval Ordinance Test Station, Documentary Film Branch, Pasadena Station P75231.
Produced by the Pasadena Film Branch of the Technical Information Department.
Cobb Seamount acoustic experiment.
Cobb Seamount Acoustic Experiment.
Ryland's editing.
Cobb Seamount Acoustic Experiment.
Ryland's editing.
Transmitter and receiver tower launcher.
Project Zillah and footage of torpedo launching from NTS firing pier. Footage of upper structure and torpedo net.
Powder WAFER assembly and detonation in desert.
Men in cars and trucks look on as several rockets launch. A parked airplane is briefly seen.
Project Zillah concerned rocket bomb and guided missle research.
A man with a camera smile. An object falls from the sky and a vehicle appears to go retrieve it. A man holds up what appears to be a section of a rocket. A chalkboard indicates the prior sequences are confidential. A man plays on a golf course, seen from a distance.
Bill Ruland and Julian Ray.
Parachute opening and chute drop of Zillah & Zillah range.
Zillah launch in desert. Actual explosion in desert ground.
Dr. C.E. Miller named on box.
Project Zillah rocket launching in desert and personnel assigned to project.
Cliffs along the water. Men assembling a structure. A ship is marked "U.S. Navy." Two divers are seen in the water. A building is being constructed near the shore. View of the cliffs, shore, and inland.
FORACS stands for Fleet Operational Readiness Accuracy Check Site. These ranges test the accuracy of a ship's sensors using radar and acoustic targets.
APL/BENDIX towed target, tests 12, 012, 13, 14, 15, 16, 24, 25. LUMF.
APL/BENDIX towed target, tests 26-42 including LUMF 16-17.
APL/BENDIX Towed Target Tests 2, 5-11 incl. LUMF 9, 11.
Loading equipment and computer vans at annex. Vans going onto the U.S. Naval ship Charles H. Davis. Preparing RG-8 for acoustic experiment. Davis and vehicle launch from small boat. Vehicle launches and recoveries. Motor launch overboard. Davis seen from small boat. Bottle and pipe over side. Spar in water. Retreiving line with floats. Retrieving bottle and pipe. Retrieving acoustic experiment. Sea turtle. Entering San Francisco Bay.
SCUT buoy pipe experiment.
Fragments, faked scenes, titles, and diagrams.
Tracer dye experiment.
Bonabuoy launch. Dye release package launch and recover. SPURV recovery and opening. Russian ship. Bridge area - radar buoy tracking. SPURV recovery with Russian ship watching. Drogue launch; Drogue launch again. BB with Rosette (deck only). SPURV launch. Computer van interior - dye search plot. Packing. Radar transponder buoy launch. Drogue launch.
View of the Applied Physics Laboratory building at the University of Washington. A crane of the U.S. Naval ship
MATE stands for Mid-Ocean Atlantic Transmission Experiment; it was the second Cobb Seamount Experiment. Acoustic transmissions were performed to better understand the effects of internal waves on acoustic transmissions.
A man operates equipment on board a boat. What appears to be a small submersible is seen. Two men in scuba gear get into the water. A man on deck hands the submersible to the divers. The submersible takes off in the water. Men operate equipment.
AMET outtakes.
A diagram shows the placement of underwater equipment. Aerial views of an unknown location. Men disembark from a plane that lands on a beach. A white building is seen along the shore. Men assemble machinery. Lubricating machine parts. What appears to be underwater acoustic tracking equipment hangs from a crane on a ship. Aerial footage of ships on what appears to be the Puget Sound. A man in a military uniform and a man in civilian dress hold up a flag with "99.3.8" displayed on it. Objects are fired from a ship into the water. More underwater acoustic tracking equipment attached to ship's crane.
Workers assemble a mount for a large, spherical device. Welders work on the mount section. A crane lifts a sphere onto the mount and workers lock it in place. Details of various parts of the apparatus. A metal frame is attached, surrounding the sphere.
Objects in glass tanks of moving water are tested at various velocities.
Sent to APL-UW from Anti-Submarine Warfare Systems.
California Institute of Technology Bendix
Two mechanisms are seen.
Workers on a ship lower acoustic tracking equipment into the water. Trailers are seen along the shore. Cables run from cliffs and into the water. A man operates a switch box. A man assembles what appears to be a cable at a work bench. A ship is seen carrying underwater acoustic tracking equipment.
A group of men on a ship stand by an unmaned submersible. The propellor is tested before it is lowered into the water. A man works at a control panel. The submersible returns to the ship and a man removes something from the nose of the craft. It appears that data is retrieved. The submersible returns to the water and it is seen being hoisted onto the ship at night.
Likely filmed by or belonging to Terry Ewart.
A Navy man stands at a control panel on the deck of a ship. Equipment is hoisted from the water.
A man is seen in scuba gear. Views of a building by a marina. Men inside a building filled with machinery.
Scope and content could not be derived from film footage.
"Line shows up gray prior to firing." Tube photo tests.
An advertisement for tubeless, sealed air tires. A Golden Sierra car tests the tires in various settings to show how they compare to the tires of competitors. Tires are punctured with arrows, bullets, knives and also harpooned underwater.
Narrated by actor and sportscaster Bill Stern. Featuring Roscoe Reams, Dan Carroll, Tex Allen, and Ricou Browning.