Powder and Propellants

Powder and Propellants is the story of the U.S. Navy's premier facility for research, development, testing, and evaluation of "energetic materials, " the chemical compounds used in gun and rocket propellants as well as in aircraft cockpit ejection seats.

Initially charged to improve the penetrating power of warheads against steel armor, Indian Head became the proving grounds for testing guns, propellant powder, shells, mounts, and armor, notably the manufacture and testing of Jet Assist Takeoff (JATO), Zuni, Talos, and Polaris rockets and missiles.

First published in 1990 as a private publication for the navy, Powder and Propellants is now available again as a revised and expanded second edition, with a new chapter on the institution's last decade. Those interested in military history, technology, and government institutional history will find this book invaluable.

Rodney Carlisle is Vice President of History Associates Incorporated, a historical services firm in Rockville, Maryland. He is also professor of history at Rutgers University in Camden, New Jersey.

List of Tables

vi

Preface to the Second Edition

vii

Preface

ix

About the Author

xii

Acknowledgments

xiii

List of Abbreviations

xv

Origins of the Naval Ordnance Station

1

(18)

A Patented Breech---The Naval Inventor at Work

5

(3)

The Proving Ground---Structured Innovation in Ordnance

8

(2)

Structured Innovation Under Way: Testing of Guns, Armor, Shells

10

(6)

1889--1896: Ordnance Issues and the Place of Indian Head

16

(3)

Early Powder Manufacturing and Ordnance Testing

19

(24)

Powder Under Development

20

(4)

Powder Factory: Industrial Management

24

(2)

Doubled Capacity

26

(1)

The Beginnings of Civilian Management

27

(5)

Management Problems: Information, Staff, Costs

32

(2)

Cost Accounting and Chemical Engineering

34

(1)

Proving Ground: Guns, Armor, Shells

35

(2)

Experimental Work

37

(3)

Zealots at Work

40

(3)

Ordnance Technology in the World War I Era

43

(20)

Range Safety

45

(2)

Standardization of Shells and Powder

47

(3)

Powder Expert at Work

50

(1)

Relationship with Private Industry---The Roles Redefined

51

(4)

Powder Production

55

(2)

Indian Head Goes to War

57

(5)

Evolution of Mission

62

(1)

Indian Head in Ordnance Research, 1921--1941

63

(26)

Factors Shaping the Research Agenda

66

(3)

Specific Problems: Lessons Applied

69

(4)

The Variable Delay Fuze---A Case of Incremental Innovation

73

(2)

Policies, Budgets, Treaty, Foreign Progress

75

(3)

The Agenda Juggled: Ships Challenged From Above and Below

78

(3)

Indian Head---A Place in the Network

81

(2)

The 1930s---Experiments, Personnel, Technology Transfer

83

(3)

The Interwar Years---Quiet Progress and Cross-Currents

86

(3)

Indian Head: The Navy and the Community, 1890--1940

89

(16)

Indian Head's Earliest Years

91

(4)

World War I and Postwar Growth

95

(4)

Indian Head Between the Wars

99

(6)

World War II

105

(16)

Indian Head in Rockets, World War II

107

(6)

The JPL at Indian Head

113

(1)

Explosives Investigation Laboratory

114

(4)

Powder Factory Research and Development During the War

118

(3)

Postwar Patterns

121

(16)

Early Work on JATOs

122

(1)

The Postwar Search for a Research and Development Mission

123

(4)

Pilot Plants and Manufacturing Expansion

127

(4)

Research and Development: Problems with Implementing the Mission

131

(6)

Years of Transition, 1955--1963

137

(24)

Continuing Problems: Personnel, Safety, and Equipment

139

(2)

The Search for a Mission

141

(2)

Internal Divisions

143

(3)

Ad Hoc Mission Add-Ons: CAD, Terrier, Weapon A

146

(3)

Mission Redefinition by Planned Remodelling

149

(2)

The Shaping of a Dominant Personality: Joe L. Browning

151

(1)

Management Problems Addressed

152

(2)

Browning's Management Ideas

154

(2)

Polaris Work

156

(3)

Challenge and Response

159

(2)

From Naval Propellant Plant to Naval Ordnance Station

161

(24)

Mission Visions, Market Realities

162

(2)

Products, Plants, and Processes in 1960

164

(2)

The Propellant Plant in 1962

166

(2)

Management Concepts

168

(1)

Workload Development: NASA Efforts and Inert Diluent

169

(1)

From Research to Production: Otto II

170

(2)

The Bootstrap Problem Mastered

172

(2)

Shots in the Arm: 2.75 Revived, Zuni, Line-Thrower, C-3 Plastic

174

(2)

Guns: Old Weapons Redesigned

176

(1)

A Crisis in Workload---Pessimists' View

177

(2)

The Optimists' View

179

(3)

Facing the Seventies

182

(3)

The Post-Vietnam Years

185

(28)

Lee Aboard---Reorganization and Public Relations

188

(2)

Adding Tasks Through the Seventies

190

(4)

Ordnance Devices

190

(2)

Standard Anti-Radar Missile

192

(1)

Simulators

192

(1)

JATOs

193

(1)

Work for Others

193

(1)

Guns

194

(1)

Reorganizations

194

(1)

Problems and Solutions

195

(1)

Production and Engineering: Striking the Balance

196

(5)

New Assignments

201

(2)

Planning Conferences, Review Panels, Training

203

(3)

Successes and Adjustments

206

(1)

A New Technical Director

206

(5)

Glassware to Stainless Steel; Laboratory to Production

211

(2)

The Second Century Begins

213

(24)

A Decade of Turbulence

214

(3)

Navigating into a New Century

217

(3)

Buffeted by BRAC

220

(2)

Growing Role in a Shrinking Business

222

(6)

Responding to Requirements

228

(3)

Integrated Circuits and the Internet

231

(1)

Energetics and the Environment

232

(3)

Continuities and Changes

235

(2)

EPILOGUE: Retrospectives and Prospects

237

(28)

APPENDIXES

1. Tours of Duty, Inspectors of Ordnance in Charge and Commanding Officers, Indian Head

245

(2)

2. Biographical Information, Officers in Charge and Commanding Officers, Indian Head

247

(11)

3. Oral History Interviews Conducted for this Work

258

(1)

4. Milestones in Technology and Management

259

(4)

5. Chiefs of the Navy Bureau of Ordnance and its Successors, 1881--2001

263

(2)

Notes

265

(38)

Glossary of Technical Terms

303

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Powder and Propellants

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

FREE SHIPPING

Rent More, Save More! Use code: BBRENTAL

5% off 1 book, 7% off 2 books, 10% off 3+ books

Powder and Propellants

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

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