ber 9, when Lt. Comdr. Albert A. Arcuni, CEC, USN,relieved Lt. Comdr. Ralph R. Reynolds, CEC, USN,as officer in charge. This complete annual turnover ofoperating crews is made possible by retaining withinthe Navy nuclear shore program one-third of each re-placed crew to form the nucleus of subsequent crewsa d by having a vigorous and effective training pro-gram. Before his deployment, each crew member al-ready has achieved the experience and qualificationsnecessary for his assigned position. As a result of ex-t nsive experience and predeployment training thenew crew is equipped to obtain maximum value froman intensive overlap training period at the PM-3A,and within approximately 30 days the new crew isfully qualified to operate the plant safely and effi-cintly.

Tirbine overhaul

As a result of recommendations made after a Janu-ary 1968 inspection, the turbine was overhauled inDecember 1970 and January 1971. The turbine rotor,interstage diaphragms, and worn bearings were re-placed. A major problem developed when it was dis-cevered that the turbine diaphragms had not beenmachined to the correct specifications. The incorrecttolerance widened the clearances between the rotorarid the diaphragms. Special procedures were devel-oped for the initial turbine startup, however, and allstartup tests were completed satisfactorily. No furtherproblems have been encountered.

New water distillation units

Decreasing water production rates and excessivemintenance problems with the two carbon steel flashevaporator units during calendar 1969 and 1970prompted an intensive study of the PM-3A sea waterdistillation plant. The study showed that extensivecorrosion of the carbon steel components had blockedtheflow path. A new flash evaporator unit withcopper-nickel components was installed and placed inservice in February 1971. The unit has a design lifeof 20 years.

An invitation to bids for the fabrication of a secondcopper-nickel flash evaporator was recently released.The bid package contains an option clause for theprocurement of a third unit of this type. Tentativeplans call for delivery of the second unit during theDeep Freeze 72 austral summer, with the third unittofol1ow a year later. These two new units will re-plce the remaining carbon steel units and will pro-vide the necessary production capacity to meet theneeds of McMurdo for the foreseeable future.

July—August 1971

Antarctic Support ActivitiesDeep Freeze 71

COMMANDER and STAFF

Antarctic Support Activities

Public works

Antarctic Support Activities (ASA) is the branchof the Naval Support Force that operates the U.S.stations.

To begin the season, the public works departmentcleared the annual ice runway and removed the win-ter's snow accumulation at McMurdo Station. Laterin the season, abnormally high temperatures practi-cally destroyed the snow roads, skiways, and ice run-ways. The Outer Williams Field emergency runwaywas soon abandoned, but constant dragging and grad-ing of the skiway and parking areas at Williams Fieldkept it operating. The galley at Williams Field, begin-ning to settle in the slush, was moved to a safer loca-tion by the men of the wintering-over detachment.The snow road from Scott Base to Williams Fieldsuccumbed to the sun, and overland transport had tobe carried on by tractor train and helicopter. In late.January, temperatures dropped to seasonal norms, andthe snow road was rebuilt.

Over the season, the men of the public works de-partment generated 2,482,000 kilowatt-hours of elec-trical power, inspected all pressure-fired boilers, over-hauled equipment, repaired and maintained hundredsof pieces of rolling stock and specialized equipment,tested new vehicles, constructed a 28-section pontoonfor ship offloading and assisted in offloading threeships, and performed the many routine and not-so-routine housekeeping tasks.

Aviation and weather services

The air facility at McMurdo Station comprises twoperpendicular skiways on the ice shelf, an ice runwayon the adjacent annual sea ice, and a crosswind icerunway 11 km from the skiways on the ice shelf.Hallett Station has an annual sea-ice runway, andPole and Byrd Stations have skiways. As in previousyears, they were graded, and the ice runways wereplowed, leaving a thin covering of snow or chippedice on the surface to provide friction and preventmelting of the landing surface. Detachment Bravooperated the air traffic control center at McMurdoStation and navigational aids at the other fields.

Detachment Charlie provided weather services atMcMurdo Station and Christchurch for flights to,from, and within the continent of Antarctica in addi-

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U.S. Navy

Weather building at Hallett Station.

tion to its duties of supporting programs of the WorldMeteorological Organization and the National ScienceFoundation. Besides standard weather observations,meteorological information was obtained usingGMD-1B radiosonde equipment and the ESSA 8,ITOS 1, Nimbus IV, and NOAA 1 satellites. NimbusIV, activated in December and fully operational inJanuary 1971, produces outstanding pictures and hasproved to be a most useful meteorological aid.

Communications

Radio communications during Deep Freeze 71 weregenerally excellent. Total blackouts—which occurredin November, December, and January—lasted only 9days. Some sporadic ionospheric disturbances were ex-perienced in mid-November.

Almost 100,000 messages were processed during theoperating season. Communications circuitry to handlethese messages includes teletype, voice, facsimile, andcontinuous wave ties that link McMurdo Station withChristchurch and with the outlying stations and fieldparties. Messages also were processed for all TaskForce ships operating south of 60°S. Air/ground cir-cuits handled the vital aircraft communications forflights to New Zealand, Pole and Byrd Stations,Halley Bay, the dry valleys, and other points.

Weather data were exchanged daily with Mob-dezhnaya (Soviet), Dumont d'Urville (French), andCasey (Australian) Stations.

Logistics

Resupply via surface vessels was highly successfulin Deep Freeze 71. USNS Put. John R. Towle deliv-ered 3,120 short tons of cargo, and USNS Wyandot1,890 short tons, to McMurdo Station. Using smallamphibious landing craft, Wyandot also delivered 115short tons of cargo to Palmer Station while en routeto McMurdo.

Five to six dockside days per ship are required tooffload materials and supplies destined for use at

McMurdo Station, the outlying stations Byrd, SouthPole, Hallett, Brockton, and Siple, and the temporaryfield camps. VXE-6 LC-130s fly the materials to theremote locations. The majority of this material is ear-marked for each station prior to its loading at theConstruction Battalion Center, Davisville, RhodeIsland.

Another resupply operation takes place earlier Inthe season. High priority items, usually consisting fmateriel needed early in the summer season, are se itto Christchurch before the season opens, then flownin after opening day. Usually one commercial ship isused for this so-called kilo-air operation; it is loadedat Davisville in late August or early September. Onarrival of the main force at McMurdo Station in ealyOctober, this cargo is flown by VXE-6 and MACaircraft from Christchurch. Over 275 short tons jofkilo-air cargo were flown in during Deep Freeze 71.

Material and equipment received via Military Sea-lift Command ships are offloaded primarily by theU.S. Naval Cargo Handling and Port Group, Detach-ment Echo, assisted by personnel from units at Mc-Murdo Station. Detachment Echo is formed in lateDecember at Williamsburg, Virginia, and arrives atMcMurdo a week before the first surface vessel. Thegroup unloads the ships and backloads salvagablematerials and equipment slated for overhaul.

Included in the annual resupply are foodstuffs.Palmer Station receives its food supply directly fromthe United States via USNS Wyandot. The remainderof the continent's provisions are shipped to the mainfood storage warehouses at McMurdo Station. Allother U.S. outlying stations are supplied fromMcMurdo.

Not all food and repair parts are purchased in theUnited States. Considerable food and materials areprocured by Detachment One, U.S. Naval SupportForce, Antarctica, permanently based in Christchurch.Under a United States-New Zealand agreement, 1e-tachment One may procure materials and servicesthe New Zealand market. New areas of support c4nsistently are being explored in New Zealand.

Fuel delivery

Fuel often has been called the "life blood" of Ant-arctica. The fuel depot at McMurdo Station consistsof 18 welded-seam, fixed-roof storage tanks and acentral pumping station. The fuel tanks, which canhold 8 million gallons, are on the outskirts of I\f1c-Murdo Station and in the area between McMurdoand New Zealand's Scott Base. The pumping stationis at Hut Point, near the tanker offload manifoldsatElliott Quay.

The Williams Field fuel farm consists of eight25,000-gallon collapsible rubber fuel bladders andportable filtering equipment, meters, hose, valves, and

146 ANTARCTIC JOURNAL

nozzles to fuel aircraft safely. The usual fuel capacityat Williams Field is 125,000 gallons of jet fuel and75,000 gallons of diesel fuel. These two products aredelivered to Williams Field by a hose line and/ormobile tankers. The jet fuel (used in LC-130s as wellas in pure jets) is pumped from the McMurdo fueldepot to Williams Field via a 4-inch rubber hose line,utilizing a booster pump from a station on the annualice. The diesel fuel is delivered to Williams Field en-tirely by mobile tankers, as is the jet fuel after the an-nual ice becomes unsafe and the hose is retrieved.Jet and diesel fuel is delivered to Byrd and SouthPole Stations by aircraft with removable tanks in-stalled in the interior of the fuselage. Automotive gas-oline is delivered by aircraft in 55-gallon drums.

Hallett and Palmer Stations receive all petroleumproducts via U.S. Coast Guard icebreakers during thesummer season. Hallett Station's fuel depot is awelded-seam storage tank with a capacity of 100,000gallons of diesel fuel. The Palmer Station fuel farmconsists of two 125,000-gallon steel welded tanks ofmarine diesel fuel.

All petroleum products are delivered to McMurdoStation by the USNS Maumee, a hugh T-5 classtanker. During the Deep Freeze 71 season, it delivered5,339,000 gallons of products to McMurdo in only 47hours of pumping time. Formerly, many trips to Mc-Murdo Station were required each year by one ormore smaller tankers to refuel the station; the use ofMaumee makes the operation safer, more efficient,and faster.

Health care

During Deep Freeze 71, the medical departmentprocessed 1,522 sick call visits, a 40-percent reductionfrom the previous year. The vast majority involvedupper respiratory infections and minor degrees ofrnusculo-skeletal traumas. Conditions such as theseare common among people who work with heavyequipment and perform strenuous physical labor ina dry, severe climate. Intermittent influxes of visitorswith their foreign, viral germs also contribute to theseailments.

United States inspects four foreign stations

FRANK C. MAHNCKE

U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency

During February and March 1971, the UnitedStates inspected four foreign stations in Antarctica.Acting under Article VII of the Antarctic Treaty, asix-man inspection team planned to travel from Mc-Murdo to Palmer Station on the USCGC StatenIsland, inspecting coastal stations as weather and iceconditions permitted.

The team left McMurdo on February 12 and in-spcted Dumont d'Urville (France), Casey (Austra-lia), Mirnyy (Soviet Union), Mawson (Australia),and, while at Mawson, the M/V Nella Dan. Owing tohull damage sustained near Mawson, the voyage wasterminated on March 2, and the damaged StatenIsland headed for Melbourne.

The inspection team was cordially received at eachstation. All facilities were opened to it, and all pro-grams were described freely by station personnel. Theobserved activities at each station were in compliance

with the provisions and the spirit of the AntarcticTreaty and its associated regulatory regime.

The inspection team was led by Kenneth Kerst ofthe Department of State and comprised Richard Gar-vey, Capt., U.S. Navy, on detached service with theArms Control and Disarmament Agency; VictorHammond, an electronics engineer with the Depart-ment of Defense; Clyde Jones, a zoologist with theFish and Wildlife Service; Frank Mahncke, an oper-ations analyst with the Arms Control and Disarma-ment Agency; and Charles Roberts, a polar meteorol-ogist with the National Weather Service.

The Treaty provides that officially designated ob-servers ". . . shall have complete freedom of access atany time to any and all areas of Antarctica [and] allstations, installations and equipment within thoseareas . . ." Regular readers of the Antarctic Journalwill recall that inspections have been conducted byArgentina, Australia, New Zealand, the United King-dom, and the United States (Smith, 1967).

Dumont d'Urville Station

The inspection team arrived at Dumont d'Urville

July—August 1971 147