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ReseaRch a n d developmenT In T h e na v y 65
Although the merger resolved jurisdictional tensions over missile development,
it created difficulties with regard to managerial organization and effectiveness.
Massive and unwieldy, the new bureau controlled 60 percent of the assets of the
Naval Material Support Establishment, itself founded in 1963 through a merger
of the bureaus of Yards and Docks, Supplies and Accounts, and Ships. To avoid
the likelihood of future jurisdictional conflicts arising from the development of
new weapon systems, the Navy leadership reorganized the bureau structure in
1965 into six separate functional commands administered by a new umbrella
organization—the Naval Material Command (headed by the Chief of Naval
Material). Each command was based on an integrated systems approach (for
ships, air, ordnance, electronics, facilities engineering, and supply) that cut across
the once-rigid institutional boundaries that had defined the old bureau system.
The Navy reorganized the in-house laboratories in response to the formation
of the Naval Material Command. In line with this transformation, the Navy
established late in 1965 the dual position of Director of Naval Laboratories
(reporting to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research and Development)
and Director of Laboratory Programs (reporting to the Chief of Naval Material)
to coordinate the programs and functions of the laboratories managed by the
new command structure. This realignment placed direct management of the
laboratories and technical programs under the control of a civilian scientist, who
no longer reported to the individual bureau chiefs. Like the bureaus, several of the
in-house laboratories were reorganized into major centers along functional lines.
In 1967, the Navy established the first center—the Naval Ship Research and
Development Center—followed by the Naval Weapons Center, Naval Undersea
Research and Development Center, Navy Electronics Laboratory Center, and
the Naval Air Development Center. 85
The transformation of the independent bureaus into centralized system
commands illustrates the extent to which the introduction of new weapons
technologies upset traditional roles and missions. The Special Projects Office,
Lead Bureau Concept, and other ad hoc measures initially eased jurisdictional
tensions between the bureaus, but naval leaders sought a better and more lasting
85 Booz Allen, Review of Navy R&D Management, 85–90. The Naval Ship Research and Development
Center comprised the David Taylor Model Basin, Marine Engineering Laboratory, and the former Mine
Defense Laboratory (Panama City, Florida). The Naval Ordnance Test Station at China Lake and the
Naval Ordnance Laboratory (Corona) merged to form the Naval Weapons Center. The Pasadena annex
of the Naval Ordnance Test Station and the Undersea Technology Directorate of the Naval Electronics
Laboratory combined to form the Naval Undersea Research and Development Center (San Diego). The
Naval Air Development Center at Johnsville, Pennsylvania, acquired the Aerospace Crew Equipment
Department, the Aeronautical Materials Department, and the Aeronautical Structures Department
previously assigned to the Naval Air Engineering Station at Philadelphia. The Naval Electronics Laboratory
Center (San Diego), Naval Weapons Laboratory (formerly the Naval Proving Ground at Dahlgren), and
the Naval Ordnance Laboratory (White Oak) remained intact. In addition to the major weapons centers
and laboratories, several smaller R&D facilities were either established outright or reorganized through
mergers and divestitures: the Naval Underwater Weapons Research and Engineering Station (formerly
the Naval Torpedo Station; Newport, Rhode Island); the Underwater Sound Laboratory (New London);
Naval Applied Science Laboratory (Brooklyn); Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory (San Francisco);
and the Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory (Port Huenene, California). “R&D Centers/Laboratories,”
Armed Forces Journal 106 (17 May 1969): 30–31; “Navy Establishes R&D Center,” Journal of the Armed
Forces 104 (8 April 1967): 2.