US Navy's Superconductivity Programs Scientific Curiosity to Fleet Utility

摘要

The US Navy's interest in superconductivity began shortly after World War II when programs at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and the Office of Naval Research (ONR) began exploring the science of superconducting materials. Throughout the 1950's and 1960's these programs discovered new superconducting materials and added much to the basic understanding of the phenomenon. Technology development programs began in the late 1960's with major efforts at ONR, NRL, and the Navy's Warfare Centers. Development of superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) used to detect underwater mines and submarines began at the Warfare Center in Panama City, FL in 1969. At the same time scientists and engineers at the Warfare Center in Annapolis, MD began their own technology efforts to develop quiet, high power density ship propulsion motors. ONR and NRL expanded their programs to include superconducting electronics as well as efforts to develop technologically useful materials (films and wires) for the Navy's technology programs.