Duty-Free Merchandise

Merchandise manufactured in the United States and purchased in any port or base exchange overseas may be returned to the United States on a duty-free basis.

When mailing a duty-free item, the Exchange Service customer must add the words "Returned U. S. Merchandise" on the U. S. customs forms.

The proper customs forms are available in all base and ship post offices.

ANOTHER SAVINGS PROGRAM signed into law in August guarantees an all-time high rate of 10 per cent interest to investors in the Savings Deposit Program, formerly known as the Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen Deposit Fund Accounts. This applies solely to those persons overseas. Officers are now eligible to participate in the new Savings Deposit Program.

Many of these programs mentioned, which have been put into practice, show favorable saving results.

But, according to the Navy's financial managers, it's the impact of voluntary savings by individuals which will reveal whether or not the Department of the Navy meets this year's goal.

In other words, it's up to the Navyman to help fill the gap, and bring our credit up in the balance of payments deficit. This effort not only will benefit the Navy but also the individual as well.

For an insight into the savings programs listed above, refer to these four major instructions and notices:

• SecNav Inst 5381.3
• NavCompt Inst 7200.12
• SecNav Notice 7220 of 28 Mar 1966
• NavCompt Notice 7220 of 19 May 1966.

13,000 Dives for Piper

The crew of the submarine uss Piper (SS 409) claims she is the diving champ of active duty submarines.

Piper recorded her 13,000th dive on 26 July. At last count the total was 13,120. She was commissioned in 1944.

According to Piper crewmembers, the highest number of dives recorded in the Submarine Library of the U.S. Naval Submarine Base, New London, is 13,851. This record is held by uss Sarda (SS 488). Sarda, however, was decommissioned in 1964.

World Cruise

Home after a seven-month, around-the-world cruise are Destroyer Divisions 121 and 122, homeported in Newport, R. I.

On the last leg of their journey from the Western Pacific, the eight ships transited the Suez Canel and made a midsummer visit to Athens, Greece.

After this shore leave, DesDiv 121, consisting of destroyers uss Davis (DD 937), Basilone (DD 824), Fiske (DD 842), and the radar picket destroyer Dyess (DDR 880), proceeded to make port Barcelona, Spain.

At the same time, the destroyers of DesDiv 122, uss Richard E. Kraus (DD 849), Massey (DD 778), Fred T. Berry (DD 585), and the radar picket destroyer Stickell (DDR 888), journeyed to Palma, Majorca.

The divisions' last Mediterranean port-of-call was Gibraltar where the destroyers stopped briefly for fuel. They then traveled on to Newport, completing their global cruise.

Existence Doubtful

One would think that a mountain is either there, or it isn't there. You go to the place where it's supposed to be, and you open your eyes. End of argument.

But, if the reported mountain is an undersea mountain, and you are a hydrographer trying to chart that section of the ocean, you may have problems.

These seamounts, as submarine mountains are called, are actually volcanic peaks rising from the floor of the ocean but not quite reaching the surface. (If they did reach the top of the water they would, of course, be islands, or atolls.)

Obviously, seamounts are potential hazards to shipping, in the some way icebergs are. Fortunately, since the seumounts don't move around like icebergs, they con be accurately charted. Or con they?

Periodically, merchant vessels sailing normal sealanes have reported the existence of these underwater obstacles where only deep ocean water had previously been recorded.

Then, when oceanographic survey ships are sent out to check on the seamounts, they find nothing.

A good example of a "phantom" seamount is the one reported in July 1948 by the merchant ship 55 American Scout. The ship's personnel placed their fathometer in operation after noting an unusual green color in the water. This was about 600 miles east of Newfoundland, in an area previously charted as deep water. The instrument indicated shallow water.

Other merchantmen had reported a similar phenomenon in about the some area. The Naval Oceanographic Office sent one of their highly instrumented oceanographic ships to check out this underwater mountain. They found nothing but miles of water over a rolling ocean floor. Not even an underwater molehill.

But they did find schools of fish and other marine life close to the surface. Evidently, this was what had been seen and recorded by the merchantmen. A school of fish will return an echo to the sounding gear, thus presenting itself as the ocean floor.

Even if the hydrographer finds no seamount in the reported area, he still has a problem. If he removes the hazard from the nautical chart, he could be endangering many lives. Suppose, for instance, that the merchantman who reparted the seamount was a little off in his navigation, and the hazard really lies a few miles from the reported position? It would be better, in that case, to have at least some indication on the chart that the area could be dangerous.

Therefore, the hydrographer, faced with a potential disaster should he fail to mark in a questionable seamount, inevitably indicates the hazard on the chart, and then pens in "Existence Doubtful."

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