Why all the Mystery?
This article was sent to me by the Bermuda National Museum (formerly the Bermuda Maritime Museum) in 2015, and it has sat in my 'To Do' file while I have been pursuing other activities. There is no indication in which local newspaper the article appeared. The clipping is incomplete, it is missing some wording at the bottom of both the first and second column. I have filled in some appropriate wording for column one (in Italics), but have left column two "dangling"!
If anyone has a copy of this clipping, and can supply the missing section, I would be most grateful to receive it!! (Either the clipping, or just the missing words!)
If anyone has a copy of this clipping, and can supply the missing section, I would be most grateful to receive it!! (Either the clipping, or just the missing words!)
Transcript of Article.
Argus Tower & Navy facility at Tudor Hill.
Is the stilted Argus Tower which is a target for many suspicions, part of a new and intricate giant network of sonar systems surreptitiously set up by the U.S. Navy for detecting submarines at long range?
Does it contain many marvels of modern machinery designed to seek out enemy submarines before they reach a position where they may constitute a danger to the United States? Is it, in fact, part of the huge web of defense units designed to warn the United States of impending attack?
The U S. Navy says not and describes the work there as "purely for research" with no use as a Military defense unit.
But they will not say what the research work is other than giving it a name — Project Artemis — and saying that the tower is a Navy offshore relay station.
Since it was first built, the four-legged, flat-topped tower has been shrouded in mystery. It is designated by the U S. Navy as a research post, and stands in 200 feet of water, 24 ½ miles south of the Tudor Hill Laboratories
SOUND TESTING
Working in co-operation with research going on. at the tower is the sound-testing experimental ship Mission Capistrano.
According to the latest version of Jane's Fighting Ships. one of the foremost authorities on the world's military vessels, the Mission Capistrano is a 17,000 ton former oiler.
But more important points out Jane's, it was converted for use in the waters around Bermuda. to a sound testing experimental ship. fitted with a sound transducer assembly five stories high.
"This," states Jane's, "is to test the huge sonar transducer in a giant new sonar system for detecting submarine; at long range."
NAVY DENIAL
The Navy denies that the tower and ship are being used by the Defense Department. but instead come under the heading of the Office of Naval Research. The mission of the tower, they say, is called Project Artemis. which is the Greek name for the goddess of hunts.
According to Lieutenant Commander J. E. Pinning, officer in charge of the Naval Facility at Tudor Hill. which operates the Argus Tower, much of the work that goes on out there is classified.
"It is a Navy offshore relay station and part of Project Artemis," he said, -and is continually equipped for research off Bermuda."
Commander Pinning emphasized that the station was used "purely for research" and had no use as a military defense unit at all.
TO PRESIDENT
Last year top level military ... (suggested missing wording :- personnel inspected the facility and) ... reported directly back to President Johnson and were part of the Presidential Scientific Advisory Committee.
The press only tumbled upon them being here through a fluke. A London newspaper reported that Soviet submarines had been sighted off Bermuda, and the Press were quick to check this out.
Needless In say, the authenticity of this report was denied unequivocably, but mention was made of the important research team here. A further check revealed that they were here on what the Navy called "a routine visit which was both unannounced and unpublicised.
Evidently the Tudor Hill laboratory is important enough to warrant top-level surveillance. It is surrounded by "No Trespassing" signs and patrolled by armed guards. A high barbed wire fence isolates the area from the road.
BERMUDA BULWARKS
The U.S. Navy commander. Captain M. Vance Dawkins Jr. at a Press conference last week. emphasized the strategic value of Bermuda as a bulwark in an undetected 'approach to the United States. According to the recently-published book ''The Tenth Fleet." by Mr. Ladisias Farrago. which deals with work being carried out at the Argus Tower. the Artemis project is the Navy's major effort in ocean surveillance.
Briefly, explains the book, the project involves underwater detection by means of sound.
"Scientists in California and Florida discovered that dolphin navigated at night by-radar.- writes Mr. Farrago. -It was Constantly evaluating. This "dolphin radar" was found to be operating on a wavelength higher than sound but lower than standard band radio. The application of dolphin's very low frequency then produced the Artemis."
According to the book, in 1961. although Artemis had picked up "everything that moved in the sea for 300 miles" it was only an exploratory development, and not a defense system.
RELAY POINT
The book goes on in say that the Texas Tower structure was constructed …
Argus Tower & Navy facility at Tudor Hill.
Is the stilted Argus Tower which is a target for many suspicions, part of a new and intricate giant network of sonar systems surreptitiously set up by the U.S. Navy for detecting submarines at long range?
Does it contain many marvels of modern machinery designed to seek out enemy submarines before they reach a position where they may constitute a danger to the United States? Is it, in fact, part of the huge web of defense units designed to warn the United States of impending attack?
The U S. Navy says not and describes the work there as "purely for research" with no use as a Military defense unit.
But they will not say what the research work is other than giving it a name — Project Artemis — and saying that the tower is a Navy offshore relay station.
Since it was first built, the four-legged, flat-topped tower has been shrouded in mystery. It is designated by the U S. Navy as a research post, and stands in 200 feet of water, 24 ½ miles south of the Tudor Hill Laboratories
SOUND TESTING
Working in co-operation with research going on. at the tower is the sound-testing experimental ship Mission Capistrano.
According to the latest version of Jane's Fighting Ships. one of the foremost authorities on the world's military vessels, the Mission Capistrano is a 17,000 ton former oiler.
But more important points out Jane's, it was converted for use in the waters around Bermuda. to a sound testing experimental ship. fitted with a sound transducer assembly five stories high.
"This," states Jane's, "is to test the huge sonar transducer in a giant new sonar system for detecting submarine; at long range."
NAVY DENIAL
The Navy denies that the tower and ship are being used by the Defense Department. but instead come under the heading of the Office of Naval Research. The mission of the tower, they say, is called Project Artemis. which is the Greek name for the goddess of hunts.
According to Lieutenant Commander J. E. Pinning, officer in charge of the Naval Facility at Tudor Hill. which operates the Argus Tower, much of the work that goes on out there is classified.
"It is a Navy offshore relay station and part of Project Artemis," he said, -and is continually equipped for research off Bermuda."
Commander Pinning emphasized that the station was used "purely for research" and had no use as a military defense unit at all.
TO PRESIDENT
Last year top level military ... (suggested missing wording :- personnel inspected the facility and) ... reported directly back to President Johnson and were part of the Presidential Scientific Advisory Committee.
The press only tumbled upon them being here through a fluke. A London newspaper reported that Soviet submarines had been sighted off Bermuda, and the Press were quick to check this out.
Needless In say, the authenticity of this report was denied unequivocably, but mention was made of the important research team here. A further check revealed that they were here on what the Navy called "a routine visit which was both unannounced and unpublicised.
Evidently the Tudor Hill laboratory is important enough to warrant top-level surveillance. It is surrounded by "No Trespassing" signs and patrolled by armed guards. A high barbed wire fence isolates the area from the road.
BERMUDA BULWARKS
The U.S. Navy commander. Captain M. Vance Dawkins Jr. at a Press conference last week. emphasized the strategic value of Bermuda as a bulwark in an undetected 'approach to the United States. According to the recently-published book ''The Tenth Fleet." by Mr. Ladisias Farrago. which deals with work being carried out at the Argus Tower. the Artemis project is the Navy's major effort in ocean surveillance.
Briefly, explains the book, the project involves underwater detection by means of sound.
"Scientists in California and Florida discovered that dolphin navigated at night by-radar.- writes Mr. Farrago. -It was Constantly evaluating. This "dolphin radar" was found to be operating on a wavelength higher than sound but lower than standard band radio. The application of dolphin's very low frequency then produced the Artemis."
According to the book, in 1961. although Artemis had picked up "everything that moved in the sea for 300 miles" it was only an exploratory development, and not a defense system.
RELAY POINT
The book goes on in say that the Texas Tower structure was constructed …
Transcript of Photo caption.
CONTENTIOUS TOWER — The four-legged, flat-topped Argus Tower juts out of the sea in 200 feet of water some 25 miles south of Bermuda. It is designated by the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Research as a research installation, but speculation runs high that it is part of an intricate defense system to protect the United States from attack by submarines. (Photo by Fred Roberts)
CONTENTIOUS TOWER — The four-legged, flat-topped Argus Tower juts out of the sea in 200 feet of water some 25 miles south of Bermuda. It is designated by the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Research as a research installation, but speculation runs high that it is part of an intricate defense system to protect the United States from attack by submarines. (Photo by Fred Roberts)