Prior to World War I, the general public, and many in the military, knew very little about submarines and submarine warfare. By war’s end, submarines were recognized as one of the most ‘frightening and loathsome’ instruments of war.
“ The Submarine Signal Company located its first laboratory at East Point, Nahant because of its strategic location and surrounding deep water.”
The Submarine Signal Company (SSC) was established in 1901 in Boston, MA, and was the first commercial enterprise organized to conduct underwater sound research and to develop equipment to be used for increasing safety of navigation. The initial product line included underwater bells for shore-based stations, buoys, and lightships, as well as encased microphones for sound detection on ships. The SSC located its first laboratory at East Point, Nahant because of its strategic location and surrounding deep water.
The Nahant Antisubmarine Laboratory (NAL) was built off Swallow Cave Road on the estates of General Charles J. Paine, Mrs. Knivet W. Sears, and Miss Clara Sears. (Property now owned by the Ralph Lowell family.)
“The Nahant Antisubmarine Laboratory (NAL) was built off Swallow Cave Road on the estates of General Charles J. Paine, Mrs. Knivet W. Sears, and Miss Clara Sears. (Property now owned by the Ralph Lowell family.) ”
The NAL consisted of 7 permanent, one-story wooden structures all connected by an elaborate plank walkway. There was also a standardized laboratory, or general use building. The initial phase of construction was completed on April 7, 1914, one day after the United States declared war on Germany. Sentinels were posted around the clock, and large signs warned that unauthorized personnel were not allowed on the premises
The SSC scientists’ first challenge at East Point was to identify underwater sounds by the type of vessel, then measure the distance at which they were first audible. Each class of vessels emits unique noises known as the ship’s ‘signature’. Previously, the SSC, and engineer Reginald Fessenden, developed the Fessenden Oscillator, which could receive and send underwater sounds. After much experimentation, a sensitive microphone, or hydrophone, was created. It could detect distant sounds more clearly than the Oscillator. (This ‘sensing’ technology was first developed to detect ice bergs.)
“If you check the plot plan from a 1914 atlas of Nahant, you will see the empty lot where this all happened. This lab was never included in the atlas. ”
In August, a prototype of this ‘sensing tube’, or hydrophone, was operational, always under combined Navy/Army security. A small building was added to the Tudor Wharf deck to facilitate loading the hydrophone onto a boat without public eyes spying. By late September, the design for this submarine detector was finished and ready for sea trials. It was tested by lowering it into the water from the side of a small boat. The tube was tested in all types of weather, day and night.
With the successful testing of this hydrophone, it became apparent that personnel would need to be trained to identify the sounds being received. Naval and civilian personnel were trained at the East Point facility. One of the first classes included American and British officers and enlisted personnel, plus a select group of French sailors. The training required endless hours listening to recordings of sounds emitted by sea craft of all types.
“A few of the original wooden structures were relocated to private properties in Town. At least two of these exist today as guest cottages.”
The hydrophone was developed not a moment too soon. German U-boats began appearing all along the U.S. east coast. The newly trained, and numerous, anti-submarine forces were put into action, some of them having been trained in Nahant.
In September of 1918, the Hydrophone School opened in New London, CT. Training in sound detection ended at Nahant. Shortly after the war ended, the electronics apparatus was removed from East Point, and the Nahant Anti-submarine Laboratory was quietly dismantled. Like it never existed.