`U.S. Navy heavy-section titanium submarine program`

Tom's first Navy research contract as a young assistant professor was submerged arc welding of 6Al-4V for heavy-section submarine hull development. Funded by Office of Naval Research. Contact at Navy was a graduate of the department. Program also covered creep-fatigue interaction studies at NRL.

This was in the 1970s. The first research project I ever had as a young assistant professor was to do submerged arc welding of titanium. Here are some of those welds we made on six aluminum four vanadium. Why were we making these welds on titanium? This was the 1970s, and titanium would make the best submarine — much better than any of the steels, much better than aluminum. The U.S. Navy was working on heavy section titanium in the 1970s, which is when I started as a young faculty member. I knew from my old house tutor that the Navy was interested in titanium, and they had some research money, and the guy at the Navy was a graduate of this department and was giving out the money. That's how I got my first contract to weld heavy section titanium, which is why we made the first electroslag welds about 1980.