Where did the "Asdic" name come from?

Gorduz · 06-26-07, 02:06 PM

wikipedia and u-boat.net seems to disagree on the origin of the british name for sonar: ASDIC
uboat.net:
http://uboat.net/allies/technical/asdic.htm
"ASDIC, developed through the work of the Anti-submarine Detection Investigation Committee , from which its name is derived..."
wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asdic
" 1916, under the British Board of Invention and Research, Canadian physicist Robert Boyle took on the active sonar project with A B Wood, producing a prototype for testing in mid-1917. This work, for the Anti-Submarine Division, was undertaken in utmost secrecy, and used quartz piezoelectric crystals to produce the world's first practical underwater active sound detection apparatus. To maintain secrecy no mention of sound experimentation or quartz was made - the word used to describe the early work ('supersonics') was changed to 'ASD'ics, and the quartz material 'ASD'ivite. From this came the British acronym ASDIC. In 1939, in response to a question from the Oxford English Dictionary, the Admiralty made up the story that the letters stood for 'Anti-Submarine Detection Investigation Committee', and this is still widely believed, though no committee bearing this name has ever been found in the Admiralty archives.[1]"

wikis source is: Willem Hackmann from 'Seek and Strike'

Who's right? Anyone read 'Seek and Strike'?

06-26-07, 02:06 PM	#1
Gorduz Engineer Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Norway Posts: 210 Downloads: 2 Uploads: 0	Where did the "Asdic" name come from? wikipedia and u-boat.net seems to disagree on the origin of the british name for sonar: ASDIC uboat.net: http://uboat.net/allies/technical/asdic.htm "ASDIC, developed through the work of the Anti-submarine Detection Investigation Committee , from which its name is derived..." wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asdic " 1916, under the British Board of Invention and Research, Canadian physicist Robert Boyle took on the active sonar project with A B Wood, producing a prototype for testing in mid-1917. This work, for the Anti-Submarine Division, was undertaken in utmost secrecy, and used quartz piezoelectric crystals to produce the world's first practical underwater active sound detection apparatus. To maintain secrecy no mention of sound experimentation or quartz was made - the word used to describe the early work ('supersonics') was changed to 'ASD'ics, and the quartz material 'ASD'ivite. From this came the British acronym ASDIC. In 1939, in response to a question from the Oxford English Dictionary, the Admiralty made up the story that the letters stood for 'Anti-Submarine Detection Investigation Committee', and this is still widely believed, though no committee bearing this name has ever been found in the Admiralty archives.[1]" wikis source is: Willem Hackmann from 'Seek and Strike' Who's right? Anyone read 'Seek and Strike'? __________________ 21. MTB skv. Attacks without warning.