This 1950s U.S. Navy newsreel shows the operation of the Taylor Model Ship Basin in the design of warship hulls. The ship demonstrated here is an LCI, landing craft infantry. Scale model propellers are built as well as a ship hull for extensive testing in the long basin.

The David Taylor Model Basin (DTMB) is one of the largest ship model basins—test facilities for the development of ship design—in the world. DTMB is a field activity of the Carderock Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center. In 1896, David Watson Taylor designed and supervised construction of the Washington Navy Yard’s Experimental Model Basin which was at that time the best facility in the world. That facility was a significant design testing capability before, during, and after World War I. Inadequacies in that facility led the navy to look for a new model capability.

The new navy modeling facility — named for David Taylor — was built in 1939 in today’s community of Carderock just west of Bethesda, Maryland in Montgomery County. The Carderock facility contains multiple test basins designed for a variety of testing capabilities. DTMB has been a pervasive influence on naval architecture for 70 years.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com