During the early and mid-1950s two television shows captured my interest in the United States Navy (USN). First, the great chronicle of WW2, Victory at Sea, aired weekly on NBC. The other, The Silent Ser- vice, began a little later. In early 1957 my family vacationed on the is- land of Antigua, BWI. While playing on the beach one day two sailors from a Navy auxiliary ship moored just 100 yards away approached and asked my Mom if they could take me aboard for the nightly movie. For a boy who just turned 9 a couple weeks before it became the adventure of the year. That evening they took me aboard, grabbed a glass bottle of Coke from the vending machine, free thanks to the ship’s recreation fund, and we watched the evening movie on the fantail. Little did I know that years later I’d be a Navy civilian working for the source of that movie, the US Navy Motion Picture Service (NMPS).
As I played on the beach, the SeaBees blasted coral and rock to make way for the new NAVFAC Antigua. After a short time-lapse from that vacation, but not much, I visited a local US Naval Academy (USNA) Midshipman, Denny Terry, who was home on leave. He told me about life as a Midshipman and handed me a pile of magazines published by the academy: USNA’s version of the Navy pub, All Hands. Unfortunate- ly, those pubs and my gigantic comic book collection were discarded as unnecessary ballast when we relocated to Germany. Dad flew for Pan Am and was being based there. My first experience with “operational loss.”
How we began and why and where. Let’s start with the address: US Navy Motion Picture Service, Building 311, Brooklyn Navy Yard, Brooklyn, NY, or the USN plain language address (PLA): NMPS BROOKLYN NY. Facing Flushing Avenue in the yard’s southeast cor- ner, this heavily compressed concrete and asbestos bunker had only a few windows and was constructed so that the film vaults had thick fast- close steel doors with pulleys and weights to quickly contain potentially dangerous fire hazardous materials (HAZMATs): nitrocellulose films. Each vault had its own water sprinkler fire suppression system. Some- one decided it would be a great location except it was yards away from the old Naval Hospital, Brooklyn. Considering what was stored there, maybe not the best site, but then the year was 1917 and the United States and its Navy had gone to war.
Traditional selectees for motion picture projectionists afloat were rated Electrician’s Mates and later, Interior Communications personnel. At the Pearl Harbor museum, you can see a large model of the USS Ari- zona and just aft of the last of her superstructure, a projection booth. Just like any other organization we operated with our own Navy Regulations, Instructions, and manuals. I don’t know what the original “regs” were, but the later ones were distributed to all commands, afloat and ashore. The oldest one I have seen was NAVPERS 15970, “Navy Fleet Motion Picture Service Manual” NAVPERS 15970, dated 26 March 1964. There were many others prior to that one dating back to 1917, when the pro- gram and organization began. The latest were BUPERSINST 1710.12, and the last one, prior to the disestablishment of the Navy Motion Pic- ture Service (NMPS) 22 March 1996, NAVMILPERSINST 1710.1 dat- ed 7 July 1988. This disestablishment eliminated the organization as a field instrumentality of Navy Morale Welfare and Recreation (MWR). The 55 civilians and 13 Navy sailors disappeared. A small contingent of civilians remained as an extended staff section of Navy MWR (NMPC- 65) at NAS Memphis.
Navy projectionists trained in schools set up at NMPS Brooklyn as well as local courses at home ports. Sailors could also learn about the 16mm projectors aboard ship. The same was true for our many Navy Motion Picture Exchange personnel. Titles included, but were not lim- ited to: Programmed Instruction Course for Navy Motion Picture Ex- change Supervisor, Trainees Guide for 35mm Sound Motion Picture System Class C Volumes 1 and 2 (NAVPERS 93923-1/2), Trainees Guide for 16mm Sound Motion Picture System Class C Volumes 1 and 2 (NAVPERS 93051B-1 and 2), 16mm Projector Operator Volumes 1 and 2 (NAVEDTRA 5053-1/2), Technical Manual 16mm Sound Motion Picture Projection EBuipment Types AQ-2A(3) and AQ-3(2) also named the I.C. Technical Manual No. 686 (NAVSHIPS No. 385-0232). For those who complained about the weight of the Bell and Howell blue pro-jectors, let’s look at the weights of the Joint Army/Navy (JAN) projector components. The projector net weight was 48 pounds. Its component speaker net weight was 27.5 pounds. Last, its amplifier net weight was D1 pounds. Anyone for DVD players vice JAN 16mm film projectors?
Film evolved from nitrocellulose to acetate. The fire hazard was gone but in base theatre projection booths the fire shutters still remained for the 35mm projectors. Then film changed. The 16mm so common in the fleet moved ashore and the large screen theatres were now projecting film using 3EE- and 35E-Watt lamps with Bell and Howell projectors and 16EE foot film capacity reels. The average green fiber film shipping cases contained three reels and the standard weight, including the white Information and Exhibition Books (I&E Books), was 17 pounds. Some films were one reel in one-reel boxes others were four or even five reels. Anyone tasked with picking out movies in the local film exchange got a real workout carrying them back to the ship. One of the problems with acetate film was that it broke easily, so when Kodak introduced My- lar film base NMPS switched to that product to reduce the chances of film breakage. Feature films were kept for three years. The classics were originally kept for three as well. Classics were not just old-time favorites but contemporary favorites as well. Some were kept for the life of the print instead of specific years, so a new film protection process devel- oped by 3M was used to coat those films to offer not only more physical protection but, by luck, increased the screen brightness. Classics proved so popular that during the 198Es NMPS negotiated five-year leases to give the fleet and shore theatres more opportunity to view the popular older movies.
NMPS did not censor or cut films in any way. Sailors were able to see the entire film just as it had been released to the public. On occasion films were screened for procurement that did not fit within the Navy mo- tion picture procurement guidelines and such films were rejected. Con- troversial movies were sent to N-65 for viewing by senior naval officers including the Chief of Chaplains. Their decision might be to accept or reject the film since morale and for the good of the service were always the key objectives. Distribution each week included two new features, NFL Game of the Week and NFL shorts. Cartoons were attached at the head of the feature when they were available. Other films distributed, in addition to the classics, were Kiddie Movies (old serials and special children’s movies), some old TV shows like High Chaparral the origi- nal Star Trek episodes with Kirk and Spock. They looked much better on a movie screen than on TV.
During the peak of the Cold War 38 NMPS film exchanges (NMPXs) could be found around the world. NMPS operated fifty film circuits, grew the tape inventory to over 500,000 videocassettes, and had well over 35,EEE films on shelves or in circulation. Ships porting in CONUS had a NMPX in their ports whether in Goose Creek, San Diego, or Nor- folk. Exchanges could be aboard the closest tender or in a building. For example, NMPX Norfolk was in the Port Services building. For OCO- NUS the NMPX, like in CONUS, could be a shore installation loca- tion or a tender. At Holy Loch and San Stefano tenders (AS) maintained NMPX services. In some instances where massive fleet forward deploy- ments were dictated by geo-political problems new prints were sent to ships on the front line that had sufficient storage space to become float- ing NMPXs. Two that come to mind are the incidents in Iran during the Carter administration and Lebanon during the Reagan administration. Typically, BBs, CV(N)s, and AORs took on these added duties to serve the fleet with its sailors and Marines.
So how did this 9-year-old boy on a beach in Antigua figure into NMPS and his intense interest in submarines? It started with Victory at Sea and The Silent Service and a very special larger than life green book which I still have titled The Big Book of Real Submarines: The New Nautilus, Atomic Engine, History of Submarines text and pictures by Jack McCoy (Grosset & Dunlap, NY 1955). Mom bought it for me at a school book fair when I was in the fourth grade. So, what happened after that? First, I understood my math and science skills would not get me into Annapolis. My mechanical skills were not good either so enlist- ing and striking for highly technical sub ratings wouldn’t likely work out. So I decided Special Forces (SF) would be my calling and went the Army route instead. I joined college Army ROTC in 1966 and was com- missioned in 1970, volunteering at a time when others were looking to avoid military service. Infantry, Airborne, Special Forces, triple volun- teer. Special Forces suited me fine and I enjoyed 38 years, active and re- serve, as a SF officer as well as four years with the 1E2nd Air Rescue and Recovery Squadron (NYANG) attached as an intelligence and tactics officer, one tour with 18th Airborne Corps, and two tours at West Point. I retired from the US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), still an operator, happy that I had hit every Army SF command from detachment commander to USSOCOM retiring Regular Army not USAR.
When the Vietnam War and military challenges slowed down for SF, I departed active duty in the 1970s. Once again a civilian, I was hired by the OIC NMPS as a management assistant for both him and the deputy director in January 1978. After a month in the headquarters the OIC sent me on the road to see how ships used the movie program, visit NMPXs, and to see how movies were shown ashore. For this I spent two weeks in California at NAVSTA Treasure Island, NAVSTA San Diego and another week at NAVSTA Norfolk. We had two branch offices NMPS Treasure Island and NMPS Norfolk. I understood the NMPX operations quickly and moved from there to shore theatres and ships.
Visiting as many different hulls as I could on that first Navy TAD many ideas sparked further research. First was the use of videocassettes aboard ship instead of 16mm film, especially for smaller vessels such as PHMs and submarines. Both hulls had limited storage space and for any underway periods that reBuired one movie per day, film storage was a cumbersome problem. In shore theatres I found a range of speakers that either partially worked or had acoustic properties that made speech intelligibility difficult in Navy theatres. Many theatre screens were the originals from the 1940s-50s and in need of immediate replacement. A movie screen should be replaced if it is dirty, soiled by tossed candy and soda, cut, or when it is five years old. Clearly the light and picture resolution was not in accordance with the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers guidelines and specifications. Bell and How- ell blue cased projectors and JANs could work on ship but not in large screen theatres. Their 300- and 350-Watt lamps did not provide a prop- er picture, had short lives, and were expensive to replace and ship by NMPS Brooklyn. Finally, the limited wattage projector amplifiers were not capable of adequately powering stage speakers. So, on one hand I began a program of replacing theatre equipment ashore with profes- sional systems and looking at possible courses of action to improve the movie program afloat.
VHS had less weight and volume, easier storage, and the technology was already available. I began discussions with the Navy Broadcasting Service (NAVBCSTSVC) and visited them in their Pentagon office to discuss their role, their existing shipboard systems, and their intent to integrate future technology. How could NMPS work with Navy Broad- casting to use their Ship’s Information, Training and Education CCTV systems called SUBSITE-TV, SITE-TV, and SUPERSITE-TV, as the means of signal distribution to traditional venues such as the wardroom, warrant officers’ (WO) mess, chief petty officers’ (CPO) mess, and crew’s mess decks?
As time progressed, but not much time, I visited every type of hull in the Navy and Coast Guard to learn as much as I could about movie exhibition afloat. For attack subs this ranged from Tullibee (597) to the Sturgeon (637) class, Los Angeles (688) class, and the Poseidon boom- ers. A while later I even visited a new OHIO hull at SUBASE Ban- gor. I don’t remember other classes and specific boats other than being fortunate to visit Nautilus while she was still in commission. Clearly the SITE-TV monitors on ships visited were commonly only 13 inches in diagonal measurement although other ship exhibition locations may have had larger units. During this time frame of developing fleet conver- sion to videocassettes we outfitted NR-1 with VHS tapes for an Atlantic deployment.
Submarines had always held my heart, so I felt the best place to start would be on a deployment. COMSUBLANT arranged for me to go aboard for a deployment on a sub to get a better feel for movie exhibi- tion, the officers, chiefs, crew’s concerns about movies and the basis for our existence—the positive impact of movies on crew morale. Through COMSUBRON SIX it was arranged to go aboard USS Silversides (SSN-679). The CO was CDR Merrill H. Dorman and I could not ask for a more hospitable deployment or a more amenable skipper. Silver- sides executed an at-sea transfer from a Navy contract vessel to the boat. Determination beat the rocky waves which the inclinometer in the work vessel showed 35 degrees port and starboard with dishes and coffee pots crashing to the deck. With a hefty leap and caught by crew, I brought two brand new release films aboard—Silversides was our “Navy World Premier Venue” for the films—Every Which Way But Loose (Clint East- wood) and Raging Bull (Robert DeNiro). The crew did not like the latter but echoed, “Left turn Clyde,” throughout the boat until we ported at NAVSTA Norfolk. Now that I knew the problem. I started to think how it could be solved. But, in the meantime, I was given full freedom (less reactor and engineering) to stand watch. I was in heaven: planes, helm, navigation, torpedo room, attack computer, and views from the peri- scope, which did not easily spin like in the WW2 movies. Years ago, I flew gliders, planes and helicopters. Operating the planes and helm felt like flying. If only that little elementary school child, who dreamed of the submarine service, could see into the future.
Just after returning from Norfolk I was flying to NAVSTA Treasure Island on TAD. During the flight a movie was exhibited. I usually watch the terrain below as we cross our great nation but diverted from that practice to look at the screen image on the cabin bulkhead. Asked my- self how it is projected. Looked at the ceiling and followed it back to a video projector. Curiosity got to me and I looked at the name on the unit “V-STAR.” Asked the stewardess about the source of the movies and she replied, “IN FLIGHT Motion Pictures.” Then using paper worked out the distance, image size and tried to figure out how it was mounted to the overhead. When I reached TI, I knew we might have a new way to watch movies on vessels where space was at a premium such as the PHMs and submarines.
Our OIC, Captain W.C. “Chuck” Larry (car’s license plate from VA read NAVIATOR) and our executive director Joe Lance (USN CPO, Retired) were guardedly optimistic but interested. Chuck had been the executive officer of USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67). We contacted IN FLIGHT Motion Pictures and met in their New York City office and again at our NMPS HQ. The idea was to begin a test program using VHS tapes and a video projector to see how the crews would receive them versus the heavy green fiber boxes full of film reels. We could integrate a VHS player with the SITE-TV, add an amplifier, and some speakers for stereo. Next was to get the blessing from the Navy Broadcasting Service whose proprietorship held the key to the experiment.
IN FLIGHT agreed to fully fund their side. Then it was up to NMPS to acquire features on VHS. It was outside our appropriated fund con- tracts with the movie studios which specified 16mm film, period. So,with some negotiations, they agreed, and we bought the tapes. Each test vessel would receive 75 tapes for which they were accountable. Our first ship, thanks to COMNAVAIRLANT, was USS Independence (CV-62). She was in the yards in Norfolk for some work and it gave IN FLIGHT and me a chance to go aboard and have the test locations designated by the command. Those selected were the warrant officers’ (WO) mess and the chief petty officers’ (CPO) mess. Everyone else would just have 16mm movies. So once Independence was pier-side at NAVSTA Norfolk we went to work installing the systems. For those who have served on a CV or CVN you know how confusing compartment access can be. So, our first course of action was to figure out where we had to go and how to get there. Next was clearance to bring the projection gear and tapes aboard. By luck all 75 tapes were able to fit into two 16mm Bell and Howell aluminum shipping cases. With three days of labor everything was in the warrant officers’ mess. The chiefs elected to install their unit for reasons I can’t remember. It could have been imminent deployment, or they just wanted to play with the system to figure out how it worked. The success of USS Independence caught some attention and soon another company, also involved with airline movies, called on us. Trans Com Division was a subsidiary of Sundstrand Data Control and had a strong interest in placing their units aboard ships. Since none of this testing, except the VHS videocassettes, cost the Navy anything we were delighted to invite them to do USS Milwaukee (AOR-2), USS Silver- sides (SSN-679), and USS Bremerton (SSN-698). With COMNAV- SURFLANT’s approval Milwaukee was done in Norfolk in August. The ship’s air conditioning was non-functional, portholes were open and the smell and noise from deck sanding and resurfacing was barely tolerable. Days were required to get the job done and occasionally a neighboring tender’s machine shop assisted as well with parts needed to complete the video projection units to be suspended from the steel above the over- head perforated sheeting. Both units were operational, and we moved on to the next ship, Silversides. Unlike Independence and Milwaukee, we needed to get through the SUBSAFE program before obtaining Naval Sea Systems Command (COMNAVSEASYSCOM) approval.
Accordingly, Trans Com’s applications engineer and I drove from LaGuardia Airport in New York City to Naval Undersea Warfare in Groton to assemble their engineers and SUBSAFE specialists, review the blueprints and determine the best way to attach the video projectors and screens. I still have the actual blueprints. A few recommendations and changes were made, and they gave their blessing as long as the blueprints were correctly modified prior to submitting them to NAVSEA later that day. We drove to Bridgeport, CT, found a blueprint printing company, received the freshly generated plan, and caught a shuttle jet from LaGuardia to Washington National (Ronald Reagan) Airport. A quick taxi ride and around 1600 that same day we arrived at NAVSEA to submit the blueprints for approval. The next morning around 0800, back at the Navy Motion Picture Service in Brooklyn, I received a call from NAVSEA granting approval. The engineer said, “You have the fastest SUBSAFE approval on record.”
We immediately coordinated installation aboard Silversides and or- dered the feature movie VHS tapes. To make a long story short I carried, by hand, the two projector cases full of tapes along the entire length of the destroyer/submarine (DD/SSN) pier as torpedo loading by the sub tender (AS) was underway. No cars allowed. We had to work fast as Sil- versides was scheduled for a Mediterranean deployment the following Tuesday and I think we started work on a Wednesday. The crew’s mess deck system took 32 agonizing hours to install with the first hours spent hacksawing a proper opening in the overhead perforated steel sheeting for the video projector mounting systems. We used tag team hacksaw- ing as one pair of arms wore out another pair would step in until we all had plenty of experience and the opening was large enough to fit all the mounting and housing components. The wardroom was relatively faster, 17 hours. While we were doing the initial video imagery on the screen in the crew mess deck, the crew began to filter in as we were using the tape of “The Empire Strikes Back”. Pretty soon the mess was packed with sailors crowding into passageways to get a look. In walked the executive officer who looked around and said, “Don’t you people have something you should be doing?” Grinning crew faces were the answer and the exec continued on his way. No one moved. Silversides deployed on schedule with 75 VHS tapes and two new video projection systems. Upon return from their deployment one of the crew told me they had hosted a French admiral and demonstrated a movie on the wardroom system. The admiral was impressed with the advancement of USN sub- marine morale technology. If you’ve got it, flaunt it.
Our next ship was USS Bremerton at Pearl Harbor. Just like USS Silversides, Bremerton received two systems, one in the crew mess and the other in the wardroom. The sailors enjoyed their new entertainment system. Just so it is clear, no matter the video installations on all the test platforms, all four of the ships were given the opportunity to draw their usual allocations of movies in 16mm. That included the usual sea prints as well as classic movies for the duration of the tests. We allowed film draws because we did not know how long the video projectors would last afloat. This was new territory and we had no ship-based mean time between failure (MTBF) historical data for a maritime salt water envi- ronment.
All systems worked well, and everyone was happy with the new concept. At the time it was the leading edge technology and we at NMPS Brooklyn were very pleased that the commands allowed us to do the test installations. Then came decision time. NMPS relied on the Navy Broadcasting Service for the use of their SITE systems aboard the ships except where direct input could be used. Since our area was 16mm ex- hibition ashore and afloat, the video side became an issue. Everyone associated with the video projectors agreed it was a great way to go. As is always the case, who would be the program manager and who would fund it. A meeting between NMPS and the Navy Broadcasting Service in Washington proved to be the fatal blow. Unfortunately, neither OIC would accept the challenge and the program died on the spot. It was a tough blow for me personally for in just a few comments from our OIC, the NAVBCSTSVC staff was stood up and marched out. Impasse. It never got resolved. The proof of concept succeeded. Implementation did not. After that, Sony’s GSA Representative Rusty Vernon stepped in with some ideas and products, but the program was finished. Perhaps different OICs would have agreed and implemented the video projection program afloat. Just a word about Rusty. He was a great friend to both NMPS and NAVBCSTSVC and bears mention. His father, a naval avi- ator, flew Navy jets in Vietnam and was killed when he was shot down. Rusty and I were on the phone one day discussing video projectors. It was on the morning of 19 April 1995. Suddenly he said he had an emergency call from the FBI for as many video cameras as he could get. The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City had just been bombed. Rusty called back a short time later. If ever a vendor should have an award, Rusty Vernon should have it for outstanding, dedicated, and heartfelt service to the Navy and the FBI. He especially loved the Navy because of his family connection.
In a way some good grew out of it. The idea of NMPS procur- ing Beta II video for use aboard ship SITE systems was accepted by NAVBCSTSVC. By 1983 the new afloat videocassette program was in operation and every ship received 2 new movies per week. They could still draw 16mm sea prints from their NMPX or do transfers at sea as well as order the classic movies. Eventually NAVBCSTSVC switched to 8mm video and NMPS changed to that format as well, afloat. The goal of the video program was to place 500 video movies aboard every ship with two new films per week shipped FPO and the ships at a certain date of tape expiry had to return the tapes to NMPS for destruction or for NMPS to return the tapes to the movie companies, depending on the contract end state of life requirements.
On 22 March 1996 NMPS ceased to exist as a non-appropriated fund instrumentality of the Navy. Instead it relocated in a very small part to NAS Memphis where it became an extended staff element of N-65. The 55 civilians and 13 naval personnel were no longer the proud orga- nization that formed in 1917. As for me, I had my orders to report to the US Special Operations Command in Tampa, my Army assignment as a Special Forces O-5. That last minute, 1630 on that Friday, I hung up the phone with some architects in Orlando who were working on a theatre for NAS Sigonella. I climbed into my van and a few hours later was on my way down I-95 for Tampa. Sunday morning, I arrived at MacDill AFB and the first stop was the BX barber shop, then the BOQ. Checked in Monday morning and Tuesday I was in Panama. A week later I was on my way into Bosnia via Rome on a TWA 747. Sitting next to me were two businessmen. They said they were architects from Orlando. I asked them if they happened to be on their way to Sigonella to work on the the- atre plans. They were shocked. I introduced myself as the guy they were talking with on the afternoon of 22 March. That was neat. But the neater thing was that the CINC heard a motion picture guy from the Navy was assigned to Bosnia as part of Special Operations Command Implementa- tion Force (SOCIFOR). And, he had in mind a movie that he could show all the US European Command (USEUCOM) and NATO ministers of defense that demonstrated the ability of Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR), 352nd Special Operations Group (AFSOC), Naval Special Warfare Unit Two (NAVSPECWARCOM), and 1st Battalion of the 10th Special Forces Group (USASOC) to respond immediately. The SOCEUR chief of staff, a Navy SEAL captain welcomed me with or- ders to get a film done for the CINC, ASAP. Bear in mind my work with the Navy was acquiring, distributing and exhibiting movies. But who’s going to tell the CINC? No one. The movie was produced, directed, and written by this author within two weeks. As submariners know, once the order is issued, you deliver. AHHHHOOOOGA–Submarines.
William H. Northacker
Lieutenant Colonel, Special Forces
US Army, Retired
100% Disabled Veteran with VA Service Dog Iris
US Navy NAF Civilian, Retired
