Control of High-Speed Underwater Vehicles

Abstract

I (GB) was fortunate that early in my career I had the opportunity to work with Keith Glover. Keith had just begun his obsession with golf. A simple game where a ball stands still and the player advances it from different parts of the landscape into a hole. During a golf outing, Keith vigorously struck a ball off the fairway. It drove through a water hazard and miraculously ended up a few feet off the green. I was amazed by the image I saw as the ball moved through the water. Due to its velocity, a cavitation bubble was generated behind it. I had no inkling that my golf outing with Keith would lead many years later to an interest in the control of supercavitating vehicles.