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Home : Home : Warfare Centers : NSWC Dahlgren : Who We Are : History : Podcasts
Dahlgren Podcast Series

Welcome to the Dahlgren podcast series. We hope that these interviews will showcase what Dahlgren has accomplished.

Throughout our history, we've interviewed some of the most prominent minds, leaders and innovators that have been here, and we're opening up the vault to share them with you.

If you have trouble accessing the files below, then please right click on the interview, and click Save Target As.

 

Date 

 

Description 

 

Links 

 

 10/12/2018

This week's podcast tells the story of Rear Adm. Wayne E. Meyer, the Father of Aegis. Rear Adm. Meyer began working on the Advanced Surface Missile System, which became Aegis, in 1970.

 

Rear Adm. Meyer

Transcript

 9/28/2018

Rear Adm. Boynton Braun's story continues in this podcast.

 

Boynton Braun Part 2

Transcript

 9/20/2018 Rear Adm. Boynton Braun was an aviation officer and first came to Dahlgren in 1929. At on e time he was the Officer in Charge of the Dahlgren Air Detail. He also discusses living on the base in the 1930s.

Boynton Braun Part 1

Transcript

 9/6/2018

Ed Jones, a former resident of Dahlgren, lived on base from 1948 to 1966. In his podcast, he shares his perspective on living on base as well as attending Dahlgren School.

 

Ed Jones

Transcript

 8/31/2018

Woodrow Saft is the former Superintendent of Ordnance at Dahlgren. Mr. Saft worked at Dahlgren for nearly forty years, starting in 1943, and was considered an expert in naval guns. He was especially involved in testing the 16-inch guns at Dahlgren.

 

Woodrow Saft

Transcript

 8/23/2018

Dr. Bramble first came to Dahlgren in 1942 but had contacts with the base as early as 1924. Dr. Bramble served as the Head of the Exterior Ballistics Section and Head of the Computation and Ballistics Department. Later, he was appointed as the Director of Research, a predecessor to the Technical Director position. Dr. Bramble was heavily involved in the early computing abilities of the base, particularly the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator.

 

Dr. Bramble

Transcript

 8/9/2018

Dr. Armido Didonato came to Dahlgren as a mathematician in 1954.  He developed software for submarine computers and worked on missiles such as the Polaris and Poseidon.

 

Dr. Didonato

Transcript

 7/25/2018

Daniel Green came to Dahlgren in 1958 as a computer programmer working on the Naval Ordnance Research Calculator, the first supercomputer.

 

Daniel Green

Transcript

 7/13/2018 Barry Dillon and Joe Francis worked in Theater Warfare Systems or T Department in the early 2000s. Their podcast focuses on the early history of Theater Warfare Systems which focused on interoperability, missile defense, and precision strike.

Barry Dillon & Joe Francis

Transcript

 6/28/2018

Sheila Young came to Dahlgren in 1966. She later rose to become Head of the Strategic and Strike Systems Department, working on computations in fire control computers and software equations for launch data. Among her many other accolades, she won a Dahlgren award in 2003.

 

Sheila Young

Transcript

 6/13/2018

Raymond Hughey started working at Dahlgren in 1959. Mr. Hughey worked on the Polaris missile program, the Poseidon missile, and was heavily involved in geoballistics. Mr. Hughey also discusses some history of the first computer bug.

 

Ray Hughey

Transcript

 5/31/2018

Dr William Kemper's story continues in this podcast.

 

William Kemper Part 2 

 

 5/30/2018

Dr. William Kemper came to Dahlgren in 1943 as a Naval Reserve Officer. In his podcast he discusses early Dahlgren work on bombs and bombsights.

 

William Kemper Part 1

 5/18/2018 Dr. Lemmuel Hill started at White Oak Laboratory in 1959 and rose to management positions. He became Technical Director in 1984, not long after White Oak and Dahlgren merged. His podcast will discuss some of the challenges associated with that position.
 

Lemmuel Hill

 

 5/4/2018

Dr. Thomas A. Clare's Dahlgren career started in 1967. Dr. Clare held a number of leadership positions in different groups at Dahlgren, including electronics systems, combat systems, strategic systems, and engineering and information systems. Dr. Clare was named Technical Director of the Center in 1989 and held that position until 1998. He is perhaps best known for his role in Aegis development at Dahlgren.

Dr. Tom Clare

Transcript

 4/18/2018

Harold Gouldman, Jr., a lifelong resident of the Dahlgren area served as the Legal Advisor for the base from 1949 until retirement in 1965.

 

Harold Gouldman, Jr.
 4/6/2018

Charles Roble was an engineer at Dahlgren from 1941 to 1967. Mr. Roble started on base as a battery attendant but eventually joined the professional staff and retired as a supervising electronics engineer. Much of his interview covers what it was like to work on the base during and after World War II.

 

Charles Roble

Transcript

 3/27/2018

Ann Swope started at Dahlgren in 1981 and still works here today. Ms. Swope started her government career as the Environmental Manager and rose to be Chief of Staff. We'll also hear a little bit about her entry into a male-dominated field.

 

Ann Swope

Transcript

 3/21/2018

Genevieve Parker is a former WAVES officer on the base. WAVES or Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, was the World War II branch of the U.S. Naval Research. Dahlgren had a number of WAVES stationed on base. Their primary job was to compute range tables during the increase in gun testing. During the later part of World War II, Ms. Parker was one of Dahlgren's first WAVES, and her future husband, Edelen "Ace" parker worked on base testing bombsights.

 

Genevieve Parker

Transcript

 

 3/16/2018

Capt. Sheila Patterson served as the first female Commander of the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division from 2007 to 2010. In her podcast, Captain Patterson will discuss her experiences as a woman in the military and the highlights from her tenure at Dahlgren.

 

Capt. Sheila Patterson

Transcript

 3/8/2018

Raymond Pollock came to Dahlgren in 1961 and retired in the early 1990s. His podcast will focus on the early history of the Fleet Ballistic Missile Program and working on the Tomahawk.

 

Ray Pollock

Transcript

 2/27/2018

Gladys West began working for Dahlgren in 1956. When West was hired, she was “the second black woman hired at the base and one of only four black employees.” One of the others was Ira West, whom she eventually married. Her first job here was as a mathematician verifying range and bombing tables. She initially did the calculations by hand, but when the NORC computer was installed, she became its programmer.

 

Gladys West

Transcript

 2/20/2018  Neil Cain worked at Dahlgren for over forty years, from when he started in 1961 to when he retired in the early 2000s. He was an influential Program Manager for Aegis in the early 1980s and was also influential in combat system technology and some later programs.  Neil Cain
 2/6/2018

This week's Dahlgren Centennial podcast continues Dr. Robert V. Gates' story. In the final podcast of the series, Dr. Gates continues to focus on contributions to the Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile Program.

Rob Gates Part 3

Rob Gates Part 3 Transcript 

 2/1/2018 This week's Dahlgren Centennial podcast continues Dr. Robert V. Gates' story.

Rob Gates Part 2

Rob Gates Part 2 Transcript

 1/24/2018

Dr. Robert V. Gates work at Dahlgren spanned from 1970 to 2007. His podcast series will focus on his contributions to the Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile Program and the work environment at Dahlgren in the 1990s.

Rob Gates Part 1

Rob Gates Part 1 Transcript

 1/19/2018

This week's Dahlgren Centennial podcast continues Dr. Russell H. Lyddane's story. Lyddane directed terminal ballistics research and became the Technical Director from 1956 to 1964.

Russell Lyddane Part 2

Russell Lyddane Part 2 Transcript

 1/10/2018

Dr. Russell H. Lyddane's work spanned from 1941 to 1964. During his tenure at Dahlgren, he directed terminal ballistics research and became the Technical Director from 1956 to 1964.

Russell Lyddane

 

 12/20/2017

Marybelle Ashton's family moved to Dahlgren in 1946. Her podcast will focus on her earliest memories of living and working on the base.

 

Marybelle Ashton

Summary of Podcast

 12/12/2017

Dr. Ralph A. Sawyer who work at Dahlgren from 1941 to 1945 was the Officer in Charge of Laboratories, an early version of the Technical Director position. Dr. Sawyer supervised the construction of the new physics equipment and was crucial in the establishment of the Armor and Projectile Laboratory.

Dr. Ralph Sawyer

Transcript

Biography

 12/5/2017 Leon Lysher worked at Dahlgren from the late 1950s to 1986. During his tenure at Dahlgren his most significant contribution focused on electronic warfare.

Leon Lysher

Transcript

 11/28/2017

 Dr. Jon Yagla has had an extensive career at Dahlgren, particularly in weapons development. His work spans from 1965 to the present and his podcast will focus on his work on the conical shock tube, launchers, and blast testing.

Dr. Jon Yagla

Transcript

 11/21/2017

Waldo Beck, whose work spanned from the mid-1950s to 1980 worked in Personnel. His podcast will focus on base operations and management at that time.

 

Waldo Beck

Transcript 

 11/14/2017

Dr. James E. Colvard's work at Dahlgren spanned from 1969 to 1980. Dr. Colvard served as Technical Director from 1973 to 1980, at a time when Dahlgren Laboratory merged with White Oak Laboratory.

 

Dr. Colvard

Transcript

 11/7/2017

Walter Mason's work spanned from 1938 to 1974. During his tenure at Dahlgren, Mr. Mason worked in Public Works and many of his stories relate to early base development and living at Dahlgren in the 1940s.

 

Walter Mason

Transcript

Biography

 10/31/2017

Wes Myers work at Dahlgren spanned from 1944 to 1974. During his tenure at Dahlgren, he was a leader in the development and engineering groups and headed the Special Projects Division from 1946 to 1956.

 

Wes Myers

Transcript

Biography

 10/24/2017

Martha Slusher was a teacher at Dahlgren School from around 1963 to about 1986.

Martha Slusher

Transcript

 10/17/2017

Dr. L.T.E. Thompson, whose work spanned from 1923 to 1942, was Dahlgren’s first Chief Physicist, an early predecessor of the Technical Director position.

L.T.E Thompson

Transcript

Biography          

 

Historical Links