Eleuthera, Bahamas. The U.S. Navy tests a network of 40 hydrophones on the ocean floor to detect submarines. The experiment is successful, and in 1954, it is also installed off the coast of Hawaii and California. It will become the global SOSUS (Sound Surveillance System) network, operational along all American coasts since 1958 at a total cost of $16 billion. The ocean is discovered to be an excellent vehicle for transmitting noise, especially through the SOFAR (Sound Fixing Range Channel), a layer of water that acts as a waveguide for hundreds of miles.
