FacilitiesNew MASK UnveiledThis facility makes waves … literThis facility makes waves … literallyallyBy Edward Lundquistefore sending a new ship to MASK is named for long-time Card- ship designs handle in every possible sea it helps to know how well erock hydrodynamics pioneer, the late sea condition.Bit will perform, especially in Harold E. Saunders. The basin is 360 feet long and 240 rough seas. Testing and improving the The upgraded facility, which replaces feet wide and can accommodate scale seakeeping qualities of ship designs is an obsolete wavemaker, is housed in a ship models up to 30 feet in length. The an art that requires a combination of dark, cavernous building with an arched dark blue-green water is about 20 feet computerized modeling and simulation, rood like a giant Quonset hut. Every deep except for a trench where the wa-scale model testing in a wave making note of the national anthem, sung by ter is 35 feet deep for testing submarine tank, and actually taking a ship to sea. Peter Eobbi of NSWC Carderock’s Ship models.The modernized Naval Surface War- Systems Engineering Station in Phila- The waves are generated by a system fare Center’s Maneuvering and Sea delphia seemed to hang in the air. of 216 electro-mechanical panels called Keeping (MASK) wavemaker was un- Although not as large as Carderock’s wave boards. The new system replaces veiled at a dedication ceremony on Dec. famous David W. Taylor Model Basin the old pneumatic system installed when 19 at the NSWC Carderock Division’s tow tank, the 12 million-gallon MASK the facility was