Abstract: An expendable oceanographic probe includes a body having a weighted nose section and an after body having a tail for stabilization. A spool of wire is paid out through the tail of the after body for coupling to a data acquisition system. The expendable oceanographic probe also includes a sensor exposed to the seawater for measuring a seawater property and for providing a signal representing the measured property to the data acquisition system over the wire. A pressure sensor of the probe is exposed to the seawater for determining the depth of the probe as the probe descends into the seawater with respect to the measured seawater property by perturbing the measured parameter signal at a predetermined pressure.

Abstract: An expendable underwater vehicle for use in training naval forces in anti-submarine warfare in ocean waters, including shallow waters, is between about three to five feet in length and about five inches in diameter, and it includes various improvements which make successful operations in shallow ocean waters, and improved operation in all ocean waters, possible. The improvements include a one-piece nose cup which allows the expendable underwater vehicle to be air launched into shallow water, a scuttle plug which allows water to fill the expendable underwater vehicle after the vehicle is expended and drops to the bottom of the ocean, and rudders and elevators of increased surface area which improve controllability of the vehicle in the water.