Carderock Naval Surface Warfare Center, Maryland

The Carderock site, on the Potomac river upstream from Washington DC, is one of eight Naval Surface Warfare Center locations. It is unique as the location of the David Taylor Model Basin, one of the largest ship model test basins in the world. Contained in a building more than half a mile long, it was built in 1939, and is used to develop ship hull shapes (in the same way a wind tunnel is used to develop aircraft). There are several other test basins at the site as well. The Carderock Center also operates field locations in Idaho, Florida, Washington, Tennessee, and Alaska, primarily related to underwater acoustic research and vessel hull design.