The NOMAD hull was developed from the "Roberts buoy," which was a , boat-shaped buoy developed in the early 1940s by the
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey to measure strong tidal currents. The buoy's performance was satisfactory, but its limited size significantly restricted its use in other areas. In July 1946, the
United States Navy's
Bureau of Ships became involved in a program to develop automatic
weather station buoys. As a prospective part of this program, they conducted a preliminary investigation of the feasibility of mooring a buoy. The investigation concluded that the buoy's hull size was of insufficient length to be moored in of water. To support such a mooring, a similarly shaped hull had to be long and displace approximately . This was to become the prototype of the buoy now known as the NOMAD. The NOMAD was the first of such stations to be anchored successfully for a substantial period in more than of water. It was also the first
anchored automated station to detect the formation of a
hurricane and alert weather observers on land. The station was developed as part of the ocean test and evaluation program, started in 1957, for the U.S. Navy's
Bureau of Naval Weapons, with the
National Bureau of Standards responsible for technical direction. ==Use==