Lamh Foistenach Abu!
Posted on 05/23/2010 6:05:56 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
On the bridge of the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, there’s a 20-year-old quartermaster with a No. 2 pencil, a compass and a big map unfurled on a table.
In one of the ironies of America’s modern Navy, that map and that quartermaster are the official method of navigation for the $4 billion carrier and the 5,000 souls on board.
Even as the Navy installs the most high-tech equipment on its carriers — including the San Diego-based Carl Vinson, which recently returned to the fleet after a four-year overhaul — none of the nation’s 11 flattops is certified to rely on electronic navigation.
So if the United States put a man on the moon in 1969, why is it still using pencils on the bridges of nuclear-powered ships?
Because the Navy, like an aircraft carrier, doesn’t change direction quickly.
“It’s only been 10 to 12 years ago that we started down this road, transitioning from a paper Navy for navigation to a paperless Navy for navigation,” said Cmdr. Ashley Evans, deputy navigator for the Navy in Washington, D.C.
The Navy is poised to radically change the way it has sailed since the days of wooden ships. This summer, Navy leaders are expected to issue an order that allows skippers to stop maintaining up-to-date paper “charts” — what sailors call maps — on board.
Four of the Navy’s carriers possess the electronics to navigate by computer; the rest are set to receive the gear by 2013.
It takes about a year to become certified for operating the equipment, and none of the Navy’s carrier crews has done so yet. But some destroyers and cruisers currently sail with the computer readout as the primary guide.
(Excerpt) Read more at signonsandiego.com ...
I won’t name the boat, but I was on a carrier where they lost power to the whole island for a while. We received a request (on the sound powered phone system) to send a hand held gps to the bridge so they could maintain a plot.
Actually, I am kind of relieved that the navy isn’t dependent on computers that can be hacked, attacked or blown up and on fire when they are needed.
Of course, they’ll still keep the charts up to date so it will be double work. No captain would risk dropping the load with no back up.
They can buy a firewall from McAfee
Tangential NAVAIR ping...
Lamh Foistenach Abu!
'Maps' get looked at: 'charts' get written on. Very old distinction.
Gee, you can get a nice cheap GPS at Best Buy for next to nothing.
Just ask the pirates the Ruskies let go if they wished they had studied celestial/solar navigation a little harder.
“True Virgins Make Dull Company At Weddings”
...or, more appropriate for this forum,
“Can Dead Men Vote Twice At Elections”
All I need is a fast ship and a star to steer her by.....
Actually, I am kind of relieved that the navy isn’t dependent on computers that can be hacked, attacked or blown up and on fire when they are needed.
Ah yes... the Battlestar Galactica syndrome ... :-)
Lamh Foistenach Abu!
Damned right. It’s a war machine not a New England @SSHat’s yacht. That 20 year old with a CHART is the last line between us and slavery.
That sounds fascinatingly unbelievable, LOL!
Been watching Battlestar Galactica lately?
This reminds me of the behind-the-scenes tour I took at NASA a couple years ago. (The “VIP” tour for $80 or so is some of the best money you’ll ever spend.) In mission control, I noticed that one of the big wall screens had what looked like a DOS command shell up in one corner. I asked what it was for and found out that in today’s space shuttles, commands are entered into the main computer in HEX. Same software that was in use during the Apollo era is in use today. HEX. I kid you not.
MM (in TX)
How many folks on any vessels (military or commercial) at sea today know how to get a 3 star fix (with 2 mile accuracy) using a sextant, chronometer, and tables?
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