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 ...
“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?”
Guilty sir!
Excellent analogy!
This argument re GPS vs. “charts-and-darts” applies to the field artillery as well.
I’ve never known anyone who calls a navigational chart a “map”.
A proper sailor who navigates the oceans had better be able to take star-shots for dead reckoning. It may be one of the only choices he has in an emergency black-out.
One of the major flaws that bite people, here on the Great Lakes, is a over-reliance on GPS. They punch in a destination, hit go-to, and never consult a chart, which would show the rocky shoals that lie directly between them, and the destination, lakeside bar.
The ship I served on still had a quaint blow-pipe, a ships telegraph, a brass binnacle (complete w/navigators’ nuts), and a very large wooden wheel. No GPS. We were hi-tech with Loran, Radar, an intermitant Gyro, and charts.
The Captain was a crusty old Aussie (40), who would drink us young-uns under the the table, and then could circum-navigate us across the oceans with nary a care.
They even got rid of Mr. Hand, the guy that used to move side numbers around the CCA pattern for Case III ops.
. . . don't blame me, blame Spike Milligan (may he rest in peace.)
Lamh Foistenach Abu!
I heard about some non-navigating idiot in the Atlantic Race for Cruisers who accidentally programmed BOTH his GPSs at 700 kts instead of 7. Several days into the race he radio'd at large in a panic because the GPS said he was in the Sea of Japan somewhere.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Shoot, maybe they ARE having a beer in a celestial hole-in-the-wall somewhere.
My CFI drilled old-fashioned navigation into my head very thoroughly. I was very grateful for that instruction when schlepping Cub Scouts around in the North Georgia mountains.
Hear hear! Eye donut think its two much too ask. Their are to many weighs two screw up if ewe depend on gizmo's. I here much of hour equipment is nut hardened - subject two EMPs. Know won should depend exclusively on electronics. (this page spell checked!)
It works doesn’t it?
I’m sure that same bridge crew winds the chronometer in the drawer of the chart table every day at exactly the same time and then notes any error, the successive daily rate, with average daily rate.
When in danger
OR in doubt
Hoist all sail
and you know the rest.
A vet ensign(?) explained that to us today on the Midway tour in San Diego.
The Reagan and 2 other carriers were sitting across the bay, and he pointed out that the same navigation and piloting skills are applicable on those carriers.
It’s wonderful having those vets explaining everything on the tours. I enjoyed the vet who explained how the carrier was steam powered and what it was like working in the engine room.
Well, you had me going for a second,there.
And all I ask is a tall ship, and a star to steer her by.
Mission accomplished! ;^)
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