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 ...
They damn well better. On a carrier, there is more than one. I know there are at least two on the bridge, one on the flag deck and another in secondary conning.
On any US Navy warship, there will be plenty. Nobody makes QM3 without that knowledge. At least when I was in the Navy they didn’t and I very seriously doubt things have changed that much now.
I do recall hearing that the GPS was installed far away from the navigator’s table precisely to keep the QMs and the bridge crew from relying on it.
“Same software that was in use during the Apollo era is in use today.”
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Some of the software I wrote back in the 70’s is still used in every launch from the Cape. So I am not at all surprised. In many ways it is comforting to know that what was designed and built then is still the best now.
There was a time I knew how to do that off the Sun; never tried it at night.
I took the course in OCS 40 years ago, and it was the most challenging exercise we had. I had difficulty even with a senior chief QM looking over my shoulder.
Suicide mission.
I have not heard a bad thing about that product. Big Companies and sellers use it
That's what I predicted would happen. I retired before the ship I was on went over to "paperless". Navigation was becoming much more soulless compared to when I first came in the early 80s. Of course the guy 20 years before me probably said the same thing when he retired.
-QMC(SW)
He recommended Grisoft AVG as a freeware solution instead, and mentioned there are several good paid products out there. I'm assuming he included Norton and Kaspersky.
I could as of a few years ago. Getting back into it now would be just like coming off a shore duty tour.
I don’t fully trust my GPS for my 5 year old truck. I sure hope they don’t trust 5000 American sailors and airmen along with billions in equipment to GPS alone.
Well yes and no, at least in the Navy. The chronometers are still compared every day and the rates noted but the old wind-up chronometers have long since given way to battery-powered quartz chronometers. I however, like any good QM, still have my chronometer key (7 1/2 half turns).
When I was in and I doubt it's changed that much the electronics were temperature critical. By that I mean they could not take a real high heat stress. The gyro {part of the navigational system} on our ship did have back up A/C. I know because I installed several compressors for that back up.
When things go bad like loss of power you go back to manual back ups. That means charts in this case. With steering it's manual operation of the port and starboard steering gears.
Loss of generation means loss of A/C it's that simple. A carrier has about 1800 Tons cooling capacity maybe more on some. Loose it and the electronics don't like it.
A carrier can limp on with the island gone and three fourths of it's boilers or rather reactor capacity out of commission. Engineering has Secondary CON system as well. The A/C's though are very high load demand on start up. We're talking from 1000-1600 amps at 460 volts start current and 175-300 amps run for each unit with up to 10 units on some carriers. So much so we had to call Central to the Electrical Load Dispatcher before hitting start.
Now the other reality as another person mentioned. In battle you can bet the navigational birds will be hit. Old mechanical skills are bomb proof as long as the squid has his instruments and charts to guide him. Electronics are great but can never be the sole system the ship depends on.
Or
Real clocks tick. Trying to explain celestial navigation to the math impaired can be....difficult. Bowditch not withstanding.
AVG is also good. The History Channel Shop site has ad Mcafee for almost 5 years now and they never had a problem. I have also recommended McAfee to Orly Taitz for her website.
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