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.
Tangential NAVAIR ping...
'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.
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)
Our submarines depend on inertial navigation by computer, however there are supposed to be people in the conn that monitor modern charts, particularly undersea mountain charts. This did not happen with the USS San Francisco, which hit a previously uncharted (either on computer or in real new charts) undersea volcanic mountain several hundred miles from Guam. They hit it at 500 feet depth at what was said to be flank speed (making a speed run), killed one sailor and even still the sub survived the crushing blow which buckled the keel. Amazing. The captain was relieved of command. There has to be BOTH charts and satellite for a carrier, and everyone should know how to navigate the old fashioned way, by shooting the sun or by stars and compass. It can be done. Too much at risk with our positioning satellites.
Some kind of electronic interaction with the chart (as in e-paper) would be handy. The computer can double check the course mapping and update it or mark warnings on it in real time. I hope a well evolved human interface is not lost in the interest of the latest gee-whiz gimcracks.
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)
I think they still teach Midshipmen at Annapolis how to navigate using a hand-held sextant, and I hope they never stop no matter how many GPS units the Navy buys....
Just how long does anyone expect GPS to be up and running during a war? Of course all the ships have GPS! Don’t be naive, they would be stupid not to. But they do not depend on GPS.
Quartermasters still must know how to use their brains and do things the old fashioned way. That means dead reckoning, sextants, chronometers, etc. That the writer even thinks this is slightly odd just goes to show basic difference in civilian and military mentalities.
Satellites can be spoofed. Radar can be jammed. LORAN is GONE. But the wet-ware computer between the sailor’s ears will still function as long as it is backed up with training and the good old fashioned Mark 1 Eyeball.
Click on pic for past Navair pings.
Post or FReepmail me if you wish to be enlisted in or discharged from the Navair Pinglist.
The only requirement for inclusion in the Navair Pinglist is an interest in Naval Aviation.
This is a medium to low volume pinglist.
If your electronics quit for what ever reason, you will have to rely upon the old way. Learn traditional navigation and read your Bowditch!!
If anyone has seen marine navigational software they would realize just how grossly undercapable that software is. You know that software your bank uses, or online reservations use, or that crappy DMV software, well, they were all writen by the same type of programmers with the same type of managers.
Next time your phone has a dial tone, be thankful.
Because some things just work. Navigating an aircraft carrier from somebody's iPod, for all the computational capability of the thing, is just stoopid. It goes down and where are you...?
I've spent a good part of my career designing the bleeding edge. I've also spent a good part of my life depending on critical stuff a bit further behind, letting someone else take the arrows.
No contradiction here; some folks need the bleeding edge. I haven't.
This argument re GPS vs. “charts-and-darts” applies to the field artillery as well.
It works doesn’t it?