| Re: Goal ? [message #10182 is a reply to message #10175] |
Fri, 26 April 2019 21:47  |
Gary
Messages: 2165
Registered: May 2013
Location: Seattle
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Gruen Authority
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afire wrote on Wed, 24 April 2019 17:33Gary, you might enjoy the Wikipedia page on John Harrison, the creator of the first successful marine chronometer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harrison
John yes what a good read that is. I was a radar man aboard a Vietnam era class destroyer in San Diego in the big hair days. I didn't make much and could not afford an apartment. My home was aboard ship in and out to sea. Us radar guys also did chart navigation along with the quartermasters who also did navigation. This was a check against each other to give the captain a good sense of where we were in relation to PIM, point of intended movement on the chart and how far we were off track. We had an early version of GPS but it was always way off and could not be trusted for an accurate fixes. We mainly relied on precision time, latitude, radar and visual fixes with land and stars, also dead reckoning with a plotter tied into the ships gyrocompass. We still carried sextons to take star fixes at night.
Goes to show how Harrisons inventions were and are still used today. I'm almost certain ship still have clocks, quartz I presume and probably use it as a backup to GPS as GPS has gotten more accurate.
[Updated on: Fri, 26 April 2019 22:29] Report message to a moderator |
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