NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Dip-meter again
From: Alexandre Eremenko
Date: 2012 Apr 10, 14:39 -0400
From: Alexandre Eremenko
Date: 2012 Apr 10, 14:39 -0400
OK, Now we have a clear picture. Polaris A-1 missile was operated since 1960, and had "inertial guidance system", which presumes the knowledge of your launch position, I suppose. The accuracy of TRANSIT sattelite system is 400 m (=approx 0.2 mile) (according to Wikipedia). Better than Cel Nav. It was in continuous service since 1964, "initially for Polaris submarines" (Wikipedia says). So there was apparently a very short period 1960-64 (if any) when missiles were avalable, and navigation system was not, or maybe it was, as an experimental system. It was different for the Soviets... who, according to Wikipedia, sometimes also used the US Transit system:-) The only Soviet dipmeter that I've seen in detailed pictures is of 1950-s, probably before the first satellite. Alex.