NavList:

Fred Hebard wrote

"Dr. Ifland repeats the statement that the U.S. Naval Academy has

discontinued its required course in celestial navigation.  Apparently,

the course, which had been taught since the Academy was founded in

1845, has been replaced with a modern equivalent, as people continue to

maintain on this list that midshipmen are still instructed in celestial

navigation.  But apparently they are not instructed as thoroughly or to

such length.  At last these conflicting claims about the Academy

abandoning instruction in celestial navigation appear to be clarified."

I checked into it to find out exactly what they are teaching at the academy  now and this is what I found. Third year Midshipmen get a 1 hour class in Celestial Theory, 1 hour on computing Sunrise/Sunset by stripform, 1 hour for latitude by LAN, latitude and gyro error by Polaris by stripform. They are then tested on doing a full days work in navigation using a computer program instead of stripforms. Having worked with these midshipmen during their summer cruises and then teaching Celestial Navigation to officers who are reporting to ships to be Navigators, I can confidently state that Midshipmen are not learning Celestial Navigation at the academy.