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CN is not dead. At least as far as what is taught at the USNA. Check out
this site: http://prodevweb.prodev.usna.edu/SeaNav/seanav.htm

According to the course syllabus, NN204 and NS401, officers are taught CN
and it is still a part of the days work on the bridge.

For those interested in the mo board, check out this site:
http://www.upenn.edu/nrotc/ns302/notes.html Go to lesson number 10 and
download the mobrd program.

I can't locate it right now but I recall some NROTC web sites have an
example of the captain's standing orders for a DDG and celestial work is
part of it.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Eno" 
To: 
Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2003 8:22 PM
Subject: Re: Sabres and Sextants


> Jared,
>
> You missed the tongue and cheek aspect of my response.
>
> I recognize that there ain't no going back. GPS, microchips and
> turbo-charged illudium Q-39 space modulators are with us forever. The
> sextant will go the way of the wagon wheel.
>
> Nevertheless, I am one of those die hard hold outs. I still believe that
> placing sole reliance on something as delicate as electronics -- and in a
> hostile environment -- is less than prudent. Having operated in many
hostile
> environments myself, I can tell you that before or during a crisis
> situation, the first thing to crap out is the electronics.
>
> Anyway the point of my bringing up the bayonet is this:
>
> Firearms have replaced swords as the weapon of the ground soldier and
> rightly so. The military above all, has to maintain an technological edge.
> There is just too much at state to let something like that slip. But long
> ago, someone in the system rightly recognized that when the infantryman
runs
> out of ammunition, his rifle becomes, at worst, useless and at best, an
odd
> shaped club. So this smart fellow figured, well why not affix something
> sharp-edged to it to give him an added advantage until he can get some
> bullets?  As you can see, we've come full circle; sort of. From sword, to
> rifle to modified spear.
>
> Bruce Bauer, author of the sextant handbook wrote this to the introduction
> to the second edition:
>
> "...Off the Atlantic coast recently or radar, loran, and single sideband
> radio all were smoked in one brilliant instant by a lightening stroke
merely
> near our vessel -- not even a hit..."
>
> I am not suggesting eschewing GPS. Indeed, I use it a lot where I live and
> am damn glad to have it, but if it craps out on me at -40 in a storm and
I'm
> 100 miles from home, I know that I can get back to safety because I also
> know how to navigate without electronics.
>
> Now I must toddle off. I have to finish building that wagon wheel and I've
> been meaning to polish my sword for some time now....
>
> cheers,
>
> Robert
>
> P.S. I hope never to see that mushroom cloud that you spoke of.
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Jared Sherman 
> To: 
> Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2003 10:06 PM
> Subject: Re: Sabres and Sextants
>
>
> > Yes Robert, but I spoke of cavalry sabres not bayonets. There are
reasons
> why the Army issue one and not the other.
> > The Navy, the USCG, and the Air Force do not normally issue bayonets
> either. Even the Army does not issue them to MP's for routine duty.
Bayonets
> are issued only to those men, in those forces, who are expected to *use*
> them.
> >
> > Dissembling on the analogy does not affect the basis of it: Celestial
Nav
> is a largely obsolete tool and that is why the services are not "issuing"
> it. The only people who can afford to carry it are those aboard ships and
> places--where they can carry lighter smaller tools that perform better and
> faster with less training. Inertial navigation can now be done with IC
chips
> that fit in a matchbox without removing the matches. That's plenty of
backup
> for GPS.
> >
> > And if you see a bright mushroom cloud on the horizon, you won't need
your
> GPS or your sextant. Just turn your back to it, and go the other way.
> >
>

   

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