NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: cel nav for USCG cadets
From: John Huth
Date: 2011 Jul 25, 08:09 -0400
From: John Huth
Date: 2011 Jul 25, 08:09 -0400
According to Wikipedia (what do I know?) celestial navigation was no longer taught at the Naval Academy as of 1998.
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Keeping up with the grind
It says that it's taught at the Merchant Marine Academy and is required for the USCG license.
In terms of the USCG, I'm quite sure they venture out of sight of land - how could they function if they didn't? In New England, around November, we always hear reports of fishing vessels that get in trouble in bad weather and the CG has to help with SAR's - these are typically out of sight of land - e.g. George's Bank. I honestly don't know their range from the US coast itself, which is an interesting question, but I'd reckon that if a vessel was in distress and could be reached, they'd be the ones to do it.
On another topic, all this talk of ex-meridians and time sights got me interested in my favorite old technique - equal altitudes. For the trigonometrically challenged, this is a great first intro. Last week, I some some time sights, which was fun. I have them in an Excel spread sheet and used the published formula. I did it on the porch of my house, facing Nantucket sound, and it was pretty ideal conditions. Latitude was good to 0.5 arc minutes, longitude not quite as good, but close, I might have messed up the EOT by a small amount.
On Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 1:09 AM, Alan <alan202@verizon.net> wrote:
It's my understanding, perhaps incorrect, that they no longer teach Celestial Navigation to cadets at The Naval academy. Quartermasters supposedly do receive such training, which strikes me as strange, though some have it that someone needs to know what to do and how to do it should the electronics pack up.
It is interesting that the Coast Guard, sometimes known as The Broomstick Navy, supposedly they never ventured out of sight of land, are taught Cel Nav. Of course, given that I'm pure civilian, I suppose that puts me somewhat out of the running re unbderstanding the military.
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Keeping up with the grind
