Next message: Steven Wepster: "Re: CELNAV"
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.
