Sheridan House Publishers Newsletter
Navigating to the United States Naval Academy
Donald Launer, author of the book Navigation Through the Ages was invited recently by the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis to lecture on the topic of that book to both students and faculty at the Academy. He wrote to us with the following interesting observations:
“I just returned home from my Annapolis trip. I had a rendezvous with the Seamanship and Navigation Officer Wednesday morning at a parking lot outside of Gate 8, one of the entrances to the Academy grounds. He had arranged for a pass for my car, which was loaded with navigation show-and-tells. Parking was like in New York City, going around till you could find a spot. We finally found a spot near the Luce Building, which houses the planetarium where my seminar was scheduled.
The officer showed me his office and the navigation classrooms, which were also in the Luce Building. He also showed me one of the fascinating simulators, the bridge of a ship. The semi-circular wall, about 50 feet in front of the simulated bridge, had projected on it a harbor view (various harbors are available on the computer) with ships and boats moving about, buoyed channels, horn signal—the works. The instructor could control the speed and direction of all of these ‘ships’ to provide simulated collision courses that the cadet on the bridge would have to respond to.
My seminar in the planetarium was well attended by about 50% officers/instructors and 50% cadets, and there was a good Q&A period that followed. Following the presentation, the officer said that he found the seminar much better than he had imagined—which was gratifying.
A couple of things at the Naval Academy surprised me.
About 30% of the cadets are female, a percentage higher than I would have thought.
Also, celestial navigation is no longer on the curriculum. Navigation classes are taught navigation by GPS, and to some extent, the magnetic compass, but celestial and Loran are no longer taught. I found this surprising, and some of the instructors share my view. Later, many cadets came up and asked me questions about sextants and how they were (are) used.
I returned home with great memories of an interesting day with the Navy.”
—Don Launer
Donald Launer has held a US Coast Guard captain’s license for over 25 years. He was Field Editor for the yearly Waterway Guide and he is currently contributing editor for Good Old Boat. He is the author of A Cruising Guide to New Jersey Waters, Dictionary of Nautical Acronyms and Abbreviations (Sheridan House), and Lessons from My Good Old Boat (Sheridan House), and The Galley-How Things Work ( Sheridan House). Don has long been a member of the Boat/US Speakers Bureau. His lectures on Navigation Through the Ages draw many sailors and other listeners.
